Asia's birthday party

Yesterday was Asia's birthday party. She wanted a Spy Party. When I asked what she wanted to do for her spy party, she said, "Spy on the boys!" I am pretty sure not all of her spy party guests would be happy with this. Instead, we had a spy training party.

We started by welcoming everyone to the CSS (Certified Spy School). Then they had to learn to disguise themselves by dressing up in spy outfits and glasses for a photo-op. Then we did an obstacle course, training them physically. The "guess-what-the-picture-is-of-on-my-back" trained them to interrogate people. The three-legged race trained them to get-away with someone tied or hand-cuffed to them.

Then we told them they had graduated from CSS and we needed them for a mission: Someone had stolen all the birthday presents! Oh No! They had to follow the clues to get the thief and retrieve the presents. The clues were all written in code and took them all over the house and yard. Each child was given an envelope with information to de-code each clue. For example, read the message in the mirror (the clue was written backwards), only read the words in red, cross out all the Bs and Cs, read only the letters in the boxes, etc. The kids had a lot of fun with this, but I didn't count on some of them not being able to read. Opps.

The cake was a question mark. Asia requested blue frosting and green polka dots. Then we sent them outside with dollar store water bottles for a water fight. This was great because it cooled them off, kept them busy until their parents came, and washed all the cake and frosting off their clothing! Of course Asia said the funnest part of the party was the spray bottle water fight! And they were so excited they got to keep the water bottles!

Tyler thinks these parties are more for me than for the girls. I love to come up with the themes and games. I get more excited for it than my kids do. Unfortunately, Tyler saw the Groupon for a YMCA swim party this week and Kara wants to do that for her party. Thank you Groupon!

CRAZY HAIR DAY

My kids favorite day of school is crazy hair day. We plan for the whole year what we are going to do for crazy hair day. This year I braided 80 silly bands into Kara's hair. It was so cool.

Asia had so many ideas. She wanted curls, braids, flips, etc, etc. Finally we came up with the idea of Polly pocket dresses. I put small cups upside down on her head and put the polly pockets in them. Then I pulled the hair up and over so it looked like a polly pocket with hair as a dress. She was so happy with it that I couldn't pull her away from the mirror to continue getting ready for school.

Halloween 2010

Brynn was a lady bug. Only because I got the costume on sale for $7!! She did look really cute though.

After months of changing her mind, Asia settled on Supergirl for her costume. She had wanted karate girl, Hannah Montana, Princess Analise, Three Musketeer (barbie), and my favorite a ninja. She had a lot of fun posing for people and showing off her "moves".

Kara was Hannah Montana again. I think she was most excited to wear the wig. She came up with her costume all by herself and I didn't have to sew anything!

Here is Kara with her Kindergarten Hannah Montana Costume 2 years ago.

Brynn and I at the church Halloween party.

Brynns blessing

Brynn was blessed three weeks ago at Tyler's parents church. It was nice to have all the family there.

Brynn is my only baby who loves the mobile. She is mezmorized by it. Here is her cooing and trying to talk to her bears on her mobile. I hope she likes her crib mobile as well.

Baby Brynn

Welcome Samantha Brynn Baker

Born May 28, 2010

Brynn was my biggest at 8lbs 5oz. That was probably because she did not want to come on time. She was 4 days late, induced. But quick at 4 hours labor.

A friend of mine, Misty Alger, gave me a free newborn baby shoot. Here is a cute picture of Brynn. She did not like this pose.

One thing everyone comments about when seeing Brynn is her hair. 'She has so much hair'. 'Her hair is so dark, where did she get that from' ? If she didn't look so much like our other girls people would think we left the hospital with the wrong baby. But her hair is just like her older sister Kara's hair, just not as curly. We love it.

One thing about Brynn (and I hope I am not jinxing this ) is she is a good sleeper. At night she always goes at least four hours between waking up. Some times she goes 8-9 hours at a time! Also, she is a very quiet sleeper. I have to reach over and see if she is breathing because she is so quiet. She is not as quiet when she is awake! She has a temper. (Of course from Tyler). If she doesn't get to eat right when she wakes up she will scream non-stop.

Tyler prides himself on being able to put Brynn to sleep. He would never admit it but he loves to hold and cuddle with Brynn. Tyler has been able to take time off work to stay home with me for this post-partum period and it has really helped. I have slept when I want to and have recovered better than with any other child. I am so lucky!

Kara adores the baby. She loves to hold her and gets jealous if I want to hold Brynn. She always wants to help change Brynn's diaper or change her clothes. She loves to sing to calm the baby. She will be a loving sister.

Asia loves baby Brynn. She will hold her for about 30 sec until her attention is diverted elsewhere. She is having a hard time with having to wait for things because mommy is taking care of Baby Brynn. Asia likes to help calm the baby by either sticking the binki in her mouth (even if she doesn't want it) or singing softly to her. The singing helps much more.

Yellowstone vacation

Here are some picture of our most recent Yellowstone vacation. Everything was picture worthy. I had a great time.


Yellowstone Lower Falls.

Castle Geyser

Lodgepole pine hot pool

Mammoth Springs. I am so glad we made the drive!

Wildlife pictures:

Lindsey and Brett on the walk with a bison. They did not really follow this warning very well:

Yellowstones famous geysers:

Another fun picture. Warnings like this are all over Yellowstone. Sometimes I guess you just have to be graphic.

Asia had a really hard time with the "STINKY!!" geysers.

My kids' favorite: Old Faithful (and contrary to popular belief as "faithful" as ever)

The Family waiting for Old Faithful

Column at Lewis and Clark Caves (100,000's years in the making)

Chromatic Pool - Old Faithful Upper Geyser Walk (I love this picture!)

Yellowstone canyon. Looking from the falls.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Much prettier in real life!