cupcake wars

Our girls love watching cooking shows on Netflix, so for another birthday treat they wanted to do cupcake wars with their cousins.  They are lucky their birthday is so close to Thanksgiving so they usually have cousins around.

Leah was so excited when Rider got to my parents

 Gus helped me divide everyone up into teams - huge huge bummer that he was in the hospital and we missed him a ton, so we'll do it again when we are all together.

We did visit a little bit while Gus was in the hospital, Gus was a champ as always and in a good mood and made the girls feel comfortable and impressed us all with his magic tricks

Adie and Natalie made home made vanilla pudding to fill their cupcakes - I didn't realize Adie could separate egg yolks from their whites

 We loved having Granma H. there to help, Eliza and Ila's theme was "the great outdoors"

                    Poor quality but I love this picture of everyone in mom's kitchen together

 The kids had to take turns so Ash and Opal had some time to play before their turn to decorate

 And Rider loved the sweets, but was oblivious to the decorating going on, and was really happy to have Vinny  to play with

                                            Adie and Natalie's theme was fashion

 Saint Vinny took on Ashlynn and Opal as teammates.  Ash and Opal really wanted to make cupcakes that looked like poop. So, we gave them an emoji theme,  Vinny made frosting from scratch even with Ash and Opal's bickering! It was so good

                                 Leah was on my team, she had the "under the sea" theme

                                      Leah and Rider playing while the older kids decorate

 Adie and Nat made homemade frosting and homemade raspberry filling for their fashion theme - they tasted so good

 Leah came up with some sand cupcakes, one with sharks, and a sea urchin she made out of chocolates

                             Saint Vinny, with his home made poop emoji's- and helpers Ash and Opal

 Ila and Eliza won the award for sticking to the theme - so awesome.  They made a ladybug, a river, flowers, worms in the dirt, and a mountain

this was cute, all the kids into cupcake judging and Rider enjoying some peace and quiet with his cars

                        each team had to explain their cupcakes to Ian and Corey for judging

 Corey and Ian were a lot of fun.  Both appreciated the explosions of flavor to their pallets, and could have used a hint of lemon here and there ;-)

                                           The crew, minus the teens Gus and Kayla

                                 The kids waiting for Ian and Corey to tally up the scores
and Ian and Corey being really good sports and missing the end of the first half of the Civil War game to judge

   Leah was so excited and embarrassed when they were complimenting her on her cupcakes - so fun

           And Eliza watching some football with her uncles - pretty awesome bonus birthday party

Adie and Eliza are 9!

I'm really liking this age, it's been a lot of fun to watch their growth this past year.  I feel like this year has been a bit of a transition for them in a lot of ways.  School is a little harder, and I think that is good for them.  Their interests are changing - for their birthdays Adie wanted a cookbook and Eliza wanted some good colored pencils, and they both wanted new books.  They love to play sports in the living room, be with their friends, read, and I'm happy they still like to build with their Legos.  When their friends come over now I notice they spend more time sitting in their bunk beds talking which is really sweet, I wish I knew what they were talking about.  They have a great little crew of friends that they are always wanting to have over, or go to their houses.  This, of course, is causing more separation between the twins and the younger two sisters and that's a little hard, and natural I am sure. 

They are playing basketball for the first time, they like it ok. Soccer is still their favorite, and they don't like when they go into something not knowing exactly what to expect.  One of them usually cries at least once in our two games each Saturday.  They say they are hurt but I'm pretty sure it's frustration because the ref or I told them they were doing something wrong.  Even saying "Adie, make sure you're not reaching" can cause tears...The positive though, is that they are learning it's ok to be told you're doing something wrong and not be in trouble. Up to this point school and sports have come pretty easily for them. And they are rule followers and don't like getting in trouble. So they are learning that getting called for a foul isn't the end of the world for them.  

 For their birthday party they had three friends stay the night, and then we went to the trampoline park and out to lunch the next day.  They are so great together, they played capture the ball and four square in the house for most of the evening.

 Then the next morning they were outside by 8:00 playing "homeless"  We have a bunch of lumber from when Ryan tore down the garage so they  built themselves shelters until it was time to go to the trampoline park,

                                     After Get Air they played a lot of four square

                                                         sweet, sweet girls

Fall Soccer

We had another fun soccer season this fall, I'm happy the girls all still love it.