We All Got Another Year Older

I'm finally finding some time to blog again and hope this will start up some regular posts.

I haven't posted since April, I think (see gabecksteads.blogspot.com - my other blog) and had issues with my blogs, but now I'm back on track and back to this original one.

As 2013 draws to a close, there are too many things to catch up on. I'll post some highlights, but I think it's best to just start from here.

We did, this past year, all get another year older.

I saw a cute cake and Natalie's birthday was coming up so instead of letting her pick out the cake I told her I wanted to do the pigs in the mud. I'm glad she liked it too.

Natalie turned 13 and is now an official teenager!

I thought I had finally convinced Jake that we didn't need to have any 'Ninjago or 'Lego parties anymore, but he had an idea for one more  . . . . The Final Battle. I made the gold ninja for his cake and they had many "battles" during the party.

Logan had read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in his 1st grade class and loved it. He started planning a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed party for his birthday. He came up with all  the activity ideas, one relating to each of the children in the book and most of the rooms in the factory. 

It was a lot of fun!

It ended up that, this year, I was out of town on my birthday and Robert was out of town for his birthday. Seeing as our birthdays are about 2 weeks apart, we celebrated a combined birthday in-between. A carrot cake for him and a lemon meringue pie for me (really Jake, but I like it too).

 Alyssa, our last birthday of the year, opted for a Greek yogurt, granola, and berry parfait! It was very yummy.

(We did make a small cake the day before and invited a couple of friends over to share.)

Turning 16! she passed her road test a couple of days later and always asks if there is something at the store she can pick up for me.

 I've found I don't mind getting older each year, we just keep having more and more fun together.