the age of 3 is a hard number to show on your fingers

happy 3rd birthday, kins!

Kinsley's Sesame Street 2nd Birthday Party

So, I was a little obsessed with this Elmo cake.  I took around 100 pictures of it.  Yeah.  Crazy.  It turned out 110% better than I expected, though.  I made a homemade chocolate cake and homemade peanut butter icing.  It tasted great!  And most importantly, Kinsley loved it. 

 Party favors for Kinsley's friends to take home.

Each bucket included "Dorothy" crackers, letter cookies to spell out the child's name, two rubber duckies, a silly straw, an Elmo or Cookie Monster party hat, and two coloring pages with the initial of the child's first name and the number of how old they are.

 

 In this picture she's saying, "Mommy, is it time to eat this now?"

 Staring it down...

 I couldn't take a picture of Callan wearing his hat without him saying, "Cookies!  Cookies!"

 Pin the nose on Elmo was a big hit.

 

 

 Everyone (minus Caleb) watching Kinsley's new Sesame Street DVD.

 

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, KINSLEY!

today's snapshot...birthday cake

A Happy Birthday song from Cousin Avery

This cute video was taken on Kinsley's first birthday.  Her cousin, Avery (age 3), called to sing Happy Birthday to her....and ask her if she got a doll for her birthday. 

today's snapshot: The Birthday Girl

Kinsley's 1st Birthday Party (part 1)

Today we had Kinsley's 1st Birthday Party. I can't believe my little sweetheart turns one tomorrow! The theme for Kinsley's birthday party originated from the book, "What's New, Cupcake?," that Gene bought for me. It shows how to turn ordinary cupcakes into cute animals. Gene suggested that we make Arctic animals. So we started with these...

And added frosting to the tops along with donut holes and some twinkies (like the book suggested). We put them in the freezer for 20 minutes until the frosting hardened.

Then we melted some frosting in the microwave and dipped in the cupcakes with donuts.

Then Gene (the true artist of the family) got busy decorating these little suckers and made them come alive!

This is what you look like when it's midnight and you're still crafting the perfect musk ox for your daughter's first birthday. (Only us, Hustons, would be this crazy!)

The musk ox was his "pride and joy."

And the rest of the line-up was: polar bears...

and an igloo...

and of course a narwhal...

and a beluga...

another beluga...

some ptarmigans...

caribous...

a walrus...

I think the bears were a crowd favorite.

And Gene made this poster so that everyone would know what animals he crafted.

Kinsley loved eating her cupcakes, too! More pictures later...