Backwoods Wife

{pretty, happy, funny, real - Happy Birthday, Lindsey!}

Happy birthday to my dear sister Lindsey!  I wish we could celebrate with lots of cake in person, but that is a bit tricky seeing as we live on opposite sides of a very large country.  However, I propose that we celebrate AGAIN in August.  More cake is always a good thing!  I hope you have a wonderful day amidst the busyness of being a mom to two very sweet little people.  I love you!

 

 

P.S.  Pop on over to Lindsey's blog "Little Hearth" to wish her a happy birthday if you wish! :)

 

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Singing to the birthday girl

I'll post more photos another time, but here is a little video of us singing to Emma on her birthday.

5 hours!

Hooray!  The baby slept for 6 hours straight in her crib last night, 5 of which I was also asleep.  SO. HAPPY.  I don't think she's slept for that many hours straight in a couple of months now with all the teething, stomach bug, and cold/cough we've had around here.  I hope this is the start of a trend.  I even remember dreaming last night.  The dreaming wasn't particularly wonderful but it wasn't nightmares either.  I was woken up several times during those 5 hours by another kiddo but I didn't actually have to get out of bed.  It's so much easier to function with decent amounts of sleep!

12 Days of Christmas

 

 

Do any of you celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas?  My understanding is that they begin Christmas Day as the time of preparation for Christmas is Advent.  That would make today the 11th day of Christmas I believe.  I'm not quite ready to be done with Christmas just yet.  With our family being sick in the week and a half or so before Christmas, I feel like I missed out on a lot of the things I had hoped we could do together as a family.  Next year, I will prepare everything well in advance so that even if we end up ill over the Christmas break, we can still have maximum Christmas cheer!  I plan to take photos of our decorations and make a list of our Christmas books, music, and DVDs to keep in a folder on our computer so I can have that information at the ready all year without having to go hunting through storage bins.  I have added a few things this week to our collection (hooray for sales!) and plan on continuing to decorate this week before taking everything down on Saturday.  The kids and I are planning on doing some crafting this week as well as we didn't get to do that in the week before Christmas.  I know I've been mostly talking about Christmas decor and creating a Christmas mood here, but I would be very interested to find out if, and how, any of you celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas.  Please share any comments or links you might have!  

Happy birthday Riley!

We have been birthday partying around here the last couple of days.  A certain little miss is now 5 years old.  WOW!  She has had a wonderful time celebrating.  I think she's enjoyed the preparation of making the decorations and getting set up almost as much as the parties themselves.  We did a grown up friends and family cake party last night and a moms and kiddos play date this afternoon.  So much fun was had at both!  Riley was really pleased with and thankful for her gifts and so delighted by all the people who came to share in the fun.

Decorations

Angel costume

"Calculator/bank account"

 

Glow bracelets in the living room

 

The birthday girl and her daddy

 

Happy at the end of the day

 

Thank you to all who sent cards, presents, facebook wishes, came to play, gave hugs, made cakes, and otherwise contributed to a very happy birthday for our sweet Riley!

Birthday kids!

Happy birthday to sweet Hendrik and sweet Abby!  Time sure flies when you're having fun!

 

 

Abby really, really wanted a pink cake with a bird on it.  A particular bird from a special postcard sent to Abby from Aunty Hilary while she was away in Australia and New Zealand.  Here is my first bird attempt!  Abby was pleased so that is all that matters. :)

 

Here is Hendrik's cake this year.  Initially he wanted a bug cake.  Then a cake with a stinky, lumpy, bumpy frog and toad.  Then a cake with a racetrack and a motorcycle.  Then he decided a racetrack with his Lightning McQueen car would be fine but it would have to be a dirt track because he has dirt track McQueen.  Done!  This was one of the least complicated birthday cakes ever.  He loved it!

Thanks to Dwayne for baking Hendrik's second cake.  The first one I baked wasn't fully cooked but I didn't realize it until too late...

Thanks to Mom for making the icing and spreading the "backgrounds" on the cakes so I could tend to Emma and get the decorating done in the same day.

A Valentine's Day Gift

I've been rather busy this week.  In a very good way.  We have a brand new little daughter to snuggle!  Here she is, our sweet Emma!

 

A belated birthday post

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Dwayne's birthday.  We didn't end up taking any still pictures on our camera but Dad did shoot a little video of us singing "Happy Birthday" to Dwayne with the kids helping to blow out the candles. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DWAYNE!  We love you!! :)

135 years!!

Last Friday night we celebrated Grandpa Ib's, Lindsey's, and Dwayne's birthdays. 135 years between them all! Here is a photo with the birthday desserts - strawberry shortcake, sticky date pudding (an Australian wonder!) and key lime cheesecake (made by moi).

P.S. Cheesecake was a lot less intimidating to make than I had anticipated!

Happy Mother ' s Day!

We are enjoying a quiet afternoon today. Dwayne made french toast for lunch and now we are all in various states of repose.

Abby is alternating between dozing and wakefulness,


Hendrik is singing and playing with his trains,


Riley is napping,


Dwayne is reading,


and I am blogging and catching up on the news.



In a little while we are heading over to Mom and Dad's for a Mother's Day BBQ. :) BBQ photos to follow...