Sir Elliot turns FOUR

Time has gotten away from me, and I realized I have yet to post about the Royal gathering we had to celebrate Sir Elliot turning a big four years old.  Well I am doing it now, mostly because I have other things I need to be doing (like packing my suitcase to fly cross country tomorrow!). Earlier to avoid packing (I am excited to go, I just am not good at taking care of the things that stress me out (like leaving the kids for my first time ever.)   I dusted, because I have been meaning to for weeks!   Ask Clay what a procrastinator I am every time we try to move, he is so good at getting things done.

   So we had a Knight and Princess party for our loving guy, and I think it turned out just about perfect.  I didn't over do it or under do it, a good feeling.  We had mostly family and just a few friends.  I was set on making chicken drumsticks so a Knight could gnaw on a big hand held piece of meat.  Along with nuts, cheeses, meats a few fruits and veggies we were set.

 The cake turned out better than my wildest dreams.  I was afraid of it becoming a feature of cake wrecks, or being just off enough like the midget princess cake I made last year for Gabby.  This dragon was so much fun!  Marshmallow and chocolate chip eyes, circus peanut claws, laffy taffy spikes and nostrils, fruit roll up wings.  candles in the mouth and he truly did breathe fire!

 Every Knight and Princess had a helmut or hat, and they all got foam swords.

 A little Princess fit in perfectly 

 These lovely Princess cousins also looked the Royal part.

 The fire breathing dragon proved no match for this Knight.

 His big 18 year old cousin passed down this awesome castle, which included accessories like a cannon and even a few knights (with the agreement that if Sir Elliot ever wants to get rid of it, Sir Josh wants it back!)

It was such a fun day, and Elliot was beyond happy to have so many people to share it with.  Plus he got some majorly cool presents, now if I could just get us to finish his Thank You cards.....

Tee Ball

It's official, we are a ball playing family.   Gabby is #11 for the Orioles aka oreos.  She has hit the ball hard, gotten hit in the face by a ball, and danced in the outfield. Clay is coaching, and loves it.  Kindergarten is fun to watch, everyone gets a chance to hit- every inning!  

Every single time I see this picture I can't help but laugh.  It's hilarious.  It is so not a normal Gabby move, and she was so darn excited about the hit she had just made.  We have lucked out too, the 1st two games we have had this week were gorgeous sunny days!

Tulips

This past weekend we made a little trip down to the Tulip fields.  It was the perfect day, not raining or too chilly.  The sun even came out!  It was beautiful.  We drove around and saw fields upon fields of daffodils and all colors of tulips.  We stopped at one farm and walked around, it was incredible to see the number of flowers blooming. Such a treat to have it so close to us. 

 I think Elliot was the photographer for this picture.. he did a pretty good job.

 These two are nuts.  They both picked out their own clothes (yet during the week when we are trying to get ready they both insist they NEED help picking out clothes and getting dressed, why not when there is photographic evidence?)

 E has already asked if we could go back to that tulip place and get stuck in the mud.

 We took the long scenic Chuckanut Drive home, there were 4 hang gliders soaring in the clouds.

We stopped at Larrabee and did some beach exploring, finding tide pools and purple starfish. Played at the playground, and enjoyed all the fresh spring air.

Easter

What a beautiful Easter weekend.  So much sunshine and happiness.  I think on Saturday alone the kids were outside for 9 hours.  I got some spring cleaning done, with all the windows open and then we had a sister BBQ just like it was summer. Gabby had been counting down the days till Easter for well over 3 weeks, I am not sure what brought on the excitement.  Hopefully the Easter Bunny didn't disappoint with his practical baskets which included new sunglasses, flip flops, Nikes, pajamas, a silver dollar and a chocolate bunny.  Thats it, no other candy. He even hid eggs around the house with quarters and dimes (maybe due to being too lazy to run to the store for candy the night before).  

 Don't let this sad face fool you,  he was excited about his basket.

 I think she woke up with the bunny ears on!  Bummer, her shoes are a little too big and she lost her awesome purple sunglasses the next day on one of our park adventures.

 He just won't stop looking so big! 

 This was it for our pictures, goofy looks only. 

My beautiful girl.

After Church and a few hours outside we had a wonderful family dinner at Aunt Mary's.  It was a wonderful weekend!

Tall as the Trees

These two trees, they keep growing by inches and inches.  It was a NEED to go shopping this past weekend, they were both in high water pants.  E got his haircut yesterday, which just means he looks even older.  Oh and yes, this picture was today.  It was warm enough to go barefoot in the yard, and I guess shirtless if you really have muscles for it!

Concertina by E

Here is an original piece performed and written by Mr Elliot.  "It was my pleasure" he says at the end. Thank you Grandma for the newest addition to the Loud family!

Mermaid Party

What great fun it is to celebrate Gabby turning 6.  In fact we did it a few times.  Friday night was the family pizza party.  6 pizzas, lots of family and a few friends, and a yummy ice cream cake made by Aunt Molly. The whoopi cushion Elliot got as a replacement from the one that got broken on Christmas was a huge hit.  Kids squealing and laughing and running thru the house.  After the party Friday, I stayed up late finishing my crafts and Saturday morning we had the early basketball game to complete the Kindergarten season.

  

 Celebrating 6 years old at the family party.

 The "Sweet Shop" set up in the living room, all the kids got to fill up their own little bag with lots of candy.  Gummy sharks are a must at a mermaid party.  Clay and I have discussed keeping this up in the living room full time, HA!

 Starfish hair clips and a few headbands I made for each of the girls.  I wasn't sure about how to make these when Gabby suggested them, but I ended up being pretty happy with them.

 My oyster cookies.  2 shortbread cookies (these had swirls on them which worked well for looking like shells, or you could use nilla waffers) some pink frosting and a hard mint for the pearl. 

 Mermaid tails diving into the blue ocean... or so they were supposed to be. The frosting was kind of a mess, but I loved making the green mermaid tails out of chocolate. 

 At one point ALL the girls were playing dress up, good thing we have a big selection!

 Happiest of birthdays!

These are mermaids made out of clothespins. I painted the green, and had the tails cut out (Actually I gave Clay the task of tracing and cutting out all the foam tails!) before the party. Each girl got to draw her own bikini top, face and then pick the hair color they wanted.  

I would say the party was a success, I stressed out about it a bit- but we all had a great time and it was nice to get to know the kids outside of school and some of their parents!