Monday, February 22, 2010

The Green Machine

So our last experience with the Pine Wood Derby was a little bit disappointing. It was Kaiden's first year and we thought we had done our best, we had no idea how competitive these little events could be. Well to make a long story short he lost, not just one or two races he came in last place every race he raced! Kaiden was such a good sport about the whole thing but we felt terrible. This year Darrin was determined to not let that happen again! Kaiden and Darrin worked hard picking out a design they thought would be the fastest, and made sure this year they had done everything they could to have a fast car!
This is Kaiden showing off his car right before the race is getting started. He named it the Green Machine! It's hard to tell in the picture but it had a really cool paint job that changed colors from different angles!
Each of the boys got to race their cars 6 different times. Kaiden put his car up on the track for the first race, and believe it or not he took first place! We were all so excited at least he had done better than he had at the last Pine Wood Derby! Here is the announcer giving him a high five for winning!
Kaiden raced all 6 of his races and came in first every single time! He had the biggest smile on his face all night! I think everyone else might have been getting sick of hearing his name announced as the first place winner at the end of every race, but we were all very excited!
When the race was over he of course took home the big trophy! Here they are announcing all of the winners!
Kaiden receiving his Trophy!
Kaiden and Darrin first place winners!
When the race was over everyone was coming over to see the winning car and asking lots of questions about what they had done to make it so fast! They didn't reveal to many of their secrets, but they had fun talking about what they had done. It was a fun night and the outcome was way more than we had expected! Way to go Kaiden!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Happy Birthday To My Sweet Abby!

Abby turned 7 years old on February 2nd! I told her we would have a small little party with some of the new friends she has met since we moved in. I was trying to make things very easy and simple this year, but of course it ended up being way more work than I had planned for.

We decided to do a baking party with a cupcake theme! These are the cute little cupcake invitations we sent out!
I saw a awesome giant cupcake pan made by Wilton and thought it would be really cute for her cake. I had no idea how hard it would actually be to decorate and frost it and make it look like a real giant cupcake. This was my sad attempt, I think I should have practiced it a few times before the party, but I was short on time and was just about sick of making cakes and frosting at this point. TaDa! here it is, good thing she is only 7 and didn't judge! I think she still liked it!
Here is a picture of the table all set up and ready to go.
Because it was a baking theme I decided to have chef hats as party hats! I couldn't find any that I liked that weren't way over priced so I decided just to make them. Abby's was pink and a little bit different than all the other girls {she was after all the guest of honor!} The rest of them were white. I didn't think they would even want to wear but they all loved them!
One of the first activities we did was paint aprons! I traced a cupcake on the front and then they got to paint them, and decorate them how they wanted. I was hoping that they would dry fast and they could wear them to decorate cakes, but they took forever so they just got to take them home and they can wear them when they bake at home!
More painting fun!
After the aprons we all headed back upstairs and played pin the candle on the cupcake! {sorry I forgot to take pictures} but they had lots of fun! Next it was on to the kitchen, I had made all the girls their own little cake to decorate! I frosted a thin coat of pink frosting and then they got to decorate however their little hearts desired!
They had so much fun and got really creative. This is a picture of all the girls cakes when they were finished! I think a few of them might have a great cake decorating career ahead of them, what do you think?
After the cakes were done being decorated we sang Happy Birthday and had cake, cupcakes, and ice cream! Then we opened presents!
Abby got so many nice gifts, a hula hoop, a fun twirly tutu skirt, a baking apron that Paiges mom had sewn {she liked it so much she wore it the rest of the day and fell asleep with it on} Barbies, Webkinz, an art easel, and a balloon filled with $50 from Gram and Papa, and that's just a few of her favorites!
Her party was so much fun! I'm so glad that she has been able to make so many new friends and they all got to come and celebrate with her!
Later that night we went to celebrate some more at Pirate Island Pizza! Tammy, Preston and their kids decided to come along. The atmosphere inside was super cool!

They have an arcade and a pirate ship play area. They even give the kids free pirate hats! Darrin must have felt left out so he borrowed Abby's!
It was a very fun and long day! Abby had a great Birthday!
I still cant believe she is 7 already! She is so independent and full of energy. She keeps us on our toes and we are enjoying every minute of it! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl, we love you!!