Taylor's 7th B-Day Party

*Disclaimer...some photos are out of focus.  Dakota got a hold of my camera and changed all the settings, I am still trying to get it back to normal.
**Something crazy happened when I uploaded the pics, some are in order, some are not, and others didn't show up.  But you get the general idea with what you've got.  

Since we have moved to my parent's house, Taylor has made some great friends.  One lives next door and the others live across the street and are in our ward.  Taylor had her 7th birthday on October 13th and she wanted to have a little party.  Actually, she wanted to have a "small girlie-girl party."  So she invited her newest buddies.  They had their nails painted, glittered, and stickered.  They ate pizza, opened presents, got fancy hair-do's, watched 'Barbie, A Fashion Fairy Tale', had cake and ice cream, and had a great time!  It is amazing the amount of sound that 6 people between the ages of 2 and 7 can create!  It was so fun!  Taylor was SO happy and really enjoyed her special day. 

 Here they are eating pizza

Opening presents

Finley was our only casualty, someone got excited (uh, hem Taylor) and threw a toy in the air.  It landed on Finley's forehead.  Oops!

Dakota and one of her signature ballet moves.

A Harry Potter calendar...note the excitement.

 

 and more excitement.

Fancy hair-do's

Cake!

Cooper disappeared and I found him at the table finishing Taylor's cake!

Birthday decorations made on our favorite toy, the Cricut.

Everyone was supposed to be dancing, but Cooper was the one with all the moves!

 

My Baby is 2!!!

I cannot believe that it has been 2 years since my little man was born!  How did this happen?!  I get emotional when I think about my little Cooper's life.  He came into this world so sweet and so calm.  I needed a baby like him.  He has always just let me love him :).  I am so grateful for my little boy and know that he is meant for great things.  He has grown into such a fun 2 year old with SO much personality.  He is quick to smile and give a thumbs-up.  He is finally starting to sound less like a caveman and more like an evolved human being!  It is so fun to hear him repeat just about everything we say and put 2 and 3 words together.  He loves to follow his daddy and do all the big boy stuff and he absolutely adores his 2 big sisters.  I love, love, love my Cooper!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COOPER!!!

Making a come back!

Yay!  I have finally blogged.  You will notice that I have broken things down into 4 posts for your viewing pleasure.  I'm sure I've left out so much since my last blogging session, but I will try to be better from now on.  Taylor finished 1st grade this last week and received all A's and O's (outstandings) on her report card.  She had such an awesome year and is sad that it is over.  I have big plans for this summer to do as much beaching, swimming, and visiting as possible!  So if anyone want to hang, let me know! ;)  Enjoy the latest and the greatest in these next posts.  Ta-ta!

Camping

We went camping with my parents, Loni/Clark, and Kendal/Sabrina over Memorial Day Weekend.  It was SO much fun, but SUPER exhausting.  I think my kids are finally recovering from the lack of sleep and are getting back to normal.  We got there Friday afternoon and stayed through Monday morning.  The drive is actually quite nice and it only took us 2 hours to get to Carpinteria from Bakersfield.  I didn't get that many pictures because I was too busy keeping an eye on my babies.  They all did pretty darn well and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Taylor was such a good girl on this trip.  She is growing up to be such a wonderful young lady and I'm proud to be her mama.

She especially enjoyed playing on my mom's iphone.  My mom downloaded all sorts of fun game apps and Taylor was hooked!

Dakota never misses an opportunity to pose for the camera!

"Dakota, make a crazy face!"...yeah, that's pretty crazy.

S'mores!

Loni taught me a trick which has revolutionized s'more making for me.  You set your chocolate on top of your graham cracker on the same stick that you are roasting your marshmallow with.  The chocolate gets all mushy and gooey and it is heavenly!  YUM!

Cutest face EVER!

We get down and dirty when we go camping!

"Cooper, say CHEESE!"

Exhausted!

We really had such a good time and the weather was PERFECT!  A special thanks to mi familia for all the help they gave me with the kids.  I absolutely could not have done it without you guys.  It was so nice to have all the extra hands and eyes to help me out.  A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU to Clark and Kendal for being the world's greatest uncles.  My kids love them SO much and show it by jumping all over them and wanting constant attention from them.  You guys are the best and I appreciate you and am thankful that my kids have such wonderful people in their lives!!!