Evan Turns 9

We are a little late in posting, but 3 weeks ago Evan turned 9.  I still can't believe he is 9 already.

 He decided on a Skylanders theme for his party (a video game the kids have gotten into this year).  Brandon made another great cake, this one with one slice representing each of the 8 different elements.  Evan loved it. 

The kids colored a bunch of pictures of Skylanders characters and put all of theirs on the mantle to decorate.  So easy and fun.  We still have the coloring up 3 weeks later because the kids are still enjoying it.

Love his surprised look, especially after we found out afterwards Kyle had a hard time not telling what we bought him and had already spilled the beans.  Evan covered for him pretty well.

 He has finally learned to actually read the cards and not just shake for money and throw them to the side.  He still shakes, but then reads the cards.  Baby steps.

 An actual surprise. More Skylanders characters.  The kids play with them on the game, and then set them up and use them as action figures.  They see a significant amount of playtime every day I think.

 His own MP3 player and headphones.  So funny to see him walking around the house singing with his headphones in.

 He is looking older and older - still not sure I love that.  It's fun to see who he is growing up to be, and see his interests coming out more, but I still miss my baby boy.

 For his actual birthday I made cupcakes in the colors of the elements with simple printed toppers.  Much easier than Brandon's decorating job but still a crowd pleaser.

 All of the neighborhood kids and one of his buddies from school came over to eat cupcakes and sing to him.  My kind of kid party, and one very happy birthday boy. 

Camping

 The last weekend before school started we went camping with our friends/neighbors.  We had a blast and all 11 kids got along great.  I think it will have to be a yearly event.  Sadly I appear to have only taken pictures of the archery portion of our trip.  Too much fun being had to get out the camera.

Utah

 I flew to Utah with my parents and sisters family the end of August for my cousins wedding.  I missed Brandon and the kids, but it was nice to get away for a few days.

 We went to BYU - one of the few things on my list of things to do.  It has changed a lot since I was there.

 Lucky Camille was there a few weeks before us and told us about this photo op.  It was raining so we didn't explore much, but it was fun to see it all again.

 My buddy for the weekend.  Without my kids around I could just play with Paige and not be yelled at by my jealous children.  It was fun to get to be an aunt for a few days. Play and play, then give her back when she was grumpy or needed a diaper change.

  Paige danced the night away at the reception.

Sunday morning MoTab.  We lucked into a week where they had the orchestra and the bells too.  

Temple square before we headed home.  It was an exhausting trip squeezing in everything we wanted to see and do, but we managed it all (except I only got Cafe Rio once).  I'm excited to go down again with Brandon and the kids so we can show the kids all of the traditional Utah stuff.

Spokane

Brandon had to do training in Spokane for the first few weeks of summer.  His work rented him a 2 bedroom apartment for his time there so we decided to all go with him one week.

 The complex was new so our building didn't have landscaping yet.  I love Grace's hair in this picture.

 The kids loved the bike racks.

 We somehow didn't take any pictures, but we were right on a trail that runs along the river so we went out for a few walks to wear the kids out so we didn't drive our neighbors crazy while we were in the apartment all day waiting for Brandon to get off work.

 We found a cute park one day.

We spent a little while walking around Gonzaga's campus.  It has some gorgeous old buildings.

 The day before we were supposed to come home Brandon got a job offer and accepted it.  It meant we were leaving earlier than we planned, so we took the kids out swimming in the morning.  People thought we were crazy out swimming at 10 (the weather in Spokane was not great that week).

 Lucky we brought warm towels because the kids noticed the cold weather when they got out the pool.  It was a fun week and a nice break from the norm. I'm thankful Brandon doesn't have to go do anymore 6 week trainings out of town though.

Birthday Girl

 Last month our baby turned 4.  I think I'm still a bit in denial that my youngest is 4 years old already, but she is.  She asked to open one present in the morning before her party, and she got a purple purse - just like she asked for.  I didn't know where I was going to find one, but at the last minute happened across this one at Target, the last of its kind, and she loves it.

 No fancy birthday cereal for this girl, she just wanted Cheerios.  

 Posing with the picture she made at church. She was very proud of it.

Brandon created yet another birthday cake masterpiece.  This is Pascal from Tangled, just like she wanted.

Floating lanterns, as requested.

 It is pretty fun to get to do a girl party.  Flynn Ryder wanted posters - thank you Pinterest.

 We made a sunburst banner, which if you've seen Tangled would make sense.  I made the little Pascals on the mantle too.

  She is obsessed with all things Rapunzel, so we bought her Halloween costume and let her wear it that day.  So funny to see her with long blonde hair.

 Gifts.  Grace has no problem being the center of attention.

 Another random request, a princess ice pack for her lunch box. 

Overall she was a very happy birthday girl. She loved her party, her decorations, and all of the attention.  Apparently I didn't take pictures of her guests, but she had all of us,  Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Jean, Grammie, Gramps, Katie, Ben, and Paige.  We left the decorations up until last week when it was time for the next party just so she could keep enjoying them.  So glad we have our beautiful, crazy girl.