Emma's Birthday

The day started with "Princess Crown Hair."  This was my first time to ever try this out making a braid that started on the back of their neck and went around the head and back to the back of their necks.  I've done half braids starting from the part on the top of their heads and working down to the side of their heads.  So anyway, it was a little sloppy but they liked it.  

 Isaiah showing off the shirt I made him yesterday.  

 Jubilee just being Jubilee.  

Noah--the constant entertainment and class clown.

I dumped my first ever perfect cake.  This is a big deal!  :)  I mean, I've NEVER gotten it out perfect before and had it lay flat and whatever.  This was like amazing to me.  :)  Usually I just ice over the broken/peeled up/whatever part.  

The finished product.  

Another new trick I learned this time: color the icing however you want it, then heat it in the microwave between 10 and 20 seconds until it's drippy and wet looking.  Then take a silicone basting brush and paint the icing onto the cake where you want it.  It glazes the cake so when it hardens, it's like donut icing and you can touch it without leaving fingerprints.  Kinda neat!  I used a tube of squeeze icing for the yellow and another for the pink.  I wanted to do the bear in yellow but the yellow food color was out so I let Emma pick a koolaid to dye the icing and she picked Pink Lemonaid.  We had yellow and pink squeeze tubes left from who knows when but the pink didn't do well so I ended up outlining the bear in yellow.  It wasn't badd, just horrible.  It's even more impressive after you learn that we no longer had the tip that came with that tube of icing so I sealed the lid and cut the corner of the bottom and squeezed it out the bottom.  

Side note:  5's are terribly hard to write.  It looked like an S until I poked it a lot with a butter knife.

 Emma, how old are you now?

(See how my princess crowns are falling down?  Ooops!  I should have done it with their hair wet so it'd last a little better.)

 Jubi, want to wake up for the festivities?

 Excited and ready to party!

He was cranky so he took a short nap and was very subdued and still a little sleepy when he got up for the party.

Poor little Jubilee's high chair is clear across the table from the others and it was a lot of work to untangle it's legs from around the table so she just got to stay there. 

 

Admiring the cake/blowing out the candles.  

 Birthday kisses

 She named her Ling-ling.  

 I think she loves her.  

 Look how Isaiah and Abby are both sitting the same.

 "I'm just chilling out down here by myself behind a huge pile of presents.  I can't see anything much."

Our first set of "real" big-kid legos.  Look at all of them looking at it.  Brandon's been anxious to get "real" legos forever.  These are still perhaps a little over Noah's head but the big kids like them.  

 Girly legos.  It's a swimming pool with ice cream and flowers and butterflies and cuter than normal lego people and stuff.  

 Admiring another gift.

 Yep.  Just chilling.  I can hear them but now there's a huge panda between me and the other kids.

I LOVE it when she does this with her tongue.  :)  I want to remember this cute face.  She does this a lot. 

 Playing legos.  Unfortunately, due to the potential for loss, choking, etc, these are kitchen/adult supervision toys.  

Playing Legos