Liv's 4th Birthday

Liv has been anxiously awaiting her birthday ever since her last birthday.  And ever since she saw Frozen in the theatres she has been wanting and "Elsa Birthday party".  I thought she may change her mind since that was last Christmas, but the desire did not abate.

My babysitter, Carolyn, made her an Elsa cake.
 It was beautiful until I dropped a can on it, smooshing it just a little.  But, I was able to cover it up with some candles and an Elsa figurine.  We had it all arranged to have a neighborhood girl dress up like Elsa and sing let it go and such for next to nothing, but unfortunately she moved to New York right before her birthday.  So, we got a professional Elsa.  But, it was sooooo worth it.  It was the easiest party I have ever thrown.  Maybe we can just repeat next year?  

Liv wanted to invite everyone in the neighborhood age 2-10 boys included (I swear).  We had 25 kids at her party!  Plus, Babi and Papou came out for the event and I'm so glad I had them as extra helpers!  We served easy food- a frozen punch (frozen blue Hawaiian punch and sprite), Olaf noses- carrot sticks, Sven antlers- pretzel sticks, Elsa snowballs- powdered sugar doughnut holes, and Kristoff ice- blue jello cut in cubes.

I set out a bunch of crayons and frozen coloring pages at a bunch of tables for the kids to color as they arrived. 

Elsa arrived 30 minutes later and had all the girls (and boys though they didn't want to admit it) mesmerized for a solid half hour.  Love this picture you can see the intent girls and the boys hiding by the apple tree, but just as intent.

She sang lines from songs of all the Disney princesses, told the Frozen story as she flipped the pages of a book and kinda let the kids insert portions, gave a princess lesson on how to curtsey and be polite

and then took a group photo and individual photos with each kids (and Babi and Papou).

Then, we sang happy birthday, ate cake, and let Liv open her presents. 

Liv handed out party favors that said "Do you want to build a snowman?" with edible snowman making supplies (marshmallows, pretzel stick, chocolate chips, candy corn).  The party was a hit!  The kids loved it, I loved it, Liv loved it....so great all around!

Liv got WAY too much stuff for her birthday (I guess the result of inviting 25 people to her party and grandparents that spoil her), but a few things got pictured.

Derek, the boys, and I got her an art easel to go with some paints and paint brushes she got.

 This has been a constant source of anxiety ever since.  We keep it in her room, but whenever the boys find a way in there they get into the markers and color on surfaces that are not ideal like her comforter or the wall.  Luckily the markers are very washable, but it is still annoying and the paints are up high and so far have only been used once (pictured here):
My dad got her a Frozen poster for her room which was put up immediately
and a princess sleeping bag and pillow- what's not to like?  This is Liv's cute friend, Chelsea whom she spends her days playing with now that Kennedy is gone at school all day.

A friend got her a baby stroller. I don't know how we didn't have one till now.  All the kids love it.  Don't tell Liv this is what the boys do with it when she is at school.
Bless whoever got her some clip on earrings!  It seems to have appeased her enough that she is not longer asking me to put holes in her ears.

Poppi's Wedding

We drove out to Reno at the beginning of September to attend my Dad's wedding.  We left Thursday night after work and just drove as far as Elko.  The kids were pretty fussy and Liv I think got carsick and threw up, so it wasn't the best drive.  The boys finally fell asleep just as we were arriving in Elko then promptly woke up as soon as they realized the excitement of staying in a hotel.  All the kids ran all around the room, jumping on the beds and could not settle down.  It brought back childhood memories of staying in hotel rooms and jumping across the space between two beds pretending there were alligators in between.

Derek and I were exhausted.  We laid all the kids down and turned out the lights.  Carter kept climbing out of his crib (as soon as we got home from this trip we moved the boys into toddler beds) and running around the room in the dark bumping into things.  Camden kept crying because Carter was out of his crib and he wanted out too.  Liv was actually the easiest just laying quietly next to me probably wishing they would just go to bed just like me.  Eventually, everyone fell asleep.

In the morning, we had breakfast then let the kids swim.  Surprisingly (or not so), we were the only ones crazy enough to use the pool at 8 am.  The kids were much happier on the drive on Friday.  We made the usual Winnemucca McDonalds playplace lunch stop.  Then shortly after that, we got a flat tire!  We stopped at the side of the road and Derek got to change it out for our spare.  Then, we stopped in Fernley at a tire store that didn't have the right size tire and couldn't repair the tire.  It was right next to a dollar tree so we let each of the kids pick one thing while we waited for them to figure out they couldn't help us.  Then, we stopped again in Sparks.  We got to buy 4 new tires (an unplanned expense)!  Luckily, this tire shop was right by Scheels, so Liv and I rode the ferris wheel, we looked at the fish tanks, let the kids play on the indoor climbing gym, and had a free sample of fudge


Then, we pretty much drove straight to the rehearsal dinner.  Derek got to hang with the boys while Liv and I "rehearsed."

The thing I have learned to love and hate about weddings is that it seems to gather all your family members in one place and often family members that you hardly see.  However, you are usually so busy that you don't even feel like you get to spend any time with them.  That's how this wedding was.  My aunt Kathy, whom I haven't seen since before I had kids was there, and all my siblings that I don't get to see nearly enough, and Grams, but I feel like hardly got to talk to them at all.

Saturday before the wedding, Kylie arranged for Liv and I to go horse back riding with her boyfriend's Mom.  Derek took the boys to target while we rode.  I guess the lady at the target food court gave Derek a second bag of popcorn for free because they were so cute.

Liv was in heaven, and she loved to go fast (reminds me of myself...I got bucked off a pony once because I kept kicking them trying to get them to go faster). 
Liv really wanted to walk the horse herself, so we let her.

The boys got a turn too.

The wedding was nice.  Cowboy theme.  Liv was ecstatic to get to be the flower girl.
The boys were so cute, but sort of terrors. Not that I would know, Derek did a fabulous job of keeping them contained.

Then, we made it through pictures and a late dinner following the wedding.  Lynn had this cute little kids table set up with tons of snack food and candy and stickers and coloring books little toys.  The kids were soooo good.

Then, the next day we drove the whole way home.  The drive home was uneventful and the kids did great!

Grotto Hike

Over Labor Day weekend we took the kids to Payson Canyon to try out the Grotto hike.
We had heard it was pretty cool with a little waterfall at the end and short enough that the kids could walk.  We didn't bring backpacks, so everyone walked.   Carter found the traditional stick to carry.


And, we carried the boys a little on the way up and had to watch them close because there was a lot of little bridges going over rivers as part of the trail. 
The kids loved the grotto at the end.