The Ymker Family Update

February 26, 2013

Let it ... ICE! :)

Best winter fun we've had in years. It's too bad some of the best videos went missing on us.

February 2, 2013

There once was a lovely girl named Kayla. She had blonde hair, blue eyes and loved to run and play outside with her animals whenever she could. One day, Kayla felt sick. Her sisters felt sick. Her brothers felt sick. Worst of all, her parents felt sick. The only thing anyone wanted to do was lay in bed and... well the couch worked too. Day after day, Kayla's whole family became more and more sick. Kayla was getting worried. The next week was her birthday party to celebrate her 13th birthday; she hoped with all her might that she would feel better in time to celebrate her birthday. She had made special plans to have her friends over. The long awaited for day finally came and ... yes, you guessed, to her disappointment, everyone was still sick. Kayla was sad but knew that it couldn't be helped. She was really sad to have to tell her friends that her birthday party was cancelled. Over the next week, Kayla's family was able to get together to help her celebrate her birthday. She felt pretty special when her mom baked her a luscious cake and a yummy dinner (and a yummy breakfast). She felt pretty special when she got cute presents. Yeah. She felt special, but she was still a little disappointed inside because she missed her friends. A few weeks went by and she wanted to see her friends more than ever so she had an idea. The idea was an email that read something like this:

Hostess: Ms. Kayla Grace Ymker

What: Tea Party

Where: Home Sweet Home

Why: To Celebrate Kayla's 13th birthday.

When: Come at 10 o'clock. Luncheon at 12 noon.

With the help of her mom and sisters, she made place cards with cute stickers.

And party favors...

The silver was polished,

and the table was set juuusssttt so. Like that.

Some lovely flowers on the table added some flair.

Fancy desserts were made to add the special touch to the affair.

Finally everything seemed almost perfect and complete... almost, but something was missing.

And then at 10 o'clock, the guests arrived. They came bringing adorable little tea-pot cookies to make that final touch and fill in the little something that was missing.

At last it was time to sit down and enjoy being friends while sipping tea.

L to R: Kayla, Megan, Libby, Missy, Madison, Molly, Kelly

They had a treasure hunt and then later they did a string pinata together.

Molly got the winning string to tug it open on her first try!

Mmmm!

Little Missy's party outfit was very cute.

(She reminds me of Holly-Hobbie!)

Finally, the sun was sinking down in the sky and it was time to say goodbye. The tea-party was a wonderful success and Kayla was very happy the way her birthday turned out after all. (So were her sisters and Mom!). -- The End.

January 30, 2013

Kayla's 13th Birthday

Happy Birthday Kayla!

December 31, 2012

Snow, Beautiful SNOW! (New Years Eve)

This is what goats look like in the snow. Grumpy, Puffy, Cute.

"Maaaaammaa! Can we PLEASE go back to the barn?!"

Treasure Hunt

Sort of what the treasure hunt "theme" was. This is some of the stuff.

This is the treasure before it was hidden. :) I made the chest out or cardboard, paper, tape, and paint. :)

Flora and Fauna all decked out with their new bells and pack of goodies for the trail.

Second clue was to piece together this puzzle and therefore find their goats. :)
I planned on taking pictures of some more clues etc. but I forgot the camera while I was hiding them and the girls didn't think it would be near as fun if I tagged along while they found them. Sooo... Anyway, it mainly consisted of some riddles, maps and a Key Map that served as a coordinance for several other clues throughout.

And they're off!

Some of the stuff.

Rules are Rules.

With a little help from the guys (cutting the tress and helping staple the tarp down), I built this house for the girls to find during the week before the treasure hunt. It was just in sight of the house and every day I was so scared they were going to find me out! I hid the treasure chest in this.
(Obviously, it is still very much in the rough stage but I ran out of time and I figured the girls would have a lot of input (and help) for future work. :) Hopefully we can pretty it up and make it a cute, little thatched roof.

Brady thought it'd be a good a idea to have a campfire going for those chilly girlies when the got to the end of the treasure hunt!

Best shots I could get of the inside without a wide-angled lens. The pioneer dress were there just for effect as well as because I helped Libby make the other two girls pioneer cloaks to wear with them and Lib wanted them to be part of the treasure.