The Cook's Recipe for Life

Idaho Falls Birthday Party for the Girls

I wanted to celebrate the girls' birthdays with family and friends in Idaho Falls, and since their birthdays are only a month apart I decided to plan a trip some time in between so that we could have a party. We decided conference weekend would be a good time to go (getting out of Utah that weekend is ALWAYS a good idea). We did find it a bit hectic to do everything and see everyone we wanted AND watch conference at the same time. We managed, but I think next year we'll try not to plan so much that weekend. Regardless of being super busy, the girls party was a hit!

My mom made 2 cakes. A butterfly for Crystal and a Ladybug for Lily. We always call Lily "Lilybug" so it was perfect! My camera of course died after the first 2 pictures, so I used my mom's camera and still haven't received the pictures from her (she's a busy woman ;-) Love you mom!).

My mom is AMAZING at cake decorating!

The girls checking out the cake! Lily LOVED the chocolate flower suckers! She ate 3 of them ON TOP of her piece of cake that night!

Lily was hilarious STUFFING her face with cake! And the girls were completely spoiled. You woulda thought it was Christmas seriously!!!

Crystal Turned 3!

I just can't believe my baby girl is 3 years old!!!!!! We had a birthday party for her the Saturday before her birthday. Which as it turns out just happened to be the night of the BYU vs UTAH game. Needless to say the game was going on the TV the entire time. lol. I was a little concerned people might notice that the Minnie Mouse themed decorations were Utah colors... though by the end of the night we all wished we were Utah fans so it didn't matter.... lol.

Anyway back to the party. She had a Minnie mouse themed party so I made her a Minnie Mouse Cake. It was NOT easy to make black frosting (thank you google for the help), but after 4 hours of hard work (and a few trips to the store) the cake was finished with only minutes to spare! I was a little stressed, but I think it turned out pretty good.

The Minnie Mouse Cake

Everyone pretending they aren't just watching the game on the TV

(Don't you love my new wall decor? :D)

Jackson trying to dig into the cake early!

All the kids got Minnie/Mickey Mouse Ears

I was up till 4 am making these the night before...then all morning the day of.

But it was worth it cuz the kids really enjoyed them!

Another pic of all the Minnies and Mickeys

(Notice the game on the TV)

Singing to Crystal!

Blowing out candles!

Eating Cake!

It was pretty crowded in our tiny apartment, but there was no football game outside. lol

Lily REALLY enjoyed the cake!

Kids playing in Crystal's room!

There wasn't room for them to play in the living room, but they didn't mind.

Opening presents!

Crystal has really become a pro.

Crystal got a lot of princess stuff which was great because she LOVES it.

She especially LOVED the dress up set she got.

She wore it the rest of the night.

Even the clip on earrings (I was surprised she liked them so much)

Eating the skittles her cousin got her.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Crystal turned 3 years old!

We saved a present for her to open on her actual birthday. It was ready for her to open when she woke up that morning!

Walking in to see her present!

Getting ready to open it!

I don't know why I didn't get a picture of the present after it was opened, but it was a scooter. She begged us to get her one for weeks and was devastated when we looked at them at the store but didn't get it. We wanted to get the one she would like best so we let her pick one out and I bought it while she wasn't looking. She was pretty surprised when she opened her present to find a SCOOTER! :D

Once Daddy worked his magic and put the scooter together (even with a missing piece), Crystal took it out to give it a try.

It took a little trial and error, but she got pretty good at it.

Daddy had to make some more adjustments.

Lily was a little jealous, but was satisfied with a stroller ride while Crystal rode her scooter.

She rode clear to the park on her scooter, but Daddy had to carry it most of the way home because her legs were tired.

Lily has the tool used to put the scooter together. She wanted to help 'fix' it.

Preschool

I always had a plan to start teaching preschool when I quit work to stay at home with my children, but I was waiting until we were in a home where I could dedicate a space to it. With Crystal turning 3, I felt like now was the time to start, regardless of our lack of space. At first I was just going to do it with Crystal so I could build up my lesson plans for when I did have the space for more children. But my goal for Crystal was to help her develop healthy social skills and learn how to act in a classroom setting which wasn't going to happen by just teaching her alone. Ty's cousin and another friend of mine were talking about putting their daughters in preschool so I offered to teach them too. Now I have a small preschool class of three adorable girls! Since September 6, three days a week my living room becomes a classroom for a few hours. Ty doesn't mind the permanent wall decor (calendar bulletin board, learning poster, rules poster...) though I'm sure most people walk in the door and wonder what its all about.

Here are a few pictures of my adorable girls and fun things we do at school: