Sorry I haven't updated with pictures from the birthday party. We have been busy with lots of fun birthday parties, park visits and fun times down at Gran Gran and Daddy Steve. Most recently we have been busy getting ready for our trip to Louisiana. We leave on Tuesday (we are flying this time) and will get to stay for a little over a week. Yay! I am so excited to meet Boyd and get to spend some time with Abbey, Baxter and Warren. We will also be there for Baxter's 2nd birthday which is just icing on the cake. The picture below is what Emma Kate looked like when I told her we were flying on the airplane without Daddy (yup...me and both kids on the plane, please pray for my sanity and the patience of the people around us!)

I have been trying to pack and get organized so that I can feel like I have control over what is going to happen. Yeah right. We all know that God is the only one who can keep my kids still, sweet and quiet on the planes (Prayer to God: Please let my kids become perfect or please let me not care!)

On a more fun note I am going to post a few pictures from Emma Kate's party. With a three year old they actually care about things like party themes, colors, etc. So, when it came to birthday ideas it was ALL pink and ALL princess. Which turned out great for us (except we had to throw in a little knight/medieval theme for all the boy party attendants)! We had the party at lunch and it worked perfectly that it was during LeAnn and Ela's spring break and so they were able to come to the party! We had lunch, sang happy birthday (which Emma Kate sang to herself, check the videos on the eachday account on the right), and opened presents. She had a BLAST! For days after she kept asking "are we going to have another princess party today?" My response "Not today...it is going to take me another 365 days to work on your next princess cake!" Which leads me to the cake. I made a princess cake which in actuality is not that difficult. It probably wouldn't have taken me so long if Sleeping Beauty Barbie wasn't so tall! I had to make three cakes in order for her skirt to be tall enough (and she was still bent at the waist!) I ended up using a homemade marshmallow fondant recipe and it turned out pretty well. I will plan on using it again. I did learn from some of my mistakes. 1. Unless you keep your house at 62 degrees (impossible in Yuma) you have to decorate your cakes in the fridge...with the door open. I wish I had a picture of this and the incessant beeping of the refrigerator telling me to "SHUT THE DOOR!!!!!" 2. Make way more than you think you will need because you will need it. always. 3. Don't put too much fondant down the disposal...it will clog! (1:00 am night before party, sink backup, yay!) These are just a few lessons that I hope I am able to put to use on the next cake I attempt (it is a good thing that my kids birthdays are far enough apart that I will forget all the negatives and want to do it all over again!)

Sorry I don't have more pictures. I was too busy enjoying the fun! I will hopefully post pictures of ME HOLDING BOYD! Yay!!!!! Almost midnight....goodnight!