Last Birthday Post... I Promise!!

I know I've posted a lot of birthday posts recently but I thought Justin and Ellie both deserved their very own birthday posts and now this one is about the combined family party we had for them!

Since Ellie's birthday was Saturday (March 10th) and Justin's was Monday (the 12th) we had all the Smith family over on Sunday to celebrate these two special people! 

I think Ellie was ready to trade Justin presents though. She wanted the Almond/Chocolate trail mix pretty bad and it would appear that Justin liked her adorable shirt and headband that our friends the Ryans gave her more too :) My friend Alyson is so talented when it comes to sewing and crafts and she can whip up something like this so fast!

 Even though Ellie liked her sheep that great grandma gave her, she was not about to let Justin's Andes Mint Cookies out of her sight!

 For dessert we had punch bowl cake. Ever heard of it? Super fast, super cheap, and a super easy way to feed an army of people! And it's not too sicky sweet! A family from back home (Alicia's family) always makes this cake for birthdays and I love it! I'll include the recipe at the bottom. 

 On Justin's actual birthday, we lovingly welcomed him home from work by pelting him with marshmallows as soon as he walked in the door. It was so.much.fun. There were marshmallows everywhere and we were all out of breath from chasing each other around. Well, except Ellie. She decided to eat her ammo the whole time rather than throw it :)

 Ethan made Justin such a sweet birthday card. He spent a long time coloring it and drawing in it for him. 

 Happy Birthday To the Best Daddy Ever!

 I loved all the happy smiley faces on the back.

We were so glad that everyone could come out to our house and celebrate two very special people! We only wish Grandma and Grandpa Sims lived closer to join us!!

Punch Bowl Cake: *Warning, you will need a BIG bowl!*

• Yellow cake mix- bake as directed, divided and crumbled or broken apart
• One box of instant vanilla pudding
• 4 bananas
• 1 can of Cherry Pie FIlling
• 1 Can of Crushed Pineapple (the big can)
• 1 16oz tub of Cool Whip

All you do it layer it in the order listed above but you only do half of each. Once you get done with the first layer (the 8oz of Cool Whip), you just repeat using the rest of the ingredients. So 2 layers total. Easy peasy and yummy!!

You can also do a chocolate version:

• Chocolate cake mix- same instructions as above
• One box of instant chocolate pudding
• Add in your favorite kind of chocolate candy broken up (ex: snickers, kit kat, something minty, brownie chunks if you want to take that extra step to bake, etc)
• 1 16 oz tub of Cool Whip

Same instructions apply as above. 

I hope the Williamson family doesn't mind me sharing their family tradition with everyone else! It is just too easy and too good not to share! :)