This year for Halloween Clara was a pumpkin fairy, Jake was Nemo, and Connor was a Lego! It's so fun to see their personalities come out in the costumes they pick!
Connor was not happy with me here....can you tell?
I could leave her in front of this mirror all day....she loves smiling at herself!
Clara was definately outnumbered by boys in our house this day! It was boy heaven full of sugar, guns, cars, scooters, bikes, balloons, and friends! Connor had a scooter themed party (which was his present) so all his friends brought their own scooters or bikes. We decorated their "vehicles" with streamers and balloons and then rode to the park behind us. They played on the playground a while and headed back for cake and presents. What a fun crazy day! I know Connor had a blast....which is what matters, right? ;-)
Playing at the park from left: Ryan Chadwick, Payton Stuart, and Jakie boy
All the food was even scooter themed! :-)
They made scooters out of nutter butters, mini oreos, and pretzels
Connor opening his scooter on Sunday.....can you tell its right after nap time? Happy birthday Connor boy, we love having your goofy, smart, energetic spirit in our family!
Our Jakie boy turned 3 years old this Sunday-where in the world does time go? I sat him down and let him look at my favorite 3 boy themes from Karaspartyideas.blogspot.com (careful-I can spend all day on this site!) and pick which he like best. The UP won-I think mostly because of all the balloons! So, since I really wanted to also do a rainbow themed party-I just combined the two. One of my favorite shows is Cake Boss and I was so excited to finally have an excuse to try decorating my own cake! I made my fondant with marshmallows and powdered sugar, which is so much cheaper and tastes better than store bought fondant. Since it was my first time working with the stuff, I'm hoping for connor's birthday cake it will be a little faster and easier!
Here's me trying to work in the rainbow into the cake! :-) You can also see the little water bottles I filled with the colors of the rainbow in Kool-Aid. I also made fruit rainbow Shish-ka-bobs! So fun!
Having fun looking at Jake's new presents
This was the only time I saw him standing still-he watched like 20 seconds of the movie UP
Clara and Macey Stuart-they're 3 weeks apart and I love that they're both little fatso's!
Jakie and Maddy-these two and like two peas in a pod-they crack me up when they get together!
Last week Maddison asked Shannon if she can kiss Jake when she grows up! LOL, I thought that was too cute!
What a bunch of goofballs!
Since Jake's actual birthday was on Sunday, we let him open his birthday present after church-an orange scooter! He was SOO excited and said, "Is it my very own scooter?!?" Poor guy shares almost everything with Connor and gets all his hand-me-downs so it was a treat to get something just for him! We love you to pieces Jakie boy and are so lucky you're in our family!
Almost everyone invited was out of town on their summer vacations, but I always love having a smaller more intimate group to enjoy!
Our red, white, and blue drinks. You put ice in a tall glass (the ice is key so the liquids don't all mix) and layer cranberry juice, blue gatorade, and 7-up! Yummy and so cute!
My first time making a red velvet cake, and turned out oh-so-yummy and moist! I should have taken a picture after it was cut!
These centerpieces are made of paper towel and toilet paper rolls! Just wrap them in tissue paper and put a pipe cleaner sticking out the top and embellish with vintage images, lace, ribbon, glitter, etc.! So easy, cheap, and cute!
My patriotic entryway. I made these apothecary jars and fill them different with each holiday. For easter they had sticks, moss, and robins eggs! So easy and fun to fill throughout the year!
The favors we handed out full of patriotic candy, soap, and lifesavers wrapped in paper with ribbon sticking out to look like mini firecrackers.
I took this picture before most of the goodies were placed out, but you get the idea! 
Clara is so lucky to have 2 brothers that adore her so much!
Brotherly love.....sometimes!
No matter what time of day it is-my kids love getting in the bath at Grandma Colvins!
Love this one! She looks just like I did when I was a baby here!
When she smiles, she smiles with her whole body! 
Don't you just want to squeeze her fat little cheeks!
We finally went to a playdate in our new ward and this was todays activity: Picking blackberries! What a fun idea! They give you gloves and a bucket and you walk between orchard rows and pick all the blackberries you want! They had 3 huge rows full and I was surprised how many other people were there! The boys loved it-except when they would fight over who got to pick the blackberries I would find for them. Clara did not enjoy it at all-she was tired and the sun was in her eyes the whole time. I think everyone in the orchard could hear her! But it was a lot of fun and the next thing to pick is apricots when they're ready! 
