Happy 4th Birthday Lia!!!

And here is the big moment!  Next birthday, we will have to implement the consequence of 'No Birthday Cake' if you blow out your sibling's birthday candles!!!

Lia's 4th Birthday Cake

Around our house, the big topic of conversation, as your birthday approaches, or perhaps the day before your birthday, goes something like this:  "What do you want on your birthday cake this year?", asks the Mommy who is starting to panic because no birthday cake has been made and party guests are coming the next day or maybe in a few hours!  And then birthday child will say... "Mommy I want a ____ cake with ____ on it."  And Mommy will scramble to make that happen.  Lia was indecisive about her cake and party theme so we spent some time on Walmart's website and it was decided that we would do a Hello Kitty birthday this year.  I was happy because Hello Kitty is simple!  At Walmart, after looking at all the options, Lia still wanted Hello Kitty.  I was hoping to buy a Hello Kitty cake pan and decorate it with the star icing tip like I did for David's cake a few years ago... but they didn't have it that at Walmart.  They did have cupcake tower which we all thought would be fabulous so we added that to our cart and headed home to get to work!

 Lia picked chocolate cake this year!  Everybody likes chocolate cake.

 Lia was so blessed to have her Godmother here to help her make the cupcakes!  It is such a big deal for my kids to "help" make their cakes.

And what a BIG girl with the mixer!

Licking the mixer attachments is the best part!

There was enough batter left to make a small round cake in addition to the cupcakes.  This was a very good think since my Walmart cupcake stand was missing a few key pieces and needed to be returned!  Lia is adding the sprinkles here.

It came out pretty cute.  Typically, Hello Kitty does not have a mouth.... but Lia wanted a smiley face so there it is.

Here is our make-shift cupcake tower.  The star candles really made it festive.  Emily was very proud to ice the cupcakes with her fancy frosting spatulas (thank you Peg!) and it all came out really special for Lia's 4th birthday.

I think she was quite pleased with the results!  Happy Birthday Sweetie!  Love you.

Aunt Stacey and Cousin Anthony!

Chris went on a big trip to China and Thailand in early February so I was very lucky to have my sister-in-law and nephew come and visit while he was away!  The kids were so excited to have their baby cousin to play with.   They set up a play area for Anthony with just about every pillow in the house so he wouldn't fall down and hurt himself.  They brought out all their toys and did everything they could think of to make him smile and laugh. 

Lia is being a Mama Bear here.

Cousins!

Bedtime Craziness!

Happy Anthony - So fun to have a baby in the house again!

David still drawing!

David spends quite a bit of time drawing every day.  I took some pictures of his latest creations.  He has enjoyed the Usborne How to Draw People, and Usborne How to Draw Animal Books.

Bee Family

Turtle Family



Monkey Family



The Soccer Game



The Farm

Fire and Ice Volcano

I am a bit tardy updating my blog.  We are already well into February and I haven't posted since the first of the year!  David received this Fire and Ice volcano kit from Tony and Leisa.  It is the coolest kit ever!  We found the traditional eruption experiment with baking soda reacting with vinegar to work the best.  The second experiment called for club soda which was difficult to find at Walmart.  I found it at Kroger in the liquor section but when we went to open it... it exploded all over me, the table, the floor... and then the eruption using this "key" ingredient wasn't the least bit impressive so we are never buying club soda again!  Yes, rant.

All ready to go!

The Super-Cool Ice volcano.  The base lights up so it glows in the dark!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with my parents and were finally able to exchange our Christmas presents since we were unable to get together on Christmas day.  Chris made it a very joyous occasion by spoiling us all with grilled lobster and prawns.  (It is becoming quite the perk to be married to a grill-master.)  He also did a great job stuffing my parent's stockings for them and the kids had fun being the elves and handing out presents. 

And believe it or not, everyone made it to midnight!  And then we all went straight to bed.  Here is Lia enjoying her Melissa and Doug cookie set.  The penguin bath toys were a big hit too.

She has her oven mitt on here... "Cookies are hot when they come out of the oven."

Christmas Dinner at Pop Pop's House

Our family gathered at Pop Pop's house on December 28th to have the annual Christmas Dinner.  It was a beautiful, cool, sunny day and we were all able to enjoy being outdoors and the cousins were able to toss the football around.  We joked that it felt like we were out on the beach with all the folding chairs.  This was our first Christmas without Nonna and her presence was certainly missed when it came to figuring out how much meat to buy, where everyone would sit, and how to get all the food out on time.  That said, everyone in the family pulled together to make this meal a success and it was very joyous.  KG planned the seating, Tom cooked all the meat, many prepared appetizers and desserts, and everyone ate till they popped!  Pop Pop was very happy because he knew Nonna would want us all to be together enjoying our family.  And we did!

Stacey and Steven gave Pop Pop a Twin #1 shirt to wear with his grandson, twin #2.  Their baby pictures look amazingly similar as you can see below.

Here is a picture of 4 generations.  Pop Pop, his son Rob, his grandaughter Cheryl, and great grandaughter Aliyah.  What blessings!

My kiddos were very smitten with baby Anthony.  They could not get enough of him.

Anthony with his Mommy Stacey, and Aunt Cortney.  If you look closely, his bib reads 'Stud.' 

David and Uncle Rob.

 Emily and Uncle Tom