Yesterday Bennett turned four.
I still can't believe I have a four year old...so crazy!
We have been super busy and aren't slowing down til October, but I wanted to pop in and share Bennett's birthday parties before too much time went by.
Like last year I decided to have separate parties for friends and family,
which has worked out really well.
The friend party was a park close to our house, and the family party was the next day at our house.
(it was awesome not having to clean up our house after one party to get ready for the next)
I have always loved these quirky dinosaur invites from
Paperless Post, so I decided that I'd use them this year and make it a funky dinosaur party.
The friend party at the park was so fun. We had a few kid activities and everyone got to take home an awesome painted dinosaur:
Bennett helped us make a volcano to "erupt" at the party, and I made
dirt dessert which went along nicely with the theme:
We hid "
dinosaur eggs" around the playground and the kids ran around to find them:
(Bennett's best friend Avery and her dino egg...isn't she cute?)
After finding them, they smashed them on the pavement to get the dinosaurs out:
(I apparently baked them too long because the parents were needed to get these things apart)
Bennett and his loot:
(and dinosaur tail)
I love this picture of Bennett and his friends Hadley and Ezra:
(the difference between girls and boys!)
Opening presents:
The next day we did it all over again, but with family...and not so many kid activities:
For the kids' favors we painted dinosaurs with craft paint.
These were my favorite part about the party.
I was originally thinking of doing
these but just painting them multiple coats was more than enough work!
Dinosaur Bennett excited to open presents:
Four:
Blowing out the candle:
I don't typically like themed parties but dinosaurs were pretty fun and I liked finding my own funky spin to it.
Hey Bennett you're FOUR! Stop growing up so quickly!
It seems like this was just yesterday:
(cliche I know, but seriously)
So I'm pretty sure both boys are going through growth spurts at the same time. I can't keep their clothes from fitting and their bellies full...Lord help me (and my cupboards) when they become teenagers!
Onto the weekend...
Buckley had a little cold over the weekend, but the upside is that he is Mr. Snuggles when he is sick. He was being so sweet and silly and I was trying to take a picture of him giving me a big slobbery kiss (I think he was trying to teethe on my cheek, though I like to think he was kissing me) but he decided to pull my hair instead right when I took the picture. Somehow it turned out super cute and you can't see all of the baby drool/snot on my face. I think it's my favorite picture of us yet:
He started eating finger foods:
(my floors will never be clean again)
Friday night we had my family over for dinner and hang out time.
I decided to make this flourless chocolate cake and it was so good!
recipe and picture via
Saturday morning breakfast included smoothies:
I went to
Piccolina to sell/consign some things and came home with these:
After nap, Chris and Bennett met up with their best friends Stephen and Avery for bowling.
Buckley and I got to take a nap and bask in the quietness of our house.
Every once in a while Chris would send me pictures from bowling:
Isn't that little contraption the coolest?:
Sunday Chris made us a tasty breakfast, then we went to the park for a quick swinging session:
We just hung around the house the rest of the day until church.
Bennett made Scout a little nest and he actually stayed in it for a long time.
Looks cozy to me!
We've got two fully days of cleaning and shopping ahead of us, though I think the weather is supposed to be pretty nice for us in Portland over the next few days.
Weekend come quickly!
Happy Thursday Friends!
It's that time of year again, when I figure out which delicious treats to make for the guys in our family.
My dessert board on Pinterest is overflowing with ideas
(774 of them) and it's always difficult for me to choose just what to make. I think the next two weeks will make up for my lack of baking this year!
Here's what I'm thinking...
(it still needs to be narrowed down a bit...which ones would you choose?)
chocolate fudge peanut butter cookie stuffed cookies
bakery style xxl chocolate chip cookies
oreo truffles
(using candy cane joe joes!)
biscoff oatmeal cookies
chocolate carmel cookie brittle
(instead of saltines I might do pretzels...I can't decide)
Momofuku's cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookies
browned butter snickerdoodles
Check out my past years Christmas sweets posts too!
So after a whole summer of preparing to paint, we finally have a painted house!!!
Our friend Craig brought his sprayer over and helped out a ton.
It's crazy how much work goes into prepping and the painting portion lasts only a few hours.
Before:
Old/new:
The finished product:
We love it so much!
This makes our door look orange but it's definitley red.
I just wanted to show you guys our awesome exterior fixture:
(Our fancy new light up doorbell is awesome too but you can barely see it.)
While they were painting, the boys and I went to the zoo with Chris' mom.
Bennett decided that instead of stopping to look at each animal, he'd like to just run past them all.
This was our view the entire time:
Except that he stopped to sit on the animal statues:
and to watch the tractor bring sand into the elephant area:
(Buck wasn't too into it either)
Saturday afternoon we went to Bennett's friend Lucy's 3rd birthday party.
He had never seen one of these cars before and he thought that it was broken because it wouldn't go.
He kept getting out to push it then quickly hopped back in as if he were giving it a push start.
"This car doesn't work guys":
I also did a lot of cooking and baking this weekend!
I feel like I haven't baked in a long time, so it was nice to get back to it.
(I've tested a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes trying to find the perfect one, this the the one I always go back to.
I love to eat them frozen!)
I tried recreating Portobello's Beet Tartare:
(We agreed that I got pretty close! I made the whole thing in my vitamix...it was fun seeing what it could do. It's a vegan recipe but is so full of flavor. It's cashew cheese on the bottom with chopped beets mixed with a carrot aioli. It's incredibly filling, we both split this for a late dinner.)
I also made
this cashew pesto veggie pizza, which was also SO good:
(I don't think I'll ever make pesto with those expensive pine nuts again!)
and we made lots of smoothies with the vitamix.
Best purchase ever:
mmm smoothies:
Happy Wednesday Friends!
We had no plans this weekend and it was amazing...exactly what we needed.
We were able to relax, but we also got a lot of things done which is always nice.
It truly felt like summer with temps in the 80's on Saturday.
B enjoyed his kiddie pool:
(as did Chris)
He ran back and forth watering the deck with his hippo watering can:
The boys both took baths in the pool and dried off in the sunshine:
We had a few potty training successes...I think he may be starting to get it!
We had a family fro yo date:
and Bennett drew us a picture:
Sunday morning Bennett brought Chris his Father's Day present in bed and said "happy birthday daddy" as he gave it to him:
and of course we had to make them for breakfast:
(B keeps calling them "monster" pancakes...maybe he's still a little young for Star Wars)
We said goodbye to newborn clothes:
(this guy is getting chunky and I love it!)
and I made
this rhubarb cake using the last of the rhubarb from the backyard:
(I love reaping the harvest of the previous homeowner!)
(it's a recipe from the 50's so there are some interesting ingredients like mini marshmallows and a box of strawberry jello powder...it sounds weird on paper but it was really good!)
Things are starting to get a little easier around here and we are all feeling much better.
Let's just hope it stays like that.
Happy Tuesday Friends!
