Qu'ils mangent de la brioche

Thanks, Wikipedia. We don't know any French in the Salmon house, but that is apparently the French phrase "Let them eat cake." Which is what we did. At Maggie's party. Lots and lots of cake. Homemade.
About a month ago, mom got a wild idea that it would be a tremendously fun project to make Maggie's birthday cake. Knowing we were having a "Princess Party," the orignial plan was to bake a fun, princess "gown" cake (you know- the one's with the dismembered Barbie torsos stuck in the top....) Anyway, as planning got underway, we decided we could do better! Mom gave Ant Jood a call- she was in charge of baking many a birthday cake while we were growing up- and enlisted her expertise!
A dozen eggs, 16 cups of powdered sugar, one power drill, and about 8 1/2 hours later- check out our finished product! The most important part? Maggie L-O-V-E-D it. She was super-duper proud, and that's all that really matters.

Mom starts her "official" Wilton cake decorating class next Wednesday! Can't wait! We're already brainstorming ideas for Lucy's birthday party in June!

Ant Jood- hard at work. Look close. There's the drill in the background!

Mom- a little giggly from all the frosting

Maggie- the official "taste-tester!"

Quality control

Ant Jood and Maggie with the (almost!) finished product. THANKS ANT JOOD!

Drumroll please...........

Watch carefully- Yes, Maggie is adorable in this video talking about her cake. But we think the best part is Lucy (who you totally cannot see) pushing her highchair around the kitchen in the background. It looks like our house is haunted! :)

Princess Party!

Saturday was Princess Margaret's Royal 3rd Birthday Bash! It was a super fun afternoon filled with crowns, presents, cake, balloons, and a handful of little princesses running around celebrating! Maggie is so blessed to have so many dear friends and family who were willing to travel so far to help celebrate her very special day!

A table of little princesses!

Opening gifts

Lcuy decided to help. She need the practice. Her birthday is sneaking up, too!

Look at all the pink and purple!

Maggie is such a good sport about opening the cards first!

Yay! 20 cans of Play-doh fun! Thanks Auntie Kristen and Uncle Corey (did I mention we are bringing this with us to play with next time we travel to MN?)

Lucy!

Look at Maggie's fancy new raincoat! (Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Wasilevich!)

Momma and her little princesses!

Wow! A big girl bike! Thanks Grandma Bernie, Grandpa Mark, mommy and daddy!

Trying it out in the family room.

So cool! Can't wait to try it outside!

Happy Birthday!

Last week we celebrated Maggie's THIRD birthday! She was lucky to spend the morning at Gramma's while mommy worked. Then, home to nap before dinner with Mommy and Daddy at... where else? Red Robin! After supper, mom and dad had a special birthday surprise in store.....

Look, I'm "free!"

Our big girl!

Look at that ice cream sundae! (and no, she didn't share any of it!)

So excited!

Look what Maggie got! Meet.... "Bibbity Boppity Bubbles" (yes, that's really it's name....)

And, yes, Maggie was super excited about her new pet- she was just a little exhausted at this point! We went in with a $10 budget (bowl, fish food, fish...) and ended up leaving $41 poorer- but "Bubbles" (the 37 cent goldfish) has a fancy "Little Mermaid" tank all his own. Could you say no to that face?

A Very Special Birthday Wish!

While we were eating dinner in the porch last night (ahhh... beautiful weather!) Maggie received a very special birthday phone call!

Millie's Pancake House

For Maggie's birthday, Gramma and Papa planned a special trip to Milliie's Pancake House in Delavan, WI. Maggie L-O-V-E-S pancakes- but was a little confused when we arrived and there weren't "pancakes hanging on Millie's house" (I think her idea of what Millie's Pancake House was supposed to be was a little bit different than what it truly was....) Her disappointment didn't last long after a delicious breakfast of Mickey Mouse- shaped chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream (yum!)

Ready for pancakes!

The girls!

They had a chalkboard! :) Check out Maggie's artwork (smiley face behind her!)

Gramma and Lucy look for pancakes.....

Yum! Those chocolate chip pancakes were DELISH!

Papa and Maggie

Yay! Pancakes for Lucy, too!

Pat-A-Cake

This was supposed to be a video of Lucy doing Pat-A-Cake. Maggie helped her out, and it kind of took on a life of it's own.... Either way, it makes us laugh. Enjoy!

Snaggle Tooth

Lucy has officially "popped" her third tooth. Yes, it's on the top. No, it's not in the front. Her third tooth is off on the side and looks absolutely RIDICULOUS! The best part is that the 2 top (front) teeth don't look like they will be appearing any time soon. If the matching tooth on the other side pops in soon, she will look like a first grader who has already lost her front teeth! Check her out (these pix were from almost 2 weeks ago- this "snaggle tooth" is completely in now! We have to work on some new pictures!)

The ride home!

Remember back in the good ol' days when vacation meant a looooong car ride, making semi drivers honk, cheese and sausage, and Buddy Builder kits? (wait, maybe that was just Sichmeller family trips... never mind....) Now, it's strapping young children into carseats for hours on end- a form of torture (for both the kids AND the parents!) Anyway, by about hour 3, we are looking for new ways of entertaining the troops.... Here's some of our "silly" pictures!

Lucy, grabbing the camera (these are always fun to take from the front seat while she is in a rear-facing carseat!)

Maggie's stinky feet!

Lucy!

Maggie (fake!) sleeping

Calling Gramma to tell her about all the fun she had in MN!

And finally, if you want to completely skip over all the other blog entries about our Easter weekend in MN, here is Maggie summing up the trip:

More Minnesota!

Lucy sleeping (this was just too cute not to include. I think I will be very sad when she starts sleeping like a "big girl!")

Kissin' cousins!

Maggie and Keiran


Whee!

Kayden, tossing the pigskin!

Lucy heads down the slide with daddy

Lucy plays in the woodchips

Grandma Bernie couldn't find Lucy's hat- and didn't want her ears in the wind. This, my friend, is called ingenuity.

Auntie Laura and Lucy!

Happy Easter!

This past weekend we traveled to Winona to spend Easter with the Salmon family! After a long (6 1/2 hour!) drive, we arrived just in time for the girls to say hello.... and go to bed! Easter Sunday was lots of fun, though. It may be hard to believe, but this was the first year Maggie got all "duded" up in an Easter dress. It was SO great!

Maggie colored Easter eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Our Easter picture- right after church!

The girls!

Maggie got to pick what color dress she wanted... aren't they cute?

Auntie Laura and (soon-to-be!) Uncle Mark. They look good with babies on their laps, don't they?

Maggie cheesing it up with Uncle Mark

It was a gorgeous Easter Sunday!

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?

All the Salmon granddaughters! (It's really freakin' hard to get 4 girls under the age of 4 to look at the camera at the same time!)

Easter egg hunt with Grandpa Mark!

....and they're off!

Lookin' for eggs

Lucy was kinda little to look for eggs.... She hung out with Grandma Bernie instead!

Opening up the eggs they found!

Maggie and Keiran