Viv's Birthday Party

Viv finally got her party. This was her first friend party, she was pretty bummed when we made her postpone it. I figured Mike would want some help with this. I am finally hobbling around. Funny story. When Aria Gertge showed up at the party she walked in and I was standing up doing Viv's hair in the living room without my boot on. She said "Where's Miss Chelsea?" I said I am right here! Then she said "Oh, I didn't recognize you without your boot." She is so funny. The last couple of weeks at church she had told me how sorry she is that I am hurt. It was pretty cute.

Viv wanted a Wicked party. I think it turned out pretty good. All the girls got to pick out if they wanted a witch hat or  a tiara. Then we had a little photo booth fun. They ate, played games, and jumped on the tramp. That was a little scary. She loved it and had a great time!

 

Bensen had a Birthday!

Bensen had a birthday! How is he 6 years old already?

 Bensen loves Minecraft, and Mario.

He loves to give big hugs and has the best facial expressions.

We sure love this boy! He is so funny and so much fun. He says the funniest things. He loves playing with his friends and cousins, and playing the Nintendo switch. He is always humming of singing some tune, usually something from Mario of Minecraft.

Jaycee made the basketball team at Highmark. She even was a starter! It was so fun to watch her play, she has improved so much.

We've been running around a lot. The best part of not having time for a nap is the snuggles at night.

Viv had a Birthday!

Sweet baby Viv turned 3! I can hardly believe she is that old already! It seems like she just got here.

Viv is such a girly girl! She loves clothes, jewelry, Barbies, dressing up, really all things girly.

Viv is the youngest grandchild on both sides of our families right now. That means she gets toted around everywhere and everyone loves to play with her. She gets a lot of attention.

Her favorite color is purple.

Her favorite food is pizza, chicken and fries.

She loves to ride her bike, climb everything, jumping on the tramp, and play outside.

She is constantly telling us she loves us, and we sure love her!

Happy Birthday Vivi!

Be Prepared

We decided to do bag meals again.  I have missed having them.  It is so nice to go into the pantry and know I have something I can make for dinner, and that it will be done in about 20 minutes! The church cannery doesn't sell canned beef anymore, and to tell you the truth, I hated their canned beef! I looked around and couldn't find anywhere around here that sells canned beef. I found a place in Ohio that sell ground beef, but it was going to cost about $90 to ship it here. Yikes!

I have been wanting to can beef since I canned chicken. I loved having canned chicken, and it tasted pretty good. It was a pretty big job, but Mike did most of the dirty work. Canning beef was much easier. We bought about 30 lbs from Winegers for about $3.50 a pound. Mike found THIS tutorial online that I followed.

I just lightly browned and salted the beef, and added water. Mike helped me put everything into the jars. He is the best!

We did pint jars. 

We had enough to do two batches.

33 cans in all and the best part is that every single one of them sealed!

So we were able to finish up with our bagged meals.  This time around we did White Chicken chili, Carmae's Chili, Enchilada Soup, TexMex Goulash (my kids favorite), Taco Soup, Baked Ziti, Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes. These were my favorite.  There were several last time that I didn't like, and wouldn't eat.

It's so nice to have a stocked pantry again.

Wesley took Bensen to the beach while we worked.  They are sitting on the beach next to the water.  He even made the sky, which was taped to the light.  He is so creative.

Later that night me and Jaycee went to The General Women's Conference. Wesley and Mike made food people.

Here are a couple of pictures of Wesley on his birthday.

He got two parties this year one at the Borgstroms.

And one at the Baileys.

Unfortunately he was sick for both of them.  But I had already made the cakes, so the party must go on.  He ended up with croup! 

He still had fun. We sure love this boy.

Happy Birthday to Wesley!

Wesley turned 3 on the 1st of October! I can't believe he is three! He has been pretty excited.  I've always done some sort of Halloween theme, Mike thinks that's silly, so this year I switched it up a little and did a Monster theme.  We went to the movie "Hotel Transylvania" and to lunch at Chic-fil-a, then home to get ready for the big family party.

I made his invitation with my scrapbook factory. Jaime swears it is easy to use, I disagree. It took me over 3 hours! I'm not sure it was worth it.  I do like how it turned out.

 We looked online for cake ideas. Wesley loved the monster cake. The one online looked better, but I did my best. Those little cake pops were harder then I thought they were going to be. I couldn't get them to stay on the sticks, they kept sliding off.

 We made a little bean bag throw to try and keep the kids entertained. It worked pretty well.

 Here's my handsome birthday boy.

 He liked his new monster hat.

 He got a new helmet from my parents to go with his new bike, that didn't come until the next day. And was a potty reward/birthday present.  No he is not potty trained, but he did finish his potty chart. We are a little more strict with the new potty chart. :) Which will earn him a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese.

 Mike's mom made him a Super Hero blanket.  He loves it and sleeps with it every night.

 He blew all the candles out.

 We had a really good day.

We are so blessed to have Wesley in our family.

He loves to ride his bike. He has started to draw pictures, that you can actually kind of tell what they are, usually spiders or Mike. :) He loves to play with our iPod touch. He likes trains and superheros. He really wants to go to school, he is sad when Jaycee leaves. He is super ticklish, and has the best laugh. He loves to read books, he sneaks several to bed with him every night. He is a tease. Every now and then he likes to cuddle, usually when Jaycee is at school, he will let me rock him. I love that! He is very observant. If I change something in the house, he is the first to notice. He has a really good sniffer. He is always saying "I smell something." Usually followed by "I smell something disgusting."Almost always it's about something I am cooking for dinner. :) He hates to have his picture taken, and to get his ears wet.

He is a blessing and we would be incomplete without him.