Party!!!

I took the plunge and threw a birthday party....my first real one.  Isabelle picked out everything and we kept it under budget.  She had so much fun, so I guess that's all the matters!  They wore dress ups since it was the day before Halloween.  When they came in, I painted nails while they had a dance party.  Then we made bracelets and necklaces with beads.  We finished off with decorating their own cupcakes.  They LOVED that part!  I stretched out the bead part longer than necessary worried I would run out of things for them to do, but then we ran out of time for presents because they spent so long on their cupcakes. It was fun!  

Top Gear Auto

So this happened. The first couple of months of the Baskins he spent lots of time figuring everything out, was really busy and loved it.  One store was already a smooth sailing ship, he got the other one running really well, and then they weren't enough to fill his time. So, he did a bunch of research to look for something else. He decided on a car dearlership.  He's sold everything else, why not add cars to the list? Ha!

Doesn't look like much yet, but it takes time to get going. 

Got his dealer's licence  

Started buying cars.... 

Now to see where things go from here!  He's enjoyed figuring out all the nitty gritty of the car world. Mike never ceases to amaze me with his drive to learn.  He always wants to be figuring something out.  He's going to be the 60 year old man going to back to college just for the heck of it.

Brotherly Love

How cute are they? Seriously, adorable. :) 

Isabelle Joy

Isabelle's birthday was definitely drawn out.  She got lots of chances to celebrate. Her actual birthday was after 1 1/2 other celebrations and she still got a birthday party. 

She wanted banana muffins for breakfast. I love the "obviously just crawled out of bed" look.

She loves non-fiction animal books and requested a rabbit one.  She got a pack of animal books as her birthday book.  

For her birthday dinner she requested Ramen noodles. I have a dish I make that has chicken and veggies in it, but she wanted JUST the noodles.  Corn, jello, and apples with caramel sauce.  The EASIEST birthday dinner ever. :)  The jello is in the shape of rabbits. 

She had an Elsa cake 

She got some beads and playmobile 

And a pink lamp and bookcase for her bedrooms so she could read at night.  Mike joked she must be my kid. :)  

Lots of fun putting it together. 

Good old Luke put his new set of tools to work helping Mike.  It was adorable.  

Spencer was adorable that evening walking around and getting in the way, but being unbelievably cute while he did it.  I need a 12 month old around all the time. :) 

She looks so different than she did as a baby, but she's getting prettier and prettier by the day (yes, I'm biased.)

Oh I love this girl.  She continues to amaze me with her maternal instincts.  She's bright, kind, responsible, thoughtful, silly, creative, and fun.  She is such a great help around the house.  I have officially given her a made up middle name.  Joy.  She brings me so much joy.  She is a joy to have around our home and in general she brings joy with her wherever she goes.  Her favorite show is Pound Puppies.  She LOVES to read anything about animals.  She's specifically obsessed with rabbits right now.  She is still her Daddy's girl. She is loving dance and the piano.  She loves to read and do anything artsy. She also still loves to play mom and with her dolls. She's happy to help usually, and is so cute when she takes care of the boys.  She wants to be a ballerina or a vet when she grows up.  She loves anything pink, purple, or girlie blue and it's a definite plus if it's splarkly. She loves to speak Chinese even when no one around her understands her, but is teaching the boys as fast as she's learning.  I feel so blessed to be this wonderful little girl's mother. 

Pumpkins and Donuts (And a Birthday)

Fall (specifically close to Halloween) means carving pumpkins and homemade donut season in Mike's family.  His sister Jeannie hosted it.  We had delicious soup, kids played, carved pumpkins, and waited for donuts.  I had a few glitches with the dough and the cooking this year, but all the donuts were gone, so I guess it was ok. Haha.

A counter full of donuts

A floor full of people and pumpkins.  The kids always love this part.  The adults...... ;) 

Isabelle is in that big teeth fake smile stage that every kid goes through.  Can you tell she's 7??  Haha

I never got a picture of the boys finished product, but here's Isabelle's.

We also celebrated Isabelle's birthday with the extended family with some candles in a donut and presents.

Spencer was tuckered out.

She got an awesome pillow project which she LOVES, her Elsa dress up and a new dance leotard that was both sparkly and flowy. :) 

What a fun, delicious, night with family. 

Yum!

Who doesn't love a fresh waffle cone? 

Boo at the Zoo

We hit up "Boo at the zoo" the Saturday before Halloween with Mike's mom and Sharon and Joe family.  It's basically trick or treating to vendors set up in the zoo. I never got a good picture of the crew.  We had Jake and the Neverland pirates.  Michael was Jake, Luke was Cubby, and Spencer was Skully.  Our Izzy jumped ship to be Elsa for this event.  She had just gotten it for a pre birthday present.  We brought our friends, Brooke and Tyler, with us. It was a chilly morning, but then warmed up perfectly.

Spencer went crazy.  He loves the zoo.  

I spent $3 on a roll of yellow duct tape and used up 3 old t-shirts for Michael and Luke's costumes.  Pretty perfect if you ask me. :)  

Luke kept hiding under the stroller to eat his candy as fast as we got it.  

Also was eating it as fast as he got it. 

I took lots of pictures of my little Jake because he was just adorable.  

Exhausted, he fell asleep at the end. 

Standing Room Only

 Spencer loves to stand.  He plays standing up, bends down, picks up a new toy, and stands back up again. He doesn't hold on to anything, but when you hold your arms out for him to walk to you, he falls forward.  Literally on his face falls forward sometimes to his knees, but either way, there is zero attempt at walking.  He walks around furniture and with walking toys, just not unassisted. It's cute.  All my other babies were proficient walkers by now, but not sturdy standers like him.  Cute to see how they are all different. :) 

He even reads books standing up.  He LOVES animal books.  Completely goes crazy pointing and "Oooo"ing. 

Zion National Park

On Saturday we went down to Zion National Park.  Such a beautiful place!  I haven't been there since I was a kid.   Joe and the two big boys did Angel's Landing while the rest of us did kid friendly stuff.  We did a hike, threw rocks in the water, played in sand, and rode the bus around for the sites.  

Cousin fun is just that, fun. :)

Sarah, Isabelle, Annabelle, Michael

Dax and David were awesome with my boys.

I have lots of pictures of Spencer, because I love him and he's cute, even asleep. :) 

The weather was absolutely perfect for hiking.  No sun, slightly chilly and just pleasant. 

Michael wasn't on his best behavior most of the time because he just wanted to throw rocks.  Poor kid is completely surrounded by rocks and he got told over and over again not to throw them.  We finally found a spot perfect for rock throwing and he was in heaven!  

Spencer sat and played in the sad forever.  He dug around and found a couple of sticks and then dug the sticks in the ground.  This sand was so perfect, even I sat playing in it.  Soft and fine and pretty much the best sand ever. We had a blast playing in it for a while.  

That night the girls all had a sleep over in our condo.  They watched a movie with candy.  When it was over, I said it was time to go to bed and Isabelle said, "But I have more plans!"  She had also planned a pillow fight, dancing, and telling scary stories.  They did those things and decided they wanted to watch one more movie and then went to bed SUPER late. They all had fun. :)  

We left Sunday morning after church. It was such a fun trip.  I just was in awe at how different the Earth is and how much variety there is around us.   Heavenly Father gave us so many details to help us enjoy this mortal existence a little more!