a rainbow horse birthday party (kaya’s 4th birthday!)

Posted on September 27, 2016 by tara

Kaya had been saying that she wanted a “rainbow Chance party” for the majority of the past year. Like most people, you probably have no idea who Chance is… Well, he’s a horse who lives over at the barn I used to volunteer at during college. His pasture was right behind our old neighborhood, so Kaya saw him fairly frequently. I don’t know what it is about that gray horse, but he’s been her favorite for quite a while!

She loved her rainbow party last year, so she requested that again, too. What’s better than rainbows and horses combined?

We kicked off her party day with her favorite donuts. Daddy took the girls to our local donut shop to pick them up, and of course, Kaya chose mostly chocolate cake donuts or chocolate-frosted ones with sprinkles!
This cake… oh this cake. It might not look like much, but it turned out to be a major labor of love. I actually ended up decorating the entire thing twice because it fell apart overnight… and then it started drooping again before she blew out her candle.I think the decorations failed to stay on because I used a new death-by-chocolate recipe that was incredibly moist (and also called for using cooking spray and no flour on the cake pans when baking). It was the easiest cake ever to remove from the pans… but that also meant that the frosting didn’t stay on well at all. It tasted amazing, and I’d definitely use the recipe again, but not for a birthday cake with any kind of buttercream decorations.

The horses are from Playmobil. They really are so cute and well-made, and I’m glad I chose these!This little girl loved her cake so much (and couldn’t wait to play with the horses, of course)!
She was so excited for us to sing to her! Seriously… this cake was almost as fudgy as a brownie. Mmm. Some of her presents included undies… …a Hello Kitty shirt… … and a “Chance” stuffed animal. She had asked for a “Chance snuggly animal”, and her reaction was just as adorable as I had hoped. Chance has gone everywhere with us ever since. I think he’s going to be a long-term favorite! Her big gift was this horse stable from Grandma Debbie. I think Lelia and I enjoyed playing with it just as much as Kaya!During all the present-opening, Kaelyn had a good time goofing off with Uncle Jeff. These girls sure do love their aunts and uncles. 🙂
We kept the decorations as low-key as ever, but we did surprise her with these cute horse balloons! She also got to wear a fun rainbow tutu, which pretty much made her day! Jeff and Lelia brought their puppy, Fallon, so my girls had a great time playing with her all weekend. After the party, we cooked breakfast for dinner. French toast… … scrambled eggs, and bacon!

Kaya even had a perfect day in Primary at church on Sunday. She got to stand up in front of everyone with her special birthday card while everyone sang to her (and I might have teared up watching from the back of the room… motherhood does crazy things to you!). They also had a lesson about God’s creatures, so her teacher brought in a cat for them to visit with (if you know Kaya, you know she loves cats)!

With all her rainbows, horse gifts, playing with Fallon, and holding a cat in Primary, I think she really had the perfect birthday weekend.

Happy Birthday Sweetie! I hope this is one you remember!

a rubber ducky birthday party (kaelyn’s 2nd birthday!)

Posted on July 18, 2016 by tara

I’m finally blogging about Kaelyn’s 2nd birthday party! Anytime I take a lot of photos all at once, it seems like it takes me a while to actually go through them all and share them. I definitely snapped a lot of pictures that day (June 25th), in part because I’m still adjusting to the lighting in our new home, so I kept changing my camera settings and trying different things. Many of these photos aren’t perfect, but I’m grateful I have them to remember my littlest’s special day.

Anyway… Grandma Debbie came up to stay with us for a few days, and as seems to be tradition, Kaelyn took a nap on her right before the party! We started our celebrations at 2 pm, so this little catnap was actually very much needed in order to avoid an afternoon meltdown. Kaelyn absolutely loves rubber ducks and gets SO excited anytime she sees one that she has to yell “QUACK!” over and over again. I knew she would be ecstatic with these rubber duck balloons! Hugs for the ducky! Uncle Karl and Kaitlyn brought her some more fun balloons when they arrived!This was one seriously happy little girl. I made her cake super simple this year. The only real goals were for it to look like water and have some bubbles and rubber ducks on top. I used this lemon cake recipe (minus the blueberries) with this frosting recipe, which I think pretty much equaled perfection. What’s better than a lemon cake on a summer day? (Not to mention, I almost always make chocolate cake, so this was a nice change!) We started the party off with Kaelyn’s favorite food- pizza! Soon it was time to blow out the candle (and she was still in love with her balloons)! I am so blessed to call these two precious girls mine.
Kaya was extremely excited for the party, and it wasn’t even her birthday! She is definitely looking forward to her own special day in a couple of months. Kaya ended up helping Kaelyn blow out the candle, because she had absolutely no idea what to do! We completely forgot to “practice” beforehand. Well… this is the best family picture we could get. I kind of think it’s hilarious. She loved her lemon cake! Everyone had blue lips afterward…After cake, she opened a few gifts.
We gave her this VTech Horse Stable that both girls have loved building and playing with together. My mom’s friend, Susan, sent her this stuffed penguin and a couple of books. She loves stuffed animals so much that she snatched it out of the bag as fast as she could, with the biggest grin on her face.Uncle Jeff and Auntie Lelia gave her some money for her 529 college fund. It’s definitely something she will appreciate when she’s older!

Grandma Debbie gifted her a rubber duck water table. Obviously, she has absolutely loved this over the past couple of weeks! After gifts, I tried to get a couple of pictures of her in her birthday outfit, mostly to no avail. She did like standing next to Fallon (Jeff and Lelia’s dog), though. We had to test out the water table, of course. Everyone ended up getting pretty wet! Kaya insisted that she needed her swimsuit… and when she came back out after changing into it, she was still wearing her undies and socks, haha! We had one happy (and tired) princess at the end of the day. I really think this was the perfect birthday party for her.

We love you, Kaelyn!

my birthday: post-it notes and minions

Posted on February 17, 2016 by tara

It always seems like I’m counting down until my birthday for forever… and then it’s here and over in the blink of an eye. It’s hard to believe that Kaelyn’s birthday is next in our little family. I guess I better start planning because it’ll be here before we know it!

My birthday started out with my favorite activity: running! I managed to get in 5 miles, and it felt even more refreshing than usual because it had been too cold (we’re talking severe wind chills and “real feels” in the negatives) to go outside for most of the week.

I came home from exercising and found that my mirrors had been attacked by post-it notes! Michael wrote my favorite “Happy, Happy Birthday” song on them and put them up in the shape of a heart. Sorry, but you totally get a bathroom-mirror selfie for this. How else was I supposed to get a picture of it? (and yes, I never went to BYU-I, but I’m wearing their shirt because my brother and sister-in-law sent it to me, and it’s pretty much the most comfortable tee ever.)

Michael put even more post-it notes on our bedroom mirror. This time, he wrote down some of the most significant things I’ve done for our family in this past year. It was pretty neat to see the influence I’ve had as a wife and mom through so many small actions.Other than that, we had a pretty normal day at home. We did a lot of laundry and cleaning up. Kaya spent a good part of the day singing “happy birthday” to me (and anyone else she could think of). She also warned me that I couldn’t stay in the (nice, warm) shower “all day” because then I would “miss my party”. Haha. Luckily for her, my shower didn’t last 10 hours.

I watched a friend’s kids for about an hour in the afternoon, and she surprised me with cupcakes from Bubblecakes! I’ve been dying to try these, and they definitely lived up to the hype.

Michael came home from work, and then he took Kaya out to pick up pizza and a cake for me. She was looking forward to this all day. She chose the perfect cookie cake, and even carried it all through Kroger.

Kaelyn and I stayed home, and while we were waiting, Katherine dropped by with a hug and a sweet surprise! I have some fantastic friends.

Kaelyn was tired of waiting for pizza, so she busted out the snack container I keep in the diaper bag and started chowing down. I tried to get her to make the same expression as me for a photo… I guess we were a little bored, because we made so many attempts that Google Photos automatically created this collage for me. Haha.

Nailed it.

Michael and Kaya returned home close to 7 pm, and it was finally time to party! I love cookies much more than cake, so this was perfect for me. I wanted my babies to help me blow out the candles again this year. Can we just take a moment to remember how little they were last year? (seriously, Kaelyn’s chubby cheeks. I just can’t handle the cuteness!) It took a few tries, but we finally did it together!We ended the evening by renting “Minions” (Kaya’s choice) and snuggling up on the couch together. My arms were full, and so is my heart. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

a “rainbow rainbow cat” birthday party

Posted on September 23, 2015 by tara

I can’t believe it, but Kaya’s 3rd birthday party has already come and gone! It always feels like I spend more time preparing for it than the amount of time the party actually lasts.

This year was the most fun by far, because she had been asking about her birthday for months (especially after seeing Kaelyn have a special cake and presents). She all but counted down the days… she was so excited! When she woke up on Saturday morning, she immediately looked down the hallway to see if I decorated… and the biggest grin came over her face when she saw the streamers. She ran through them and excitedly proclaimed “it mine birt-day!” several times.

Michael took her down to the local bakery (a.k.a. the best place in town) to get some special birthday donuts. Can you tell what kind we like the most?

_MG_9252 We practiced singing and blowing out the candles at breakfast! 🙂 We moved the table and put up some balloons and streamers (thank you to Lelia and my mom for lending me a hand)! _MG_9267 Kaya’s request this year was a “rainbow rainbow cat” cake. I actually made it the day before the party, so for once, I didn’t stress about getting it done on the morning of. The ruffles are buttercream and the little cat is made of fondant. Kaya saw the cat a day early, and immediately told me “I want to hold him”. I told her she had to wait until her party, and she said “But I need him!” in the sweetest, most tender little voice. I guess he looked enough like a real kitten, then, to get that reaction out of her. 😉 _MG_9261 Uncle Karl and Kaitlyn came. I think he spent the whole party trying to win Kaelyn over. He even hand-fed her some pizza! She alternated between crying when she saw him and wanting to sit on his lap… _MG_9271 Uncle Jeff and Auntie Lelia drove up all the way from Richmond! _MG_9272 We sang “happy birthday”, and she was beaming the whole time. She even blew out all three candles on the first try! _MG_9284 We had cake and ice cream, and then it was present time! Honestly, we were all starting to crash a little at this point, especially the birthday girl. Going two days without a nap and eating a ton of cake will do that to you! _MG_9288 She was spoiled with a Fisher Price DoodlePro, a stuffed Daniel Tiger, and lots of books! _MG_9290 Michael and I gave her a “GoGo My Walking Pup”, and she wasn’t so sure about having a robotic dog around at first, but now she loves walking and “feeding” her. (also, present-opening apparently makes a HUGE mess!) _MG_9299 We had an amazing party and a wonderful weekend.

And because I just love these little videos that Google automatically puts together, I have to share this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5slNIA58ic

We love you so much Peeky! Seeing you truly enjoy your day was my favorite part of everything.

kaelyn’s 1st birthday: a giraffe party!

Posted on July 14, 2015 by tara

I don’t know why I took so long to put up this post, seeing that her party was two weeks ago already. Whoops! Finally, here it is, my sweet baby’s first birthday party! It wasn’t anything fancy, but we really had the best time with family and friends. My heart is so full knowing how many people love our little princess.

We had a giraffe-themed party, since Kaelyn really seemed to get especially excited over any and all giraffe toys for a while. I made the cake, and was inspired by this to try to make it 3-dimensional. This was my first-ever attempt at something like this, and while it is far from perfect, I am definitely proud of the result! The body was cake and the rest was make of Rice Krispies Treats.

This girl only wanted to pull crazy-faced smiles that day! I think her grandmas brought this on… Love my girl. So many presents for such a tiny baby! Don’t look too hard at the cake… his ears were already falling off at this point, and by the time we cut the cake, his whole head was crumbling. It was a hot day, his head was too heavy, and I probably should have used more marshmallows to glue his head together. Now I know for next time! The decor was pretty simple. I loved having all twelve months of my princess on display!When we sang “Happy Birthday”, Michael and I automatically filled in “Baba Grace” instead of saying “Kaelyn”. Whoops. We might call her by her Kaya-given nickname more than her real moniker. She wasn’t sure what to think of the candle! She had no idea what to do with her cake. She did get some on her finger… and when she just barely tasted it, she was disgusted. I promise the cake was good! I’m sure things will be different next year. 🙂 Big sister got to help open all the gifts. This was the highlight of her week after everything she endured just a few days before. I think this piano was the biggest hit. Naturally, everyone wanted to play with it at the same time.
Our good friend Caroline loved being in on the action! For some reason, this picture just cracks me up. Kaelyn’s big gift from Mommy and Daddy was a Little People farm. She loves it! Daddy left this as a surprise on my camera… It’s the only picture he’s in besides the group one (whoops), so I figured I’d throw it in. Also… #kittyphotobombI’m grateful that so many people could come to the party! Bianca and her girls left before we snapped this picture. And then of course I had to do something crazy, like put my baby in a bucket, tie balloons to it, and take her picture.Also, let me just mention- same bucket, same baby, one year ago. I cannot believe she was so small! Back to the present…

Love this little scrunchy, double-toothed grin.Happy 1st Birthday Princess! We love you more than you know!

rose garden cupcakes

Posted on May 27, 2015 by tara

Confession: I made these cupcakes for a church party last spring, and never posted them! They’re just too cute to not share, and they could serve as inspiration for someone’s baking endeavors, so I say better late than never!

The roses were actually pretty easy- I followed this tutorial! I cut the leaves out by hand with a knife.
Just make your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and top it with your favorite chocolate buttercream. Crush up some chocolate-filled Oreos (I used store brand), dip the frosted cupcakes into the crumbs, and voila! You have fake dirt for your garden.
And there you go… perfect for a spring garden party!

five on friday: dishes, cupcakes, and a bus ride

Posted on March 20, 2015 by tara

Happy first day of SPRING! (although we’re totally having a gross, rainy, chilly day here!)

ONE. Kaya has had a lot of fun “washing dishes” this week! Our dishwasher broke and maintenance had to order a part for it, so it took until today to get it back in working order. Kaya definitely didn’t mind playing with the soap bubbles and pouring water into a couple of bowls I gave her to use. TWO. We had a couple of warm days this week, so naturally, we made the most of our time outside. I ran around the playground like a wild woman with my girls on Tuesday… and then they took the longest naps. Four hours for Kaya and three for Kaelyn. I even had a nap. It was magical. Seriously. THREE. Last night was our church Relief Society birthday dinner. I brought some cupcakes (bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?)! What better theme to decorate them around than SPRING! I used a different buttercream recipe that didn’t hold its shape quite as well as my usual one, so I really don’t think these are my best work… but hey, at least they were colorful (and quite delicious)!FOUR. Kaya had her first-ever ride on the BUS this week! Michael has been talking about taking her on one for ages now, so he finally just did it! The highlight of their ride? Finding leaves on the sidewalk when they got off. I love my crazy girl.FIVE. I forgot to include this photo in Tuesday’s post, and it’s just too cute to leave out! Daddy, daughter, and cookies. There aren’t many things better than that!Happy weekend!

Linking up with Christina and friends today!

birthday weekend

Posted on February 24, 2015 by tara

It’s taken me over a week to write about my birthday, because my mom was originally planning to come up and celebrate with us this past weekend. However, due to 500 inches of snow (okay, okay, more like 14), she didn’t get to come. We missed her, but still had a great weekend!

Michael surprised me with these decorations (and donuts!) on the morning of my real birthday! With all the dreary winter days we’ve had here, these decorations have helped brighten everything up. I probably won’t take them down until the end of the month!
My friend Brittany really surprised me when she made a cake and brought it to our institute class that evening! You have to love the hashtag! #obviouslythisisasocialmediathemedcake My sweethearts baked me a cake this past Saturday night! Kaya had so much fun helping in the kitchen. She’s a mini supervisor! Too little to help, but too cute to leave out her picture. Dark chocolate cake with cookie dough frosting… as I requested. Mmmm! Also, we apparently didn’t have a “2” candle, so Michael turned a “5” backwards, haha! Having a homemade cake meant so much to me.There’s no better gift on your birthday than being with the people you love most.
We blew the candles out four or five times… Kaya’s getting a lot of practice for her next birthday cake!Here’s to 27!

friday favorites: christmas edition

Posted on December 19, 2014 by tara

These are a few of my favorite [Christmas-y] things…

… sitting by the Christmas tree at night (and of course, taking a bokeh picture. #photographynerdalert)!
… festive sprinkles on cupcakes for the church Christmas party! … how this little girl watched and waited all day long while I made the cupcakes. She was so happy when she finally got her treat at the party!… my two peas in a pod, enjoying some “Feliz Navidad”-themed dinner.
… the giant Christmas tree at the mall! … decorating gingerbread cookies! I am so completely obsessed with gingerbread this year and my sweet tooth has been making that extremely obvious. … gingerbread playdough! Seriously. It smells heavenly and was so much fun to play with! … two cute baby friends in matching polkadot reindeer pajamas!6 more days!

a kitty birthday (kaya’s 2nd birthday party!)

Posted on October 6, 2014 by tara

Kaya’s actual birthday was on a Friday, but we waited until Saturday to have her real celebration. As it turns out, Friday mornings are pretty crazy at our house! She did get to eat (almost) as many chocolate donut holes as she wanted, and I sang happy birthday to her at breakfast time (Daddy was already at work). Her friend Mia came over for a couple hours that night, and they had the best time two crazy, fun toddler girls can have together (just picture them jumping on Kaya’s bed, dancing, and sharing pizza)! 🙂

Since her real birthday was so low-key, I definitely wanted to make sure the day of her party started off with some true excitement. I hung a bunch of balloons from the ceiling for her to see as soon as she woke up and walked into the hallway. She was a little timid at first, but she spent a good part of the day running through them and yelling “baoons!”Her next surprise was in the living room. Her big gift from us was her very own slide (yes, we are those crazy parents with a slide in their apartment… but hey, it actually folds up if we ever wanted to put it away). She pretends that everything and anything is a slide (and we even used a folding table as one, once), so having a real one definitely won’t go to waste!

She was so surprised!

One happy girl.

Her actual party was very simple. I wanted to do something I thought she’d love, so I chose to base it off of her very favorite little buddy- Kitty, of course!I actually love how the cake turned out! It looked just like her stuffed animal! Honestly, though… Kaya didn’t even notice it was Kitty. I’m still glad I put the effort into though, because it’s still something meaningful to her, and I know one day we’ll look back on this and it’ll be a sweet memory.I made a felt applique shirt for her, and she actually did notice that and liked it!She loved her cake this year! Who can resist dark chocolate? (answer: no one. duh.)She opened her presents all on her own! As usual, she was spoiled with some really awesome gifts.Her favorite thing might’ve actually been the fruit snacks Uncle Kevin and Aunt Tori sent all the way from Utah. Grandpa couldn’t feed them to her fast enough! 🙂We’re so grateful for all our friends and family who were here to celebrate our sweet girl with us! (And yeah, photography fail- the birthday girl ended up hiding behind Mike’s head in this picture…)!
Happy 2nd birthday, Kaya Bird! We love you so very much!