We went to this free event about a month ago at the fairgrounds. Let’s just say, Charlotte was in heaven! We all had a great time checking out the gems, geodes, fossils, etc.
Charlotte was so happy to be there, she even temporarily overcame her extreme fear of animals, & touched a bearded dragon!
These were taken about 6 weeks ago.
Couldn’t get a perfect shot of all three kids, but here are some pics for you to enjoy, anyway!
Pace had a fantastic birthday this year! He did have to go to work that day… But his coworkers took him out to the best barbecue in Utah County (5 Star Barbecue) and then we celebrated with fun activities over the next 2 days! He felt very loved when all was said & done.
Speaking of love, he really loved this slice of homemade cheesecake drenched in hot fudge sauce (which we call “chocolate ganache sauce” to make it sound fancier).
Annnd homemade brownies that I whip up & consume more often than I care to admit! They’re our favorite brownies.
Ahh, so many choices!
People thought it was weird that I put out a plate of veggies alongside the desserts… But I knew I’d be munching all evening, so I put those out there so I’d occasionally reach for those rather than another brownie. Tricky, I know!
The helpful munchkins assisted in blowing out the candles.
Handsome, awesome guy. We love you, Pace!
And I managed to keep the photos G-rated.
They hadn’t ever bathed all together before, and I don’t intend to make it a habit, but Caroline was kicking and leaning eagerly toward the bathtub as Chase & Charlotte were having a grand ol’ time in there. I could tell she clearly felt left out, so I put her in there as well. The more the merrier! Chase was very careful and held his baby sister tight.
Chase & Charlotte’s smiles looks a little weird in this pic because they had gum in their mouths. They’ve been obsessed with gum lately, & they faithfully save their earnings from chores (5 cents/chore) to buy gum. I figure they can spend their money on whatever they want, as long as they pay tithing first. When Chase buys gum, he saves the pack as long as possible, but Charlotte eagerly shares with all the friends that come over and helps herself to it all the time, so her pack of gum is usually gone in 1-2 days.
The other day, Chase rationed out tiny pieces of his Bubble Tape gum to a couple of friends. When they complained about the tiny amount of gum he had given them, he calmly told them, “Life is not fair.” When I heard it from the other room, I just had to chuckle to myself.
There’s always a lot of fun when Grandma comes!
Here she & the kids are working on some Dot-to-Dot books. (This is usually the time when I battle with Chase to get his homework done. Somehow, Grandma motivated him to do all his homework in just a few minutes, so he had tons of time to just hang out! Grandmas are always full of tricks!)
Pausing to sing a little song
Grandma instilling a love of reading into the children
She showed me how to make a tasty minestrone soup. Very hearty & delicious.
We went to watch a Physics Show for kids at our alma mater, BYU. Chase & Charlotte liked checking out the statues & sculptures at BYU. We also got to discover where all the elevators & ramps are, since I’d brought the stroller!
I can’t even explain how ODD it felt to be walking around at BYU, toting three children along with me. It is so cliché, but honestly—WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?? I was just barely attending BYU as a single student! Could it really be that it was 10 years ago that I was starting school there (and meeting some of the best friends I’ve ever known)!?
On our way out, we stopped in at the Wilk for some bowling. It was enjoyable, but I think the munchkins would’ve been just fine having 3 turns instead of 10.
Chase was rather dramatic about it. He’d start really far back, run up, chuck the bowling ball, and fall flat onto the floor. No holding back there!
Intense focus. His expression here looks very Pace-ish!
My mom watched our kids so we could go out on Valentine’s Day. Pace surprised me by taking me out to a dinner & games night at the McGowans’ house. It was nice and relaxing.
Delicious food!
Pretty flowers from my Valentine
… Which kids are Chase & Charlotte in this picture?? Haha!
Fair skin, blonde hair, & blue eyes all around! I guess that’s not too rare in this state of Utah. 
The resemblances crack me up every time we get together with this brother & sister duo.
If you are in the Utah County area, I wanted to let you know that Seven Peaks Ice Arena is having a play hockey free day to allow you to bring your kids and see that they love hockey or don’t love hockey. It will be next Saturday (the 18th) with two sessions. 8:30am and 10:30am. You kids don’t need anything! All gear is provided. Just come and check it out.
I’d recommend getting there a little early as it’s a first come first to get gear situation.
Charlotte is in love with this purple sparkly box from Uncle Gino. She carries it everywhere & puts all sorts of little things in it. She loves filling every purse/container she can with trinkets!!
Mmmm! Vanilla cupcakes, pudding + whipped cream-filled, frosted with strawberry buttercream frosting.
CTR pretzels from the Friend magazine that Chase wanted us to make. (Yes, we let them rise too long beforehand.)
We adore baby Caroline.
Chase likes to do Charlotte’s makeup sometimes. This time, he did more of a war paint type of job. It was cute. He took our pictures.
Close-up so you can see her pretty makeup!
I usually still have Charlotte do Quiet Time in her room, even though she doesn’t nap anymore. My kids seem to officially no longer nap by age 3 at the latest. But I’m so glad she still cooperates with having about 30 minutes of quiet time. She likes to listen to the Beauty & the Beast songs during this time.
Yes, she’s winking in this picture. She thinks it’s the coolest thing in the whole world that she can wink & GG can’t. She said, “These are my babies” about her little dolls/stuffed animals gathered around her.
We played a fun new card game that took us a little while to learn and we made this fun video for the kids. I think it should be titled “Bi-Polar Date”, what would you title it? Thanks for the fun time last night honey!
Charlotte had her first real birthday party a week ago! I think I spent way too long on the party prep, but what can I say?… It was a blast.
Charlotte & I made these Pascal Party Blowers for the guests (idea from Disney family website). They were easy to make & they were a big hit, as I had hoped!
As we were making these, Charlotte asked me why I was doing this for her party. I told her it was because I love her! When I asked her if she liked them, she responded sincerely, “Yeah. I’m so proud of you.” Also, I messed up when I was cutting them out, and got annoyed. Charlotte came up to me and rubbed my shoulder saying in a soft, soothing voice, “It’s okay. We’ll fix it.” (I had to laugh at myself for overreacting over some wasted sticky foam.) She’s such a sweetie pie!
I’d printed out several “Wanted: Flynn Rider” signs & had Chase draw all different funny noses on Flynn, like in the movie. Chase taped them all over the house. We’d also printed sun flags & made a Tangled sun banner.
As the little guests arrived, they put on their Rapunzel hair clips (GG & Cotton had made them for me, with clips & long strands of yarn). They also decorated their own shiny paper tiaras with stickers, & drank some pink party punch (Cherry 7-Up with juice & sherbet).
I came up with these Pascal Quesadillas, which were definitely much more fun to look at than to eat. The girls weren’t fans of the spinach tortillas! I had kinda figured that would happen. But they were just so cute, I couldn’t help it! (Spinach tortillas, cheddar cheese inside, slice of hard-boiled egg + olive for the eye, licorice string mouth, & red bell pepper tongue.)
We had the food sitting on the table in frying pans! (I borrowed that idea from someone’s blog.)
I had Pace buy 3 songs from the Tangled movie & he had them playing in a loop during the whole party. And he cranked up the volume for Dance Time!
Charlotte received lots of pink, girly presents!
Casey was the star of the party. The girls thought he was so funny! He was talking like a girl as Jess braided his Rapunzel hair.
So naturally, I put Casey in charge of executing the games. He was the ringleader for “Rapunzel Says” (aka Simon Says), and for “Hide & Go Seek Rapunzel” (one girl would hide the doll & then the others would go find it).
“Rapunzel Says” was the cutest game to watch– Little girls all doing the same actions & giggling!
Everyone got party bags at the end (I had bought a pack of Tangled stickers to decorate colorful bags, & also the cups on the table). The girls got to take home a couple of Tangled coloring pages I’d printed, the Pascal party blowers, the Rapunzel hair clips, their decorated tiaras, & of course, candy!