Kensington's Birthday Bash: Minnie style.

We started the morning with the traditional birthday breakfast and in keeping with the theme of her birthday festivities which was all things Minnie Mouse, we opted for the ever popular Minnie Pancakes.

She got some super fun presents which I took pictures of but as it turns out I am a crappy photographer and they all came out totally blurry so you can just sit and imagine what her fun play Kitchen from Grandpa and Grandma Holden and Melissa & Doug cutting food set from Grandpa and Nana Bishop looked like! Eric and I got her the Melissa and Doug birthday cake set and let me just say...there were time outs a plenty over these blasted toys so you know they were good! Since we live only a short drive away from the Magic Kingdom we were able to accommodate a 4 year olds birthday wishes and headed out to Disneyland for the day. It ended up being the only rainy day in Southern California for the whole year so we didn't take a ton of pics in the park but we had fun in our Disney ponchos and what not. This is her Birthday dress that I made. She specifically requested "the red Minnie not the pink Minnie". I obliged and this is what I came up with. She LOVES it and now requests to wear it every time we go to Disneyland.

Here's a close-up of the handmade trim and minnie mouse head on her dress. I also stitched on each of the polka dots only because when I went to the fabric store they were out of the red and white polka dot fabric so I just bought white and made it myself.

I had every intention of making her cake. I even bought all the ingredients and knew exactly how I was going to decorate it but the day before I got super lazy. Must have been all the Christmas festivities and such. Anyway I ended up going to the bakery and found this pre-decorated New Year's cake with oreos so I pulled off all the new year crap, stuck on some felt circles and fruit by the foot bows and called it a birthday cake. She was super excited.

We went over to Uncle Steven's and Aunt Cortney's house to share Birthday cake and to drop off little Huddy Buddy. I didn't want him to catch his death in the sub-freezing temperatures of Anaheim. And to preface their gift to Kensie I will share a conversation I had with her earlier that week. Me: Hey Kensie what are you going to do when you turn 4?

K: um, I can't be 4 unless I have a Snow White Barbie like Roxie!

Aunt Cortney made her dreams come true and bought her the most beautiful snow white doll ever. Her life is now complete.

I wanted to get a picture of the kids all together since I made the boys some shirts too so they wouldn't feel left out so we started out saying, " Do a happy birthday pose!"

"Okay, not quite. Let's try it again"

"Really?? That's your happy birthday pose? ok. Let's just try a normal pose. Just look normal"

"No, I said Normal"

"Um, apparently we are going to have to go home and practice being normal..."

We spent the whole day and we went to the Rainforest Cafe for her Birthday Dinner. I took a ton of pictures but now my card reader is saying there is no valid picture on my card and Eric isn't home so I possibly just deleted like 600 pictures??? oops. Anyway we stayed for the fireworks and then came home. Let's just say the next day was all about recovering! I hope she had a great day and We Love her so much and can't wait to do it again next year!

It just wasn't meant to be.

First my dryer started making a scary noise and stopped drying things and smelled like burning. Now my washing machine is stopping mid-cycle, leaving the thing full of water and unwashed clothes. Oh and also leaking onto the carpet all the way down the hallway to my bedroom! I knew I should've scrapped that stupid resolution when I had the chance. Now it mocks me.

I used to be a BRAT but I'm not anymore.

I think I am a grown up. Can I say that? Well, I feel a lot different than when I was 18 and first married, anyway. Normally I don't make resolutions because the New Year Holiday is what we refer to as a "Non-Holiday" in our house. It's kind of a throw away day because we've done the Christmas thing and Kensie's Birthday is the 30th (Pictures forthcoming) so New Year's kind of takes one for the team. Anyway, this year I did make some resolutions because, like I said, I'm a grown-up now and I am trying to be a good one. So here they are in no particular order :

* I am going to exercise at least 3 times a week on our new Wii Fit Plus! (I've already lost 3.2 pounds!)

*I am going to say "I Love You" every day to each member of my family individually

*I am going to take more pictures of my kids

and I'm thinking of throwing this last one out because it just seems so far fetched but I may attempt it...

*I'm going to clean my house everyday...........and at least ONE LOAD OF LAUNDRY EVERY DAY!

Like I said...it will be an attempt but I will give it my most valiant efforts.

May your 2010 be fiiled with more Love and less laundry!

Thank You,

for keeping me alive this week.

Slap my face and call me Country

If You know me at all, then you know that I absolutely abhor being outside. I don't like the way it makes me feel or smell. So last Saturday I took one for the team and we took the kids to a Gorgeous Farm up past Riverside. It took us a little over an hour to get there but it was totally worth it! It was beautiful. Bryce said as soon as he got out of the car with a huge smile on his face, " Mom, do you know how I know this is a real farm? Because it has real mud!" I guess we need to get out more! It's a place called Riley's Farm and they had a colonial settlement and a frontier settlement that you could explore. Pumpkins on the vine and all kinds of other fruits and veggies you could pick yourself. We even got to press our own fresh apple cider! It was so much fun and we'll definitely be making the drive back in December for Christmas at the Colonies!! I can't wait!

The kids were so funny looking for their pumpkins. They each took so much time deciding on theirs but in the end they each found their perfect pumpkins.

They got to go on a free hayride. Can you tell Bryce was excited?

These are the apples we were about to press. Oh and Kensie's dirty face!

This is the press that they used like a hundred years ago to do the same thing we did!

It was harder than it looked!

We found Steven and Cortney and they helped us press the cider.

Washing was definitely Ryker's favorite part of the process. Although, I'm fairly certain he had diarrhea from drinking all that nasty apple water!

And just for Aunt Becca are some obligitory Hudson pics!

This binky looks a lot bigger in the picture than it does in real life!

Keeping Score

It has been over a week since Hudson's birth. Let's see how Mom's doing, shall we?

My boobs have literally doubled in size.
**1 point: Mom

The newborn has a most difficult time latching on to the afore mentioned due to the fact that the milk flows so freely it eliminates the need to do anything but open his mouth and swallow.
**1 point: newborn

I decorated the house for Halloween with the cutest little hand made decorations for freeeee!
**1 point: Mom

You would be hard pressed to find the decorations under the mess that is slowly threatening to take over the house. Perhaps I should have spent a few hours cleaning yesterday instead of paper crafting?
**1 point: kids

I cooked a large hot homemade meal yesterday.
**1 point: Mom

I didn't do the dishes and the kitchen is trashed. I only had one clean cup this morning so they all shared the one cup...don't judge. It was a matter of survival.
**1 point: kids

I got everyone fed, bathed, combed and dressed (including socks!) ten minutes Before school starts! I even put on make-up and jeans!
**1 point: Mom

In the end, it took me a total of 45 minutes start to finish to get everyone into a carseat with buckles on, drive 2 blocks to the school,park a half mile away from the stinking school due to lack of parking, unpack the mammoth stroller, unbuckle the kids, find a huge glob of toothpaste in Charlie's hair, tame Kensie's "I don't want to put my shoes back on I want you to carry me!" tantrum, yell at Bryce who is already halfway to the school to slow down, walk him into the classroom 10 minutes late and have his teacher with a sickeningly sweet smile ask me to "please make every effort to try to be on time from now on?", fume back to the car, get the remaining children buckled into car seats, wrestle the stoller back into the trunk, and drive the 2 blocks home. Oh! And the jeans I put on? elastic waistband...enough said.
**1 point: kids (well played...)

Wow! It looks like it's a tie at 4 points for each side! Maybe it's not so bad after all! Way to go, Me!


...but wait! We have a last minute addition to the tally! I just typed this entire post one handed! ** 1 point: newborn.

It's official: Mom is losing...

Baby Hudson

This is Eric posting here so not much words just pics.
Hudson was born at 1:10 PST and was 7 lbs and 4 oz. and 19 inches long.
Mom and Baby are doing great.