Weston's 5th Birthday Party

It has now been two months since Weston's birthday party, but it was such a great event that I had to blog about it...better late than never, right? Preparatiouns began weeks before the big day.  Jason began with the pinata, which was something he had never made before... as usual, I was impressed with his creativity!

It was a longer process than I thought, but well worth the end result for my ghostbusting duo...

Weston got to help near the end...

Weston wasn't overjoyed with Slimer's nose, but I thought Jason did a pretty amazing job!

He also began construction on all the proton packs well in advanced of the big day...

Weston's birthday was Friday, February 24th, but since he doesn't have school on Fridays, we came to school bearing birthday cupcakes the day before.  I made mini rice flour cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles which tasted surprisingly delicious.  Weston liked them so much that I think he ate 10 of them!

Why that kid won't look straight into the camera with a normal smile on his face is beyond me... but, it is what it is!  Here is my big birthday boy!

Weston's birthday party was Saturday, the day after his actual birthday.  Here he is, all dressed up with his daddy in Ghostbuster attire and ready to bust some ghosts...

With Jason's dad...

Demonstrating his best moves...

After friends arrived, decorating proton packs was the first activity.

 Most of the kids came to the party having never even heard of a proton pack...but once they put them on, they had no trouble getting the idea!

On the ghost hunt... their second activity was to run through the park "catching" as many ghosts as possible.  The one with the most ghosts at the end won a prize.

Next: musical chairs (to Ghostbuster music of course).  This had to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen!  The way the kids danced, the way they hovered over the remaining last chair at the end... it was pure entertainment!

Sophie had a hard time comprehending that she got out, but sitting with grandma seemed to keep her happy.

The pinata turned out to be stronger than Jason intended for it to be... it took a long time to finally break, even with the fierce beating it took!

Finally, the glorious moment came and the kids swarmed around the candy in predictable fashion...

Some were more successful than others... lol!

Jason was proud of his Slimer, even after (and maybe then especially) it took a beating.

We had a friend in the ward make this fantastic cake.  It tasted as amazing as it looked!

We were very happy with how well it turned out...

How can you tell that your cake was a success? Happy frosting mouths, like the one Owen is modeling for us in this delightful little pic!

On to presents...

Yeah, you could say Weston had a pretty awesome birthday party!  The weather was absolutely perfect, he got to bust ghosts with some of his favorite buddies, play games, beat up a pinata, eat cake and get a bunch of fun stuff.  What more could a five year old boy ask for? 

And what was Sophie up to?  Well, she is a lucky girl that has some grandparents, aunts and uncles who love to love on her.  She seemed particularly happy to hang out with Uncle Trevor that day.

And at last, I got to hug my little boy... whose birth five years ago gave me the most honored position and BEST title in the whole world, for that was the day I became a mommy.

this morning

This morning while I was helping Weston get ready for school, Sophie saw her moment and jumped into his bed to cuddle with his "Ray puppet." The Ray puppet is a highly coveted item, but it is actually not a puppet at all. It is one of those stuffed characters you can get with the claw machine at grocery stores. Ray Stance is Weston's favorite ghostbuster, which makes the "Ray puppet" extra special! So, like I mentioned, Sophie saw her opportunity and pounced. She was rather content snuggled up with Ray and her sock monkey...until Weston came along!

Fortunately, Weston is a sweet boy (most days), so he took the opportunity to snuggle with both the Ray puppet and Sophie.

As a side note, those ghostbuster toys that are available only through claw machines are so popular with Weston that he is currently working on memorizing the 10 commandments so that he can earn a Slimer "puppet!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

While Weston was at school, I was completely focused on reading something. Suddenly I realized that Sophie was singing the alphabet song by herself! The tune wasn't all there, but she said every single letter perfectly. I am so impressed with her! She's not even two and a half yet. Here is her glorious singing debut:

That's my girl! (In case you're wondering, I do usually do something with her hair... it's not usually quite this crazy!)

Cooking and Modeling

Weston was extremely excited to get to help cook dinner last night...he wanted his own apron (because I was wearing one), so he borrowed Sophie's. Maybe if his interest in cooking persists we'll have to get him something that looks a little more manly, but for the time being I really don't think he cares too much!
Oh, and please disregard the pile of dirty dishes in the background...
Sophie's hair is finally long enough to put up...kind of!!

I think she quite enjoys modeling her new look, don't you?

Today at church

Weston was giving a talk in primary today (his second one ever), so grandma and great-grandma came to hear him! They got to our church building a few minutes early, so when I went into the hall to take Sophie pottie near the end of sacrament meeting, there they were waiting on the couch in the foyer! Mom snapped this precious little picture of Sophie with great-grandma Van Buren (who we have been so blessed to spend time with these past 3 months)! I love these blue-eyed beauties!Here is Weston, anticipating his talk with great excitement... or possibly trepidation. I'm not really sure. But he did a pretty great job! He talked about how agency is a gift that we need to use wisely. I was proud of my little man.

the last day of 2011

I quite accidentally happened upon these pictures this evening and thought they were worth posting! They were taken on New Year's Eve. Shae-Leigh was of course with me while Jason was working in Arizona, and we decided to go to the park. We went about half an hour before dusk, which gave us just enough time to kick around the soccer ball for awhile and play until it was too dark to see. It was an especially fun evening, probably because there was that exciting "holiday" feeling in the air, or perhaps because we were on the precipice of a new year... or because we knew we were going to be drinking sparkling juice later that evening (you just never know what scandalous things we might do next)!
The sky looked amazing, but I had a difficult time capturing it with Shae-Leigh's phone camera, which is all I had to work with that evening.

Looking at these pictures and remembering how much fun we had makes me want to go back to the park! I'm pretty sure my kids could use more park in their life!