Saturday, August 24, 2013

first day of school! first day of school!

the first day of school finally arrived. it was met with varying emotions.

dean was fairly indifferent. ho-hum, another year of school.
max was excited to go back--he got the same teacher as last year (whom he loved) with the same classmates!
but reed, as you can see, was ecstatic! i'm going to school! with my big brothers!

 brynn doesn't understand what's happening, really. why are you making me sit in this chair? where's mom?


the dropoff went well. no tears from any parties. we had to wait in line to sign reed in and drop him off, but once he was in, he was done with us. :) dean disappeared once he figured out what room he was in--we had to track him down to say good-bye. max found his kindergarten teacher--now his first grade teacher--and lined up with his familiar classmates and followed them to their classroom. and then we walked home, brynn on my back. troy and i even held hands!
 this is brynn, queen of the house, after the dropoff at school and daddy left for work.
yep, it's all about me now!
...until 11:30 am, anyway. now, if only mommy could figure out exactly how much time we really have between dropoff and pickups so we're not late!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

choochoos and tutus


 i have a friend, star, who had a baby about six weeks after me, and those babies are now two! they are very good friends, and so we had a birthday party for the two of them at our house today.  


but before we get to the festivities, i need to take a moment for the cake. behold it. love it.
 i would like you to note the use of two extra colors of frosting on this cake and the obvious use of piping bags with two different tips. not to mention the special pan with all the different train cars, which worked perfectly with this recipe (and a lot of pam spray) but cut in half. yum.

 so that was the choochoo part.
 and here are the tutus! made by arwen's mom, star! cutest thing ever! way to go!
 arwen gives us a twirl. :)
 are our friends here yet?? once everyone arrived, we headed outside for swings and snacks.
 pink fluff on the swings outside while daddies push.




 pink fluff while we snack from a highchair,
 and pose with big brother dean.
 and now, time to light the candles and eat those choochoos! star is in purple behind arwen, and arwen's grandpa (pop pop) is behind star, holding arwen's baby sister.

 arwen was so excited about blowing out the candles! yay cake!

 arwen's friend, cage, awaiting his train car. nice teeth, max.

 she started out so civilized, asking for a fork before she would touch her cake...


 trying on hats...
i think the cake was a hit. :)
we had a grand old time. i love parties for toddlers--we blew up some balloons to bat around, played outside, ate some snacks and cake. done. oh, and twirled with tutus.

 yay for brynn and arwen, "fake twins" and partners in crime. and running and screaming. we love you!