Sofia turned 5 in March! I did a little family/maternity/5 year session with them one evening….these are my favorites of Sofia.
Sofia is 5!
Tag: birthday
Lucas’ 4th!
Now that I revived the blog, I may be doing some “throwbacks”.
Last November, we celebrated Lucas’ 4th birthday. Here is his last night as a 3 year old!
Donut surprise for his birthday breakfast and Paw Patrol decorations.
It’s amazing how much different he’s changed since then. He’s loosing that baby/toddler look in his face. So not ready for 5!
For dinner we went to Mesquite BBQ so he could have a corn dog and fried okra.
Then is was back home for cake and gifts.
Pink cake, of course.
His big gift was a scooter from us. He also got some map and maze books, a helmet, a marble run and butterfly wings.
A little about Lucas….
He likes fruit, graham crackers and cream cheese, breakfast tacos, toast, cereal, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, cheerios, raisins, chips, pretzels, tomatoes, donuts, cupcakes, ice cream, popcorn, pecans, almonds, granola, kombucha and cheese pizza when he’s in the right mood.
He LOVES his stuffed animal friends. All of them have to be in bed with him and I think there might be about 20. Bears, dogs, alligator, fox, school bus, Roxy (a shrunk T-Rex), Gold (a monkey), his other monkeys, turtle…..all of them. But I especially love how he makes up stories about them, how he cares for them and their feelings. It’s the sweetest thing that I never want to end.
He loves to play LEGOs with brother which usually means finding all the tiniest pieces there are and hoarding them in a bag or his pockets. His favorite are LEGO men.
Last fall he was super into dominoes and marble runs. Now he just likes to carry the marbles around. We find them everywhere.
He really enjoys books with lots of details and things to study. He will sit for a good while staring at the same page, just studying. Both he and William are into LEGO City books and the Bernstein Bears plus Mo Willem’s Gerald and Piggie books.
He is doing awesome on his balance bike and I think we’ll be moving him to something bigger by the fall. His legs just need to be a bit longer. But he can really keep up! He loves the park, taking walks and climbing the thunderdome in the backyard.
He’s really at a point where he wants to do so much more and a lot more by himself. I try to allow that but he’s my mischevious kiddo. If it’s too quiet, time to check on him!
He’s done so well at school this year and loves his teachers. The best thing is to hear him singing songs he’s learned in chapel. When he is at home with us, I try to include him in our school as much as possible or have some work all his own. He’s just beginning to read 3 letter words and does a great job sounding them out!
Lucas, you are Mommy’s sunshine boy. I love your happiness and how you can quickly loose the blues and be back to all smiles. You are so sweet and caring and I hope you never loose that. I love your imagination and your snuggles. I hope you always dance to the beat of your own drum and never worry what other’s think of you. You are a free spirit with a zest for life I envy but love to see. Love, Mommy (I can hear you calling from your room so rest must be over!)
William’s LEGO Party
William requested a LEGO party this year and I am so thankful he didn’t ask for a LEGO man cake, just some bricks. Can do!
Thankfully we had a nice day because he wanted to do the park again.
I found the tutorial for the cake on the Betty Crocker site. It was fairly easy to do but the icing took longer than I expected. Still, he was happy with the final result and that’s all that matters.
We did two games, one was guessing how many LEGOs were in this container and the second was a LEGO relay game of sorts. Each kid tried to race a spoon of LEGOs to another container. The one who got the most, won. The kids loved both of them!
William Turns 7 | 3.8.2019
William was very excited about being 7. I keep trying to tell him that he’s not allowed to grow any older but I think it’s getting old. I miss my baby days sometimes but watching this kid grow, learn and become his own person is a wonderful experience as well.
His last night as a 6 year old.
I try to have some kind of decoration to greet them when they wake up. We’ve done streamers on the door, piles of balloons in their room or right outside the door. This year I went with a big 7 on the wall.
Breakfast and a present to start the day. A LEGO kit of course.
My mom meeting fell on his birthday so we picked up donuts to share with his study hall friends, forgot to get a photo of that but all the kids enjoyed celebrating with him.
This big kid can make scrambled eggs all by himself these days!
He chose one of his favorites, The Salt Lick for dinner. We were all pretty happy with his choice.
Since we were having his birthday cake on Sunday for his party, I stopped at a local bakery for a few cupcakes so we could celebrate after dinner. We couldn’t light all the candles with the wind but he managed to beat the wind to two of them.
Then we surprised him with his first movie theater experience to see the second LEGO movie. James said this was his face pretty much the whole time but he loved it.
William, I hope you always know how much I love you. It seems like these 7 years have gone by much too quickly and I wish I could slow down time to savor each and every second. You are becoming such an awesome kid. I love your imagination, creativity, eagerness to learn (in your own style), your observations of the world and inquisitiveness. Never loose your curiosity. I pray for you everyday that you would use your gifts to glorify the Lord. I am your biggest fan. ~Mom
Current favorites: LEGOs, Puppy Dog, bike rides, walks, the park, art, Co-Op days, reading books, iPad time
Food: Oatmeal, pretzels, chips, mac n’cheese with tuna, Italian Wedding Soup, cinnamon applesauce, pizza, cheeseburgers, seaweed, waffles, pancakes, cupcakes, donuts
What do you want to do when you grow up? Be the first rock star on Mars
Sofia | Age 3 | March 2017
My niece, Sofia turned 3 in March and we did a fun little session with her at a local park. We also did some belly bump photos of her mama but those will come later.
Lucas is Two | 11.30.2016
Lucas’ Second Birthday | 11.27.16
For Lucas’ second birthday, I used one of his favorite books as the theme. The Little Blue Truck. There is a link in the back of the book you can go to, to download the cupcake toppers, hats and bunting. Even though I kept it pretty simple, it was still a little time consuming cutting it all out. But in the end, I really love how it all came together and was really sweet, perfect for our little dude.
We kept the bunting up for a while after the party and Lucas loved saying beep, beep, beep all the time.
He’s closer to 2.5 years now and looks so different from this little face!
The frosting was a hit. I don’t think he ate much of the cake.
Showing Oma and Opa his messy face.
We had so many wonderful friends and family members come to celebrate with us. It was a fun evening followed by a mini pizza party.
Pearl Turns One | 10.30.2016
Here’s a sweet look back to this adorable little lady’s first birthday. We love Miss Pearl and her scrunch faces.
Out of this World Birthday Party | William Turns 4
James has always been a space geek so it’s no surprise that is William’s current favorite thing…well, he likes rockets. He also likes Space Racers now so I thought doing an outer space/rocket theme for his party would be fun.
We were originally hosting the party at our house, but after a week of rain our backyard wasn’t in any shape for kiddos, so we moved to our neighborhood park. It was a beautiful day! The past three years, William has always had rain on his birthday or day of his party.
I used an idea from a Kraft recipes site to make the shape of the rocket cake. The boys gave their input on design and I had to add the Falcon 9 logo somewhere as well. William declared the cake beautiful! The space tablecloth was a $5 find from Amazon.
A lot of my original decoration and activity plans were cancelled since we moved locations but I did stick to making jet packs for all the kiddos. So happy my sister, Jessica helped me with these! They turned out so cute and the kids loved them. A lot of the tutorials I found online suggested using a 2L soda bottle but I went with the 16 fl oz ones instead. They were a much better size for the 2-4 year olds.
Here they are in action!
Wagon rides were the hit of the day….a big thank you to all the parents who took turns pulling the kiddos around the park!
The wind made it difficult to get the candles lit but with 6 hands involved it worked!
I love this photo. It makes me smile….opening presents. How close can everyone get?
What a fun day with family and friends! I am so happy with how everything turned out, the beautiful day and easy clean up. Score! I know the birthday boy had a blast too.
William Turns Four | 3.8.16
It’s been a while since I’ve been able to capture this kiddo…usually when I pull out the phone or my camera, he makes the goofiest faces or just hides. I think it was the promise of a donut at the end of this session that made him cooperate…a bit.
He’s four….not 12!! Who is this kid??
This is the usual William face.
My handsome little man!
Elizabeth Hafner 