Ski time!

It snowed a bunch today so we decided to bring the girls out in the back yard to practice their skiing. Here they are, all geared up and ready to go.

Whoooosh! Here goes Mariah down the hill!

Oops. A little crash at the bottom. But, she's happy to just lie there and eat snow.

Back up the hill again.

Anna Claire had a few crashes too. But she got right back up!

Happy Birthday Tyler!

We celebrated Tyler's first birthday today. It was not a huge event, after just doing a big birthday party for Mariah. But I think Tyler enjoyed it. It was just going to be a family affair, but the missionaries came over, so we celebrated with them too. (This is good because we are overflowing with cake here -- still of lots of Mariah's quadruple layer princess cake leftover.) He is such a sweet little boy and brings so much joy to our family. We are so glad to have him!

Gosh guys, is this whole thing for me?

I made Tyler a teddy bear cake. It was so easy compared to Mariah's princess cake. I just used chocolate and butterscotch chips (sent by Rob's mom, I can't get them here) and added cupcakes for ears. The only mistake I made was doing a yellow cake instead of a chocolate cake. I thought it would be too chocolatey with all the chocolate chips and frosting, but it really did need chocolate in the cake too.

Regardless, the cake was good enough for Tyler. He loved getting his first big taste of pure sugar! (Note: Tyler is really generally a happy boy and smiles and laughs a lot. He just NEVER smiles for pictures.)

"I'm all sugared out, mom!"

Mariah's Birthday Party

This year is an on-year for birthday parties and Mariah really wanted--you guessed it--a Princess party! In anticipated, I had my sister send a bunch of cheap princess party supplies from the U.S., such as princess rings, candy princess bracelets, sparkly wands, princess hats, etc. These would have cost a fortune here, but in the U.S. they are hardly anything. (What's with the price differential on party products?) Fortunately, our new au pair, Monica, arrived just in time for the party. She was a little jet-lagged but helped out with all sorts of things. Not least, she is a photographer and took loads of great photos!

Happy Birthday Princess Mariah!

I made Mariah a giant Purple Fairy Princess Cake for the occasion. This was similar to Anna's cake last year. But this time, the cake was taller and narrower and turned out looking more like a giant tube than a gown. I had to do a lot of last-minute hacking and carving to get it to look more like a dress. But the cake inside was delicious -- alternating layers of my signature chocolate cake and pink strawberry cake. I also made tiny little "teacake" cupcakes for the kids to eat. (They all wanted big pieces of cake too, of course.)

The final masterpiece.

I put the fairy wands in a vase as a centerpiece, but that didn't last long. All the fairy princesses wanted to wave one.

When the princesses (and princes) arrived, they got to decorate their own princess hat. I love these old medieval princess style hats. Disney has done too much with the tiara lately and completely ignored this old medieval princess style. Here is Mariah's friend, Emily, in the foreground.

We played a couple musical-chair type dancing games. The princes and princesses could have danced the whole day. (Mariah, Kaia, Christina, Charlie, Anna is behind)

Mariah, of course, was the star of the dance show. (Mariah, Christina, Anna Claire, Charlie)

Blowing out the candles. Yeah, Princess Mariah!

Socializing with her friend Kelsey. This is classic Mariah -- cheerful and friendly. The theme was a Princess "tea party" so I set little tea sets and had little tea snacks to go with them.

Devouring the "tea cakes".

It's present time. I think Mariah now owns just about everything princessy on the market.

Happy Birthday Mariah!

We celebrated Mariah's third birthday today as a family. She wanted a princess cake -- which she is getting later for her birthday party. So today she got another version of a princess cake. And, of course, she received lots of princess presents. Grandma Judie sent her a green "princess dress" with sparklies all over the front. And, of course, we had to make her a birthday crown. Anna did this one! Mariah was quite pleased with all the attention. We are so glad you are part of our family, Mariah! You add lots of sparkle and fun!

Princess Cake #1

Hi! I'm 3 years old and I'm lovin' it.

Lots of presents for the princess.

Check out my new dress!