Evelyn is 4 years old!!

Evelyn's day finally arrived after a month-long countdown!

 So fun to celebrate with cousins! 

 Super big monkey is now always snuggled next to her in bed every. single. night.  In the morning when she comes into our room from her's, she brings it dragging along. 

Legos from her cousins & goin' fishin' from her aunts.  What a great birthday!

 All she wanted for her birthday cake were cupcakes and a candle that was a "4".  So cute!  I'm glad she said so because I wouldn't have found one for her.  What. a. doll. 

60 years and going strong!

My MIL turned 60!  We threw her a surprise party and invited friends and family to the event.  She is also a cancer survivor and wanted to throw herself a survivor party, so we tied it all in together.   We had pink décor and all!  What a fun night honoring a great woman. 

Here’s the birthday girl!  We served pulled meat on buns with salads and chips.  We had a chocolate fountain for the dessert.Guests were invited to take home a bag of goodies from all of the tables. 

The entry area had a darling sign made by grandson Garrett and it also had a scrapbook from the last 5 years of her cancer survival made by her daughter Kristel.  I put together a framed word-art of 60 reasons we love her from all her children and grandchildren.

We took those 60 reasons we love her and attached them to the balloon centerpieces on each table. 

Granddaughters Evie & Jackie waiting for the party to begin!

Justin's Birthday

Here is the table decor for Justin's birthday. Finally, I am young again since he moved up an age... The flowers (and leaves) are right from our garden).

So, i'm not a very good cake decorator, but i try to make it fun. {it tastes good though!} Here is his cake this year.

the big 35!!! Time flies when you're having fun! happy brithday Justin!

Birthday blocks idea

http://undermypolkadotumbrella.blogspot.com/2010/03/birthday-blocks.html

This is so adorable! Birthday blocks that hold balloons. I'm off to make one!! :)

English Birthday Party

YUM!!! English Trifle (recipe below) This weekend, we celebrated John Overman's birthday. Kristel surprised him with an English-themed birthday party. He was happy about that since he served his mission to London. I made an americanized version of an English Trifle and also yorkshire pudding (German pancake) cooked in muffin tins so that people could have an individual serving. I forgot to take pictures of that, but they turned out fun. The trife is unsugared strawberries, angel food cake torn apart and the pudding is a mixture of 2 boxes white choc instant pudding, mixed with 2 cups cool whip (make 1 cup cool whip per box of pudding used). Then, layer it together. This was three layers and I used real whipping cream on the top. YUM!!

Right before John's birthday, we received a package from Iris in England (Rachel's friend). I saved the packaging and wrapped John's gift inside. How authentic!