Party Time!

It was Beverly's birthday this week, so my friend Natalie (my party-throwing photographer friend, she's just amazing! She's on the far left) myself and a couple other friends had a surprise party for her last Saturday. We had a banana split buffet then went to see the movie 27 Dresses, which was the theme for the night. Very fitting since it was Bev's 27th birthday!
Natalie hung 27 dresses from clothespins behind the ice cream buffet. Isn't it so cute!?
We wanted to make this cute dress cake, it's made with fondant which is kinda hard to work with, but it turned out so pretty. By the way, it doesn't taste very good so when we cut it we just peeled it off and had regular frosting underneath. We also made cute party favors, they were little boxes filled with chocolate and shaped like dresses of course! We had a lot of fun-I'm going to miss my friends here when (if?) we move, I don't like to think about it!
And I had to add a couple more cute Audrey pics.

My good friend Natalie likes photography and just got a new camera. She wanted to test it out on my kids so I let her have at them! She did a great job, these are so much better than in the studio. We (I mean She) just did them at her house and look how good they turned out!
My little man.
What is sweeter than that?
Audrey enjoyed being the center of attention for her photo session, she LOVED the umbrella!
I have more I want to post, but I can only do six at a time. I'm amazed I got this far-we are all home sick today and poor little Alex just feels miserable and wants to be held all day. The boys are feeling okay though. They better because they ARE going to school tomorrow!

Happy Birthday To Kate (Yesterday)

Happy Birthday from the girls!!

KATE

oops..i meant to add a birthday pic for kate!

Happy Birthday Selina.....

Happy Birthday!!! We love you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!

Did you get my package?

a strange sight....

Well, for anyone that hasn't already figured it out, the animals are Crowley childeren numbers 6,7 & 8. Mom and dad..well okay not so much dad but definitly mom treats all of them, especially zoogie, like her babies! i will often walk into a room and find mom starring down at zoogie and laughing at how cute he is being as he stretches and purrs on the couch. Whenever he walks into the room mom immediatly runs over and picks him up, often knocking me over as shes on her way to zoogie. Well, this is a problem not only because mom is turning into one of those grandma's that love cats but because since i don't have much on my plate right now so i've been hanging out at home a lot and i've been around mom and her new boyfriend (zoogie) a little too much. Yesterday, mom and i were on a walk and we wanted to play a trick on my brother duncan so we hid behind some trees and waited for him to find us...only after he found me i was thinking how that was the type of game i would play with cam or caitlin..and then i knew it was too late...i have accepted the animals as my sibilings!! anyways, so it's fun being home with the other three kids! Well, mom was on her way to work this morning and i thought she was gone but she ran back in panting and told me i needed to go look at my brothers sleeping on her bed! haha so i did and this is what i saw!!

Lizzie's birthday

Lizzie had a good birthday (well, I think she did)...even if you can't tell from these very grumpy pictures. Lizzie just woke up from her nap a little bit before dinner and was still in groggy mode. That wore off pretty quick as dinner went on and she saw we were having a made-for-Lizzie dinner of homemade mac-n-cheese, diced up lunch meat, peas and applesauce. She loved it!! She got a new shirt and jacket from mom and dad and a toy block from her and Caitlin's blocks (Caitlin wanted to give her a present, so she chose a block and wrapped it up- Lizzie loved it!!!)

The cake was a scrumptious cake carrot with cream cheese frosting- not from a box!! It's a really really really good and super easy recipe from a friend that truly makes box carrot cakes taste like cardboard.

Anyhoo, these are just a few birthday ones and some from the last week or so:

One day while Caitlin was still napping, Lizzie was playing outside and I was in the kitchen. I looked out later and she had hoisted her little chair on top of the big one and was just chillin' on it, checking out the scene. It was so cute!

Link to Cottage

http://www.homeaway.com/USA/California/Central-Coast-California/vacation-cottage-Pacific-Grove/dni/1/p301205.htm

This is the link to cottage mom got- looks awesome!!

a bloody nose...

i get bloody noses often and decided i was sick of being incapacitated by it.
emily called during phase 1, so i told her i would take a picture of my remedy. She suggested phase 2, which proved to be far more effective.

Hawaii Report

This is where we stayed. Notice
the beautiful view. We saw surfers
all day.

This is the beach we walked to

from the house.

This is a view of Wakiki from the top

of Diamond Head. (ignore the do-rag guy)

Sunset at Wakiki
Me on Wakiki Beach (Diamond Head

in the background)

Some of my favs...

All the girls cooking...remember that Brooke?




Grandpa showing off his sweater that Emily repaired for him



Dad and Caitlin at the Zoo






Cute Lizzie




Caitlin and her bag of chocolate

Well it's kinda hard to be back at work and school. I think school is going to be very intense this semester, but hopefully rewarding too. I miss everyone and hope we can get together soon. (i made a comment about possibly doing something in march when i have spring break!)

Home for the Holidays..

Carrie has always been the most photogenic in the fam

At the Zoo, riding a frog

At the Zoo

New Years Day

kate singing...in a silly voice

Some pictures...

Caitlin's first Sunday as a Sunbeam!!

The girls really enjoyed the zoo with everyone...

Aimee and her husband gave out these treats. Lizzie went around to everyone again and again asking them to open the treats! Finally after dinner came the 'ok' and Grandpa won his place in her heart by opening them for her...

Caitlin loved Adam!! And Adam was so sweet and ready to play with his cousin, even if she is younger than him and a girl.

Ah, the annual talent show. Emily and Kate and Travis' number was a very cool jingle bell rap...

Happy New Year

Ahh yes, here we have Troy's best Zoolander face-Magnum (aka Blue Steel)
Aunt Darby bought the girls PJ's from this awesome store up in Spokane. It has new name brand clothes for dirt cheap! The place is scary though, like you're entering a haunted house. It's so worth it though! I got Devon a $70 coat for $8. What a rush! Here in the picture are cousins Alyssa, Kylee, Audrey and Bailey. Ashlynn also had mathching PJ's, but she was at a hockey game with the boys. Audrey loved having girls to play with!
Tyler and Allison bought this for their daughter and Alex wanted to test it out. It's great for his age, he wants to be up and see whats going on, but can't sit up yet.
Spokane had a ton a snow this year! It was fun (for about 20 minutes) but it's such a hassle to pack snow gear and haul it. So despite the cold hands, frozen snot and numb toes the kids enjoyed themselves and I confirmed to myself that it's pretty to look at, but I really don't want to live in the snow!
We missed everyone over the holidays! Let's get our girls trip going so I have something to look forward to!