Esme's 7th Birthday - Family Party

Round two of Esme's birthday celebration was yesterday with her family party.  We had a hot dogs and brats in honor of "The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog."

My signature chocolate cake is tasty, but can be hard to carve.  I tried a new method of freezing it before cutting and it worked marvelously!  It will be my new default for sure!  I'm starting to scale back the size of cake too so we don't have so much leftover.  I used the cutoffs to make some cake pops.  Those were the biggest hit of all.

I love how things are a little more rambunctious with our waddler nephews around now.

7 more candles to blow out and she made her presents in to the shape of a 7 as well.

She was lovingly spoiled once again.  The few Bluey toys she was missing are now part of her arsenal.  The Pigeon stuffy was a hand-me-down from her big cousin, Izzy.  She loves it so much!

Jameson giving a helping hand.

Parker got a special gift too after things wound down.  His very own custom turned bowl made my Grandpa Buxton. He is so excited!

A little afternoon snooze is a sign of a great day.

Esme's 7th Birthday - Friends Party

It was Esme's 7th birthday on Friday and she also had a friends birthday party that evening.  She chose a library/book theme and I decided to lean in with "The Pigeon" books.  They have been some of her favorites as of late and it was something less abstract than library.

It was looking to be a nice evening with a possible threat of rain, but we decorated outside and crossed our fingers.

I got some $1 books at Once Upon A Child and tied them up with a party blower and bag of cookies for party favors.

They had a blast playing outside and eating pizza.

I was hoping to wait a bit for cupcakes, but they wanted them right away.  She has such sweet friends.

I made some pigeon cupcakes with edible eyes and beaks.

The rain brought us in for presents which I tried to keep in line, but it was a bunch of 6-9 year olds, so you know how that went.

She wasted no time breaking out her new color case once the party was over.  

Whew, I will need a week long break before the next one.  Happy Birthday Esme, we love you so much!

 

The Sun is Finally Out!

The is finally out!  We hit 80 this week and it felt so good!  The snow is quickly disappearing and it will be gone before we know it.

Esme got to wear her new outfit she got from Grandpa and Nana for Easter.  The kids also had dental visits this week.  Parker did phenomenal!  This was the first time he sat on the chair and let them recline it.  They were able to get a full inspection and brush.

Esme was a rockstar as well. She let do some extra scraping to clean off all the tartar.

Youth group spent the whole evening outside last night.  We played games and even did worship outside.

Esme started swimming lessons last week and has been having so much fun.  I also made a new friend in her classmate's mom.

We had our small group tonight and made sure to get a picture of Esme with her birthday buddy, Chuck.  Turning 7 and 85 tomorrow!  They gave her the silliest card that you can see in the video below.

Easter 2023

For Palm Sunday last week, the kids came in with palm fronds and sang a song at church.

We had two days worth of Easter celebration this last weekend.  On Saturday, we went to my parents where the kids got goody bags.

We have surf and turf for dinner with ribs and crab legs.

For dessert, I made chocolate lasagna.

Sunday morning started with baskets and an easter egg hunt.

Parker got a clip on fan and his very own chameleon beanie baby!  He's been loving Esme's Pascal since she got it.  Now he has Pablo.

Esme for 4 new Bluey characters, including two she doesn't have.  She was so excited!

It was pretty nice outside despite lots of snow still on the ground.

After church, we had lunch with Jimmy's family.  We spent some time outside after eating.

Cousins are the best!

Happy Easter!