Jammies and Cupcakes

Last week we did a little friend birthday party for our now 6 year old Emma. :) Since we did a big sweet shop party for her last year, I wanted to keep it small and simple this year - we decided to simplify with FREE games that I wouldn't have to buy stuff for, and invite just a few friends... so she decided to invite the girls from her CTR 5 primary class. A while back, Emma and I thought it would be fun to do a pajama party - so we did a little 'night-time' theme with it and Emma really seemed to be pleased with it....






We had pizza and fruit for dinner when the girls arrived and then we played musical pillows (instead of musical chairs) - each of the girls conveniently took turns winning and everyone won glow bracelets. :) Afterwards, we ate cupcakes and opened presents. Then we made muddy buddies for a movie snack. Mmmm. That stuff is so delicious! All the girls then got comfy in the living room and watched Cinderella with their treat they helped make and some popcorn....






Our after-movie entertainment included making toilet paper "dresses" (but looked more like mummies), and then a quick round of princess memory. All the games were a hit and I didn't even have to prepare anything. :) The best part of the party was that Emma has the sweetest little friends - they are all so fun and polite - it was a treat to have some of them join in on Emma's birthday celebration.


On Saturday morning, we were thankful to get to go the temple again while the Lee's watched our little ones; afterwards we all met up to eat at Firehouse Subs. This was my first time there, and I really loved it... if you're looking for a new place to try out - there are bunch of locations in Utah too, for those of you in that neck of the woods. :) The girls were then super excited to get to have their cousin Adam come home with us to play and spend the night. They all kept busy playing together... including some Kinect... and playdoh....




And here's a random picture from this afternoon. It's not really 'Popsicle weather' yet, but in Arizona you can get away with backyard Popsicle parties pretty much all year round... Jake couldn't smile I guess, because his mouth was rather full :)

Emma is 6!

My little Emma is no longer little! This started to hit me last year when she turned 5, probably because of Kindergarten just around the corner, but now that she is SIX, I just can't believe how grown up she is! I enjoyed going back through old pictures of her and seeing how much she really has grown up in just a short amount of time...

Newborn Pic! She was born on February 16th, 2005 in the late evening at UVRMC in Provo, Utah... it was SUCH an exciting day! We were so thrilled to see that she came out with reddish hair :)

6 months

1 year old

2 years old... look at those sweet curls!

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

My BIG 6 year old!

The day of her birthday was really fun... I decided I wanted to simplify the birthday festivities a bit, so Ben suggested that instead of letting her pick whatever she wanted for breakfast, to have her pick out any cereal she wanted from the grocery store for her b-day breakfast. I honestly think she was more excited about this than if I would have gone through the effort of making pancakes or waffles. She came to the grocery store with me the day before and wandered the long cereal isle for a little while and finally settled on Apple Jacks. :) I thought that was a funny one to pick, but she loved it come her b-day morning. She also took mini doughnuts to school for a birthday treat. I picked her up from the bus stop after school and we headed straight to the train park in Scottsdale. I had packed a lunch (picked out by Emma... she helped grab some treats and her favorite fruits at the grocery store along with the birthday cereal - this was WAY too fun for her!).... pb/honey sandwiches, capri suns, chips, fruit roll ups, raspberries, and kiwis... all Emma faves! After our picnic table lunch, we purchased our ride tickets and we all got to ride the train, and then the carousel twice - we also enjoyed the playground and a little ice cream treat. It was a great afternoon!

















That evening we had Emma's pick for dinner - fettuccine alfredo (and chocolate milk!). I've been using this recipe for years and we all absolutely love it! Emma eats it up like a dessert and she's an incredibly picky eater, so it makes me happy when she actually finds a dinner food she really enjoys. Ben brought home some birthday flowers for Emma - Emma's favorite color is purple, so she was thrilled with her daddy's pick of flowers for her. :)




Emma excitedly blew out her number 6 candle, then we opened presents, and ate cupcakes...



Emma got some hair accessories and bracelets, a Barbie car, running clothes, and twinkle toes shoes (Emma's been begging for these shoes all school year long... I made a special trip to the Anthem outlets just to get these shoes while she was at school - her face was worth it when she opened them up!)

And Jake REALLY enjoyed his cupcake...



Happy Birthday sweet Emma!

Valentines Weekend

I'm kind of sad that Valentines is over, because it's really one of my favorites... but I'm also starting to get my fill of hearts and pink and candy. Well, maybe not the candy part...haha. Becca and Jake went to Bellair playgroup for their Valentines party - they exchanged some valentines and colored and decorated yummy cupcakes - and ate them of course. They also had a darling little red frame and some props for taking some Valentines pictures outside - we gave it a try and they are pretty cute considering I'm not a photographer and I don't have a fancy camera (anyone want to buy me a fancy camera?... ben?!)




On Friday, Ben and I celebrated Valentines together - he made dinner reservations and I got a sitter... those are usually our assumed tasks when it comes to dates. We ate at Tutti Santi, a place we've dined at before, but many years ago - Ben enjoyed lobster ravioli and I loved my homemade gnocchi. I love Italian food! Ben spoiled me with 2 dozen lovely roses and some fancy chocolate truffles. They were all gone within 24 hours, enjoyed by yours truly. One of the many reasons I love Valentines. :) Well, I mostly love it because of Ben... he is wonderful.


On Saturday, we didn't do any Valentines activities, but it was very busy with family fun. The kids spent a small portion of the morning finishing up their weekly chores so that they'd be ready for Family Movie Night. Our current chore system continues to be successful, but it's definitely just as much my responsibility to remind the girls continually of the jobs they need to do, as it is theirs to actually get the chores completed. A lot of it is teaching them how to even do the chores and what the expectations are for it to be considered complete. Emma found that sweeping the back patio is much more fun while wearing roller skates. :) And Becca discovered that the vacuum is much bigger than her.




After chores, we packed up a lunch and headed to the Anthem outlets to play and shop around a bit for Emma birthday gifts and Ben clothes - Ben is all of a sudden skinny and nothing in his closet fits... it's been a constant process to try to restock his closet with new smaller clothes... probably not the worst problem to have however - haha.






When we finished up shopping, we headed straight to the movie theater... we decided that instead of watching a movie at home, we'd go see Gnomio and Juliet for our Family Movie Night. It was a cute movie! And we love when kids movies are just as entertaining for the adults. :)

On Sunday evening we had a Valentines/birthday celebration at Ben's parents home. Emma and Peter share a birthday (Feb 16th), which Emma loves! So, we were spoiled with Valentine gifts and a delicious red and pink dinner, and then Emma and Peter got to open some great birthday gifts and blow out the candles on a delicious chocolate cake made my Aunt Emily. Emma got some darling dresses, books, and doll house accessories from Grandma and Grandpa Dangerfield - the Lee's got Emma a new Fancy Nancy book and cute pj's. Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa Szymanski got Emma a Connect 4 game for her b-day while they were up visiting. She LOVES to play it! Emma has the greatest aunts, uncles, and grandparents... what a lucky girl!






On Monday (Valentines Day!), I got out the heart cookie cutter and made some heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. It's amazing to see how much more excited the kids are when the pancakes are shaped like something other than a circle. :) The girls then headed off to their Valentine parties at their school classes. Since I got to go to Becca's Christmas party, I decided that it was Emma's turn for me to visit her. I brought Jake along, which I thought might be a recipe for an early exit, but he did well and even got to decorate and eat his own Valentine cookie. He loved that! I love how excited Emma gets when I come to her classroom. She's such a cutie!


I checked Emma out of school about 20 minutes early so that she could just come with me to pick up Becca from preschool instead of having to take the bus home. As I pulled up to the home that Becca does preschool at, Emma and I both quickly laughed at the line-up of minivans waiting for their little ones. As a mom (especially a Mormon mom), this is the world I live in now... minivans everywhere! haha.


When we got home from school pick up, we did the same valentines lunch we had last year - heart shaped pb sandwiches, strawberry smoothies, and a handful of m&m's (for good measure). The kids were quick to dump out all their valentine loot from school and pass around their cards and treats... Jake collected a large amount of suckers from the girls and he sometimes would have 2 in his mouth at once. I dare to say that Jake loves Valentines day. ;) We also finished up our Valentine collage on the fridge from all the mailbox exchanging this month....


The girls helped me make sugar cookies (that we later decorated that night for FHE) - Emma was excited to wear her new apron set she got from Grandma Dangerfield for her birthday! When daddy came home he brought the girls their traditional valentine gifts of balloons and chocolate - can you tell they were excited?! We had a lot of cookies leftover too, so I packaged up some extras to take to friends. Oh, and the REALLY big balloon that Becca is holding in one of the pics, was given to her free from the Fry's play area... since it was the day after Valentines, I'm guessing they were trying to get rid of them. You should have seen her face when I picked her up after grocery shopping! That balloon is bigger than her!

Mom and Dad ♥

It's been such a great week! My parents drove down from Utah to visit me here in sunny AZ this past Friday. And we've had such a great time with them here. My mom and dad are wonderful!

On Saturday morning, Ben was busy volunteering as a medic at the Phoenix Open. He was so excited to get to be involved in a PGA Tour event! While he was enjoying being around the golfers, the rest of us got to work on Valentines. :) I'm not a big fan of buying the pre-made boxes of Valentines, if I can help it, for the kids classes, and I like having the girls help out as well - so after much searching I finally found a simple thumbprint Valentine idea. Dad tried to keep Jake entertained with Toy Story while mom and I worked with the girls and whipped out about 80 Valentine cards for all the kids Valentine parties.




Ben apparently declared it golf day, cause soon after he got home from volunteering, he went out golfing with my dad and Emma. This was officially Emma's first time to experience a full round of golf and she came home so happy that she got to spend time using her clubs, driving the golf cart, and spending time with daddy and grandpa.






While they were golfing, my mom and I took Becca and Jake on the little hike by our home, and then to play at the park. We definitely tried to take advantage of the wonderful weather while my parents were here to escape the snow...










On Sunday, the kids really loved having grandma and grandpa come to church with us. And Emma bore her testimony by herself for the very first time during Sacrament meeting! I'm so proud of her! I was glad to have my mom in Primary to help me out with my busy class of 4 year olds. :) After church, we got busy getting plenty of food prepped for our little Super Bowl party - Ben's parents came over to enjoy the festivities. None of us are really big fans of football really, and for most of us, the Super Bowl is the only pro football game we watch every year - but every year, I really do enjoy it and I actually do watch the game closely, while eating lots and lots of food and goodies.

On Monday we did some shopping while the girls were at school in the morning - it's always a must for my family to make a visit to Trader Joes while they are here and I also got to help pick out an early birthday gift for Emma and some little cute pink gifts for the baby on the way. After Emma and Becca got home, we packed up a lunch and headed to the zoo...














On Tuesday morning, we did another little Valentine project - this time for the girls school teachers. I'm not usually good at preparing little gifts for the teachers, which seems sad considering I was a teacher... this time I decided to be fun. They turned out really nice I think, but next time I might get a larger amount of chocolate melted so I can cover more of the pretzels in it and also use larger sized, brighter colored sprinkles so the red color shows up a little more. I guess if you used white chocolate the red sprinkles would pop more, but I am just not a big fan of white chocolate. I saw this idea HERE, plus the link shows you lots of other things that can be decorated in a similar way - great ideas for gifts for any holiday if you just switch up the sprinkle colors.






Early that morning, my dad had gone out on an epic long walk, and went exploring in the cactus covered hills that surround our neighborhood. He offered to watch the kids while mom and I went on our own little hiking adventure. I've been wanting to venture out on the longer hiking trail, but hadn't ever had a chance with all our little ones. I do love that these trailheads are just a 5 minute walk from our front door...









A view down towards our home and the surrounding community... I've really come to love the desert!.

That afternoon, we went to the Heard Museum downtown. I wanted to take my parents here, mostly because I knew my mom would really appreciate a museum dedicated to Native American art and culture....








The rest of my parents visit was kept busy with playing plenty of games, Family Movie Night, neighborhood walks and a trip to Yogurtology for FHE. Thanks mom and dad for coming! We miss you already!