tucker & lauren got married! (aaand it was tess' third birthday)

tucker married lauren! she is the sweetest girl ever and im still pinching myself i have her as a new SIL. it was a beautiful, memorable day. we loved every second of it. 

which was good because the wedding festivities totally over-shadowed this little girl's third birthday (her birthday was the day before the wedding). we made sure she felt as special as possible.(and in case you dont speak tess.... this is her saying her birthday is october 20th)

happy birthday, tessy! we love you!!!

the following morning was the wedding. this was the kids waiting outside the temple for tucker and lauren. 

jocelyn came up for the weekend! it was soooo fun to have her there. 

sisters!

it was the first time in a long time that all the millward cousins were together (besides tyler and liam {who is on a mission}). it was a blast getting to catch up with everyone. and it was scary trying to get this shot before sam decided he was over it.

we had a donut truck serving hot, mini donuts to the guests. so i thought it would be fun to incorporate the donut theme into the cake display. there were also polaroids from the day hanging above the cake. 

eating our fair share of delicious mini donuts (donut mind if I DO) and hot chocolate. 

after the cutting of the cake and the bouquet toss there was DANCING! good thing tess brought lamby for the party. :)

sully's seventh surfing party

when sully first requested a surfing party i had no idea what to do. i even begged him to have his party at the fun center instead. but he really wanted a surfing party and when a friend showed me these super cute paper plates/cups i was convinced. :)

surfing dude riding a seven minute frosting wave.

sully is the cutest seven year old!

i had never piped colored meringues before. i looooove how they turned out. next time im doing pink!

the gangs all here.

after lunch, the boys risked their lives on craig's industrial strength slip n slide. 

then it was pinata time!

and as if pinata candy wasnt enough... cake and ice cream time. 

hi surfer sully cake topper.

haaaa that shark mask is creepy. 

thanks for insisting on a themed bday party, sully. ily!

favors. 

on sully's actual birthday he had donuts, football camp and red robin. pretty much the ideal day for a seven year old.

finished off with cake and ice cream with my ENTIRE family. what a perfect day.

 oscar party

edible best picture cupcakes for the occasion.

hell or high water. lion. trolls. suicide squad. moana. hacksaw ridge. la la land. florence foster jenkins.

we have so much fun coming up with our costumes each year. craig scared the living daylights out of everyone this time around.

valentines day

tess was feeling it in her heart headband a couple weeks ago. pink, pink and more pink!

i saw a picture of a manicure that had these cynical conversation hearts on the girl's nails and tried to have my local nail lady recreate it. yeah..... that didnt go over so well. lets just say (its shellac so i cant just take it off) i have been hiding my nails for the past week and a half. i had to get some sort of revenge on the situation so i made cynical conversation heart sugar cookies. 

minute-to-win-it valentines candy game for sully's class party. 

sully's valentines. 

valentines day morning. she loved her nerd rope and princess shoes!

craig took me out to dinner and dessert downtown (date night on a weeknight!) that night. the space needle was pink! very fun. 

my valentine. 

snow & my birthday

a couple days before my birthday we had a surprise snowstorm. it was the most snow i have ever seen in seattle and it was so fun/pretty.

my snow bunnies. 

tess was loving life. 

i even taught her how to eat the snow. she wouldnt stop.

couples night down at the fun center for laser tag, go-karting & bowling. 

my dad was out of town but he had arranged it so we had the vip bowling section with birthday balloons and my very own sign! it was so sweet. 

my parents joined us for dinner at daniels to celebrate my birthday. 

afterwards, i met up with my friends for a movie and dessert. it was the perfect day. 

science party for tagg's ninth birthday

tagg is constantly begging me to look on pinterest for kids' science projects ideas so i decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a science theme birthday party.  

it was a blast gathering up science gear and reinventing it to work for a birthday party. 

i especially couldnt get enough of the jello petri dishes. ha.

i put craig in charge of making the atom balloon situation and after a few quiet tantrums he figured one out. :)

personalized lab coats/badges and our new skeleton friend. 

as soon as the boys arrived, i put them straight to work. first up, lava lamps. so fun and easy. 

next, they made homemade flubber. 

freaking cute scientists. 

our last "experiment" was the magic shell ice cream sundaes. my kind of experiment.

birthday boy with his beaker cake.

as always, we had the polaroid camera out to take pictures for the boys to bring home in the frames they decorated. 

science favors. 

i have so much fun putting these parties together. its the best seeing the smile on my kids' faces when it all goes down. 

on tagg's actual birthday night he requested dinner at red robin. its the only place around here where they sing "happy birthday". :) i love how he wanted to be sung to sooooo badly but then acted like he was over it during the actual serenade. 

birthday sundae with mom and ga. 

tess' face. happy birthday, tagg! a wonderful week, celebrating our wonderful boy.