Be Mine

The girls were excited about passing out their valentines this year. EJ decorated her own bag (above) all by herself!

Birdy gave out Tinkerbell valentines with lollypops. 

EJ gave out cute cards of kittens and puppies. The animal picture changed as you moved the card. Pretty neat. I thought it was funny that this year both girls were concerned about giving out "girly" Valentines to the boys in their class. I had to explain that they boys will be giving them "boy" Valentines, so they shouldn't worry. 

We were going to have a Valentine play group brunch and pass out Valentines, so Bear got his very first valentines. He loved them SO much.  DMP and I folded them and taped 2-yr-old friendly candy inside. He woke up and was APPALLED.  This face says "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!"  We had to unfold and un-tape all of them before we could move on with getting the girls ready and off to school.  He was so attached to them, in fact, he couldn't bear to give them away to any of his friends (don't worry, I still handed out the candy).  I guess now we know why 2 yr. olds don't exchange Valentines!

Here is a shot of our play date. I think we had a record 16 kids at my house (plus their awesome Mommies!)

I'll say one thing for Mormon Mommy parties- we sure know how to eat. This is even before more of the yumminess arrived. Also, note the bowl of melted chocolate. The giant chocolate bar rides again!

I had to share this picture of baby J in the mother of all cute baby ruffle-butts!

This was the "baby carrier parking lot".  I think there are 6 (?).  This is what happens when 9 babies are born in the ward in a 6 month period...  It also means lots of lovely newborns to squish and love and then give back to their Moms.

We got lucky and had some extra friends over for Valentine dinner. We had pink waffles, deviled eggs and strawberries. A good time was had by all!

Easter Egg Hunt Party!

I really don't like public Easter egg hunts. Pushy kids, pushier adults, and pretty yucky candy in the eggs. Since we typically have an Easter egg hunt with my family and cousins in UT, DMP and I decided to have our own Easter egg hunt with our new Texas family. It was a blast and totally worth the effort of cleaning up the garage playroom and whipping the yard into shape!

Before the party I got the girls to help with filling extra eggs for the hunt. Child labor is the best!

We had potluck lunch with the awesome chicken salad sandwiches, veggie cups (thanks, Pintrest!) pasta and potato salads and dino and dolphin-shaped PB&J for the kiddos. What? You don't know about the Easter Dolphin that brings good children kipper snacks?!?  Sad.

The dessert table- death by chocolate bunt cake, Boston cream cake (or is it pie) and cupcakes.

The day before the party was Good Friday so the EJ had time off so I enlisted their help in making some decorations.  We cut out egg and butterfly shapes (in the kitchen decorations) and used the shaving cream paint method to make them marbled.  They were really fun to make and not too much of a mess. You should try it!

Everyone brought their eggs to the party, so while they were being hidden in the front yard, we made these silly-hair cups in the back yard and jumped on the tramp and played with chalk. It was fun.  The silly-hair cups are easy- draw a face with a marker, fill with dirt, put wheat grass on top and water. The "hair" grows quickly and then the kids can cut it or whatever.

Here are some of the kids, ready to start the hunt!  We let the really little (nursery-age) kids get a head start before we turned the big kids loose... 

There was some serious hunting going on!

After the hunt it was back inside for lunch! The adults and little kids ate inside and the big kids got a picnic in the garage playroom!

It was such a fun party we want to do it again next year. We just have to figure out how many people our house can host :)

P.S. I love the easter decorations so much, they are still up. I definately need to do it earlier next year so I can enjoy them longer than one day :)  Whenever I decide to take them down, the tissue flowers and butterflies are going in the tower play room!

Blog Party!!!!

From DMP_Diploma

It finally happened and late last week, it became official- DMP received his diploma making him an official College Graduate. It only took 8 years and 5 schools and who knows how many majors- but he did it!!!

I'm so very, very, very proud of him. Because of his anxiety, school was a much harder road for him than it is for others. He stuck with it and I think he got WAY more out of his degree than I did (not to mention better grades).

I wanted to throw a big party to celebrate him and this accomplishment, but DMP wouldn't let me. HOWEVER, he was OK with a blog party, so feel free to de-lurk and leave a comment with congrats or whatever!