Life// A Frozen Birthday

I realized that I still hadn't put up this post. So I scrambled to get it up.
 It is a very important post, I'd say.
   Olivia turned four last month. 
                   Her most favorite movie of all time is Frozen.

So we couldn't just throw her a birthday party. It had to be a Frozen birthday party.
                 So that is what we did...

Cake is the beginning to all birthdays. Lets start with that, shall we?

                         A delicious double layered vanilla cake with pink and blue piping accents...

                                                         Aaanndd, cupcakes!

We decorated with streamers and confetti, but sadly I did rather poorly of capturing them... 
We'll leave that bit out...

What's a Frozen birthday without some Frozen garb, right? Mom made her an Anna dress and cape and decided to give it to Olivia ahead of time so she could wear it during cake and such.

                      Isn't she adorable? What's more is that it was even snowing. Perfection!

Most of her gifts had something to do with, you guessed it, Frozen.
 Anna dress, Frozen glow in the dark wand, Frozen mittens, the Frozen movie.... She was ecstatic! There were also somethings not Frozen related (to balance it out a bit...).

        To conclude the day we sat around with bellies full of cake and ice cream watching Frozen.
I do believe this party was quite a success.
Love,
Hagen

Bonus pic! (Just to show her sassy side...)

Life// Eli's Birthday

 As you may have noticed, Eli is quite crazy. I can't seem to capture a moment where he is at all serious. I guess that just might be because he never really is....

  He turned six on the 20th, where does the time go?

 He couldn't choose whether he wanted to eat cake first or open presents first, so he did both.

 Amazing Batman attire, made by Layla.

 Horse wood-burning, made by Gabe.

 The birthday cake was scrumptious, a soft chocolate cake topped with whipped coconut cream.

It was quite a day!
Eli is always the one to make us laugh when we are down and always looks on the bright side.  I am so thankful to have him as my brother!
Love,
Hagen

Life// A Surprise Baby Shower

  We did it, we actually pulled it off. After months of careful and secretive planning, we were able to throw Mom a surprise baby shower. Man, was she surprised! With a lot of help from a friend, it was a success. Friends came from hours away to celebrate our Mom. She really had no idea! You can see from the pictures how happy/ surprised/ flabbergasted she was...

 I bet you want to know how we got her to the party, huh? It's a funny story...
After buying her a maternity dress for the party, we couldn't figure out how to give it to her and get her out of the house without spilling the beans. We decided to give her the dress and say,"We have something special for you at 2 'o clock today." The morning of the party she wasn't feeling too good, but we had to get her there on time! We gave her the dress and said our lines. She thought we were going to do a maternity shoot of her, so we took that idea and ran with it! She got dressed and ready, not too excited since she wasn't feeling that great. But we got her in the car, and drove to the building. When we pulled up, she questioned why we were there. We said we had set up a studio for her shoot and not to worry. Hagen ran in first to "make sure the lights were on" while I helped her out of the car. We walked up to the building, I opened the door for her, and you can see her reaction!

Here I am telling her how surprised and thankful I was that we pulled it off! We feasted and visited, talked and laughed. Then she opened her gifts. From blankets to quilts, diapers to clothes, she was every blessed!

 We are just so thankful that everything fell into place. We prayed hard that it would be a special day for her, that she would feel loved and appreciated, and she did! Our Mom is wonderful and she deserved a day to be honored. If you haven't figured it out from the pictures, she is having a boy! We can't wait to meet our little brother soon. Thank you to all our friends who helped make this possible, and special thanks to the Lord who answered our prayers!
Love from,
Layla & Hagen

Life// A Tea Party

Earlier this year, August 23rd to be exact, we threw a late birthday tea party for Hagen. It was so much fun! We decorated the barn with crocheted garlands, heart streamers, wild flowers and lights. We baked delicious little finger foods and brewed different teas.

After the party, we visited some antique shops. Hagen loves vintage hats!

We came back to the house and had a water balloon fight, played in the sprinkler, 

and laid out in the sun.

All of the girls we invited are musically talented and Hagen asked them to bring their instruments. So, to end the day we played some music, which was beautiful with all the lovely voices!

 It was a great day, spent with wonderful friends. Like I always say, life is a party... a tea party that is!
Much love,
Layla