A Birthday Fit for a Little Pet Lover!! Happy 5th Birthday Jacquelynn

I can't even believe that my baby Jacquelynn in 5 today!!  WHAT?!?!  I know its something everyone says, but "where has the time gone"?  This is all happening so fast.  My baby is 5.  Someone just stop time for just a minute so I can take this all in.  

Well, as tradition goes in our home, my girls get to pick their birthday themes and then I do the rest.  Make the cake, decorate and party hearty to that theme.  In the years past, Jacquelynn has picked, Little Einsteins, Hello Kitty and Minni Mouse.  This year........LITTLEST PET SHOP!

 FYI, no one is selling littlest pet shop decorations in stores.  You have to order it all online.  But that is difficult to do when you don't know that they want LPS until 4 days before the birthday.  So, I had to get creative.  Luckily Albertsons had a GIANT LPS Kitty balloon.  So I decorated around that balloon.  Pink and purple were the colors of choice.  Good thing that kitty balloon is pink!  

Joshlyn is a genius with puffy paint and turned a plain white T-shirt into a littlest pet shop lovers fashion dream. 

The cake is ALWAYS my favorite part of planning the party.  I love to bake cakes.  It takes my first three loves:

1) SUGAR!

2) Baking

3) Creating

Cakes hit all three of those wonderful things.  This one was the first cake I have done using fondant.  Now I only used it for the paw shapes, but now that I tried it, I may try something more difficult next time.  

Anyway, here is the finished product.  

Disneyland.....So much more then "The Happiest Place on Earth"

If you did not already know, Eddie and I met while working at Disneyland.  Since then it has kinda become a special place for us.  Well, I guess it is a special place for most people, but somehow it is "different".  Eddie loves taking the girls there whenever he can.  As for me, I kind of get bored of the lines, crowds, prices and having to constantly call out my girls names when they wander off.  It is not a very relaxing day for me at Disneyland.  But I go because it is special and the girls (and Eddie) love it there.  I think I would love going more often if it were just Eddie and I on a romantic date.  But then I think back to being too far away from my girls in an emergency situation.  Oh well, I guess this is just the way it is when having a BIG family.  You sacrifice/compromise the things you love for them.  

So this past Monday we all packed up and headed out to Disneyland.  Our annual passes are about to expire, so Eddie wanted to get a day in with the girls.  Here are some of my favorite pictures of the day.

Do they really belong in a cage?

Yes they do!

This is just AWESOME!

They are growing so much every day!

 

My Funny Valentine!

Home Made Hand Print Valentines

Sutton Villa 10 Months old

Little Angel

Hungry For Some Love

Innocent Princess

Silly Valentine

A Valentine For You Mommy!

My Funny Valentine

Squeezable Valentine

Hide and Seek Valentine

80's Fun and a Bottle of Pink Hair Spray

Eddie and I had a blast on Friday night when we crashed the Westpark Ward (our old ward) 80's Valentines Dance.  It was super fun going out to find odds and ends to complete our 80's attire.  I was a little hesitant at first to go, because it has been so long since Eddie and I have done something like going out dancing, but I pushed myself to do it specifically to bust out of the same old, same old routine we have found ourselves in.  Anyway, I so happy we went.  We had a great time.  I pulled out some awesome dance moves and Eddie stole the spotlight a few times through out the night as well.  I just adore him.  

 Yes, I am wearing leg warmers.  Joshlyn just so happened to have them in her drawer.  

 Yes, I am wearing leg warmers.  Joshlyn just so happened to have them in her drawer.  

Yes, Eddie let me spray his hair with PINK streaks.  What a trooper.  (Yes, it came out) 

We refused to leave the dance floor that night.  I wanted to get my exercise in for the night.  Plus, music in the 80's ROCKED!!!! 

We still know how to have a great time together.  LOVE YOU BABE!!

The day after the dance, my three little girls wanted me to spray their hair pink too.  So I pulled out the spray and went to town.  I have such DIVAS!!!

They worked that pink hair all day!  They wanted to parade around the neighborhood to show it off.  It was very upsetting for them when I told them they had to wash it out before going to church the next day.  But it was so much fun while it lasted!

Chaos So Quickly......What The What?

Hmmmmmmmmm........? 

I remember thoroughly cleaning up the girls room and putting everything in its rightful place and being   so happy with the end result on Tuesday evening. 

How does it end up like this at 8:59 AM on Wednesday morning?!?!?  

Uncovering the mystery.....

To be continued!

Valentines Cake Pops....Love is in the air!

Love is in the air here in the Villa home.  I L-O-V-E February!  It is my most favorite month.  Red, pink, white, hearts, chocolates, little girls in frilly pinafores with fancy tights with hearts on the bum.  Who doesn't love February? 

It has become quite a tradition in our home to send a fancy sweet treat with the valentines card exchange at Madison's school.  Madison reigns as the QUEEN of the card exchange.  It is not that I am trying to show up all the other moms, (even though they are seriously lacking on the effort) It is just that,

A) I love baking

B) I love creating beautiful things

C) I love Valentines Day

So this year when I asked Madison what we should bake for her class to go with the Valentines cards, she quickly replied

CAKE POPS!!!!  

Cake Pops  have kinda become my most favorite thing to make lately.  They take some time, but are so worth the effort.  And they look so darn cute.

So here is what I did yesterday in between all of my other "Domestic Engineer" daily duties.

All finished.....So cute!

My Jacquelynn enjoying Her Cake Pop

Brooklyn savoring the yummy goodness

Villa's in Las Vegas.......

Villa girls @ the Barstow Station

We took our annual Las Vegas Cheerleading Nationals trip last week.  I must say this years trip was a lot of fun.  We wanted to make sure we did a lot of stuff as a family.  Eddie and I talked about what we wanted to do while in Vegas before we left, so we had a little agenda with us for the first time.  A few of the things on our check list were:

1)  Eat at Hash House A-Go-Go.  (We saw this place on one of our favorite shows, Man vs. Food)

2) Visit The Pawn Stars Pawn Shop. (Another          of our favorite TV shows)

3)  Take the kids to Circus Circus.  (It is a lot nicer then it was back when I was a kid)

4) Win a National Championship. (That one was more for me)

 Here we are driving by the Famous Gold and Silver Pawn Shop from the awesome hit TV show, Pawn Stars.  I friggin LOVE this show.  The historical things that come through those doors is amazing.  We could only drive by because kids are not allowed inside the shop.  The coolest part about our drive by was that they were filming as we went by.  So to get more out of our drive by, we circled the shop three times.  It was awesome.  One day I will actually go inside.  One day.


We went to Circus Circus the first day we were there.  It was really the only day that I had free from Cheerleaders.  The Villa's won BIG at Circus Circus.  Joshlyn walked right up to the Star Darts game, tossed her one dart and NAILED the star right in the center.  It was so cool.  She walked away with an enormous Lion Pillow Pet! 

Madison wanted to play every game she came across.  Even the really hard ones.  I had a set budget of $10 per girl and that was it, so I let them play what they wanted to play.

They had the most success with the Grabber Nabber game.  Taking home 4, count that 4 pillow pets from the grabber nabber.  Add Joshlyn's giant lion pillow pet, and that is a whopping 5 BIG pillow Pets won that day.

 It was quite the event and all left totally satisfied and Happy!!!

Sutton loves Daddy Kisses

 Joshlyn had a great time at the Jamz Nationals event.  She took tons of pictures of her Jamz idols.  Her most memorable moment came when she got to meet and take pictures of her Tumbling IDOL John.  He is the most show stopping tumbler I have ever seen.  i don't blame Jossy for idolizing him.  She has decided to try out for the Jamz cheer staff when she turns 18.  I love this idea.  It is nice to work really hard for something you love.

Joshlyn tackles the BBBLT

 Finally, our last stop before leaving Las Vegas, Hash House A-Go-Go!!  We tried to find it once the day before, but failed.  Luckily we tried again the next day before we left.  I am so glad we did.  The food was AMAZING!!  HUGE, but amazing. 

Eddie goes for the Man vs. Food Favorite, Fried Chicken and Waffles Benedict.

I took on the Chicken Salad Sandwich.  It was good, but the side of Mac and Cheese was UNBELIEVABLE!!!

 I highly recommend this place to all who visit.  But Order and share.  One meal is WAAAAAAAYYYYYY too big for one person.  Eddie was the only one to finish his food.



Although the portion size of Eddies meal was enough to feed a small country, Eddie took it down, and took it down hard.  Way to go baby!


All in all this trip was great.  My cheerleaders did AMAZING and I was one proud coach.  We took home a second place trophy.  That, so far is my highest placing.  Next year, Im going for #1!!!!