Happy 1st Birthday Jaedybug!

Last night we celebrated Jaedyn's 1st birthday with family and friends. She had a ladybug themed party because we call her our little "Jaedybug the ladybug". We were all so excited to celebrate her special day with her.

Here's the invitation I made for Jaedyn's birthday this year...


I had a lot of fun decorating the house for her party. I made all her decorations this year and I think they turned out really cute. I made her a birthday banner with her name, some tissue flowers that I had hanging in the kitchen, and some little ladybug centerpieces for the tables. I even made her wrapping paper. I glued black dots all over the red, it was so cute!


I also made ladybug hats for all the kids, except the boys. They didn't want the antenna's on their hats, so they got plain black ones.


Here's the princess in one of her birthday outfits just playing around. She's getting really good at walking with her baby stroller. I think she knew the party was for her. She was being so cute, playful, and of course, she was so happy.


For dinner, Jaedyn got to enjoy some big kid food instead of baby food...I think she really liked it. Here she is eating her dinner with her cousin Caleb.


After dinner I changed Jaedyn into her birthday tutu so she could open her presents. I would've had her wear it the whole night, but she couldn't crawl in it very well. It turned out so cute, thanks Savannah for making it for her, she loves it!



Jaedyn got a lot of fun toys from everyone. With the help of her big brother Jaron, she opened up her presents. She got a new baby, teddy bear, cutsy cars, a toy jewelery box, a toy purse, clothes with hair bows, a tea set, a lady bug blanket with a pillow and stuffed ladybug, "Jessie" and "Mrs. Potato Head" from Toy Story, an animal puzzle, princess carriage with blocks, a princess wand, and...


...a ladybug "Pillow Pet" from mom and dad. She loved it and so did Jantzen. He played with it and all her other toys all night.



When her presents were all opened, it was time for cake and ice cream.


We stripped Jaedyn down to her diaper (I didn't want red and black frosting all over her nice white shirt) and put her in her seat. We then sang "Happy Birthday" to her. You can see in the picture that while we were singing, she tried to swipe some frosting off her cake...she's so cute! She also tried to grab the flame on her candle, but I blew it out before she could touch it.


These were Jaedyn's birthday cakes this year. I actually made her ladybug personal cake...I was so proud of myself for how it turned out. It was a yummy strawberry flavor. I ordered her big cake from a bakery because I'm not that good at decorating. It had cute little ladybugs on it and a super cute picture of Jaedyn in her ladybug skirt and it tasted really good.




She didn't hesitate to dig right into her cake like the boys did on their 1st birthdays. She did get some help from her daddy, which I think he really enjoyed.



I just love this picture. She's being so dainty while sucking frosting off her thumb.


Jaedyn devoured most of the ladybugs body before she was done. She didn't make a huge mess with her cake, thank goodness. She just had a frosting face and hands...isn't she so adorable? Apparently I didn't clean her up good enough though because the next morning I found some cake and frosting in her ears. I guess she was saving some for later.




This poor ladybug didn't stand a chance with her!


Before everyone left, I got a picture of all the kids in their birthday hats I made. Don't they all look so cute?


And yes, I guess you can say this is Jaedyn's other birthday outfit...a diaper! I didn't want to get her redressed after cake since she was just going to go to bed.

Jaron was Jaedyn's little birthday helper all night. He loves her so much and I know she loves her big brothers too!


So, here's the story with the first birthday cake we got from the bakery...ugly isn't it?

I ordered Jaedyn's cake from Sam's Club bakery and when I did I told them I wanted the frosting white instead of the orangeish yellow color they had in the picture. When Josh picked it up and brought it home, this is how they made it. I was so FURIOUS!! How can they mix up the colors when I specifically had requested white? I quickly called the store and spoke to the cake decorator and she said, "Yes, I see that you wanted white frosting...I'm sorry" That's it, I don't think so! After being hung up on I called back and vented my frustrations to a manager. At first he tried to just give me a refund, of less than what I paid for the cake in the first place, but that wasn't going to fly with me! I told him I wanted her cake remade and done right this time. He said okay and after an hour and a half I got a new cake with white frosting on it. I kind of liked how the first cake was decorated, minus the orange frosting, better than the second, but it was still cute and it looked so much better.

Needless to say, we ended up with two 1/2 sheet cakes, so we sent a lot home with our family and friends to enjoy.


I think Jaedyn had an awesome 1st birthday. I loved how everything turned out (minus the drama with the cakes) and it was fun getting to share this special day with our family and good friends. We are so lucky to have this beautiful little girl as a part of our family. "Happy 1st Birthday Jaedyn", we all love you so much!

"Ladybug" Birthday Girl

Today is Jaedyn's 1st birthday, I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by. She has been such a blessing in all of our lives and we can't imagine our lives without her in it. We thank Heavenly Father for her every day. There's not a day that goes by where I don't hear her big brothers tell her how much they love her...it's so precious!

This year Jaedyn's having a "Ladybug" themed birthday party and I wanted an outfit for her that matched. I found this super cute ladybug material at JoAnn's and my friend Lara said she'd help me make it into a skirt, since I don't have a sewing machine. Instead, she made the whole thing for me while I just watched. I love how it turned out, it's so cute! Thanks Lara, you're awesome!

Here are a few things about Jaedyn at ONE...

* She weighs 19.4 lbs.
* She's 31 in. tall
* She says "mom", "dad", "Jantzen", "Jaron", "hi", "bye", and "my chair" (she says "hi Jantzen" and "hi dad" a lot)
* She's really good at waving bye bye
* She has 2 teeth on the bottom and is getting 4 teeth up top
* She loves to bite EVERYTHING, especially toes!
* She's always trying to lick mine and Josh's feet, gross, I know
* She loves to eat almost anything we give her
* She loves to play in the pantry
* She's always trying to turn the TV off
* She loves to sing and dance, it's the cutest thing
* She sings to "Old McDonald" while playing with her Little People barnyard set
* She's started standing up while holding on to things
* She's started walking with her stroller
* She can now crawl up the stairs
* She finally sleeps in her crib at night (her dad was sad about that)
* She throws a tantrum by messing up her hair
* She's obsessed with cell phones
* She loves to chew on the boys' PSP controller
* She folds her arms when we say prayer
* She's learning bad habits from the boys (ie. throwing toys off the stairs)
* She loves to help me sort the laundry
* She still hates the grass
* She loves her front facing car seat
* She loves Jantzen's stuffed dog, "Starly"
* She's always so happy to see her daddy and brothers
* She's so happy all the time, even with her teething

"Happy Birthday Jaedyn", we love you so much!

Jail Time!

The kids were playing the other night in the toy room and Jaedyn found her own personal little play place. It's between the tool bench and the kitchen cabinet. She did have to move the toy gas tank out of her way to get in there. The boys quickly started calling it "jail" and the rest of the night it was a fun game to them.




Jaron and Jantzen kept going on the other side and would talk to Jaedyn and make her laugh, it was a fun game to her too. She loved all the attention she was getting from her big brothers. They played like this for a while until Jaedyn figured out how to turn herself around and get out. It didn't end there though. Jaron kept luring her back in so they could laugh some more. It's so fun hearing them all giggle together.



"Jail" has now become a daily game to them, they just can't seem to get over how funny it is...silly kids! Sometimes they are so entertaining, I love it!

Jaron's Pool Party!

Yesterday Jaron got to celebrate his birthday with his friends. He decided to have another pool party this year with a "Phineas and Ferb" theme (my boys love that show).

Here's Jaron's birthday invitation I made this year...


The first thing the kids did when we got there was jump in the pool because they were "dying of heat" while waiting for the rec center to open. Soon after they were filling their bellies with pizza and Capri Suns. By the looks on their faces I think they enjoyed it a lot.



It didn't take the kids long to finish eating and get back in the water. The main thing they did all afternoon was go down the water slide. It kept them busy for hours...they had so much fun on it.


This year Jantzen enjoyed it more too because he was able to go on the water slide. Last year he couldn't because he didn't know how to swim, but this year he's been doing so awesome with his swimming in our pool, we decided to let him try it. Josh went down before Jantzen several times to make sure he did okay and he did great! That ended up being all he wanted to do there, he had sooo much fun!


Ah, my cute boys chillin' together in the pool.


Here's Jaedyn just chillin' with her aunt Nena in the shallow end while the big kids are swimming. She loves to play in the water. Josh got her giggling a lot while playing in the deep end.


I just love this picture of Jantzen and Jaedyn, they are such good friends.


After the kids swam for a while Jaron decided he wanted to open some presents. The kids all gathered around and one by one they handed Jaron his gifts from them. He got a lot of fun stuff from his friends, mostly "Hero Factory" action figures (they are a different type of Bionicle). He also got some more Lego sets, which he absolutely loves, and the "Harry Potter" year 5 book...he's excited to read this one, but he has to finish year 4 first. He also got a massive Hershey chocolate bar that he can't wait to sink his teeth into.




While Jaron was opening his presents, Jaedyn was hanging out in her stroller chewing on her seat belt. The poor girl is getting in her top 4 teeth all at the same time, but she's still been so happy...she just chews on everything! Check out her hair, it's awesome crazy pool hair!!


After presents it was cupcake time. Phineas and Ferb cupcakes were hard to find, so I made my own toppers out of stickers and scrapbook paper. Jaron liked how they turned out and that's all I needed was his approval. Here are some of the better looking cupcakes I made. When I had frosted them at home, they looked so cute, but when it was time to eat them this is what they looked like. It was really hot outside and I guess the frosting just couldn't handle it...it melted. The not so cute ones had to stay in the pan, but I heard they were still good, but messy so that's a good thing.



We all sang "Happy Birthday" to Jaron and then loaded up on sugar before heading back out to swim.

Here's Jaron enjoying his cupcake before the singing begins...


...and a group shot of all his friends that came to help him celebrate his birthday.


We stayed at the pool for about five hours before we were worn out and decided to leave. We ended up being too tired to go anywhere else that night, so we got some take out and watched "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" together as a family. It was nice and the movie was funny.

Jaron had another fun birthday this year with his family and friends. The kids really enjoyed cooling off in the pool, minus having almost an hour of swim time taken away from them because of an unfortunate potty incident...luckily not from one of us. I love it when my kids are happy and Jaron was very happy at his party. He loves hanging out with his friends and he does have some really good ones.

"Happy Birthday" Jaron...we love you!

Happy 9th Birthday Jaron!

Today my sweet little Jar-bear is 9 years old. I can't believe how fast time is going by. He has been so excited for this day all year. Just yesterday at 9:20 am he told me, "In just under 24 hours I will be 9" (he was born at 9:16 am). He's so funny how he thinks that you can't turn the next year older until the actual time you were born.

For his birthday dinner this year he wanted to go to Cafe Rio and have a quesadilla. We told him they won't sing to him there and he said he was fine with that, but that's what he wanted. How funny is that...a quesadilla for your birthday dinner? To make it a little more fun I brought a candle and stuck it in his quesadilla, but he wouldn't let me sing to him, unfortunately, I really wanted to.


After dinner we went back home so Jaron could open his presents and have cake and ice cream. As you can see Jantzen was the birthday helper this year. He was very persistent about getting presents opened so he could have some cake.


Jaron got some fun presents this year. I didn't get a picture of all of them, but he got...the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movie, the "Star Wars Battlefront" video game, a couple of wooden models to build (an airplane and a battleship), a new "Hero Factory" action figure, a "Captain Rex" action figure (that Jantzen has claimed for himself), and some roller blades. He was with me when I bought the roller blades because I had to make sure they fit, so he knew about those, but I had told him to forget about them and act really excited when he opened them. He did good. He was so excited and said it's just what he wanted! Jaron said he loved everything he got this year and it makes me happy that he's happy.



After the boys played a little with the new toys we decided it was cake time. Jaron had asked for a Phineas and Ferb themed birthday party. I found this cute edible cake image on eBay and I think it turned out so cute. For the first time ever, Jaron didn't want balloons...what? My kids always want balloons for their birthdays, oh well. I got him a Phineas and Ferb centerpiece instead. He said he liked that better.



We lit the candles and then sang "Happy Birthday". Jaron, of course, was getting a little shy while we were singing. He then made a wish and blew out the candles. I wasn't fast enough getting a picture, so what I got was the aftermath of smoke.



Jaron specifically requested the "Jaron" piece of cake, which was really big and he didn't finish, but it was still good. What a cheeser he is!


Here's all the boys (Jaron, Jace, Caden, and Jantzen) enjoying their cake and ice cream. Jantzen was being a stinker and wouldn't look at me...can you believe he was being a little stinker? I know, I can't either, that's so not like him!


And here's Jaedyn thoroughly enjoying her piece of cake. She was waiting so patiently, mostly, for her piece. When she finally got it she went to town and loved every bit of it.


As soon as the boys were done eating their cake, they quickly disappeared upstairs to play Jaron's new video game...and that's where they stayed all night. Jaron wanted Jace to have a sleepover, so we let them. They played the Star Wars game until around 11pm, then I told them they needed to shut it off, but they weren't done playing yet. They all stayed up until midnight playing Battleship and Sorry. They only went to bed then because I told them I was tired and they needed to go to bed too.

It was another fun birthday for Jaron this year, but the partying isn't over yet. He gets to continue his celebration on Saturday with some of his friends. Until then...