Happy Birthday CJ!

It was CJ's 6th birthday today. She was so excited last night that today was her birthday that she woke up EXTRA early this morning. Needless to say it has been a VERY long day.

We started her birthday off with waffles. She sure do like waffles, as she would so eloquently put it. I have this "Birthday Girl" ribbon that she is wearing in the picture. There was a whole soap opera today between her and Avary about that ribbon. Who would have thought that a dinky little $1 ribbon would cause that many problems!

For school, she wanted to take chocolate cupcakes with green frosting and a dragon ring on top. I couldn't find any dragon rings, but I did find the next best thing:
It is called a "Blinkie". I found them online and they are pretty cool. It lights up and blinks, hence the name Blinkie, and you can use it as a pin. She was able to give one to all her friends at school, she was really excited.

The weather has been crazy these last few, well, months and today was no exception:

It was really bad today and it made it hard to do REALLY fun stuff for her birthday, but I think she still had fun. Regardless of the weather, Anthony and Sabrina weathered through the storm and made it for cake and ice cream. I'm so glad they did because otherwise it would have just been the 5 of us eating a huge cake.

She got a LOT of Barbie stuff. It is so strange that I now have a daughter that is interested in Barbies. They make them a lot better these days. Their legs are plastic instead of rubber and they have hinges for their joints instead of weird clicky joints. Avary and CJ are really having fun playing with the Barbies CJ got.

This year CJ wanted a Dragon cake that breathed fire. She made sure that I had EVERY detail on this cake. She was at my side for half the time making sure it would be green, have a triangle on the tail, have wings, breathed fire, etc. etc. It turned out pretty awesome. I am very pleased:

Spencer did the carving and I did the rest. It was really yummy. She wanted a banana cake like Spencer had for his birthday. At least she could make up her mind of what cake she wanted, unlike her father. Anyway, she was really happy about her cake. I am so glad, but I was not sad to see the thing go. I've been working on it since Monday.

We put her candles down the back to represent the spikes on the back. She liked that idea. She requested the head and we gave it to her.
The first thing she went after was the eye:

It really tasted good. Happy Birthday to my baby girl! I love you!

Happy Easter

The girls had a really fun Easter. They colored eggs the night before:

and did a really good job. I think this is the first time we have colored eggs with them. The whole family colored eggs, even me. I colored the eggs while I was baking a cheesecake for Easter dinner.

For Easter the Easter bunny brought them new dresses along with some fun things for them to do, like mini-light brights and animal puzzles. They were really excited when they woke up and found new dresses.



The most important thing is that they open when they twirl and they do. They looked so cute in the new dresses. Their pictures don't bring them justice. Spencer asked CJ why we have Easter and we were really impressed with how much she knew. Spencer told her it was to celebrate Jesus living again. Then CJ informed Spencer that Jesus died for us so that we could live with Heavenly Father again. We were really taken back at how much she knew about the Atonement.

For dinner we fed the Missionaries. We had ham, jello, spinach salad, fresh rolls, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs with the eggs we colored the night before. I even made fresh pomegranate limeade to drink and a raspberry cheesecake for dessert. The missionaries were very full and satisfied when they left. I did my job.

At the Beach

Last night Spencer went upstairs to get the girls for dinner. When he walked into the room, they had set their blankets and animals up and they were pretending they were all at the beach. Spencer had me come upstairs to see and I couldn't help but take a picture:

The blue blanket is the water and the other is the sand. If you look closely, CJ's elephant is spread out "sunbathing" she says. They are so cute! What will they think of next?

Grades, Beds, and Zoo

Well, the results are in. I'm not surprised at all about my grades, a little disappointed in one, but I was expecting it.

Cost Control.................A
Artisan Breads.............A
Patisserie......................B-

I got a "B-" in patisserie because I missed quite a few classes because of my back and a massive sinus infection. If the Chef in Artisan Breads actually graded people instead of passing people, I would have had a "B" in that class as well. Actually, if the chef that usually teaches Artisan Breads actually taught it this quarter I would have had a "B-" as well because it is the same chef that teaches patisserie. Regardless, everything is fine.

Our tax returns came back and we decided that now is the best time for us to upgrade Avary's bed. She is growing SO fast that her and CJ are now wearing the same clothes. It doesn't seem possible that she is only 3. Anyway, thinking it through we realized that the only way to upgrade Avary's bed and still be able to walk in the girl's room was to get a bunk bed. (I didn't want a day bed with a trundle. I didn't want to mess around with a trundle everyday.) So, I did some shopping on-line and found a really nice bunk bed for the girls that was on sale here in Aurora. Because Avary was getting a new bed, she needed new bedding. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and found a cute bed-in-a-bag that was on clearance. It used to be $129.99 and was on clearance for $29.99 plus we had the 20% off coupon on top of that. What a deal! We couldn't resist a deal like that so we bought one for CJ so they could match.


They absolutely love their new beds.

Although it is snowing, yet again, here today, yesterday we were able to spend the day together as a family. We went to the Zoo. It was really fun. As soon as we walked in, they were going to start their show of Chinese Dancers. We decided it would be fun to sit and watch them so we did. They were really good. I was really interesting to watch. One did a dance of Ti Chi. Their costumes were so shiny and pretty.

After the dancers we went to see the animals. We first stopped by the elephants, because they were starting the demonstration. When we got there they were giving the elephants a bath. It was really fun to watch. The elephants really put on a good show for us.

We then saw the bears. They were really funny. The black bears just laid around and slept while the grizzlies were chasing each other.

After the bears we went to the merry-go-round. The girls really loved that, especially Avary. She had so much fun that she did not want to get off. She was crying and hootin' wanting to ride it again. We made a deal with her that the next time we go to the zoo she can ride the merry-go-round.

We found a little bird exhibit where you can go in and feed the birds and interact with them. That was my favorite part! I think we spent at least a half hour in there playing with the birds. They actually said that they can make good pets, I want one! They were so beautiful. They were called Lorikeets and Lories. We really had a great time in there.

We were able to see the new born baby giraffe. The newest giraffe is only a week old. They said that she was born a little over 6 feet and 155 pounds. Ya, that would be difficult. They named her Blizzard because she was born during the blizzard last week. I still can't wrap my mind around that little baby being taller than me.

By the end of the day, all the animals were in for the night and the girls were ready to go to bed, very cranky! In fact, they both fell asleep on the way home. We were all so tired from walking all day, that we all called it a night pretty early.