Happy Dance

It took me almost 9 months (and 57 pounds) to grow little Hiram.  Almost 8 months after his birth, I am happy to report that all the baby weight is gone.  Whoo Hoo!  Now I still need to lose another 30 pounds to get to my target weight, but I think I need to go buy a piece for my Willow Tree Nativity.

Plaid & Paisley in the Park

 I already put these on facebook and my sidebar, but I wanted to do a post of them too.  I love my sweet family- even when they're cranky because I want to take pictures of them, ha ha!

Sundaes

 While we were on our trip, we missed buying tickets to the school fair.  You can buy them at the door, but they are more expensive and with a family of 7- a little bit more can quickly add up to a lot more.  I talked the kids into staying home from the fair.  We always have a good time- eating pizza, playing games, jumping on inflatable structures, and Gavin winning at the cake walk.  So how did I bribe them to stay home?  Sundaes.  Yep, sundaes will have your kids voting in your favor every time!  We still had pizza for dinner, we went on a walk through the newly paved walking trails in our neighborhood, the kids are always jumping on the couch, and with these sundaes- we didn't need Gavin to win us a cake from the walk... 

 ...because they were cupcake sundaes!

 Who needs ice cream and bananas when you have cake, frosting, chocolate, more frosting, sprinkles, and cherries on top?

I made them the jumbo size too.  Too much of a good thing?  No way!

Three Layers

 In honor of my hubby's birthday, I made my first three-layer cake!

 You might have noticed, that it's miniature-sized.

 That's because I made it with cupcakes- regular, jumbo, and mini.  His were just frosted all over and stacked together.  (Yes, the brown ones were chocolate; the yellow were lemon; and the vanilla were purple- ha ha!)

 The very important guests at his par-tay.

 And another with little Hiram peeking.

Make a wish honey!  Mine already came true.

Domino

 This year Noe's jazz class danced to "Domino" by Jessie J for their recital.

 She missed the last 3 classes before the show because of our trip.  The dance Principal didn't want her to be in the show because of that.  We used our diplomatic skilz and changed her mind!

 My friend, Megan got tickets for us while we were gone.  Her 2 daughters were adorable, beautiful dancers too.

 Next year Noe's going to be on an All Star Cheerleading team and hang up her dancing shoes for a season.  So I had to take a few more pictures.  This was her outfit for her weekly class.

 This was the dress she wore for the school Talent Show last year with her friend, Tia.

 This was last year's costume for her recital.

She's a cute little dancer, but this spicy girl will be a great cheerleader!



Who does this baby look like?

 We get told A LOT that Hiram has more of his own look instead of being a clone of his brothers.  I agree.  We couldn't figure out where he gets his distinct, handsome looks.

Then while we were visiting in Idaho, my dad had me look at this family picture of my great-great grandparents (my great-grandfather is the little boy in the center). 

Hiram's eyes are those of his great-great-great grandfather, Anton Pittl. Now we know his handome looks have come down through 6 generations!  (He just needs to grow a mustache, ha ha!).

The 3rd Puppy

 Teague discovered a new trick at Gramma & Grampa Blue-Eyes, he can fit through the doggy door!

 He thought he was so sneaky, but we were on to him.

Mr. Independent didn't care that we found him out.  He was just happy he could go outside whenever he wanted.

 And go back in as well.

 Surprise!  Here I come!

The 3 puppies- George, Teague, and Lily.
We had such a wonderful time on our vacation spending time with our loved ones!  I'm all caught up on our trip now, and just need to get caught up on the past 3 weeks since we've been home!

Silver Anniversary

 I always look forward to my "twin moms" dinner with Leslie and Becky when I come to town.  This year we went to Town Square and had yummy food at Brio Tuscan Grille.  We also window-shopped at Brighton Collectibles, and finished up the night with some treats from Yogurtland.

It's crazy to think that this fall I will have known these girls for TWENTY-FIVE years!!  I'm blessed to call them my friends.  They are such great examples to me of being good wives, mothers, and choice daughters of God.  Love you guys!

Daily Swimming

After the wedding festivities were over, we swam every day for the rest of our vacation.  Five days of heaven!

  Hiram is just like the rest of us- a water baby at heart, hooray!

I wish we had a pool in our backyard and warm weather to make the swimming season last all year long!