Nate's pirate party

I made the invitations the monday before the party and we went and passed them out to all his friends that night. I made them up on the computer using a free pirate font I fond. I printed them on tan card stock and then burned the edges using a lighter.

The next few days I spent crafting! I love crafting! My husband makes fun of me and says I am dumb for doing all this for a 4 year old who doesn't really appreciate it. He just doesn't understand I do it because I enjoy it just like he enjoys playing golf. I know that Nate could careless if he has no decorations or 100 decorations. I love doing it because I find it fun and relaxing! I made water bottle labels, cupcake toppers, and pirate ship sails using scrapbook paper and cutting things out using the cricut.  I loved the way they all turned out and was worth the few hours I put into it!

The set up

I made a treasure chest cake. I was a little nervous about this cake. I decided to try and make the cake in a bread pan since to me a loaf of bread kind of looks like the shape of a treasure test. I wasn't even sure if it was possible to bake a cake in a bread pan. I made the cake mix according to the directions on the box and then just poured the batter into the pan. I had no clue how long to cook it for so I just started with the lowest amount of time the box said and went up from there. When I first checked on it when the buzzer went off, the outside looked almost done, but the inside was still completely liquified! At this point I thought it wasn't going to work at all, but I continued to bake it longer thinking even if it is burnt as long as it is a solid shape it will work and everyone can just eat the cupcakes I made. It ended up taking another 20 minutes or so for the inside to get done and I thought the outside was going to be completely over done. To my surprise it turned out so yummy!! That night I frosted the cake after it had cooled and stuck it in the fridge over night to let it harden up a bit so it would be easier to work with in the morning. It worked out awesome! When I got it out it was easy to make a slit about 3/4 the way through and about a 1/2in down from the top. Once I cut the slit I started stuffing it with the gold coins, red jolly ranchers (rubies) and jewelry pushing them back and then stacking them up to make the treasure chest open up. All the things inside helped it stay propped up and I didn't need anything else to support the opening. I then frosted it by making horizontal lines across the cake using chocolate frosting and then took a butter knife over each line to flatten it down and give it a wood type look. Then I got yellow sugar  crystals and made two lines on the top of the chest to give it some character. Around the cake I smoothed peanut butter onto the surface and then covered it with graham cracker crumbs to make it look like sand. The peanut butter helped the crumbs to stick so they wouldn't fall of when it was moved around. I finished it off by adding a few gold coins to the sand and adding the number 4 candle. I was really pleased with how this turned out because in no way am I a cake decorator!

As guests started coming we had them go play for a minute in Nate's room until the pizza got there and everyone showed up. Once the pizza got there we had everyone come eat! The party was suppose to be outside, but it was raining so we had to move it inside our small house!

After eating we cleared out the table and started playing games! The first game was parrot shoot! There were 3 parrots and they had to shoot them into the basketball hoop. We had 2 lines marked on the floor. One for 3 and under and the other for 4 and up. After shooting they got a pirate eye patch. The kids loved this game more than I thought they would! We ended up playing it 4 times! After the first time the kids stuck their eye patch on and did it! We then played ring the pirate bottle. I had the water bottles set up and had 3 rings they had to toss it onto the bottle. After they played this game they each got a pirate spy glass.

After we played those games for awhile we went on a treasure hunt!! I read them the clues and they had to run find the next one. The treasure hunt led them to the treasure! ( a treasure chest piñata)

They all got a turned trying to break the treasure chest open! Good thing it was a hard one to open so everyone could have a turn. We let Nate whack it at the end for awhile and he finally got it to bust open!

And everyone ran to get their treasure!

Then it was cake time!

Then Nate opened presents! All the kids were around him in a semi-circle but right when he started opening the first present they all started scooting forward. It was so funny! He got some awesome presents and he loved all of them!!

After presents they all got pirate hats and whistles as a thank you for their gift! They all sure loved their whistles! With 13 of them going off it was quite noisy! After about 2 minutes we had them all stick theirs in their party bag so they wouldn't loose them :) I tried to get a group picture of them and the bottom one was the best I could get. They were all to in love with the whistles. They are all saying Arr! in the picture :) All his friends were at the party and he loved having them all there! His friends that were there were Andrew, Jo Jo, Dallin R., Porter R., Porter B., Noah, Jayz, Aiden, Josie, Dallin P., Tyler and Kylee. We were so excited to have all our family there too! Even Angela, Bobby, Tyler, Kylee and Amanda came down from up north since Ty's homecoming talk was that weekend. Even though it was crowded we are so happy everyone was there!

Here are just some random pictures from the party of our family and friends. Thanks for everyone who helped with Bailey during the party so I could help the kids. Thanks to everyone who help take pictures and thank you to everyone who came! You made his party so fun and special!

A few shots of the birthday boy! Cant believe he is 4!! He had such a great time at his party and said this was the best party ever! Made all the work and chaos during the party worth it! There were a lot of kids and people in our small house at once so it was pretty hectic and skyler said he never wants to do another party again ha ha! He just may not be invited to the future ones ;) It was crazy, but it was worth 2 hours of craziness to make Nate happy and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Love you buddy!

Park and Rivier

April 9th: The older kids had out of school for easter break so we went to the splash park with Shawna and Jayz. While the kids were off playing Bailey was being so cute and giving me kisses and watching all the kids play! Love my sweet little girl!

April 10th: Since last night was family night and skyler had a softball game we went and watched him play. Tuesday night we decided to go out and do something fun because the weather was great! We had Skyler's grandparents ranger in our garage and we packed in and headed down to the river by our house to play around in.

April 11th: I went over and helped my sister in law pack up her house because they decided to move to vernal that same week!

April 12th: I had Dallin come over and play while Josie was at preschool so Amy could pack things without the kids home. We had fun going to mcdonalds and the park! The boys were loving the toys they got from mcdonalds!

Easter Weekend/Nate's Birthday

April 7th: In the morning we had a neighborhood easter hunt and breakfast. We made muffins and brought them. Nate loved hunting for eggs and Bailey was so good to sit in her stroller the majority of the time!

Once that was done we headed to the Ence family annual Easter party at Quintons house. The kids swam and loved it! It was Nate's first time swimming this year and he was a little fish in the water and completely trusted the floats right off the bat! After swimming and eating they did an egg hunt for the kids. He found a ton of eggs which had both candy and money!! Once he returned the empty eggs they got a price and he picked out a jet which is now one of his new favorite toys!

Nate loved hanging out with his cousins and they were inseparable the whole time we were there!

When we got home Bailey was completely exhausted and took an awesome nap!

That night after we put the kids to bed it was time to play easter bunny and get all ready for Nate's birthday the next day!

About midnight everything was done and we headed to bed!

Nate woke up at 4am and freaked out because he was "trapped" in his room!! He woke up Bailey in the mean time and i started to regret putting the streamers on his door for his birthday. Then when he woke up in the morning and saw it when he was more awake he loved it! He loved running through it and popping all the balloons! After he popped all the balloons on the ground he popped the 4 that were hanging and they each had a dollar in them. He was so excited he got 4 dollars since he was turning 4! When he finished he said "This is the best birthday ever!!" Which made everything all worth it in the end!!

Nate with his birthday balloons holding up 4 fingers since he was turning 4!

We opened easter baskets and Nate loved the dinosaurs, snake, chocolate bunny, lighting mcqueen bubbles, and tie he got! He helped bailey go through her basket too. She mainly loved chewing on the candy wrapper.

Then Nate opened his birthday presents! He loved everything he got! It was so fun watching him open his presents! He is at such a fun age! 

Then we hurried and got ready for church. I tried to take a quick picture of them in their new easter tie and dress, but Bailey wasn't having it!!

During sunday school Bailey need to be fed and so I took her into the mothers lounge and fed her. She was acting so cute while i was putting myself back together after feeding her. She was smiling so big at herself in the mirror and then she would give herself kisses.  I couldn't help but snap a few pictures of her in the bathroom before we went back to class.

When we got home we took a few pictures of us in our easter outfits.

After church we ate lunch and took naps and then headed to grandmas to eat dinner just like we do every sunday! She had made birthday cupcakes and Nate loved it when we sang happy birthday to him and then he got to blow out the candle.

Since it was easter too she did an easter egg hunt for the kids. They loved finding all the easter eggs! Even Bailey found one!

We had such a fun weekend celebrating easter and Nate's birthday! All day on Nate's birthday he kept saying this is the best birthday ever! I even got it on video one time.

Randomness

April 1st: It was conference sunday and to help Nate pay attention I made a conference bingo for him that morning. It helped him a lot to listen to the first half bunt towards the end he started getting antsy! We sat down on the couch 5 minutes before the 2nd session started and when the session started I looked over and saw both Skyler and Nate zonked out! Bailey was asleep in her crib too. So it was just me watching the 2nd session for the first half of it.

That night we went over to Skyler's moms for dinner and while we were eating Nate was complaining that his ear hurt. I told him that if was still hurting in the morning we would go to the doctor. He went to go play and then he came back about 5 minutes later screaming that is ear hurt really bad and we needed to go to the doctor right now! We put a warm rag on it to see if it would help, but it only worked for about a minute and he was back to crying again. We took him to the doctor and the doctor said his ears were super red and he definitely had a bad ear infection. He proscribed him some antibiotics and sent us on our way.  This made the 3rd doctors visit for us within a week! Hate when my kids are sick!

April 3rd: I started buying a thing like bountiful baskets, but I get it from a ladies house thats in a neighborhood close to mine. We get a basket full of fruit and veggie type stuff every other tuesday. The baskets cost $16.50 and you get a tone of stuff! This is what I got in my first basket :)

April 4th: We went to watch Skyler play in the semi-finals for the St. George basketball league. They won this game taking them to the finals, but the lost that game which made them 2nd place overall! Way to go Skyler!

April 5th: Bailey turned 10 months today! I can't believe how fast time flies! She was in the bath tub when I took this picture and I love it so much!! It shows her big blue eyes perfectly! I love her adorable smile and her cute 2 front teeth!! Love this girl to pieces!!

April 6th: Alena didn't have school so she came over and played with us at our house. Nate loves his Aunt Alena!

The End of March

March 25th: Today was the last day all the family was in town. We all went to church together to my moms ward and then just went back to her house and hung out a little while longer until they left back home.

That night we had dinner over at Skyler's mom and then Jesslin stopped by for a visit and brought us over some Krave! Bailey was obsessed!! She wouldn't leave Skyler until it was gone! She was like a little baby bird just opening her mouth really wide waiting for the food to be put into her mouth. It was so funny!

March 26th: Nate wanted to take the training wheels off his bike and learn how to ride with out them. I think it was a lot scarier than he imagined and after a few tries said he wanted to put them back on ha ha!

Bailey and I relaxed on the blanket and watch Daddy helping Nate ride his bike. Look she has her two bottom teeth! So cute right?

That night I put the kids to bed and Skyler was out playing in a softball game so I decided to soak in a bubble bath, have a bowl of ice cream and catch up on my shows! So relaxing!

March 27th: Nate had a fever and we took him into the doctor.

March 28th: We all had a long night the night before and we were exhausted! Nate was up throwing up every 30 minutes all night and Bailey wasn't feeling good either and woke up 3 or 4 times!

That afternoon they were feeling a little better so we went outside and had a picnic to try and do something fun to take his mind off of missing playgroup today and preschool yesterday.

March 29th: I finally took bailey in for her 9 month appt! She was 13lbs 13oz. and 26in long. Which puts her in the 3rd percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. Love my cute petite little girl! As little as she is she is getting so big! She loves cruising around furniture and playing with Nate and all his friends. She could totally walk now if she wanted too! She has great balance, but i guess as a fear of the open area! She is such a happy little girl and loves to wave hi and bye to everyone! She loves attention and claps for herself when she does something good! She is a little drama queen though! Whenever she wants something that she can't have and I tell her no she throughs her self forward or back like its the end of the world! If she wants me to hold her and I set her down she will arch her back so I can't set her down and when I do she rolls around and flails herself around! Its so funny!

That afternoon Presley and Porter came over to play while their moms got ready for a funeral. They were so cute and played so well together! I had Skyler take Nate to work for the day since he was still pretty sick. Bailey had fun following them around though!

March 30th: We went down to the river with my friend Ember and her sons Aiden and Harbor. The kids had so much fun playing! I can see many more river trips to come!

Then we went to Jayz's 8th birthday party. He had a video game truck come that had tv screens on the outside and inside of the truck. All the kids loved playing video games and even though nate was about 4 years younger than everyone he loved it and felt like he was their age!

March 31st: Ty and I took a road trip up to salt lake! My friend and old roommate Amy was having her bridal shower and Ty was going to conference at the conference center so I drove him up and dropped him off up there. It was a quick trip up and back in the same day since I didn't bring the kids and I am still nursing Bailey so I couldn't be gone to long. I was so thankful for Skyler staying home with kids so I could go up without them!