It's Great To Be Eight!

Hunter was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today! He's been looking forward to it all year and it was almost unbearable for him when he found out we delayed it a month due to being with his dad on his birthday.

Towards the end of December I took my Hunter baby out to pick a new tie and of course he had to have one in his fav color... pink! I love that my little man isn't afraid to be who he is and tell the entire world.

My sister, Andrea, took his eight year pictures (I borrowed the one above before it could be edited...shhhh) and put together his invite for me. It was hard giving in not making them by hand this time, but I think they turned out amazing. The only job I had in it all was to deliver them.

Hunter, his grandpa and I met at the church early so any last minute things could be taken care of, they could change into white clothing and I could get a picture or two of them together on my little man's special day.

We all met in the chapel for a wonderful program in which my sister Andrea (right), her friend Tamran(left) and Tamran's friend (not shown) sang "Be Still, My Soul". I had no idea my sis could sing like she did. After the program Hunter and all of the people who came to support him gathered in the baptismal font room. The little ones sat up front right next to the font so they could see. Hunter had asked my Uncle Randy and Grandpa Tom to be his witnesses so one stood on either side. Hunter's foot popped up on the first try so my dad lightly stepped on his feet and tried again... the second time was a successful immersion!

Hunter and my dad left the font to change. The rest of our group gathered in another room and sang primary songs while waiting. I passed around a journal for all to sign so my son could remember his special day and those he shared it with. Hunter came walking in the room with a ginormous smile and sat down right by me. I put my arm around him and squeezed him tight telling him I was so proud of his choice.

Bishop Paulos gave a few remarks. Then Hunter went up to the front, sat on a chair, and the priesthood holders who were there circled around him placing their hands upon his head. My dad gave him his confirmation blessing giving him the gift of the holy ghost and making him an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Afterwards we all gathered in our "new" home for a light brunch. My sister and I had made 192 mini muffins, 30 cinnamon rolls, and 4 egg and hash brown casseroles (recipe courtesy of my friend Jamie). we also had fruit, chocolate milk, milk and juice. The kids seemed to love the little muffins. Hunter completely filled a plate and ate them all. Tanner filled his plate telling all he was having a muffin party! He sat next to the bar on the floor to eat them with his bestest friend.

All in all it was a wonderful day spent with my kiddos, family and friends. And I am one mommy who couldn't be prouder of the choices her kiddos are making.

Shaylee's Rapunzel Party

I believe a party begins with the excitement of receiving an invite. So... I scoured the internet for ideas, pieced together the ones I liked, added a touch of my own creativity and came up with an invitation fit for my little princess.

Shaylee's been all about Rapunzel this year. Always combing her beautiful blond curls, telling me how prettyful her hair is... just like Punzel. So when I asked what kind of party she wanted she didn't think, but for a second.

As always I made a cake... this time my sister, Andrea helped. She wanted to try out a new technique she'd seen - ruffling. She also added extensions to the dolls hair. It looked awesome. I finished up the rest.
The entire party was done in the kitchen. I brought in a TV and played Disney's Tangled. No one really watched it... until after the party was over.

Upon arrival each guest was seated at the table and were given pieces of sticky backed foam I'd pre-cut and a red party blower to make a Pascal. I found the instructions on Disney Family.com. I love that site.
Then I pulled out the markers and gave each one of Shaylee's friends a paper lantern. I found them at Zurcher's. They don't fly, but the kids had a lot of fun coloring them.A children's party just isn't a party without pin the...... on the..... So of course we just had to play Pin the Nose On Flynn Rider. My sister, Andrea, drew the wanted poster with a sharpie! She's amazing isn't she?!? Then Googled the different Flynn wanted poster noses and made each one.
{before the game - left...after the game-right}Once all of the noses were pinned the kiddos sat down to decorate sugar cookies in the shape of the sun with yellow butter cream frosting and sprinkles. I was surprised they actually put frosting on their cookies... I thought for sure the frosting would go straight into their mouths.
As Shaylee bug blew out the candle on her pascal cupcake she had the biggest smile on her face. And it grew as she was given gifts to open. Most of the kids only ate the frosting off their cupcakes, but ate all of their ice-cream.
When Shaylee's adorable little guests left they were each handed a thank you bag that included a watercolor paints, a pencil, note pad, stickers, pencil sharpener and ring.
After the party my little bug wanted to do it again. I assured her we would, but not until she turned 4! The only thing in this life worth anything is my family and my kiddos are number one... when they smile and laugh all is right in the world.

Tan Tan's Cake & Ice Cream With The Fam

Birthday's are a big deal in the Mota home, in case you haven't noticed. I usually do a family party on my kiddos birthdays, but we had to do Tanner's party on Sunday evening instead because he was with his dad over the weekend. I continued the Lego Star Wars theme from his friend party into this party as well.

My sister, Julie, decorated with balloons and Star Wars crepe paper. I made a Lego cake and set Lego Star Wars toys on it. I usually steer away from the toys so the entire cake is edible, but this cake called for them.

Grandma Susie made her famous fried chicken, potato wedges and chicken nuggets for dinner just for Tan Tan...and he actually ate!

Tanner got to hear our family sing our signature off key Happy Birthday song to him and he was all smiles waiting to blow out the candles. He was completely thrilled with his gifts, as you can see from the pictures. By the end of the night he was glowing with happiness...I'd do just about anything to see smiles like those on my kiddos face each and every day.

Tan Tan's Lego Star Wars Party

We celebrated Tanner's 5th birthday a little early this year due to the fact he was leaving early with his dad on Friday and wouldn't be back until Sunday morning.

Tanner wanted a Star Wars party and it had to be "Lego" Star Wars. I didn't have much prep time for this one, nor do I know much about Star Wars...this party took a lot of googling.

I made light saber invites to go along with the theme and we held it at the park. Tons of kids came...more than I'd planned for...but as the saying goes the more the merrier right? I pre-made light sabers from pool noodles and duct tape...the guests were in charge of decorating them with black electrical tape. When they were all finished decorating they took off to the play ground to fight. We also played a game where they had to use their light sabers to keep balloons in the air.

The kids were all given storm trooper masks to play pin the blast on the ship and we had a Darth Vader pinata. Tanner took one whack with the light saber bat and that's all it took! Candy was every where and picked up quickly. I have to laugh that despite the activities planned all they wanted to do was fight each other.

We ate pizza complements of Dr. Baker's moving gift. And had cupcakes surrounded by chocolate legos, topped with little chocolate storm troopers that I'd made. We ended the evening with Tanner opening his gifts and a great big thank you. The kiddos all left with gift bags of legos and lego storm trooper chocolates, Yoda rings, stickers and pencils.

Happy 5th Birthday my little Tan Man!

 I've had many requests for the pattern to these invitations so I've decided to add them here.  Feel free to email me I'd absolutely love to share and help in any way I can.  Unfortunately  I had to recreate a pattern by tracing what I had because the computer I had it on crashed... let me know if any of it need to be explained or if you need any help.

Because my computer that created these crashed I no longer have the set up or the font I used. I found the Starwars font on line for free by searching Google and these are the words I used.

Pull

Invited you are to

(Child's name)

(Child's age)

Birthday party!

Assemble we will

on Thursday

The 22^nd day of September

in the year

two-thousand eleven

(Thursday, September 22)

At 4:30

in the afternoon

the party will begin

and conclude it will

around 6:30
(4:30pm-6:30pm)

Take place the

celebration will in

Rock canyon Park

Look for balloons

at on of the pavilions

(address)

Served

Imperial Pizza

and Epic Cupcakes

Will Be

To the

Council Administrator

Reply

(Mom's name and number)

Summer At 7-Peaks

My kiddos and I loved having our 7-Peaks passes this summer. It's the first year ever that we've been able to head out worry free to have fun and play. Since we had passes and live so darn close we hardly ever planned... we'd up and decide at a moments notice to head out for a few hours of fun in the sun.

Parker and Hunter were old enough to go off on their own. I believe they rode every slide but one! My little Tan Tan learned how to hold his breath thanks to his bestest friend ever... Conner. And my Shaylee Bug learned water isn't so scary after all, even went down the kiddie slide!

We all know swimming makes for tired and hungry kids. For some crazy reason food is no longer allowed inside the park so we started our own little ritual... Little Caesars. It's just around the corner and sort of on the way home. We'd stop off, get a couple orders of Crazy Bread, chow down on them and talk about our day as we drove the back roads home. Lots and tons of laughter, giggles and smiles. Luv, luv, luv spending warm sunny days making memories with my kiddos.