Happy Birthday Haylee

5 years old....wow....I have a 5 year old child.  I have been a parent for 5 years.  I have watched my little baby grow from a 6 lb 6.6 oz 19.5 inch long little baby into a 35 lb 36 inch tall little girl.  She is an amazing person.  She is going to do good things in her life and I am, already, so proud of the person she is!  Her teachers tell us that she is a natural leader in the classroom and loves taking care of her friends.  She always wants everything to be fair with her friends (sorry little girl, that is a flaw you got from your mama, and I pray that you figure out how to deal with that flaw better than I have!)  She is such a gift to her dad and I and I can't imagine what our family would be like without her.

This past weekend we had a party for her at our house.  We have always asked what she wants the theme to be for her party, and this year it was Unicorns.  I am not one to let my kids down, and I will try (within reason) to get them what they want so they feel special and feel like Mom and Dad know them and listen to them.  Thankfully, my friend Amy had a Unicorn cake pan!  Woo Hoo - Mom and Dad are the coolest once again!  Byron did a great job on the cake (as he always does!) and we had a lot of family and friends at our house to help celebrate the birth of our daughter!

Enjoy the pictures of the event!

We had 12 kids under 5 at our house!  It was CRAZY!

I think Byron and I pride ourselves on making awesome cakes for our kids parties, and we try to have the "themes"match...does it matter to the kids; at the time, probably not, but the pictures years down the road make it all worth it!   As I said earlier, my friend Amy had a unicorn cake pan.  This cake pan is AWESOME!  When you bake the cake, it has a raised part for the horse...we decided that we were going to try to make the cake out of chocolate and lay it on top of the cake....Who knew how uneven and wavy cakes bake when you are trying to put something flat on top!  Byron as always came through and with a little help from my hairdryer, we were able to get the chocolate horse to lay flat on the cake.  He did great at decorating (as usual) and we have another successful cake!  Here's a look at Haylee's cake this year!  

Cake with the chocolate horse still in pan 

The finished product!  It looks GREAT!

Happy Birthday Haylee Elizabeth....you are quite the little person and I can't wait to watch you grow....your Daddy and I love you so very much!

Halloween Festivites

Although it is past Halloween, how could I not post about all the fun that we had this year?! This is kind of a lengthy post, but figured it would be best to put in one, instead of 6 different posts!

Haylee is a PRO when it comes to all of the fun activities surrounding Halloween, and Carter is finally old enough to get it.  We had such a great time this year!

~ Trunk or Treating ~

Trunk or Treating is something that is put on by the City of Thornton where we live.  Trunk or Treating is where people pay to enter their car into a trunk decorating contest.   They decorate the trunk of their cars how they want and then pass out candy to the kids.  It is a safe way for parents to bring their kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes and trick or treat.  I have never been, and it was only a dollar per person, so I thought it would be fun to take the kids and get them a test run on trick or treating.  My mom was nice enough to go with us... because I had never been, I didn't really know what to expect.  THANK GOODNESS my children were in a good mood, because when we got there - (about 15 minutes before the "trunk or treating" was to begin) the line was ridiculous!  I ran ahead of my mom and the kids to get a spot in line, and by the time they had made it to me, there were at least 100 or more people behind me!

Mom and kids finally catching up to me 

This is the line right after they made it to where I was!

My good witch and little monkey!

We waited in line for about 45 minutes; laughing with other parents, looking at all of the adorable costumes, chatting it up. By the time we made it in, the kids were ready to go!  Talk about sensory overload for Carter!  He never held his bucket and just stared at everyone!  He only got a little cautious a few times, but other than that, he did fine.  Haylee was amazing, and took her brother by the hand and led him around telling him to say "trick or treat".  

One of the few people Carter wouldn't go up to!

Can we say OVERSTIMULATED?!

ELMO!  

~ Pumpkin Patch ~ 

I love the pumpkin patch that we go to.  It is so close to home and there is a TON of stuff for the kids to do there once they pick out their pumpkins....

I did not force this hand holding - they did it all on their own!  :)

Look at little brother trying to help sissy carry the pumpkin!

Two cute kids if I do say so myself!

Ahh, the corn box!

Corn Angels - don't say you've never made them!  :)

~ Carving Pumpkins ~ 

Its so much fun to watch my kids explore new things.  Although pumpkin carving isn't new to either child, they still tend to freak out by the "goo" in the pumpkin!  They did a really good job picking out their pumpkins and we kept the carving simple this year - we asked the kids what they wanted and daddy drew and then cut them out!

~ Party Time ~

Our Friends, the Sorice family had a Halloween party, and we had such a good time!  It is so nice that my kids get along so well with Brynn and Hayden.  There were 11 kids there and our goal was to get 1 picture of all the kids in their costumes - some cooperated, some didn't!  Enjoy the pictures from the party...

Not a bad shot considering the chaos going on behind the camera lens!

Haylee and Brynn

~ Trick or Treating ~

Such a good time was had!  We went out with the Sorice's and Auntie Erin came along with us too!  Auntie Erin dressed up and looked great as Tom Cruise in Risky Business - yep, you know the scene!  Some shots from the night....

For us to always tell people that not much is new, and we haven't really done much - we are super busy people!  WOW!  All of this in the span of a week or two!  Whew! Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween as much as we did!

Buh-Bye Training Wheels

How is it that your children can be doing a task that requires some assistance, and then all of a sudden - BOOM - they can then do that task without your assistance and do it well?!

Examples of this phenomenon:
Holding the bottle to feed themselves
Standing up on their own
Walking on their own
Holding the spoon/fork to feed themselves
Getting dressed on their own
Going potty on the potty (this might be my favorite task they get down!)
and so on....

Haylee has since marked another thing off her "I can do this without mom and dad's help" list...

She can ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels!   I know that this doesn't sound all that impressive, but to see my almost 5 year old riding her bike around without the training wheels just amazes me.  B and I figure that she would have been completely capable of doing this toward the beginning of the summer, but we just didn't realize that that was a task that she could completely master in just one day of daddy holding onto the seat of her bike and running along side to catch her as she teeters to the side.

Enjoy the pics of our little one riding her bike like the big girl that she is:

Needing minimal assistance from Daddy to get going

Only requiring assistance from Daddy to start!

Getting started with Daddy on the bike! 

Can't wait to see what the next thing will be that Haylee and Carter can do that no longer requires mommy and daddy's help!