Annie's Birthday

My little Anne girl is four!  She was so excited to have her grandma and uncle here for her birthday.  We celebrated all day.  In the morning we prepped cupcakes and then some of her friends came over for a party. 

Here's the excited princess before the party.

Logan was equally excited.

A couple of days before I cut out hearts and stars from some leftover fondant I had and let them dry.  The morning of I filled the cupcakes with vanilla pudding like I did for Alex, and then Mom and I decorated in the simplest possible manner.   My goals for Annie's cupcakes: 1. To buy nothing at the store, 2. To use up the leftover fondant, 3. To use up the leftover frosting from Alex's birthday, 4. To make them tasty.  Ta da!

The kids played for a while.  Then I called them upstairs for lunch.  I made breadsticks the night before, and pizza that morning.  I couldn't believe how well those kids ate!  I guess I picked the right lunch to feed them.

While still at the table, we sang to Annie and handed out cupcakes.

The cupcakes were a hit, but very few kids finished.  I guess they weren't hungry.  :)

I took a picture of all of Annie's friends.  Here is Declan.  (I was feeding him fondant while his mom wasn't looking.  Hee hee.  She didn't mind.)

Alex

Carson

Eliza

Hannah

Pierson

Paisley

Logan

Brynlee

Corey

They enjoyed themselves.

Her friends brought her some really fun gifts.  She's been enjoying them a lot.  After presents the party was over.  It was a very simple, noisy, fun party. 

That evening we went to the park.  We started with a little teeball.

Teeball didn't last long, so we ended up at the playground where Jim met up with us.

After the playground we had round 2 of presents.  We'd saved all of the family presents for when Jim could be home.  This included family presents for Alex.

Sarah sent Annie this fun dress-up skirt.

Annie was very excited about this doll that my mom brought her. 

We had almost as big a mess as Christmas!  The sleeping bag and camp chair were for Alex from Mom and Sarah.  We'd saved our gift of sand toys for him for that night.  Annie also had a couple of cute dresses from Sarah, some clothes and waterbottle from us, and a gift card from Papa (my dad).  We need to take her shopping.

The final big present was from Jim's parents.  They sent a tricycle for each of the birthday kids!  Jim put together one that night.  Alex has been thoroughly enjoying it ever since.

Mom and Josh Come to Visit

My mom and brother, Josh, came to visit during their Spring Break last month.  SO FUN.  We had such a wonderful visit.  The only thing that would have made it better is if it had been longer.

They arrived on Saturday evening.  We had dinner, visited, and my mom and I went shopping a bit.

On Sunday we went to church and had a relaxing day.  Silliness was on the agenda every day.

A pre-church photo shoot by my mom.  (BTW, most of these pictures are from her.)

On Monday we did some prep for Annie's birthday party (that day is a different post).  My mom thought it was funny that the kids were getting into the flour and making a mess while I was making breadsticks.

Also on Monday, we went to the Amana Colonies.

We had so much fun at a popcorn shop.  The gal working there was so nice to let us sample everything we wanted; we probably sampled a whole bag worth!  We did buy several bags, though, so hopefully it was worth her while.  :)  The Man Cave was next door, and we were having a VERY silly day. 

We visited the rocking chair, of course, and played with the fun wooden toys in the shop.

Do we look ready to pull a wagon?

Mom visited Fabio in the outhouse.  Except, she informed us that he is really Billy Ray Cyrus.  Should I trust the sign or my mom?  I don't know.

We played on the old tractors.

We also visited a few shops and had lots of laughs at the signs they were selling.  My favorite was, "It's hard to stay optimistic when your fat jeans become your skinny jeans," and, "I used to skinny dip; now I chunky dunk."  We really had a fun day.

This picture is out of order; I think this was Sunday morning.

Also Sunday morning...

Skip Tuesday because that is another post, and on to Wednesday.

Wednesday and Thursday we went to Nauvoo.  The weather was so nice and the visitors were few so we had a really relaxed visit.  On our way over the Mississippi River, we had to wait for the drawbridge because a barge was coming through.  That was kind of neat, but time consuming.  I'm glad we weren't in a hurry.

The kids helped take care of the lawns at the visitor's center...

The flowers were beautiful.

So were the bushes and trees.

We went on the carriage ride the first day.  That was fun, except for the moment Alex almost fell off his seat when we crossed the creek.  He was a tad scared, but recovered quickly.

Here we are waiting for the carriage ride.

We stayed in a two bedroom, two bathroom condo overnight for $67.  Talk about a fantastic price!  If we hadn't had out of town guests with us, it would have been only $50 because we live in the temple district!  The only pictures I took during Nauvoo were these ones of the condo.  Hehe. 

Anyway, the kids and I took a break in the condo while my mom and Josh went to the temple during late afternoon.  Alex had a nap, and I made dinner.   

That evening we went to the play that the senior missionaries put on each night.  We really enjoyed the humor in it.  The kids even got to sit on the front row, so they really enjoyed it.  I actually ended up on the front row as well (reserved only for kids), because Alex wasn't keeping to his seat.  The next day all of the missionaries recognized us!  I was a little embarrassed, but they understood.

On Thursday we saw more of Nauvoo.  Logan took this picture of the Mississippi River.

We also went on the wagon ride.  (Obviously we aren't on it in this picture...)

We visited the old burial grounds and found an ancestor!  That was pretty exciting.  He's my great great great grandfather (I think...there may be one more 'great').

"In Memory of William Casper who died August 5, 1846, aged 62 Y 5 D."

A random picture in Nauvoo...

This is at the burial grounds.

We went home early that evening and just enjoyed visiting.  On Friday, Mom and Josh headed home.  What a nice visit!

Alex