Happy Birthday Violet!

We do birthday parties every other year, and Violet has been counting down until her party for a long time! We found these cool blank my little ponies, so she decided to have a my little pony party. Several of her friends couldn't come, but it ended up working out perfectly, and they all had a lot of fun. And, Kevin ended up driving to the airport to pick up his Grandma, so Luke and Evelyn went with him and decorated their ponies later. 

They started out by decorating their ponies. I wasn't sure how long this would hold their attention, but they worked on them for at least a half hour, and some of them kept on going inbetween the other activities. We used sharpies, so they could really be intricate with their designs. They were so creative!  

 Violet chose funfetti cupcakes and each girl decorated their own. 

 She got some cute pony presents!

 And they also danced to my little pony music, played Pinkie, Pinkie, Pie (duck, duck, goose), and musical chairs (rainbow papers). All simple stuff, but lots of fun. 

 Evelyn was pretty excited about her cupcake when she got home too. 

A few days later we celebrated as a family on Violet's official birthday. She opened a few presents after her birthday breakfast so she could play with them before kindergarten. She was thrilled about receiving an Elsa doll from Grandma and Grandpa. 

 

 

 And her big present was a tablet! 

After dinner she opened her present from her siblings--

 --a marble run toy! I had been wary of these in the past- they looked like too many parts and a big mess. But there is one in Violet's kindergarten classroom and I've seen her play with it a lot when I've been there. It seemed like such a cool toy that allows for a lot of creative play and problem solving. Violet was thrilled!

 She used her birthday money from GG to buy the add-on set to the basic marble run package. 

  

 All the kids love it! And it's fun they can play with it together easily. Even Evelyn loves to put a marble in one side and see it come out the other. 

I love this picture!

For her birthday meals, Violet chose her favorite foods: cinnamon rolls, sausage, berries, grape juice; hot dogs, carrots, cheesepuffs, kool-aid; apples and cookie butter; broccoli and Chinese food. 

 Violet chose brownies with mint frosting and mint oreos crumbled on top. Wow!

Pictures with the birthday girl!

 

Happy Birthday Violet!!

March Roundup

 Daddy donut day at school! Afternoon kindergarten makes these special days a little trickier, but Kevin was able to work from home and pop over to eat a donut with both Cora and Violet.

 

 The girls got haircuts! Five inches off for Cora, two inches off for Violet. Cora is thrilled to not have to comb through tangles in the morning, and doubly thrilled with her 'bangs'. She really wanted them and I didn't, so our smart stylist did a bit of layering around Cora's face and we were both happy. 

 Luke gave his first talk in Primary. He did a great job! 

 Cora and I went to my cousin Mary's volleyball tournament. It was fun to see her play!

 Kevin taught Violet how to play checkers! 

The leprechaun visited our house on St. Patrick's day and hid a few treasures.

 We had family movie night and watched Frozen. It was Evelyn's first time watching it and she was mesmerized!  

  

Kissie and Pata hosted family dinner this month. We celebrated Jen and Violet's birthdays. 

 

For Jen's baby shower, we played pin the binkie on the baby, pictionary, and guess how many candies in the baby bottle. 

 

 

  

 And then we took a walk around Temple Square to see the flowers. 

 Great Grandma Anderson came for cousin Missy' baby shower and stayed with us a night. It was so fun to have her! 

  Here she is showing the girls her fake tooth and telling them to take care of their teeth and brush everyday!

Well, this is long past due, but here is our completed summer fun list. We didn't get to everything, of course, but it was great for ideas! 

 Kevin took the kids out for the first bike ride of the season. It was a very pretty day! The big girls did well on their bikes too.