Birthday party - round 4, the end, I promise

OK, I could post lot of pictures with Elizabeth opening presents, but let's face it, I am almost caught up, and as you can tell, Josiah thought that he was getting left out. So here is the final picture from that night.
Elizabeth's new digital camera, I just learned you have to be careful and excercise censorship as you never know what pictures your daughter will take when you are no looking. That is all I am going to say about that.

Josiah thought he needed his time in the spotlight too.

Birthday Party - round 3

The Mc Donald's birthday party

Another tradition we are starting with our kids is to let them chose the restaurant for thier birthday supper. Elizabeth chose Mc Donald's, and she wanted to take Addi. No surprises there :)

Chad let Elizabeth open her present before we ate, while it kept them happy while we waited for the food, it was a struggle for the girls to understand that we needed to eat when the food did arrive.
I don't even have to explain this picture.

Birthday party - round 2

Again, sorry for the late posting, but I figure as long as I get it caught up, that is the point. Here is my parents with Elizabeth, grandma and papa.

Here is Chad's parent's with Elizabeth, nana and grandpa.

Opening presents and actually sharing nicely with Kaden.

Her haul for the day.

It was a great day - thanks everyone for the gifts. Elizabeth is the reigning Candyland champ, anyone want to challenge her?

The cake

So I got this idea to teach myself how to make fabulous birthday cakes for my kids. I have always been a fan of cake decorating and shows like "Ace of Cakes." Every year I have bought Elizabeth's cakes, and usually paid more than I am comfortable with, however I thought, if I could just teach myself how to do this, I could save money and give my kids something special and really tailored to their own tastes and dreams. Here is the cake before I assembled it. I originally planned to do complete made from scratch cakes, but my mom who happened to visit that weekend talked me out of it. So I doctored cake mixes to make a very moist chocolate cake and a white sour cream almond cake. I purchased these lovely square pans from a hole in the wall craft store on East University in Des Moines call Claytons. They are owned by a couple in their 80's who I am pretty sure live in the rear of the store. However they are computerized and will help you with absolutely anything that you need. They had more cake decorating stuff than any chain store I had visited in Des Moines. Since we had to bake one layer at a time, it took all day, and more buttercream than you can shake a stick at. But we persevered, and here we are.

Here is the assembled cake at the party. Candles and everything.
Just a few more touches.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!

Still catching up - a night in costume

So the night started off with two men in the sky. Still hasseling with the antenna, to which I am greatly opposed. To Chad, a better picture is just one adjustment away. Can I tell you how many times he has adjusted this thing?????
Here is the line up of trouble. Alexia, Kora, Josiah, Elizabeth, Kaden and Grant.

Trying to strike a pose.

The cutest frog on the block. At least he learned how to say ribbit that night :)