M&M's Yummy - Shayla's 3rd birthday!

You never know what to expect when you ask a toddler what type of birthday party they want. I was surprised when I asked Shayla..I was thinking Tinkerbell or Princess or something easy of that nature, isn't that what you'd expect from a little girl...Nope she comes up with an M&M birthday party and she doesn't falter in her decision once. This only forces mommy to try be creative and some how I missed getting that gene in the family. Surprisingly enough I think I managed to pull it off.

 We had M&M everything. Talk about chocolate overload. I even attempted to make the cakes myself. I'm no professional cake decorator but they tasted pretty good. 

She had fun trying to blow out the candles

and had a little help.

Everyone had fun singing to her and waited patiently for their piece of cake.

We made some fabulous M&M caramel candied apples. They looked great! Too bad we forgot to hand them out at the end of the party, so we ended up delivering them all the next day.Way too many to keep.

 

We even created a M&M version of pin-the-tail-on the donkey. It was lots of fun trying to pin the M on the M&M.

  

 

Her favorite surprise was the huge dollhouse from Grandma & Grandpa

Look I can almost climb into it

And who doesn't love the sound of pretty paper ripping to unveil that special something. Shayla loved all of her special surprises.

All the kids saw Tenley & said look a "real baby"

Thank you to all our friends and family for making it such a memorable day for Shayla.She still talks about it.


Side note: At the time we couldn't find anything M&M related any where, and now months after the fact Walmart has almost a full isle of stuff. Go Figure.

Winter Wonderland - Nov 2010

Snow Snow and more Snow. Who would have thought to move south to get more snow, at least the temperature is definitely milder and Shayla loves to go out and play.

A belly snow angel!

Her dad has even taught her how to effectively throw a snowball at mom. 

I'm going to get you with these snowballs!

She has especially  taken a liking to sledding. At least we don't have to go very far since we have the perfect little hill in our yard for her, not to mention the road out front has a nice little slope. Thank goodness we live on a quiet cul-de-sac.

Ready..

           Set...

                    GO!!!!

                     Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Well who's coming to get me so I can go again? and again and again? She could spend hours doing this. It's so much fun!

Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!

Another great year of ghouls, ghosts and goblins has pasted. Shayla had a great ghostly time and went to a couple events.

First we went to a costume parade at the Life Care Center. We met some friends there and got lots of candy. The kiddies would have gotten a lot more if we didn't stop them from going back to the same little old lady that came and sat in the lounge area where they got organized. She was offering candy to them over and over again, not realizing she had given them some already. Sad but comical when dealing with 2 year olds. 

Pumpkin Rowan, Kitty Miranda, Shayla the Ghost, Butterfly Gracie

Who needs Barney when you can have your very own pink dinosaur escort. At first Shayla was unsure, but she warmed up & made friends fast. Thanks to Jodie who also organized this event.

My good friend Nicole had her hands full too:

Part way through the parade the kids got to stop in the kitchen area for some cookies and juice..Whats a little more sugar.

These are yummy!

The staff and seniors were great. A fun time was had by all. Our next event was the Mall Halloween trick or treat. I think that was the busiest I have ever seen this mall. It's still nothing like having 500+ kids come through the door at Pearle in Southcenter but Shayla had fun.

A precious little ghost

Trick or treat!

Before we left we took part in the costume contest. What fun to see all the different costumes of all ages.

Was funny to see all the kids look for the picture.

Even saw our pink dinosaur friend & family

So much fun. The best part of Halloween was the finale. We went trick or treating with our friends. We met Miranda & her mom at Miranda's grandma's place and the girls were wired silly.

What a cute pair!

Off to Trick or Treat!!

Back at the house the girls helped hand out candy & had just as much fun. The kids coming to the door definitely hit the jackpot getting double treats!We even got a little photo op.

Precious

BOO1 Scared you!

Mom even snuck into one..or 2

Even stole a kiss from little ghost

I had a very tired but happy little ghost by the end of the day

Just resting

However she had just enough energy to dress the dog...

Two little ghosts

and be a little cheeky before bed!

Look at all this candy left for me, do I have 1 piece or 2.

Halloween was fun filled this year and we were glad Grandma & Grandpa were here to share it with us.

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving was a fun time this year. Since I am not that skilled at it and don't have a set of "pumpkin carving tools" I figured a simple old fashioned jack-o-lantern face would do. Easy enough right? My first mistake: was letting our wonderful neighbor Jo show Shayla her beautifully carved decorative dragonfly pumpkin. 

 Second mistake was how I asked her what she wanted on her pumpkin..I asked "what would you like on your pumpkin?" Instead of getting the response I was expecting "a happy face or a funny face" I got "a butterfly" and there was no changing her mind. Leave it to a toddler..So in a family effort we found several butterfly options, trying to make it as simple as possible..good luck making a pumpkin carved butterfly easy.. Daddy found a good template for us to use.

 

I like this one daddy

 Now the fun gooey part! Shayla had fun with this!

A little help from grandma!

Reach in:

What do I find ooey, gooey stringy stuff:

What fun we can have with this stuff:

How far do you think I can stretch it?

Daddy's turn next. Mommy will just cut herself if we let her try carve the pumpkin. So daddy gets out his handy carving tools..steak & paring knife and goes hard to work.

I'm taking notes dad

So much fun!

Finally a glowing butterfly pumpkin!

Mom even got her happy face pumpkin x 2!

Next year's plan is to actually invest in a pumpkin carving set!