It's someone's birthday

I can't believe Logan is 6! Wow how time has seemed to fly by. This year Logan had a Mario themed party. I wanted to make my living room into a giant game board. My idea was to make the kids feel like they were in the video game.We moved all of our furniture into the garage. I taped cutouts to the floor that had different games the kids would play if they landed on them. When the kids arrived I split them up into Mario and Luigi teams. The kids would take turns rolling a giant dice and they moved spaces according to the roll. I started each team out with 5 coins. If they landed on a game piece they got to play that game to earn coins. If they landed on a goomba they lost a coin. The object of the game was for each team to earn 20 coins to earn the big star reward. The mini games included: Coin jump. I taped coins to the ceiling with string. The kids had to use their jumping power to grab the coins. Get goomba: The kids would pop brown balloons to get the coins. Some had coins in them and some didn't. My favorite was tug of war. The team who won that game was rewarded 5 coins. We had a game called boom box. I used a plastic jar to put in mario stars and bombs. The kids would stick their hands in and grab a card. If they got a bomb they lost a coin. If the got a Mario they earned a coin. Yoshi walk was done by using spoons and green speckled eggs. The kids had to walk across the lawn holding a spoon with a Yoshi egg on it. They then had to pass the egg to the next player on the team. The first team to get all of the players across the line, without breaking the egg got 5 coins. Hammer throw: I had the kids throw a sledge hammer at some Mario turtles. If they knocked them down they got a coin. By the end each team had plenty of coins to earn their star reward. A star pinata.

My living room
I used blue plastic table cloths for the background.

Each kid got either a Mario hat or a Luigi hat. A good friend of mine helped me make these cool hats. I used a large bowl and a lid from a sour cream tub for the template.
Each kid also got an honorary mustache drawn on their face.
Logan kept his mustache on for the rest of the day until I made him wash it off to go to the store with me.
Hammer Throw

Tug of war
Get goomba
Since the party was at lunch time we made mini pizzas using english muffins, pizza sauce, cheese and pepperonis.
The star reward. I had the kids hit the pinata with a plunger (a new one)Anyone who has played Mario Brothers knows that Luigi and Mario are plumbers :)
My favorite part of the party is when the surprise guest Bowzer came to visit. I bought small plastic balls that the kids got to throw at him. A.K.A fire power. Our good friends the Bray's let us use this costume for our party. Cara's husband Bobby was in the costume when he made his grand entrance for the first time and was attacked with fire power to his death. The following pictures were taken after the party when we took one on one pictures. Morgan got to play Bowser this time.

The cake
I drew a mushroom onto cardboard and cut it out to use it as a guide to cut the cake.

Mario and Luigi teams

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!

Invitations

Logan decided he wanted a Mario and Luigi party for his 6th birthday. So I went to work! The invitations were fun. Everyone knows the 1-up mushroom. I used 6-up because he was turning 6.

Oh Zoe

Zoe clearly has made her way into our family. She has a funny personality and the kids just love her! Okay, I do too........just a little ;) These pictures I took were not staged.

Logan and Zoe were sitting in the bean bag watching tv.

Zoe has a favorite hiding spot that she found the first day we got her. It's between the couch and the bean bag. I found her laying on her back with the blanket on her.

Little piggies

I went outside and saw Avery swinging like this all by herself. If you can notice, she is holding a bag of fruit. While she was swinging she was sweetly singing (tear) I just love her piggies and how her little diaper bum is sticking out. She didn't even notice me taking the picture. Sweet moment.

18 months!

Our little Avery Kay is now 18 months old. I swear she is growing up so fast. Everyday she is saying or doing something new. This past Sunday was her first time going to nursery. I didn't know what to expect. Morgan and I went up there with her and she ran in and started to play. I kept saying, "bye Avery" but she never looked up because she was too busy playing. Gosh it kinda made me sad. I know it's much easier when they just go without any trouble, but I guess I felt like she didn't need me. It was weird. When I look at her I can't believe how big she has gotten. I'm going to miss having a little one around. But I know and feel like our family is complete. I'm so glad I have been blessed with four beautiful healthy children. I love them to pieces!

Things Avery is doing at 18 months Length 31.1 inches 33% weight 22 lbs 13.5 oz 28%

*loves to eat fruit. Her fav is bananas.
*can't get enough of her baby swing. I can be outside pushing her for an hour. We just sing and laugh together.
*loves to build with blocks. This is fun not only for her but for her building partner, daddy.
*always has to have a baby doll with her. She is either carrying one or pushing one in a stroller.
*loves shoes (she has more than me) I can't resist little shoes. Her new favorite pair are her squeaky shoes her nana and nano bought her. She marches around just to hear them squeak.
*loves to wear a bracelet. I guess she had no choice since I have had one on her wrist since she was born. Hey, it worked.
*hates getting her hair done. It is seriously a team effort to get piggies in her hair. She says, ouch the entire time.
*can say new words like, zoe zoe (our new dog) water, keys, purse, shoe, pretty, wanna go, swing, ouch, share, no, mine, eat, milk, cheese (when you take her picture) baby, dog, outside, Jesus, and more.
*loves to wear her tutu.
*loves to dance to music. It's almost like she can't help but start moving when the slightest sound of music is heard.
*loves to sing. She will tilt her head to the side and start to say words while spinning around.
*Doesn't like to wear socks. Once I can get them on her, she pulls them off in no time.
*likes me to paint her toes. She will find some of Bay's polish and bring it to me and say, "pretty, toes"

Fall!!!!!!!

As most of you know I love love love fall!! It is my favorite time of year. I'm sad to see summer go, but nothing beats the crisp air, falling leaves, Halloween parties, and pumpkins! I can't wait to get out the fall decor. I had to promise Morgan that I wouldn't put up my scarecrow until October 1st. He says, "It would be sad for it to go missing" (a.k.a having it thrown away) What a meanie! If it were up to me, I would have all of my fun fall stuff out. But then I would want to put up all of the fun Halloween stuff I have gathered over the years. He doesn't want spiders and witches hanging out in September. Only three weeks til I get to pull out the goodies!! I can't wait!!!

Hot Hot Hot

We went out to Antelope Island to check out their balloon festival. I have never seen a hot air balloon up close, nor have I been lucky to see one being filled up. At this event we got so close we realized how they came up with the name, HOT air balloon. You could feel the hot air when they were filling up the balloons. It takes quite a while for the balloons to fill up. First, they have these huge fans blowing air into them to open up the balloon. Next, they filled up the balloons with hot air using a huge flame. The 3 older kids loved it! Avery didn't like the sound of the flame being turned on. She would grab her dad and hug him tight. Morgan enjoyed that part.

Poor Avery :)

We saw this guy on our way up to see the balloons. I took this pic from the car.

Ghost or boy?

Carson came up behind me and said, mom, I have a messy face huh? I turned around and saw this. It took me by surprise because I wasn't expecting this. He figured out that if he rubbed his hands on our neighbors garage his hands turned white. Well what little boy could resist painting his face with it?? Silly boy!

camp out.....well sort of

We had my brother in laws over last weekend. It sounds weird I know. I guess I could say, Morgan's brothers or Bay and Logan's uncles. Either way we are family. Our plan was to sleep outside in a tent and have smores. Well the weather didn't cooperate. It was so windy that night and it poured rain. Luckily, it let up enough that we were still able make our smores. At bed time the kids still slept in sleeping bags in the basement under their home made fort. That's my kind of camping.

Opps. I hate it when that happens

Avery loves a good smore

salsa

Morgan and I made some yummy salsa. We planted a "salsa" garden this year. Unfortunately, our tomatoes haven't done very well this year. We have tons of green tomatoes, but very few red ones. They just wont change color. Lucky for us our neighbor Camille called and said she had some tomatoes if we wanted them. Heck yes we will take them! So we got to work and made some salsa. Camille had us try out her roaster oven. Easy!

Blocks

Morgan and Avery have a special thing in common. They both have a LOVE for blocks. They have built all sorts of things, but the one thing Avery loves for her daddy to build for her is a princess castle. Morgan's rule is that he has to use every single block. They will spend about an hour building.