Ben's 8th Birthday

Somehow, amid the chaos, we managed to have a birthday party. With a homemade cake and all.









































Turning 8 means a baptism date! What a handsome little guy.

Weston's Candy Land 6th Birthday

When I asked Weston what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday this year, he told me surprise him. Thinking about his favorite thing in the world (candy), I knew I had to try it.  It was the most expensive and time consuming cake I've ever made, but it was all worth it when I saw the look on his face. I don't even remember what else happened that day, but this cake will long be burned in my memory. And it better be burned in his memory as well.

Spencer's 12th Birthday

It's a Golden Snitch and Gryffindor color cupcakes (Harry Potter), in case you couldn't tell.
Some one was slacking on camera duty, because these are the only pictures of his birthday I could find.  I do remember that he didn't want a party.  He only wanted to go to the St.George Temple and out to eat with me and Jason.  We were able to get some family names (thanks Uncle Richard), that he could use for baptisms.

Regan's 14th Birthday

\

Ben's 7th Birthday

Ben's 7th Birthday.  We're starting to get really lazy with out pinatas.  Just wrap a little crepe paper around a box, and you're good to go.  Who needs to spend $20 at the store for a real pinata?  It's what's on the inside that counts.  At least that's what they always say.

Happy Birthday to Our Favorite Pizza Man!!

Jason's birthday, May 2013.  Had we known that all he would do was eat, sleep and breathe pizza in the near future, maybe I would have made him something else.

 

Weston's 5th Birthday

If you shop at Costco, you might be able to spot a Costco cake in the picture below.  Yes, it's true.  For the first time EVER I bought a birthday cake.  And it was kind of painful.  I guess I take some pride in the cakes I make for my kids.  I'm usually the hero after I present them with whatever cake it is they've asked for.  Plus, it's a way of showing I care.  But this year, Weston's birthday fell in the middle of a week that was overwhelmingly busy and I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off.  Then on Saturday, we were headed to Costco when we decided to pretend his birthday was Sunday, the next day.  At Costco we told him he could pick out his own cake.  He didn't want to at first.  He wanted my to make a Hulk cake.  Eventually he decided the dinosaur cake would do. He had been counting down the days until his birthday, and for it to suddenly jump to 4 days sooner was OK with him. 

He wanted "red and blue" spaghetti for dinner.  Okay.  I can do that.  It's certainly easier than a Hulk cake.

Ben picked out this stuffed tiger for him at the DI for a dollar.  He loves it and has been sleeping with it ever since. We got him a bug vacuum that he can suck up bugs with and look a them in a magnified container.  His friend got him several packs of gum which was probably his favorite thing. 

He really wanted a Spiderman pinata, but for almost $20, BEFORE you have to buy candy to fill it, Jason quickly decided to make one himself.  An empty box and some crepe paper and there you have it.  It ain't pretty, but all they care about is smacking the heck out of it.





















If you can't tell, in his birthday pictures above, he's wearing an Ironman costume.  He's VERY into costumes right now.  He wears one 24/7, besides church.  You can see Superman and Spiderman below.  It usually has something interesting paired with it, like Spiderman in the helmet and snow boots. Sometimes it's superman with pajamas and cowboy boots.  The neighbors really get a kick out of watching him ride up and down the street in his latest getup.   
His grandma's both sent him some money for his birthday and he bought some superhero accessories. An Ironman mask to go with the costume and a Spiderman web shooter. 

































Does this remind you of someone else in my family?

Spencer's 11th Birthday

 

Spencer wanted a Star Wars cake this year.  Turned out pretty good, I thought.  Jason cut the words out of yellow sugar paper, which I didn't even know existed before I made this cake. 

 

With the camera we got him last year for his birthday, Spencer has spent many many hours making movies.  So this year we got him some film editing software, which our computer was too slow to use without the video being choppy, which we fixed by having our friend build us a new computer, which means this turned into a very expensive birthday gift. But I'm sure you'll agree after watching these clips from Spencer's latest movie, that it will all be worth it in the end.

These are in unedited form because we we still don't know how to use the editing software.  Like I said, I'm sure it will all be worth our hundreds of dollars. 

So that's an example of the film making that goes on around here.  It usually ends in tears, because the director isn't always very patient with the actors and the actors don't always like the script. 
Maybe someday soon we'll see a full edited movie ready to post.  I hear he's doing a remake of Harry Potter.

Ben's 6th Birthday

On Ben's birthday, we decided last minute to head up the canyon to Wood's Ranch to celebrate.  By the time we got everything unpacked, we realized that we didn't have much daylight left so we rushed through everything trying to get a few pictures.

Regan and Spencer built a box (with the help of dad) to put his present in.  Turns out it was a little harder to open than they thought. Or maybe it was planned that way.

Inside the box?  A $5 bill that had apparently gone through the wash with something red and a pack of gum.

 The last photo we could get before it was completely dark.  Getting ready to smash the pirate pinata.  

And...the candles on the cake.  I didn't even get a good shot of the cake and cupcakes.  If you can't tell, it was a football and there were cute little basketball, baseball and soccer ball cupcakes to go with it. 

Weston's 4th Birthday

Here I am, almost a year later, trying to get this posted before Weston has another birthday.  Sad. But at least I'm making progress.
This is Weston's 4th Birthday.  He wanted a jack o lantern cake, like Ben, but blue was the only acceptable color.  This boy knows what he wants and it's not easy to change his mind.  Not that I mind a blue jack o lantern cake, it really makes no difference to me.  But for his upcoming 5th birthday he wants "a cake that looks like the bed I used to sleep in".  He's talking about his bed before the bunk bed, which was a pack n play.  He slept in it until after he was four. Because he REALLY REALLY loved it.  And he REALLY REALLY misses it. I wonder if he wants it to look exactly the same, down to the ripped netting and the permanent marker art.  Hmmm....could be interesting. I've still got a few months to try and change his mind. 

Much of Jason's family was still here after graduation to celebrate with us.  He talked them into getting him those blue cowboy boots from Cal Ranch.  He still loves them and they still fit. 

Of course a party is not a party without a pinata. 

Notice the big stack of #10 cans under the tree?  We were getting ready to plant the garden and happened to be getting it all tilled up earlier that day.  Ben and Weston both took their turns riding on the tractor. 

Spencer's Birthday

Spencer turned 10 in March.  He's growing up fast.  Just like they all do.  He's my one boy who doesn't like to hug, cuddle, or basically do anything touchy. However, I'm still stronger than him and can force it upon him.  I'm sure some day he'll tell me how I scarred him emotionally by tackling him and forcing him to hug me, or at least be hugged by me.
This year, once again, he made it easy for me.  He wanted to go bowling with me and Jason.  We had fun, but we didn't get any pictures because I forgot the camera.  I've been a terrible blogger-mother lately.  While we were gone, Regan, Ben and Weston decorated the house and got the presents ready.

Here's Spencer with his favorite cake, fruit cocktail cake.  I know it looks ugly, but it really is good.  And easy.  I'm all about easy these days. 

Regan's gift to Spencer-Battleship.  What a good brother.  We bought him a camera/video camera.  He loves to spend time making movies and I was getting tired of finding Lego movies on my own camera.  It's supposed to be very rugged.  Water proof, drop proof.  You can even film underwater.  If it doesn't get lost, maybe it will last a while. I'm doubtful, but we'll see.

Birthdays

Oh, where to start when you haven't blogged in 5 months. I guess birthdays should be at the top of the list. I've missed two birthdays and I'm a little too lazy to put them in separate posts, so poor Ben and Regan will have to share their day in the spotlight.
Ben turned 5 back in September and although his birthday falls well before Halloween, all the stores are preparing for it seemingly months ahead, so it was only natural for him to want a Halloween birthday. I also might have made a few suggestions to him, because this Jack O Lantern cake was probably one of the easiest decorated cakes I've ever made, and "easy" is a qualification for pretty much everything on my to do list these days.

Of course, the party was easy too. Our friends, the Dotson's came over. We hung a pinata from the tree, which Regan decapitated with one swing, but not before all the younger kids took their best shot. Then, on to opening presents and eating cake, which pretty well covers it.

Ben is a lot of fun. He's at the age where he wants to know everything, asks a ton of question, loves to cuddle, wants to do everything his older brothers do, loves to wrestle and most of all loves to eat! We love you Ben!




Regan turned 12 in November. He'd been looking forward to this birthday for a long time. We didn't do anything to celebrate on his actual birthday, but we celebrated in parts. At the last minute we decided to celebrate the day before his birthday because we had to work on his birthday. He invited a few friends, I made his favorite cake- fruit cocktail cake, and they watched a movie.
On Sunday, he was ordained a Deacon, which was very exciting for him. He's been loving every minute of passing the sacrament, attending mutual and going on scout camp-outs.
The week after his birthday, we took him out to eat and to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, which is what he really wanted to do more than anything, but of course it had to wait until after his ordination. We were able to round up a few family names to use and Jason baptized him. It was a great experience.

Star Wars Legos from grandma, which have provided hours of entertainment.
And a longboard, which has also provided hours of entertainment, but is much harder on the pants and knees.

It's been fun to watch Regan mature into a young man. He enjoys everything he's involved in- with the exception of house work, he's reliable and responsible, he does well in school, and is a good example and big brother to his brothers. We love you Regan!

The Cake Nightmare (and Weston's birthday)

Weston had his 3rd birthday on May 9th. How did it get to be the end of July already? I can't believe how bad at keeping up I am. Better late than never.
Weston had been telling me he wanted a dinosaur cake for his birthday, but I succeeded in talking him into a snake cake instead. Way easier cooler, I told him.
He didn't like it. But not because it wasn't cool. Because he was scared of it, or of any other cake for that matter.


A few weeks before his birthday, one night, several hours after Weston had gone to bed, he came running up the stairs screaming, "The cake is coming, the cake is coming!". He was shaking and crying and obviously very terrified of the cake that, in his mind, was in hot pursuit.
Now, I don't know, my nightmares have never included food. If I were to have a nightmare about a cake, it would most likely be me chasing the cake and not being able to catch and eat it. Now that would be a reason to cry. At any rate, he was scared and would not believe me when I told him that cake is our friend. Our very good friend. Hours later, when he had calmed down enough to return to bed, all he could say was "Don't get frosting on your face mommy". Hmm...I really wish I could have seen that dream.
Over the next few weeks, he kept talking about "the cake", but didn't seem to be as frightened. In fact, he told us that he was no longer scared because whenever the cake came for a late night visit he would just eat it. Smart boy. Problem solved, I guess.
Fast forward to his birthday. He was taking a nap when I decorated the cake, so when I excitedly presented it to him later, he stood very quietly looking at it and left the room without a word. He kept his distance all night and wouldn't even touch the piece of cake we put in front of him. Oh well, more for me.
Otherwise, he seemed to have an enjoyable birthday. I think it's now well behind him because he's back to eating cake. Now if I could just get him to have a nightmare about candy and marshmallows, life would be much easier.

Ben's 4th Birthday

Ben turned 4 last Sunday. He wanted a Black Spiderman cake, or rather, I talked him into a Black Spiderman cake. His first choice would have been a Green Goblin cake, but I thought the Black Spiderman would be easier to make. I made it after he was in bed on Saturday night, so it would be ready for him on Sunday. He was so excited Sunday morning, he spent most of the morning sitting on the counter just looking at the cake. Every once in a while he'd sigh and say "I love you, mommy".



We just had a small party after church with our family, plus Joe and Kacy. The Spiderman Pinata was first. After demolishing that, it was time for cake. Everyone's shirts had to come off, except for adults, of course. Black frosting is the one drawback of the Black Spiderman cake.


All Ben wanted for a present was a "scary" costume. Again, his preference would have been the Green Goblin, but as they don't carry those at Wal-mart, this was the next best thing. He seemed to be pleased with it anyway.

I say this every year at every birthday, I just can't believe another year has passed. Seriously, these kids are growing up so fast. It's kind of sad.
Ben's such a little mama's boy. He wants to be at my side or cuddling with me all day long. It's probably a good thing that I'm his main lady right now because he's very much a lady's man. He loves to raise and lower his eyebrows and wink at girls. He also has some mean dance moves, so ladies, WATCH OUT! He'll be grown before we know it.