Cupcake Wars!

Halle decided she wanted a Cupcake Wars themed party with her friends this year.  We baked 54 cupcakes the night before in preparation for her party!  I was grateful that Halle helped.  She chose lemon, chocolate, and rainbow chip for the flavors. 

The party was on Saturday March 24th.  Halle and her friends played with balloons while they waited for everyone to show up.

Then the Cupcake Wars began.  The first round was to create a cupcake with the best taste. I gave them 15 minutes for each round.

Halle was hard at work creating her cupcake.

The girls ready with their cupcakes to present to the judges.

They loved having Kev as their judge.  He gave detailed descriptions of what each cupcake tasted like.  He chose Natalies chocolate cupcake as the winner. He really liked the oreo cookies she had stuffed inside.

Cousin Eliza filled her cupcake with red icing that she called blood.  She was going for the goriest cupcake.  She even decorated her own face.  It gave us all a good laugh!

The next two rounds were about creativity and presentation.  I loved seeing what the girls came up with.

The girls all enjoyed the cupcake pinata that we had.  It was one where you pull the strings until the bottom falls out.

Halle got lots of fun presents from her friends.  She was very excited to get two LOL dolls.  Her friend Avery stayed after the party and they had the best time playing with all the lol dolls.

Parker's spring concert

Parker had his Spring band concert on Wednesday March 21st.  He was first chair at this concert and got to sit right up front. We actually got seats on the front row to watch him.  My friend Janice sent me a text teasing me about being, "a front row joe"!  I was grateful to have no one in front of me while I recorded Parker playing.

Parker is in Concert Band now.  He played three songs that night.  My favorite was Incantation and Ritual by Brian Balmages. 

The kids really had improved a lot since their last concert.  Parker really enjoys having Mr. Leman as his band teacher.  They recently participated in a local band festival too.

I gave Parker some milk and cookies when we got home.  I am glad that he loves playing the clarinet and is developing his talent.  We love our teenager!

Cousins sleepover

Our Calderwood Bauer cousins came over for a sleepover on Friday March 16th!

We loved having them over!  We had a pizza dinner that night.  We had to have two tables to feed everyone.

Mckenna was showing everyone her favorite funny YouTube videos.  

We decided to have a Jurassic Park movie marathon that night.  We started with Jurassic park 1 and then watched Jurassic World.  We let them watch until midnight and then everyone went to bed.

It was fun that Cole and Hayden had almost matching pj's.  Cole, Hayden, Wyatt, and Blake were the first ones up in the morning.  They played with all the toys in our unfinished basement until it was time for breakfast.

We had a green breakfast that morning since it was St. Patricks Day.  Kev cooked everyone up some green pancakes.  Halle, Aubrey, and Addy were showing off their bacon smiles.

The cousins joined us in some of our St. Patricks Day traditions.  

They helped us dig for buried gold in our backyard.

We took a picture of all of them with their gold.

In the afternoon we went to BYU to do some bowling together.

We took up three lanes with all of us.  I loved the nicknames the kids chose for themselves on the screen.  Parker was Bob Ross, Tucker was No Strike Mike, Gunner was Gdogg, Mckenna was Mckenna Mendes, and Neiska was Cardi B.  

It had been years since our family had been bowling. It all came back easily for Kev and he got many strikes.  It was cute because Blake told me how he was going to beat Uncle Kevin.  

It was sweet to see Aubrey helping Addy bowl.  We just love our Calderwood Bauer cousins! These kids have been through a lot with losing one of their parents.  We were grateful to spend the weekend with them.

Halle is 11 years old!

Halle turned 11 years old on Friday March 2nd! It was fun going shopping with her the week before her birthday.  She chose out the unicorn shirt she is wearing.  We also found her some cute new boots for under 10 dollars.

Halle actually had her 5th grade maturation program on the day of her birthday.  She was not to thrilled when she first found out about it.  It went better than both of us thought. The woman who spoke to us was funny and it made things not so uncomfortable.  It also really helped that Halle got to sit next to her best friend Maddi.  She also gave Halle a cute beanie unicorn for her bday.

I took Halle to get her birthday waffle when she got home from school.  She ordered one called Sunshine waffle.  It had lemon curd, whipped cream, and raspberries.  She loves everything with lemon in it lately. 

Mckenna had me take some pictures of her and Halle.  This was my favorite one of the bunch.  I can't believe that in a year Halle will be old enough to go to YW's with Kenna.  

We had a party for Halle that night at our house.  We surprised Halle with a new tablet for her birthday.  She was so happy.  It was cute  to hear her listening to music the next day as she did her chores.

I made Halle an Easter cake this year.  It included two of her favorite treats; marshmallow peeps and cadbury mini eggs.  It was a fun night celebrating our beautiful Halle.  She brings a lot of love and kindness to our home. I love to watch her dance and play the piano.  I am proud of her for trying new things that sometimes take her out of her comfort zone.  I can usually find her with a book in hand or sketching in her notebook.  We love our Halle babes!