Cool Sunglasses

A2 and A3 were referred to the ophthalmologist. After 2.5 hours of waiting and having eyes dilated, no one needs glasses. But they both got cool sunglasses as a prize ..... Hehehehehehehe

Pino Trail

Now that it is warming up, we are trying to do an outdoor family activity every weekend. Usually it is a hike. Today we hiked part of the Pino Trail on the Sandias. It was tons of fun. 

I love that my princess hikes in princess clothes

Hiking buddies

The kids were extra whining while hiking. So we took lots of breaks. 

A1 would rather play in dirt. He stopped quite a bit to dig then he would get back up again and hike. *sigh*

A3 climbed trees in her fluffy skirt. 

And rocks

Spotting the tram with play binoculars .....not sure they actually work

The kids found interesting bugs

A1 swinging his cave man club he found 

And digging in the dirt

A3 got tired quick. No wonder those pink sparly shoes can't be easy to hike in :/

Sometime being a princess means you get be carried :)  

She is loving the pack

Brownie loves to come along. We inherited her from P's grandpa. She has turned out to be a great dog. 

Me and A2 (my mini me)

Me and Brownie. She must be camera shy; she would not sit still

Silly face 

A1 finding his zen 

A2 photo bombing the zen moment

The goegeous views

Zoo with the Gatewood's

I got to go to the zoo with my Friend. It was so nice to hang out her and her little cute munchkins. 

Love these faces

A3 took us on a back and forth tour of the zoo. We went this way and that way. But we saw all her favorite animals.

The Rhino is A3 favorite animal

She also likes the chimps

Love Little T.G.'s pointing finger

T.G. kept putting a sticker in his hair and A3 would pull it out. It was a fun game

Overall it was a fun trip. 

Recent Precious Moments

Just a few rare yet precious moments over the past week

A3 playing with her cousin Trey. She playing with her little princesses and Trey is scaring them with the ogre. 

The boys, A1 and A2 playing with the princesses and the castle map

My ginormous pile of laundry ... Not includig the loafs in the washer and dryer.  I refuse to do laundry everyday. So it tends to pile up

The boys primping their princess

A3 wearing fake earrings

And last but not least ... My blonde moment. I put eggs to boil and then forgot about them. I was distracte with cleaning and organizing upstairs. Cleanliness comes at a price right?!?

A3's 4th Birthday

A3 wanted a princess party this year. I was a little intimidated with the idea but was excited to do it for her. After all my little A3 is a real princess

Seeing as I had a lot of time on my hands as I am not working, I went a little Pinterest and Internet crazy with ideas. But in the end it paid off.  And individual, the ideas are simple. 

Here is what we did:

Fairy Play dough aka homemade play dough with glitter. This is what we handed out to our guests. 

We played several games. Which I forgot to take pictures of because I am so distracted during the party. 

Find the pea:

First we read the story of the Princess and the Pea which I found at the library. Then I had three pillows and the princesses and princes took turns hiding a tennis ball under a pillow and another had to sit on the pillows to see if they could feel the "pea."  This game was real successful. The kids loved it. 

Then we played pin the kiss on the frog. 

Then we did a scavenger hunt to find jewelry and craft supplies to make paper crowns; which most people ended up leaving behind :/ 

Then we did the piñata. It was funny because the girls did not want to hit Minnie Mouse, but the boys had no qualms in destroying her. 

Then we did lunch and cake and presents. I had took pictures of the decor and table after the party because I forgot to do it before...typical. 

Here is the cake. I found a few simple ways to make a castle cake on Pinterest and then found a way to make it harder. I think it turned out like a pink frosted forest but A3 loved it, so that is all that counts. 

Here is how I did it. First I made two cakes. One 9x13 and one square. I froze them in the deep freeze for a day then frosted them. 

After frosting them. I added sprinkles on the edges. A3 chose the sprinkles. 

Then I melted candy coating, spread it on sugar cones and sprinkled them with icing. 

Then i put icing in the cake cones and stuck the sugar ones upside down in the tops. I also put icing on the bottom of the cake cone so it would stick to the plate better. Worked wonderfully! The cake was very stable. 

After it was all put together:

I did all this when the cake was frozen, so when the cake defrosted the top spire started to lean over. I just pushed it into the cake and it was fine. Like I said, pink frosted forest. 

A3 wanted to put her princesses and monkey on it. It looked much better after that. 

Overall it was a successful day full of fun and happy children and of course my beautiful princess. She ended the day playing with new toys and snuggled in her blanket from Grammie.