Another Year Older

Saturday was Desiree & Ben's birthday party. It was a lot of fun. Even though Desiree's birthday was actually on the 12th of February, we celebrated it then so we could combine the parties, the kids really love being able to get together & play. Oh, how big she's getting, I can't believe she'll be starting school next year! Anyway, back to my story. We had planned to have the party in the evening because Nick & I were going to go look at cars during the day, so I asked Hila if she would mind watching Desiree while we do that; because it's just not very possible to look at much with her there because of how wild she is. So, I have to wake up at like 8:20 in the morning to get Desiree up, fed, & dressed & ready to go with Aunt Hila to the Primary Olympics, where Mom would be watching her while Hila started the grocery shopping; & make the cupcakes for the party (since I was slacking the night before). Meanwhile back on the home front, we finally get Emily completely ready to go & calmed down so we can head out to look at cars. Let me tell you, we didn't have too much of selection as far as mileage & price range goes, thank goodness for my wonderful Dad :). We're buying his Jeep Grand Cherokee from him, & he's going to drive it up at the end of March, beginning of April; I'm so excited, a car with all working doors, heater, CD player, & a bonus of AC :). Sorry, tangent. Anyhow, after we decided to get my Dad's Jeep we drove over to Barnes & Noble so I could buy the first three books in the Twilight saga (I know, I could've bought them cheaper at Wal*Mart, but they only had soft-back books), YAY! Then we went & picked up the topper & frosting for Desiree's cupcakes & a gift bag for Ben's present, I didn't think he would really want Disney Princess wrapping paper. After all of that we get back to home to get the presents, cupcakes, & pickles (Hila needed them for the chicken salad sandwiches we were going to be eating with the rest of the finger food). We had planned to be at Brad & Tarylyn's by 3:00 so we could work on the food & decorate the cupcakes, needless to say we were all late getting there. Nick, Emily & I were the first to arrive, followed by Hila & Desiree, & finally Grandma (or Mom to us) who was so late because she HAD get her hair cut because it was driving her crazy. Once Mom got there we started on the food & decorating the cupcakes. I bought butter cream frosting because it's oh so yummy :) & Mom brought the food coloring for us to do half of the cupcakes blue & the other half pink. After the frosting was colored & put on both sets of cupcakes we put the toppers on, Ben's had little cars to go on his cupcakes & Desiree had a Princess Aurora doll on the cupcake she was going to get to eat.


Sam thought Emily needed a party hat.


While we waited for our food to finish.

After we finished with that it was time to eat (sorry I don't have any pictures of the food, except the cupcakes, maybe Hila has the food pictures, she usually does); we had simple smokies, chicken salad finger sandwiches, chips & salsa/dip, & crackers with cheese spread. It was really yummy. After we finished eating we sent the kids upstairs to play while the adults played Apples to Apples (it was Nick's first time playing), it was so much fun, I can't think of anybody better to play with than my family, especially if Mom & Brad are in the same game :).



After a couple games of Apples to Apples we sang Happy Birthday to Ben & Desiree & had cake & ice cream, my cupcakes were awesome & very moist (no, I'm not conceited).


After the cake & ice cream the Birthday kids opened their presents.


Ben got LOTS of cars, but he loves them so I guess you can't go wrong with those, Mom got him a big Mustang that plays 'Life is a Highway'; poor Brad & Tarylyn, he also got some really cute clothes & a gross ball from Aunt Hila. Desiree got some really cute clothes too, & she got a couple of Barbies, some other little dolls, a noisy wand (that's going to drive me nuts...that's what I get for buying it for her) & these really awesome felt "paper" dolls with a ton of little clothes & a carrying case for them all. I have too many pictures on here, I think I need to open up a Photobucket account :). Well, after all the presents were opened all the kids went back upstairs to play & the adults, well, we played more Apples to Apples. Again, you can't go wrong with Mom & Brad in the game; Nick threw a really funny one out there for me, Hila & Tarylyn (& all you other Twilight fans); the adjective was 'sparkly' (I'm pretty sure that's what it was, correct me if I'm wrong Hila) & Nick put down 'Vampires', hahaha :) that was great. We finished up playing a little after 10:00 & got home close to 11:00, where Desiree wanted to pull out all of her new toys & play with them; haha, NO, I was exhausted & she needed to go to bed. So that was our day & the kids party, probably the most exciting thing that's happened to me in like 2 weeks.