A Double Birthday Party and Fall "Decorating"

We had a very full Labor Day weekend filled with family, friends and fun!
It kicked off with a trip to Irish Fest at Crown Center. Of course, I forgot the camera. But the highlights were picking up some Irish tea for Dylan, and the kids got to meet many of the Disney princesses! There was some of the best Irish music and food! I had the best fish and chips for dinner there! Raglan Road is calling my name, I can feel it! I also picked up a new (temporary!) wedding band. Mine is already getting a little too tight for me. It's a beautiful infinity trinity knot, but unfortunately has no bling on it.
Saturday we had family and friends over for the kids birthday party.

 We grilled out, relaxed and enjoyed spending time with everyone!

And of course there were presents!

These kids were so excited about everything they received. They wanted ALL their presents open and played with at once!

I also got a few pictures of the cakes I made for them.

Photo credit: against the tide

It took a while for me to figure out what Shawn wanted for a cake. All he would tell me for awhile is a green cake. Baffled, I had planned on making him one that resembled a birthday present. Finally about a week ago he said the words " big fat caterpillar" when we were talking about it and I realized what he meant. The Very Hungry Caterpillar! He was so thrilled he had at last gotten through to his sometimes dense mama! We showed him the picture in the book of the "big fat caterpillar" and he confirmed that was exactly what he wanted!

Isabel was MUCH more concise about her cake. She described a white heart with pink and purple and red flowers all over it. I drew up a sketch of it and she approved! Here's what hers ended up as!

Around cake time is when my camera started acting up and I didn't notice it until I looked at the pictures a while later. The lens cover has been sticking lately so when the camera turns on it doesn't always open. These were the pictures I got of the kids blowing out the candles :(

Oh well, I suppose. Better luck next year.  All in all it was a wonderful day and the kids had such a good time! They were so tired by the end of it!

Sunday we got to release the Painted Lady butterflies we had grown. They were part of Isabel's birthday present and so we decided it was time to let them go be free!

These were part of a homeschool project on changes (metamorphosis) as well as patience. It was so incredible to see the kids watch the caterpillars change to butterflies. Isabel just LOVED it, so we're going to be doing this project again next year, probably with some more in depth studies.

Back inside the kids set to playing with a play-dough set they received on Saturday. They came to show me their creations and were so proud of themselves!

I'm sure you've also noticed by now the blog has a new look! We've "fall-ifyed" the decor around here! Let me know what you think. I'm also hoping to be posting a couple DIY tutorials soon, so stay tuned! Happy Fall, y'all!