Joint B-day Party for V and C!

Christian had his 3rd birthday a couple weeks ago and Victoria's 5th is in a couple weeks, so we had a combined birthday party for them with the Soderholm side of the family. TJ, Whitney, Teagan, Bobby, Kattia, Robert, Camila, Megan, Geemaw and Papa came. We missed Patrick and Leah though. They get to visit in a couple weeks.

We wanted to have a theme that they both liked and we came up with a camp out theme! They both love camping.

Victoria's color pick was pink and Christian's was green. His favorite color has always been yellow, but now it is changing to "orange and green." We used yellow too though. I like to plan parties and I love themes! It was fun to come up with these camp goodie bags (tricky too though to combined the camp out theme and the colors that they wanted to include- I think red and blue would have been easier)!

It was a super hot and humid day, but we played outside anyway.

Kattia and Geemaw- see the tent in the background?

4 of the 6 cousins with Kattia

So, normally kids like to roast hot dogs, but today it was too hot! Thanks, Danny and Bob, for stepping up and cooking all of our hot dogs!

They are really cute together, eh?

One of the activities was finding three beautiful/ neat things in nature. I love seeing what the children find! Sticks, blades of grass, gumballs, poplar leaves, rocks, etc. It's great that they can find beauty so easily. Then, we met in the tent and had a show and tell.

Teagan and her dad found two different kinds of leaves and, I believe, a stick. She is so cute- look at the tiny pigtails. Unfortunately around this time all of the pics turned out REALLY blurry. I think the lens kept getting fogged up because of the humidity? Not sure, the indoor ones didn't really work out either. So,no pics of our other game, cake and ice cream, or presents. Until someone else sends me some. (Pretty please... hint hint)

The game was called throwing the marshmallow into the fire. It was fun and everyone was a winner! It was throwing mini marshmallows into an indoor fake fire pit.

The cake was a campfire cake made with brownie, walnuts, fudge icing, Twix bars, M&Ms, marshmallows and red cellophane. The kids helped me make and decorate it and it was pretty cool and yummy especially with ice cream.

The presents were awesome! I'll take some pics in the upcoming days. They both got play tents from their grandparents- Cars and princess. They got a big car and Spanish/English computer from Bobby and Kattia's fam. They were given games, puzzles, growing toys, and lots of awesome girl accessories from TJ, Whitney, and Teagan. They are really lucky to have so many generous people who love them on both sides of the family!

Here's a pic of V in a few of the accessories. Camila invited her to spend the night. Although I am not really in favor of slumber parties so young, they were both so excited about the idea, that I couldn't say no. Danny and I had decided that they can spend the night with cousins and grandparents, I just didn't know it would be so soon. So, at almost 5 she is off to her first slumber party with Camila! Christian didn't understand why he couldn't go too and was sad, but he and I had a fun evening together when Danny went to play cards with some of his guy friends. It's a new tradition that they play once or twice a month. We played a little bit together, read some books and then he wanted to go to sleep. He is currently sleeping in his brand new Cars tent! Here's a pic of the sweet buddy.

Christian turned 3 this week!

Christian on his last day as a 2 year old wearing three of his favorite things all at once- a ski mask, his "helmet," and his Thomas Shirt! So silly!

On his birthday he wanted to eat bacon for breakfast, so we did. He told me that a day or two before when I asked, so we were prepared. Then we went to see a movie called Water Horse that was part of the free summer movie series. It was neat because it was about the Loch Ness monster, but was a little scary too. After we picked up Victoria we had McDonald's for lunch- and he even got a Happy Meal with a transformer! Then we went home and played and I worked on the cake. Christian had surprise visitors! He was really happy because his friends Sam and Josh came by with their mom and brought him a present- books! He also got a few special phone calls! That afternoon he went with his Dad to take V to swimming lessons and luckily had a nice nap so that he could be ready to stay up a little late for his party.

That night we had a "DINO-MITE" party! Christian wanted a dinosaur party and it was fun to plan for him. It was a fun party for Christian and his cousins and family on the Marshall side. It went really smoothly so we were glad!

First we ate dinner- dinosaur PBJ's, Dino nuggets, french fries, dinosaur eggs(tomatoes- C's favorite), carrots, and Stegosaurus chips.

Then the kids played in the back yard for a bit- fun on the swing set, in the hammocks, and in the sandbox.

Then, the kids were paleontologists and went on a dinosaur egg hunting expedition. Victoria found the special egg and got a prize. That almost caused Christian a meltdown, but luckily Danny announced that the special birthday boy got to award the prizes to the winners. Good thinking, Dad. It worked. We played a few other games. One was rolling a dinosaur ball and when it came to a child that child was supposed to say a fact about dinosaurs. The things they said were pretty cute! Then we sang a song about "7 dinosaurs went out to play.... mother dinosaur went stomp stomp stomp..."

After the inside playtime we went back out and sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream.

We opened presents and then played last. Christian got a lot of nice things- a scooter from grandma and grandpa, Bob the builder tools from Craig, Lorel, and Ella, Diego monkeys from Matt, Janelle, Donovan, Howie, Nina, and Cameron, a stuffed animal dinosaur and a dinosaur book from Scott, Chrissy, Hailey, and Sydney, Thomas the train toys from both G.G's, and a dinosaur tent from Mom, Dad, and Victoria! Very fun things! He has had a lot of fun with them since. Thanks everybody!

I think he loved his dinosaur birthday! That being said, he told me that "on Saturday" he would like a Thomas birthday. Hmmm? Maybe next year;)

Victoria loves to see the Temple and did a great job on her first talk!

Victoria gave her first talk in Primary on Sunday, June 29. She has given a scripture and said the prayer before, but had never given the talk. When asked, she enthusiastically said she would. She was excited and helped decide what she would say. I asked her why she loved to see the temple and she came up with three reasons. When we practiced it she said that she felt the Holy Ghost and knew that it was good.

On the big day, Daddy came to listen and I held her visual aid and helped her remember what to say. She felt a little nervous, but I reminded her about how she had felt the night before when we practiced it and told her that the spirit could help her to feel comfortable and ready to give the talk. She started. This was her talk.

"One of my family's favorite songs is "I Love to See the Temple." This is true for me. I love to see the temple because 1.) it is a special place to go as a family. 2.)My parents and my grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles were sealed in the temple. 3.) I want to get married there too. I know that the temple is a peaceful and holy place. I want to make good choices so that I will be worthy to go there one day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

She did a great job and we were very proud of her!