Asher’s 7th birthday party

Today was Asher’s birthday party.  We decided to keep it pretty low-key this year because Asher didn’t really want many decorations or fuss.  He said he just wanted some friends over to have fun and play games.  He chose a Star Wars theme, so I had a little bit of fun coming up with a few things.  My girls are totally opposite and want a huge celebration, so it’s kind of hard to scale back for Asher!  Anyway, it ended up being just a couple close friends who came over and was exactly the low-key party he wanted.  He had a blast! 

The decorations were simple – black and white.  For food, I took some help from the Internet to give me some catchy ideas.  A few of them I came up with on my own (or at least, I think I did…I’m sure someone else far more clever than me has come up with them before, but I can pretend ).  We had Vader veggies with Driod dip, Ewok eggs, fruit sabers, pizza the Hutt, Fett fudge, and Yoda soda.  For cake I just did cupcakes that I formed to look like a light saber.  Or, that was the idea at least.  Didn’t really turn out that well. 

We played a few games, but mostly the boys just wanted to jump on the trampoline and run around.  They played “pass the death star” (just a partially deflated child-sized basketball that I wrapped with a few layers of foil), death star relay races, and then an impromptu game of dodge ball.  Asher got some really fun presents from his buddies, and then it was back to playing!

Cambria took a break from all the party craziness to do some coloring.  I just think she’s adorable no matter what she does. 

Asher loved his Yoda soda!

It was a super fun party for Asher.  Thanks to everyone who came and helped us celebrate!

Asher’s 7th birthday

Our sweet boy is 7 years old today!  He was very excited about his birthday and came in our room bright and early (6am!) begging to open presents.  We had planned to wait until after school to open them, but we agreed to let him open one before school.  We frustrated him by taking way too long to get up and get dressed (no longer than normal, but of course to an anxious 7 year old a whole 10 minutes of waiting seems like an eternity!), and then it was finally time.  He tore through that gift so fast I hardly had time to snap a picture!  It was a new video game from Daddy, and he was super excited about it!  <3  (Totally unrelated side note: our walls look like a nasty pea green in these pictures!  I don’t know why…)

 

After school he got to open the rest of his presents.

 

 

 

Kyrie was so sweet and got the table all set up for the birthday boy’s dinner!  If you look closely at the plate of cookies, you can see she formed the ones at the top into the shape of the letter A. 

For dinner we had all of Asher’s favorites shrimp (scampi), asparagus,and sautéed mushrooms.

 

Then for dessert we had a carrot cake that Bri and I made during the day.

 

He loved his new Transformer toy from Aunt Abby, Uncle James, Logan, Noah, and Ben so much that he took it with him to the table!    Normally we don’t allow toys at the table, but we made an exception this time.

 

And here’s a little comparison – Asher when he was just 2 days old and the big 7 year old (who was too excited about opening gifts this morning to let Mom comb his hair before pictures ).

Happy birthday to Asher!

Kyrie’s birthday party

So a few weeks ago, Derk was talking to Kyrie about her upcoming birthday and said, “Hey, why don’t you have a sleepover with a few of your friends for your birthday?”  I hate sleepovers, so I gave him a little glare.  Then he went on, “How about if you invite, oh….7-8 of your friends?”  I stopped him right there and asked him if he had ANY idea what he was getting himself (read: ME) into.  He said, all innocently, “What?  How bad could it be?  It’s just a few friends sleeping over…”  I told him getting 8-9 girls together for a sleepover is a recipe for disaster (not in a bad way, of course – just NO sleep, lots of noise, lots of mess, etc).  He insisted it would be fine, so I decided to let him learn his lesson.  The hard way.   

It turned out that Kyrie’s good friend Brianna has a birthday around the same time, and the girls had unknowingly planned their parties on the same weekend.  When talking to her mom, we decided we’d just have a fun joint party for the girls instead!  We said we’d host the party at our house, and she said if we were going to be THAT brave (see, SHE knew how crazy it would be! ) she would be more than willing to provide ALL the food and decorations!  Sounded like a deal to me!  The girls had a lot of fun setting up their own party table.

We ended up having 8 girls, and it was beyond crazy.  They were quite a diverse group of girls, let me tell you.  One girl said she’s not allowed to eat food at anyone else’s house, one girl was beyond rude the WHOLE time and refused to do what we asked (to the point where I threatened to send her home…), and one girl would drop to the floor at random times and start doing sit ups (LOL!).  They had lots of fun playing games, jumping on the trampoline, eating pizza/snacks, and watching movies.  Instead of cake, I just made cupcakes and let the girls have a blast decorating their own.  You know, cause letting 8 girls get hyped up on sugar when they’re spending the night at YOUR house is the way to go…

 

Cupcake time for the birthday girls.

 

Here are the 2 best buddies after opening gifts!

It was a loooooooooooooong process getting those girls to settle down and go to sleep.  We told them around 10 that it was time to put on a movie and start calming down, but they didn’t actually end up falling asleep until after 2am.  And that’s only because Derk finally went out there and threatened them that he was going to sleep with them if they didn’t GO TO SLEEP.    It was so fun for Kyrie, and that’s the most important part!  Although I am sure I Derk learned his lesson about large groups of 10 year old girls at slumber parties. 

Kyrie is 10!

How is this possible?!  Seems like only yesterday she was this little sweetie:

And now she’s a wonderful, beautiful, too-smart-for-her-own-good 10 year old!  She is growing up so fast and is now becoming such an amazing young lady.

She had a great birthday.  We started by opening gifts because what kid is patient enough to wait until AFTER breakfast?!    She was thrilled with her gifts.  She got lots of clothes, some jewelry, and some fun hair and nail stuff.  I was most excited about our 2 big gifts to her – a new comforter and Converse, both of which she has been begging for forEVER.  Her reaction did not disappoint. 

After presents, we had cinnamon rolls – Kyrie’s request for her birthday breakfast.  I had never made them from scratch before, and it was definitely a bit of a learning process.  And by that I mean I need to learn to read ALL the directions before I dive right in.    Here’s the birthday girl, thoroughly enjoying her breakfast!

Happy birthday to our Kyrie! 

Belated birthday presents

(Disclaimer: I know I missed a post about my birthday, but I’m in denial that I’m turning 30 next year.    No, the honest truth is that *I’M* the picture-taker, so since it was my own birthday the pictures just didn’t happen!  But I did have a wonderful day!)

Derk’s parents decided they were coming down to visit us for Christmas this year, and so since they were coming down they just brought birthday presents for Bri and I with them to avoid expensive shipping.  They arrived tonight, and the first thing they did was give us our presents.    Cambria got a Barbie scooter with light up wheels and she LOOOOOOOOOOOVES it!!!  I haven’t seen her that excited in a long time! 

I got a really pretty sweater and some foot scrub stuff!  Unfortunately the sweater is too big.    But it’s just gorgeous!  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

Thanks, Mom and Dad!  <3  We are so glad you are here!!

Cambria’s actual birthday

With her party out of the way yesterday, we just had a nice family day today.  Cambria decided she wanted to check out the Yuma Conservation Garden, which is a little area you can walk around and see all sorts of stuff.  We fed the ducks and geese, saw lots of cool cacti and other desert plants, and saw some really neat antique farm equipment.  Here’s the birthday girl walking into the garden with her bucket of pellets for the ducks and geese, wearing her new dress and carrying her new camera (in her pink library bag).  She kept coming up to me all day, giving me a HUGE hug, and saying, “Mom, have I told you how much I LOVE my new camera?!  I LOVE IT, Mom!!!  Thank you!!!”  <3

 

A couple shots from inside the garden.

Kyrie wasn’t too into the farm equipment, so I only managed to get this one shot of her.  She was actually TERRIFIED to climb up for this photo.  But then when she saw her brother fearlessly climb up and demand his photo be taken, she decided she was brave enough.    She is literally hanging onto that bar for dear life!  So funny.

 

Asher and Bri loved it, though!

I had to snap a picture of Bri’s little footprint her shoes left in the sand.  I love the little hearts. 

Speaking of feet, I also snapped this one.

After we got home, we had her birthday dinner.  She asked for chili and cornbread.  She got phone calls from a few family members, which she thought was so cool.  Then she fell into bed, completely tuckered out, snuggled up under her new comforter and in her new bathrobe.  (Note: it was her last night with her “baby”… so bittersweet.  )

Happy birthday to our beautiful girl!  I love my little Bri Bri.