Snow jello, piñatas, and scouts

January continued along... Lily' Birthday was next, so we were prepping for that. She wanted another Alicorn/Dragon party, complete with an alicorn piñata. I have to admit, I hate letting the kids help because I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to projects that I start, but I try to set aside those feelings and let the kids do some of the work. They love it and that makes it worth it.

For this piñata, I got a zebra inflatable (kinda like a beach ball, but zebra shaped) and used that as the base. This way I didn't have to shape it myself, just carefully cover it.

We tried out jello snow for the first time, although I was supposed to combine the powder with boiling water before pouring it onto the snow, and I just sprinkled the powder. Oops. They thought it was fun anyway.

I also made dragon wings and unicorn wings for the party as well! It is CRAZY how long these take, but Lily wanted them. Hopefully I can finish enough for everyone to have a pair at the party.

Lance is making progress in scouting, thanks to Scott. Scott has been amazing at encouraging and finding ways for Lance to complete his necessary merit badges. He is hopeful Lance can get his Eagle Scout before the Church officially leaves the Scouting program next year.

I wasn't able to go, but Amy, Laura, Stephen, Ashley, and Mom got to go to the Philadelphia Temple! I was sad to miss it. Hopefully I'll get a chance to go soon!

Happy Birthday, Jude!

I can't believe Jude is 9!

The day of Jude's Birthday party dawned with the threat of snow showers. We decided to risk it anyway and took the kids to JUMP, Jude's favorite Birthday place. The Scholz decided not to make the trip due to weather, but most of his friends braved the threat and came to party hard.

FortNite is a big game right now. It's basically capture the flag that you play online with people from around the world. It is all the rage these days, so of course Jude wanted a FortNite cake. I scoured the internet for ideas and combined a few to make this:

Setting up before friends arrive! 

We had "Drop crates" filled with prizes which had all the kids excited.

I'm pretty happy with the way the cake turned out!

Time to JUMP!! The snow kept a lot of people away, so we had tons of room.

This group of boys is so great. 

Pizza time!

It was a great party!

We made it out just as the snow started coming down!

Happy Birthday, Jude!

January happenings and exploring a new house!

This little girl is becoming a Daddy's girl.

It won't be much longer before these four don't fit in the tub together.

Annie came over for a playdate one day and Lily insisted on breaking out the paint. She is an artist through and through.

Be still my heart! 

I don't know who took this picture of us one morning, but I kind of love it. 

I spotted this on the road one day and had to send George the picture. It's his car in his favorite color.

My scene most days as we run errands:

We were at occupational therapy for Cole one day and Lexi found these cute dolls. She played "doctor" for the entire hour, giving them bandaids and shots and helping them feel better.

George was so proud. 

We had been looking at a house in the fall that we liked, but it went off the market before we could schedule a time to go see it. It unexpectedly reappeared around Christmas time, so George and I were quick to make an appointment.

It was love at first sight! We are currently in the process of putting in an offer. It's a good year sooner than we thought we'd be moving, but we couldn't pass up this perfect house. Huge house, lots of storage, 7 acres of fenced pasture with several shelters for animals. We are so excited!

It even has a barn with a TRACTOR!

Playing with friends: 

These girls love to h

elp me cook.

Lily turned 5 on January 11th and we celebrated by going to Choo Choo Town for dinner.

We love us some Facetime! Grandmom and Pop Pop called to sing Lily happy Birthday.