Happy Birthday Gavin!

We celebrated Gavin's birthday last night with our family. Instead of going big this year, I decided (with a little persuasion) pizza and cupcakes at Grandma's house was just fine.

I made pirate cupcakes, unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them. I melted white chocolate chips to make the skulls, they ended up looking like scary old school hockey masks. Oh well, Gavin likes hockey too. Gavin made the blue frosting and I rolled them in blue sprinkles.

(Thank you Melissa for taking these pictures so I could protect the candles from Hannah)

Gavin really got into opening his presents. Kids start to grasp the concept of a birthday around 2 1/2, so their 3rd birthday is really their first real birthday.
My mother in law found some pirate stuff on sale and sent it to me. Gavin loved his pirate badge. He's all ready for the drive home! Kevin and Gavin are going to Hockey Giant to get his hockey helmet today! He loves going to the hockey store.

Hannah is 4!

I'm a bit late with Hannah's birthday post. Many good excuses...
Hannah is at the age when you wake up on your birthday and it just feels magical. The feeling that goes away the older you get.
Hannah was a sweet baby, she always liked to sleep on my chest so she could hear my heart beat. We have always been buddies.
Hannah's birthday was last Friday. Although she insisted she was four since the day of her party. This past Monday was her school birthday party. I made the pinkest cupcakes ever! The kids loved the hot pink cupcakes.
Hannah and her "boyfriend" Jake.
Mrs. Lance is Hannah's preschool teacher. She is wonderful. Her class mates sang Happy Birthday to her and then dove into the cupcakes. Gavin had a great time in Hannah's class. After cupcakes he participated in practicing their holiday songs for their Christmas Program. He is so ready for preschool... I'm ready for him to go to preschool.

Birthday Party!

This year I decided to go BIG! I combined Hannah and Gavin's birthday parties into one big event. We rented out the Gymnastics Center at the YMCA and had a blast!Hannah and her best friend Zoe.Hannah and her boyfriend Jake.
Gavin loved the foam pit.

My whole family came... we haven't all been together since February 2006. I don't know how I did it, but I got everyone in the same place at the same time.

Even my grandparents from Oregon, Aunt Debbie, and Mark made it to the party.
Michael drove up from San Diego with my new cousin, Allison. They had never met before and this was kind of a psuedo blind date. (Kevin's Aunt Marilyn got married and this is her new stepdaughter. She is so much fun and can totally dish it out to Kevin, a quality I like in her.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown had a good time watching Hannah and Gavin.

I'm not sure who had more fun... the adults or the kids. I witnessed my 52 year old father do a back flip on the trampoline and attempt some funky dismount on the uneven bars. I don't think I've laughed so hard. I wish I had a picture.

Hannah and Gavin scored with all their presents. Hannah had her entourage there to help her.
Gavin's favorite present was from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Aaron. The kid hasn't put down his hockey stick and puck since he opened it.It was utter mayhem and I have no idea who gave what to my kids. I still need to sort it all out.

I made a frog cupcake cake. I've never made a cupcake cake before and I really stressed out about it. When I arranged the cupcakes and asked Kevin for his opinion, it wasn't good. I needed a crafty friend. I called my friend Stacy. She came over after work to save the day. She rearranged the legs and thanks to her I was able to finish the cake.After I frosted the cake the frogs legs turned out to look more like huge buff frog arms. That was my fault, I should have frosted it a little differently. But here is the final product. It was so nice because it was a cake, but pre-cut for the little kiddos.

When we got home I was so exhausted we all went straight to bed. This is what our kitchen looks like now! Now I need to attempt to figure out who gave what to Hannah and Gavin.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

It finally happened! Hannah has been looking forward to her birthday since June! Everyday she would talk about her birthday. When you asked her how old she was, she would reply, "I be three my birthday!" She wasn't two, she was going to be three on her birthday. Whenever she saw something at a store she wanted she would say, "You buy dat my birthday!"
Mommy and Daddy got her some cute "Cilella" pajamas.

Hannah wanted a blue Princess cake for her birthday party. Mommy got adventurous and tried fondont. Hannah's cake was quite labor intensive, but she LOVED it. It was just what she wanted. Mommy doesn't know if she wants to work with fondont again.





Hannah and her friends had a Princess Parade at her birthday party. Grandma Lee made jeweled crowns and pink sparkly capes for everyone. They were so cute walking around the house.
Hannah got a TON of Disney Princess stuff. We are talking; sheets for her bed, towels, shoes, dresses, blankets, memory game, dolls, magnetic paper dolls, you name it, she got it! She even got a suitcase from Mamo J (Kevin's Mom) and it comes with a plane ticket to Ohio. Hannah is going to Ohio all by herself because she is a big girl. Well, she will be flying to Ohio with Mamo J and back home with Mommy and Gavin.

Happy Birthday Little Monkey

Gavin turned one on October 29. We had a Curious George party for him. I had fun making the invitations and doing all the decorations. He received so many presents. I don't know what to do with all his toys! He loves his new clothes. I'm trying to find Gavin's birthday pictures... I will post when I can.