Happy 1st Birthday Lily!

I can't believe our baby girl is already 1! Lily turned 1 year old January 11th, but we waited to celebrate until the end of the month.

We drove up to Ashburn so we could be with the family. I stayed up the night before trying my hand at fondant flowers. Simple and easy.

My mom and Glenn hosted the party at their house. 

Boys having fun with their daddy.

Lily's little smash cake:

And the cake for everyone else. It was going together so well until one of the three layers cracked while I was taking it out of the pan. The icing helped but it was a little too soft to hold the pieces together, so by the time we started singing, one side the cake was slowly falling. It was pretty funny.

Birthday girl!!

You'll have to excuse the millions of pictures, but I just love her little face in all of them.

Getting ready to sing. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but was loving the attention.

Love her little smile here. Thank goodness for big brothers to help!

Lily did try to blow out her candle, but in the end Lance, Jude and Cole had to step in.

Jude helped her get the first taste of cake.

She wasn't too interested in using her fingers, so I gave her a fork and she liked that better.

Mmmm. Carrot cake! Lily doesn't have a favorite yet, so we went with mine,

I think she liked it. :)

George's parents were there along with Allen.

Laura and her boys made it too!

Finally getting into it.

Watching videos with Allen.

Grandmas!

Happy, happy Birthday, Peanut! You bring so much joy and light into our lives. We love your fiery personality and your loving nature. You have so much energy and spunk in that tiny body of yours. Thank you for your sweet smile, your snuggles in the morning and your kisses throughout the day. We are so grateful you are ours. We love you, Lily!

Lance's Pinewood Derby

Jan 24th was Lance's Pinewood Derby.

He designed his car all by himself and Scott helped him cut, sand, paint and embellish it. He was pretty proud and he should be: it was an awesome car.

I love that they made the weights look like part of the car. So cool!

Killian came with a sweet car too!

Watching the race:

Our Scout district doesn't have a timed track, but we did have someone at the end with a iPad so they could use "photo finish" in the case of a close race.

Jude playing with George while we waited.

Lance represented really well! I think he got 4th in his division--not as well has he was hoping, but he walked away proud that his car this year did better than last year.

Killian got 3rd in their division! Good job, guy!

Let's party Skylander style!

January 17th we celebrated Jude's 5th Birthday!

I'll admit I was very, very stressed prepping for this. (I may or may not have had a break-down 30 minutes prior when I was setting up and still very behind.) But, it came together well and the kids all had a great time.

Pain Yatta! He turned out well and Jude loved him, so I was happy.

Birthday boy! Wish his cute face was in focus.

Portal cake! The words on top was a cardstock printout.

Decorations. I made these blocks with pictures of different characters, good and bad.

Waiting for the games to begin! We had four games planned, each focusing on a different character in the game. Each game had a prize for participating that everyone received for their goodie bag, and if your team won, you get to pick out a "power-up". In the game, you can give your character power-ups in the form of silly hats, so at the party when your team won, you get a chance to pick out a silly hat to keep.

First game: Crusher's Rock Throw

We divided the kids into two teams and then put "rocks" in the middle. The idea was to throw all the rocks on the other team's side, the team with the least amount of rocks on their side won.

The kids had a blast! It was fun to watch them run around.

The prize for playing the game: a bag of edible rocks. These were a hit!

Lily watched from the sidelines with Grandmom and Jen while my mom video taped and George took pictures. It was so nice to have so many helping hands!

Second game: Trigger Happy's Shoot Out (I can't remember the real name we gave it). Basically, we had two teams and they each had a chance to shoot down as many bad guys as they could. Everyone got three darts, and the team with the most bad guys taken down won.

Ashley helping with the counts:

Prize: a little water gun.

Snack time!

The kids thought the cookies with the elements on them were great! This was Jude's favorite snack there. He's asked me several times since then when I'm going to make them again.

Mike and George setting up the piñata:

Mike Vedomske and his family drove from BALTIMORE to be here for the party!!

Third game: Jet Vac's Sheep Creep Corral. 

We had two "pens" on the floor that the kids had to get as many sheep (balloons) into as possible. The idea was to use these paper fans I made, but it didn't work as well as expected and by the end they were using their hands and feet as well. One of the balloons had blue eyes--the way to tell the bad guy Sheep Creep apart from regular sheep--and the team that got that sheep in their pen got 5 extra points.

Prize: bubbles.

And finally, game four:  Pin the Eye on Eyebrawl.

In retrospect, this was NOT the best game to play with 20 kids. It took way too long.

Prize: Eyeball lollipops.

And now what everyone has been waiting for: the piñata!!

George manning the rope:

Birthday boy got the first swing!

Jake Vedomske:

Mason!

Caroline V.

Bryce:

Lance:

Callie:

Allen got to deliver the final blow and broke it in half!

Spoils:

This picture does not do these lovely ladies justice: Allison Vedomske and Laura Farnsworth

Element cookies and some more edible rocks:

Cake time!

Happy Birthday, Jude!

Jake being silly in his crazy hat.

Gift time!

Most of the kids and their silly hats. Lance, Killian and Kendall were missing, as were a couple others.

Crazy picture!

Our families stuck around and helped clean up, as did the Vedomskes. It was so nice of them to come all this way.

Cole is hysterical!

Piñata hat and Doritos mouth.

Probably the biggest hit of the party was this awesome dolly. The kids took turns riding around the gym on it.

We tried so hard to get a good picture of these boys, but true to their nature, they wouldn't hold still. Jake and Cameron are our good friends that used to live just down the hill from us, but they moved to Baltimore last summer. It was so good to see them!

We finally made it home. The house was a wreck from all the party prep and we were all tired, but it was worth it. Jude had a fun time, the kids all were happy, and everyone went home with a canvas bag full of toys and candy.

Lily found our stool and helped herself to some cake. This girl is so funny.

I let her have a few bites before I stepped in. It was good cake!

Jude opened his gifts from us that night:

Skylanders Trap Team had just come out with two new elements and we got Jude the Light and Dark packs. He was thrilled! 

Happy Birthday, Jude! Thanks for being ours! I don't know what we would do without your constant smiles and laughs, your unending energy and enthusiasm for life. You are our sunshine and we love you more than we can express!