Evelynn's Perfectly Pink Pizza Party!

Evelynn is SIX YEARS OLD! To celebrate, she wanted to have a Pefectly Pink Pizza Party!


Mimi, Papa, and Grandma Buser came a little early for a little lunch and to kick off the celebration! Evelynn received this hula hoop (along with some other treasures) from Mimi and Papa, and it was a hit! I love how Evelynn holds her breath when she is doing it!

You go girl!

Lyla looks like a tornado when she tries!

Lyla gave Evelynn a beauty shop kit, and Mimi couldn't wait to play with it! Or was that the other way around?

My sweet little birthday girl, getting super excited for the party. By the way, will someone remind me next year not to wait until 5pm to have a party? Next year, it will start at promptly 7:15am. Kids will roll out of bed, and the party will commence! It was exhausting (and annoying) leading up to the evening hour!

As the kids came in, they began to color our giant castle!

My little artist was so excited for this part!
Also a great picture of the headbands my mom made for all the girls at the party!

It was also requested that we make necklaces, so we all made perfectly pink necklaces!

 

Time to make pizzas!

So fun!

Oh, and anyone who has ever been to a kids' birthday party, you know that this is usually what happens while kids open presents. There is no personal space. Everyone must crowd around the birthday boy or girl. It is all just too exciting! I love how they are literally standing on the chair WITH her! Hence why we did family gifts at an earlier time.

Lyla's first day of preschool

Now, I know many of my family members are probably doing the math, trying to figure out how on earth Lyla is already going to preschool. Well, let me help you out with that, we decided that Lyla would get to go for two years before she starts kindergarten. She attends twice a week for a few hours, and absolutely LOVES it! I think she really misses Evelynn during the day, so this gives her an opportunity to go play with peers each week.

My little Lyla Bug, looking so grown up!

Those sweet little blue eyed children are always squinting!

Now, there's the Lyla we know and love! I think this picture captures so much of her personality!

"Okay, Mom! Can we go now!?"

Latest Happenings

Here are some of the latest happenings in the Buser home:

A cutie picture of Colby I found on the camera. Are those choking hazards spread around him, you ask? Perhaps. It isn't that I have stopped caring with my third, it is that I have lost complete control! Send help.

My gorgeous baker of a husband decided that he was going to tackle making pretzels. I know not many of you know this, but Brad is the baker in our family. I cook...every day. Brad bakes for complete joy when he feels a stirring. He loves the exact science of it. I loathe the exact science of it. I'm not saying that I CAN'T bake a cake or a pie, I am just saying that I cook every single day, and choose not to. When there is groaning, I instruct the kids to ask their dad; or I remind my husband that our waistline thanks us daily for my lack of baking desire.

That being said, these were some yummy pretzels! They were a little thick and probably could have been boiled longer (says the baker), but I certainly wasn't complaining!

Especially with a little mustard. Baker Brad (giggle ) really wanted to make his own sauce, but ran out of time.

This is what happens when your dad is as ornery as you are.

First day of kindergarten, and a little sister who likes to steal the spotlight (and apparently a dog who sees a squirrel across the street)!

Okay, let's try this again. Evelynn had her first day of kindergarten. Everyone stayed dry-eyed, but I did get that giant lump in my throat as I left the elementary school.

Then I remembered this sweet face sitting down in excitement and smiled. She is going to love school!

Nine Month Old Comparison Picture!

 

Colby is 9 months old!

The Colby-meister is 9 months old!
(Mommy statistics, most people can skip to pictures)
26.5 inches (4%)
16.4 lb. (1%)
Nursing 4-5 times a day, eats table-food with the family
Crawls, pulls up, cruises around furniture
Waves/says bye bye, says mama, dada, talks jibberish
Signs all done

Now, I know we all say this, but I seriously think that time must be accelerating. I do not remember time going this quickly with the girls!


Every baby needs a good spaghetti picture! Well, technically I think this is chili mac, but same idea, right? Actually, we did something a little different with our third kiddo, we decided to skip the baby foods and go straight to the table food. I can't tell you how nice it was never to have to spoon unwanted strained peas into my kiddos mouth! I always felt so frustrated with feeding my kids, watching them spit it out, only to scoop it back up and put it in again. Ugh, the memories of their first foods aren't the happiest. With Colby, we just let him choose foods to explore and try things out on his own. The first few times I thought he would certainly choke and die, but it was crazy how quickly he learned! It was so fun to watch him explore foods on his own, and such a relief to be able to feed him foods right off the table! I highly suggest this method, commonly referred to as Baby Led Weaning. On a side note, it also has great benefits for nursing moms too!

Enjoying a hot summer day, swinging outside.

Obligatory nine month picture with Tigger. Who's idea was it anyway to take a picture with the same stuffed animal for each milestone?! This is getting super hard!! Colby wouldn't hold still for more than two seconds, let alone look at the camera!

Momma's baby. How I LOVE my Mister Meister!

Trying to get a decent 4th of July Picture

Tell me you can relate...

Why on earth is it so hard for everyone to look at the camera at the same time with their eyes open without being a complete goofball?? I give up...my new goal: everyone must be IN the picture, that's all.

South Dakota Vacation Part 2

The Blackhills were gorgeous! We think it would be so much fun to spend at least a week here, hiking and exploring. Unfortunately, this was a much shorter trip!

Looking out at the scenery. Why does Lyla look so ornery? Who knows.

Breathtaking. Yet again, the photo does nothing for nature.

I was literally sticking the camera out the window along our drive. I just could hardly believe that behind every corner turned, yet another beautiful image appeared.

 

 

After our very scenic drive, we finally made it to Mount Rushmore.

We then headed to Wind cave, another marvelous creation! Unfortunately, pictures aren't worth a flip when taken down in a cave. And even worse, it was really time for us to start heading home. Though there were certainly some antsy children in the backseat, and incredibly late nights that threw off everyone's routines, it was a really great trip. Anyone want to go back with us??

South Dakota Vacation

You know that feeling you get when you are going through your vacation pictures and you realize that this doesn't even BEGIN to capture the beauty of what you just experienced? Yeah, that. Oh well, I will still share with you a glimpse of what we did on our South Dakota vacation!


It all started off with going to my cousin's wedding in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I have so many great memories with Tiffani at our Mama and Papa's house, and couldn't be happier for her!

Bet you wouldn't have guessed there is a pretty great waterfall in Sioux Falls!! Here are my little people after the wedding posing for a photo. Don't worry, the Falls were much bigger than what is pictured!

Our happy Colby, enjoying the view of the Falls as well.

After a good night's sleep, we headed west to the Badlands. I cannot even begin to tell you about the beauty of these land formations. Just, wow!

We took our littles, strapping the smallest onto Brad, for some mini hikes. This proved to be one of the highlights of the trip for Evelynn and Lyla. I think we could have spent days there exploring.

Colby was honestly the best traveler in our car. He was SO happy, he definitely gets the gold star for complaining the least and making the best out of every situation!

My girls love adventures!

I think they come by that pretty honestly.

Did I mention that we decided that this was merely a reconisence mission? We are definitely going back!

Colby and Brad imitating this hilarious guy we saw on one of the many rolling hills leading you west in South Dakota. The guy was on a little moped and about halfway up this hill to a stoplight he started to lose steam. He got this huge grin on his face, leaned forward, and put his arm out! Brad and I almost died laughing at this guy. To say the least, it wasn't the last time we struck this pose on the trip!

Not all of our hikes were off road, several were available on these little trails, which were fun as well.

Aren't they the cutest little explorers?

Look closely, there are people hiking in this picture!

Our family stayed a little lower to the ground.

Mule deer and her baby

A nice couple took our picture in the middle of one of the man-made trails.

Seriously amazing.

We saw this bison on the side of the road as we were driving to our cabin in Custer State Park. SO FUN!

Deer

We got another good night's rest and headed off to Mount Rushmore. Problem was, there was too much to see on the way there! So out of the car we went, we at least had to check out this little cave!