Elliott is 4!!

Today was Elliott's actual birthday and party day!  We had a couple of our closest friends over and have loved celebrating Elliott this week!  He had an awesome day and of course it was an Ocean Party!! 

This year's cake ... octopus!!  Glad to have a break from making truck cakes, and this turned out to be super easy.  I just stuck a mason jar into the cake for the octo-head and iced it!

Candy-cane Snorkels:

Adam carved this awesome shark-mouth watermelon that both boys were enamored by!

Oyster Cookies with a pearl (marshmallow) in each one:

 Shark Teeth! (cheese triangles)

 

Octo-dip!

 Crab plates:

 Ocean Water:

 Some Ocean reading:

 Uncle tackling:

 Winsty's always ready to party!

Hugging/strangling baby Ivy who just turned 1 this week!

 Presents:

 The afternoon's craft ... making paper plate fishies to go in the Kelp Forest:

Discussing cake-eating options with the toy he has been wanting SO badly ... the Octonauts Octopod.  I don't think it left his sight until bedtime!!

Cake time!

 Our ombre octopus:

 Some good old-fashioned baby wrestling:

A little more Octopod time before bed:

It was a great day and I think he had a lot of fun.  Really glad this 4-year-old isn't too old yet to still kiss his mama!!

Zion Day 3

Zion day 3! More hiking, climbing, playing!!  It is about 20 degrees colder today so we shivered our way through the day but it didn't slow us down.  It is so fun watching the kids be in a hands-on environment.  Touching, smelling, feeling, throwing, etc.  I guess the big kids are enjoying all those things just as much!

Boulder rolling?

We are loving the fall leaves and colors!!

Snuggles with daddy:

Watching and listening to the water:

Going out for evening exploration:

Art time:

Watching the 15 (literally) cats on our porch.  They have been a source of endless entertainment.