Lola's birthday BASH

It all started with a pink poodle pinata. Then I couldn't get the french poodle party out of my head. So I spent way too much time planning the party! Ash helped me make these cute invitations.

I made these oh-so-delicious red velvet cupcakes. My cute grandpa Bud said" I don't like cupcakes but these are good!" (I wish you could hear him say it in his deep gravelly voice.)
I also made personalized dog bone cookies for all the kids.
And of course, Lola needed her own poodle skirt. So I made her one!


I saw this cute "dog food" in champagne glasses online and so I just had to make them, too!
Grandpa Mark and the spoiled girl.

and we just had to have french croissant sandwiches with hand stamped napkins!
The kids were each told to bring their favorite stuffed animal friend and Ash was so thrilled that she already had her own little poodle.


The demise of the poor pink poodle!
Milo was slightly gentler.
Gavin finally did the poor poodle in!


Like father, like daughter.
Can I say spoiled one more time?
Grandma and the girls played "I had a little doggy".
At the end of it all, Lola bounced off into the sunset! It was such a fun party but next year I may save myself some trouble and just go to Chuck E Cheese!

Mother's Day

I had a fabulous Mother's Day! My cute kids made me very sweet homemade gifts and cards. They love doing those things and I love that they love it! I'm so glad to be their mom. A few days before Mother's Day, Todd asked what I wanted and I told him I'd love a new apron. I'd seen a cute one at Taipan that I really liked. Todd took the kids to Taipan but unfortunately they were out of aprons. That sent Todd and the kids on a wild goose chase. After hours of searching and no luck I told them to not worry about it and I'd order myself one online.
A few day's before I had received a package in the mail. My thoughtful mother-in-law had sent me a Mother's day gift. When I opened her gift on Sunday morning I was so surprised to find a super cute apron! She had no clue I had wanted an apron but somehow had read my mind! It was such great day. I LOVE being a mom!

We love our teachers

For Teacher Appreciation Day the kids helped me make a fun little gift! All it took was a couple of new bottles of my favorite sparkly nail polish.
We made these cute little cards and we were done! So easy!

Scouts

When Todd and I moved into our ward they asked me to fill out a paper about us. One of the questions asked what our past callings in the church had been. After giving it to our Bishop, Todd said "I hope you didn't write that I have been a scout leader before because if you did then that will be the calling I'll get." I laughed and assured him that would not happen. Sure enough a few months later we BOTH got the calling to be the Wolf Den Leaders. I was no longer laughing!

Since then we have grown to love our calling and our rambunctious scouts! My dad was kind enough to let the us bring the boys down to ride his horses. It was so much fun! Kye was the only boy that had ever been on a horse before. I think it was a great experience for all!

Swimsuit Girl

Lola has reached that point in her life where she will only wear what she wants to wear! For awhile now that short list has consisted of 2 items: her "bear pajamas" and her swimsuit. As you can imagine this has made it hard to leave the house. Fortunately, I have recently convinced her that it's ok to wear a "pretty dress". Unfortunately, in her mind very few of her dresses can be considered "pretty"!

Easter

We started Easter morning with a delicious breakfast and then got to the good stuff!
We tortured the "big kids" and made them wait while the "babies" started on the egg hunt.






The usual suspects!

Sweet little Lizzy!

Lola's favorite thing was her money egg.

The Pinewood Derby

Kye competed in his second Pinewwood Derby this year. Last year, I helped him build his car because Todd was so busy. Kye did pretty well. He didn't win it all but he won several of his heats. This year, Kye was excited because Todd helped him build his car. It looked pretty cool when they were done but unfortunately Kye lost every single race. Yep, last place every time! When I told my mother-in-law she said that she dreaded the Pinewood Derby every year because inevitably Todd always had the slowest car. It must be in the Welker men's blood!
Despite having such a slow car, Kye had a great attitude and didn't let it get him down!



I made all the boys "gas tanks" out of juice boxes.