HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LENNON!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Lennon's first birthday along with our two of our niece's birthdays! Isla turned 4 and Brynn turned 6! We had the party at our home and it was a blast!  I am pretty sure our entire neighborhood could hear our family when the kids were hitting the pinata in the garage. To say our family is loud might be the understatement of the year! :) Here are a few pictures of the day!

PARTY PREP!

All ready for the big party!

SO BIG!

ELLIS & FINN'S BIRTHDAY / EASTER

How can my little Easter baby be three??? It just doesn't seem possible!

Last weekend our family, along with Logan's sister's family, joined forces to throw a big birthday/Easter celebration. We celebrated Ellis' 3rd birthday and Finn's 6th birthday. I am a sucker for a good party theme, so we went with animals in party hats and all things Easter. We had tons of yummy food, a bounce house, an egg hunt, and a visit from the Easter Bunny himself! Let's just say Ellis slept like a log that night. A bounce house and all her cousins make for a very crazy day! :)

Between our two kids and all of Logan's sibling's kids, there are eight kids - all six years and under. One of our family traditions in to take 'couch pictures' where we line all the kids up on a couch, either stick bunny ears or Christmas jammies on them and snap hundreds (no joke) of pictures until we think we may have gotten one where every child is looking. There is usually at least one child who has expired and is completely losing it and at least one who WILL NOT sit no matter what. It is kind of hilarious. For the picture below we added in Logan's cousin's two kids. So here they are, five girl bunnies and five boy bunnies. ;)

CAKE DETAILS: safari animals, cupcake wrappers, and tiny tinsel poms for the party hats are all from Consumer Crafts. I made the table top out of two strawberry wafer cookies that I hot glued together, used a scrap piece of vintage fabric for the tablecloth and straws for the legs. The little cakes are life savers that I painted with watered down food coloring and topped with frosting and sprinkles. I designed the banner and it is held up with straws and the string is baker's twine, also from Consumer Crafts. Cake recipe is from Half Baked Harvest and the frosting is from Cooking Classy.

Animal crackers are my weakness - especially when dipped in frosting!!! For party favors, I filled plastic cups with animal crackers and then mini cups with frosting and sprinkles to dip them in! I put them in clear plastic treat bags, twisted them shut with silver twist ties (used a pen to curl the ends), and slapped on some cute custom stickers with Ellis and Finn's ages on them!

I used custom printed gift wrap from tinyprints for the table runner and it was perfect!!!
Everyone thought it was so cool that it said their names!

I found the most adorable stationary for Ellis' thank you notes that went perfectly with our theme!

We got Ellis a wubble bubble ball (say that 5 times fast) for her birthday and it was a hit! Unfortunately, it popped. :( so... if you are going to buy one, just make sure you keep your receipt. We took ours back and got our money back, but I am half tempted to try one again. The kids really did love it... while it lasted.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BUELLS

THE CHANGE...

I lied. I knew exactly what kind of change 2014 would bring to our lives. 2014 will bring Baby Buell #2! Yes, Ellis will be a big sister and our lives will forever change once again. Now that I have finally gone in for an ultrasound and saw the little guy/girl moving around, kicking it's legs and waving it's hands, I IS REAL. I mean kind of real. It is never REAL REAL until it is in your ams, but I am now starting to realize we will soon go from a family of three to a family of four.

Baby #2 wasn't exactly planned. We were planning on trying in the three to six months, but it looks like we are going to get our little peanut just a bit sooner than we had expected. If you know Logan and I, you know we are very planned people, so this slightly threw us for a loop. Of all the unexpected surprises, what a great one! The day we brought Ellis into this world was the best day of our lives and we get to do it again. We get to love another child just like we love Ellis. We get to watch Ellis become a big sister. 

So here we go. Family of four it is!

PIGS, PUFFS, GUITARS & GRUB - A LITTLE (MUCH NEEDED) FAMILY TIME

Ohhhhhhhh family time. And by 'family time' I mean 'just the three of us' time. It is something we were in desperate need of. Every single weekend (yes, every one) this summer we have been running here and there for this, that, and the next thing. We packed our summer to the max with weddings, birthday parties, out of town visitors, and the list goes on. Don't get me wrong, we have enjoyed all of these events, and we needed some time to just be a family.  I begged & pleaded convinced logan to take off work on Friday and we headed to the Wisconsin State Fair. We saw the animals, ate fried food, ate some more fried food, and headed home. It was nice to just bum around for the day and hang out. Ellis did less than stellar on the car ride in, but was a perfect angel while we were there - except for when she chucked her stuffed sock monkey at this poor kid who was sitting on a curb. She just walked right up to him, looked him square in the eye, and chucked it at his face!  And she's a pretty good shot. Uggggg. She is really into chucking things lately - sock monkeys, food, toys, shoes... :/ Any idea on how to stop this? We usually chuck things back at her, but she just thinks it's funny. kidding, kidding ;)

Here are my takeaways from the fair:
1. Go early - it gets really busy later in the day
2. Come hungry - really, really hungry
3. Scope out all the food before you make your purchases  - you might be sad if you waste your appetite on the first thing you see (stupid, not that good, BBQ chicken sandwich)
4. Wear shoes you don't care about. You WILL step in cow poop - unless you are my husband and avoid getting dirty at all costs. (yes, I learned that lesson)
5. Get a cream puff. You cannot go to the WI State Fair and not get a cream puff. I think that is an official rule or something.

State Fair bound. A good shot in between her fussing.

Big piggy

The famous Cream Puff. yum, yum, yum.

Is my dress stuck in my undies?! Good thing this isn't embarrassing until a little later in life.

Logan and I had a House of Embers Groupon burning a hole in our pockets, so last night we decided to use it for a little date night. Our first stop was my parent's house to drop off E for a little Grandma and Grandpa time. It was super overcast (good for picture taking) so I asked my Mom to snap a few quick family pictures before we headed out.

We then headed to Wisconsin Dells for a kid-free night. We stopped at a guitar store, ate dinner at House of Embers, walked downtown to look at all the silly merchandise, got a DQ blizzard, and stocked up on candy at the Goody Goody Gum Drop. :) Even more than 'just the three of us' time, we needed some 'just the two of us' time.

Family pic attempt

Ellis! Ellis! Ellis! Stop flapping your arms!

Mediterranean shrimp pasta bowl - ribs, shrimp, and potatoes

Blizzard tiiiiiime!

Salt water taffy - Logan loves it, i think it is disgusting