Muddin' at the Vineyards

Saturday was a very stormy and very wet day. The rain stopped just enough for Jake to go out and splash around in the only puddle we had in our back yard.

Check out Jake's outfit. It was probably around noon and he and I were still in our pajamas. At some point he ditched his shirt and found this horrible green hat to wear.

The boots that he practically sleeps in.

He got a lot of mileage out of that puddle. He jumped in it until all the water had been splashed out.

Happy Birthday Mollie Ann!

Saturday we were invited to Mollie Ann's 4th birthday party. Her mother had a lot planned for the party including a pony for the children to ride. Well if you were in Jackson on Saturday then you know what the weather was like. It stormed so bad that all outside activities were canceled-so no pony ride. Here is a picture of Jake and other children trying to bust a pinata inside the house instead of outside the house.

Though they were fitting for Saturday's storm, Jake insists on wearing these boots EVERYWHERE! He would wear these boots to church on Sunday mornings if I would let him!

Jake did his best, but no luck. Finally after all the children had tried twice to break it open, Mollie Ann's Daddy held the pinata still and told Mollie Ann where to hit.

That did the trick and the children went nuts! Despite the weather we had a really good time!

My Spooky Cakes!

Since it has been slow around the Vineyard house, I decided to share some, you guessed it, more pictures of cupcakes I've made. These were made during Halloween, obviously, and they could not have turned out more precious! They even tasted good too.

Through making these cupcakes, I learned the only real way to achieve black icing is to start with chocolate icing and add black food coloring. If you try adding black food coloring to white icing all you get is gray.

We packaged the cupcakes and gave them to our friends.

Super Hero Weekend

When the world is in trouble there is only one man to call....

Super Jake!

He looks far and wide for people in need of his help.

He's off to save the day!

The many faces of Super Jake.

Reidy says..."Who is that masked man?"

Even Super Hero's need to take walks with their Pop Pop.

With a wardrobe change, this Super Hero is ready to "spring into action"!

Hooray for Super Jake!

Okay...so it was a slow weekend.

Pump It Up!

We celebrated Jake's 4th birthday with a party at Pump It Up. We invited all his church and preschool friends. We had such a good time. This is the first year Jake really got into having a birthday party and I think he will remember this birthday party for a long time.

The children had to watch a safety video before they went in.

My friends Missy and Rachel catching up.

We had a packed house.

Some pictures from inside the first room.

Poor Reidy had a pretty bad cold during the party (surprise-surprise, I am considering putting him in a bubble until he turns 20 he gets sick so much!!). I remember hearing him cry several times during the party. Thankfully, I had my family to help me with him.

This is Buddy, and let me just say this picture does not do this child justice on just how cute he is. 2 years old never looked better on a child before. He is a dynamic little man and I wish I would have gotten more pictures of him at the party.

Jake having a good time!

The infamous Knox from Jake's preschool class. Everyday when Jake comes home from school I ask him what he did that day and he always answers "I played with Knox." Knox is the 4th child and baby brother to much older siblings. Lets just say Knox has a lot of "street smarts."

At Pump It Up, you don't just get one jumping room, you get TWO jumping rooms! These are some pictures from the second room. It had two huge slides you could race down!

It was finally time to eat pizza, blow out candles, and open presents. Jake waited on his blow-up "throne" for his guests to arrive in the party room.

Who needs Santa Clause when you can just have a birthday party.

If I look a little perplexed in this picture-I am! You are only allowed 25 children for the party and when we started setting out the food the hostess told me we had 35 children signed up. I must say this stressed me out a little. This is me counting children. Somehow, in the end, everything worked out fine.

Nothing like pizza and Capri Sun!

Obviously we had a Spiderman theme going on. I got this cake from Dream Cakes and it tasted and looked pretty good.

I thought Jake's name on the side was a nice touch!

Jake blowing out his candles. Happy Birthday Jake!

Now the moment Jake has been waiting for...opening his presents!

We had such a great time at Pump It Up and I highly recommend having a party there. I am sure we will be back when Reidy turns 4!

After a 3 hour nap Jake was ready to play with some of his new toys!

Reidy was just happy to be home.

Xan picked out Jake's gift from us this year. I have never seen him so excited to give a gift. He got Jake a real Easton bat and a real Rawlings glove and he encouraged Jake's Aunt Colleen and Uncle David to give a real T-Ball plate. Xan even took Jake to a Little League game Saturday morning to get him geared up for the present! I am so thankful we had boys!

Jake's first lesson and Xan's coaching debut.

Jake ended his day playing Dinosaurs with Uncle David. It was a great 4th birthday

Happy Birthday Sweet Jake!

Today our sweet Jake turned 4 years old. It is hard to believe and the time does go by fast just like they say!

Spiderman Mania

Here I go again posting pictures of cupcakes, but I was pretty proud of how these turned out. Jake is obsessed with Spiderman (I don't know why- he has never seen the movie). I made these for his birthday to take and share with his class. I am sure all the girls will be thrilled to wear their Spiderman ring!

Side view!

I can never post to many pictures of my cupcakes!