My Birthday Blog

April is the best month to have a birthday. Tyler turned 12 on the 6th. We gave him his presents early in the day so he could play with them right away. He let Chloe help.

 Any idea what that white foam shape is? It's actually something he's wanted for months.

It's a puppet! He's wanted to make a real Muppet ever since we saw an old video of Jim Henson, demonstrating how to make them. I bought a cheap foam mattress pad, cut out a couple heads freehand (based on the video) and glued them together. That helped him get started, but we have enough foam to make lots more. Plus we gave him tons of material and crafts to finish them.

Tyler requested homemade doughnuts for breakfast. I made them a little while ago, and we thought we'd all died and gone to heaven. They are so good!!

I fried them, and Tyler dipped them in glaze. Then we all ate until we felt mildly ill. Yum!

It was General Conference (when we watch the leaders of our church broadcast on T.V. and online), and we loved relaxing, listening, eating, and feeling inspired the whole weekend. I didn't want it to end!

Spencer's gift: he put money inside these balloons for Tyler to cut down. There was a total of $13. Fun!

This is Tyler's creation! We made it in just one day (figuring things out as we went along), and he named him Jimmy. Later we added arms and clothes. It was really fun to watch him come to life. He looks just like a real Muppet! 

Tyler requested a funfetti cake with marshmallow frosting. I cut two 9" round cakes in half to make 4 layers. He also loves strawberry shortcake, so I thought it would be fun to add sliced strawberries between the layers. 

 It was so good! 

I didn't know if the strawberries would get too mushy or wet, but they were perfect. The cake was still moist and delicious 2 days later. It just might be my new favorite cake.

My dad spent most of Tyler's birthday with us. My mom was in Arizona with my brother's family as they prepared for a new baby, and Kristen's family was in Utah dropping Jonathan off at the MTC (Missionary Training Center). So we had everyone over the following Sunday for a combined birthday party for Tyler and me. I made Tyler this fun mustache cake. He loves mustaches.

 Dave made me another strawberry cake. Mmmm....

 I could only find 29 candles for my cake, but I was okay with that!

 Remind me not to grow a mustache.

 Jimmy helped blow out the candles.

 It took me about 3 breaths to blow out all the candles. Pitiful!