2014 Raingutter Regatta

The pinewood derby was fun last year but I'm pretty sure most dads were excited when Taylor announced we'd be doing a raingutter regatta instead and there was no wood cutting involved.  In fact building and decorating their boats took most boys less than 20 minutes.  

Blowing up the water channels unfortunately took much longer than that.  Good thing Taylors full of a lot of hot air :)

While we were waiting for everyone to arrive the boys got to practice their blowing technique.

And there's all the boats.  One of the boys announced to his father that he didn't think he could be friends anymore with the boy that made the BYU boat.  Ugh.

We setup a viewing area for the parents on the stage and then Taylor made all the boys sit on the edge until it was their turn to race.

Taylor ran them through heats until there was a real winner.  Unfortunately I had to run to a Relief Society meeting so I missed most of the fun but I hear it all went great.

I did wait for Ethan's first race so I could get a shot of him blowing.

And for an easy treat I made shark and fishy cupcakes.  

About the easiest cupcakes on the planet- blue frosting, swedish fish, and fondant shark fins.

A Swim Party

We have a community pool nearby that's pretty fun and the boys have wanted to have a birthday party there for years.  But with varying levels of swimming skills I haven't felt comfortable with the idea until now.  Most 9 year olds are pretty good at swimming and hey, there's a lifeguard and life jackets for the rest.  

So that was the party plan and when I showed Ethan a few "pool party" cakes on Pinterest, he noticed one with a slide and fell in love with it.  And even though I protested that I didn't think I could do it he assured me that I definitely could and that that's the ONLY one he liked.  So I went on the hunt for something to make into a slide and lucked upon a hot wheels track piece that was just about perfect- it could have used a little more natural support but we made do.  And here's the end result.

I actually think it turned out pretty well- mini people and all.

Just a sheet cake covered and decorated with fondant- super easy, and a hot wheels wall piece covered in fondant and people and propped up with skewers and icing cans.  And candles to complete the whole birthday effect.

The pool has a little party room you can rent pretty cheap and then it's just $2 a kid.

I grabbed pizza and gatorade knowing the kids would be starving.

And really it was an easy party because all the big boys just wanted to be swimming and going down the slide.  That's skinny Ethan waiting in line to go...

...down the really intense slide.  Not the most amazing slide ever but pretty great for a community pool in Utah.  Especially on a very rainy, cold day in April.

That's Ethan coming out of the slide.  I'm kind of impressed I caught that shot.

And then when all your friends have gotten down the slide it's time to ride the lazy river around to wait in line again.

Everyone happy.  Everyone entertained.  Everyone watched by a life guard.  Perfect.

And all the siblings thought it was a fabulous party too.  Isla randomly found 2 of her friends from nursery also trying to escape the cold and rainy weather.

And Taylor was nice enough to hang out and watch all the kids in the pool while I got the food ready.

So much fun!  You can barely see it in the picture but this pool has water shooting up and dumping down all over the place.

After an hour we dragged everyone out for cake and foo.

Had to include the only shot of me- I really was there.

This birthday boy looks pretty pleased with his day so far.

And this pretty princess thinks the cake is SO good that it's worth using her entire fist.  Or maybe she's just starving from all the swimming.

And since this is a 9 year old boy's party there had to be some silliness.  Keep working on those muscles boys.

Isaac does not like frosting and so refused a piece of cake but he did eat almost half a pizza and a lot of tye-dye ice cream.

Miles is Isaac's opposite in all that.  He ate only breadsticks and is OBSESSED with fondant.  Really.  He ate the fondant off his piece and then didn't want the cake but asked if he could eat the people off the slide.  And then once that wasn't satisfying enough he wanted to know if he could eat the slide too.

Yep.  He's literally pulling chunks of fondant off the slide and eating it all.  Gross!  But at least now I have a shot of what the slide looked like before.

There were presents.

And there were aunts and uncles and a cousin and Grams.  And then they were begging to go swim some more.  A perfect party.

Ethan turns 9!

I can hardly believe this little guy is 9.  It's gone so fast and he's grown into such a wonderful boy in so many ways.  Last summer I let the kids earn an allowance by doing jobs around the house- both cleaning and learning.  I told them I'd match whatever money they made if they saved it for something they really wanted.  Ethan has been obsessed with Taylor's ipad and he instantly knew what he wanted to save for.  He was diligent in getting his stuff done all summer and then in the fall even when I'd matched his large sum and it wasn't enough, I told him if he would work on being responsible this school year we'd buy him one for his birthday in April.  What an improvement.  The year before he lost 3 lunch boxes and 2 jackets and countless homework assignments were late or missing.  This year he worked really hard and I'd say was 95% perfect.  So bright and early on his birthday he knew just what to expect.  His own ipad (which I saved a little money on by getting on Black Friday) and since I'm so proud of him he got an iTunes card as well so he can pick out his own games.

There had to be a few other normal birthday presents too.

And a new toy for his party this afternoon.

But really the focus was all on this much awaited new toy.  Too bad for him his access to it is limited by me and based upon him still continuing to be responsible with jobs and homework and really anything I want him to work on at the moment.  Kind of unfair but nice to have something easy to motivate him with.

And Sunday for Family dinner grams got him an ice cream cake and sparkler candles.  You can hardly see but they say E and 9.

And they sparkle.  What a fun grandma.

Ducks and a Playground

Even though our winter has been very mild, when it's suddenly a beautiful 75 degrees you just have to stop and smell the roses- or since I have little kids it's more like stop and feed the ducks.

Ok and pigeons.

And really just about any creature willing to come and get it.

And then we might need a little time at the playground.

Cause we've officially hit the golden years where ALL my kiddos can go and play without any of my help.  A-MAZING!

Easter Sunday Portraits

Ahh, the torture!  A group picture with kids!  2 of them looking.

He's holding me too tight.  No one looking.

3 looking and 1 throwing grass.

2 looking up and 2 to the side.

And finally a decent one.  We're DONE!

Except for the individual shots which were much easier.

And this one happened by happy accident.  Who knew light partially blocked by Gram's pretty rock wall would be so gorgeous.

Love it!

And then because she was such a good sport, it's helicopter time.