A Baking Birthday Party

We had Vela's birthday party on Thursday and did a Baking Party. I made little aprons for each of the girls and they decorated cupcakes to take home. One of the girls got sick the morning of the party and one had a dance class, but these 5 had a lot of fun. 

Nita, Breelyn, Vela, Sarah and Nessa - adorable little bakers!

I had lots of chocolate and white cupcakes and all kids of toppings. 

I was surprised with how much time each girl took on every cupcake.
It was a totally different experience than when Little Hema and some friends decorated cookies.
The boys just tried to put as much junk on as fast as they could. 

I put frosting in squeeze bottles and it worked really well for these girls ages 4-6. 

I had lots of random sprinkles and treats in little bowls and containers.
It was fun to see what they used.

They kept saying this is so fun. I'm glad they liked it.
Right before they came I had a sudden fear that they may hate it and I didn't have a backup plan. 

I had some cute ideas to make little individual cake pedestals for each girl to decorate on and some larger ones for the cupcakes to sit on. It would have made for great pictures. But in the end I couldn't justify the cost and I couldn't see any possible future use for them. But if any of you are interested they are made from clay flower pots, round clay trays and spray paint. 

The little flags I picked up were a total hit!

Blowing out the candles. 

Vela loved every single present she got. 

Each girl went home with her hat, apron and a box full of her decorate cupcakes. 

I think the party was a total success! 

I really loved the way the little aprons I made turned out. I didn't have a pattern, just an idea in my mind of what I wanted them to look like. I hate it when I do that because often it doesn't work out. These however, came together exactly as I pictured. They were really easy to make, just a little time consuming with the gathering of the ruffles. The girls loved the aprons so it was worth it. 

Here's the back view of the aprons. 

It sure is fun having little girls. (Boys of course are fun too - just not as fun to sew stuff for.) I've got lots of other fun little sewing projects planned for the next few weeks so stay tuned! 

Vela is 4!!

Our sweet Vela turned 4 on the 12th. She has been so excited for her birthday and basically counting down since Hema's birthday in August. She had a great birthday week. 

On Monday her preschool class celebrated her birthday. 

She chose giant Smarties for her classmates at school.
 (Not the best picture - the sun was in her eyes and she didn't want to turn around for fear she'd drop the Smarties)

Her teacher gave her this book and a pink balloon.
The balloon floated away and we had to hurry and go buy another. That's why she looks so sad here. 

On Wednesday she was so excited it was her 'real' birthday! 

Ready to head out to preschool. 

She had her 4 year checkup and got 5 shots. She was not thrilled about that. 

Vela's 4 Year Old Stats:

Weight: 42.4 lbs - 90th percentile

Height: 43.5 inches - 98th percentile

Overall: 100% Perfect! 

She chose to go to McDonalds and get a Happy Meal for her dinner. 

For her cake she wanted a giant chocolate donut.

Cora had a piece about 3 inches big and managed to spread the chocolate everywhere.
She is a very messy eater! Lucky for her she's so cute!

Vela has been wanted a pet pic since she saw Charlotte's Web.
She got this little toy pig that grunts and sucks a bottle. She named it Ariel. 

She also got a Pillow Pet that she has wanted for the last year and a half. She has barely put it down since getting it. 

I asked Vela to smile for a picture for her birth mom.
She said, "I'll blow her a kiss!" 

We are so blessed to have this sweet little princess in our family. She is the most snugly, loving girl ever. She loves to write and draw and carries and notepad and pencil everywhere she goes. She is a great big sister to Cora and let's Cora hold and play with her hair every waking minute. She follows Hema everywhere and wants to be just like him. She loves her preschool and Talking Time/speech classes and is learning and growing up every day. She loves animals and if she really got what she wanted for her birthday we would have both a pet cat and a pet pig.
♥♥We love Vela so much and are grateful every single day that she is part of our family!! ♥♥


(On Thursday she had a friend birthday party, I'll post it in a separate post!)

General Conference

I love everything about conference weekend. I love all the time spent as a family, hearing the words of the prophet and apostles speaking about things that are so important in today's world and I love the traditions that we have this time of year. My family has had traditions as long as I remember that I love sharing with my kiddies now. I also love the newer traditions we have with our own family and we even tried a few new things this year.

On Saturday we watched conference at home. 

Here are our conference bowls. Each had different treats or little quiet toys in them. One was for each time there was a song, one was random times we set the timer for and one with different words we each chose to listen for. 

The kids sat pretty well and were amazingly attentive for their ages.
This was by far the best they've done for conference. 

Saturday night Hema went to the Priesthood session with his dad and brother Misi. The kids and I hung out with his mom, None and Peka. It was really fun, but I forgot my camera! 

Sunday morning we always go to my parents for conference. 

My mom is the best cook ever and always makes an amazing breakfast with griddle cakes and her homemade jam! Yummo! 

The kids were in heaven! 

My kids with Grandpa. 

Cora snuggling with Grandma during conference. 

This was one of little Hema's activities. He colored and cut these out. So cute! 

Vela and Aunt Rindi hanging out. 

Rindi, Beckam and Joe.

Cora loves Grandma's cat! 

Singing Happy Birthday to Joe. He and Josh will be 29 tomorrow! 

My parents grow lots of cool pumpkins and gourds and we pick some every October when we go for conference. The kids have been so excited about it for weeks and were thrilled to go choose their own. 

Fun fall goodies to decorate with! 

It was a wonderful weekend! My favorite talks were by Elder Neal A Andersen, Sister Elaine Dalton and of course President Monson. Can't wait to watch and read the talks again! 

Mascot Bowl 2011

We love that the Mascot Bowl is held at Lehi High School. We had so much fun this year. 

The kids thought these posters that they got to have signed by the mascots were so cool. 

Hema and Vela with Swoop! They loved him. 

Big Blue from Utah State Univeristy. Vela couldn't figure out why he had an earring in his nose. 

Willy from UVU. 

Hema and Vela loved this cow ride. Cora freaked out and wouldn't ride in it. 

The thing Cora did love was running around on the football field. 

Cornbelly's

We went to Cornbelly's yesterday and had so much fun! 

Cora wasn't thrilled about putting her face in this. 

Hema and Vela loved the Corn Maze this year. 

Cora wanted to sit on every bench. So cute!

This big bouncing pillows are so cool!

Hema thunks we should invest in one of these HUGE rocking chairs. 

We love this big creepy haunted dino beast. The kids were pretty brave going through it this year. 

Cora recently decided she LOVES slides!

Vela with the Pumpkin Princess.

Shooting Paintball guns. 

And finally a pretty picture I took as we rode along on the tractor ride. I thought the "silver lining'  along the top of this cloud was amazing.