Photo Friday: The Olympics!

I love the Olympics. The hype and pride and athleticism and endless coverage of individual background stories that make a mama teary. (I'm not the only one who gets teary watching those, right?) I've been looking forward to these games for months and months, planning way last winter that I would be watching a majority of them in the air-conditioned comfort of Eli & Krista's house since we neither have air-conditioning or (even more importantly) a TV on which to watch them. Krista & I are huge Olympics fans. Therefore, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a little opening ceremony party last Friday.

We sent a few texts to each other and to friends to get the party ball rolling, making it clear that everyone was expected to dress to represent an Olympic event. Immediately, I knew how I would dress the kiddos, but my own outfit was only selected about 20 minutes before leaving the house. I'll admit, the main reason for that was because so many things still don't fit this post-baby bod.

Can you tell what our little Samuel dressed as? (Hint: that's a stuffed horse next to him.)

Yes! A jockey! Our little equestrian was set to represent in a polo shirt and little cap. Isn't the cap adorable? I think it came to us in an enormous box of hand-me-downs from Jess and her boys. I want more pictures of him in it. It's so boyish!

Here it looks like Jack & Caleb might be attempting to get arm wrestling into the games. Jack (4 months) was a sailor while Caleb (11 weeks) was a swimmer.

It's just not a proper party without a cake. I have to explain the holes in the top of this one. I was practicing various wedding styles the night before and stuck a large monogram letter in the top. After the practice session was complete, I painted the Olympic rings on top, wrapped it in gold ribbon, stuck in the flag and - viola - a party cake. (chocolate with almond frosting & fondant, I think)

I ended up going as a weight lifter! I've got plenty of workout clothes, so I dug up a couple sweat bands from my running garb and lugged a set of 8-pound weights to the party. Eli was a tennis player and Krista was a biker. (The great thing about Eli's outfit? Apparently he wore that to every tennis class he had for a semester of college. Nice work.) I'm crazy about Caleb's goggles here. Ella had a pair too, but was far more interested in writing "checks" than taking a party pic.

I've been soaking in as much of the Olympic action as possible. I catch what I can online. One night I saw swimming at the hospital in an on-call resident room while Pete was working. Then we were at Grandma & Grandpa Olsen's house for a few days and I got to see a lot more. Tomorrow we'll be watching with Eli & Krista again. I would be so sad if I missed them!

I think I'd have to say that my favorite summer Olympic event is gymnastics. It's so hard to decide, though. They are all so much fun to watch, especially after learning the personal stories of the athletes.

What is your favorite summer Olympic event? I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment below!

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Since I mentioned the practice wedding cake, here are two versions of what I made. The final cake was a lot like the bottom of the two but with higher tiers. I'll be posting the real photos soon on The Little Yellow Kitchen website.

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I did something crazy this week...I joined Twitter! It's actually been a really fun way to stay up on all the Olympic action, seeing pics and getting results right after things happen. I've also found some cool people to follow, like other parents of kids with Down syndrome and cute boutique shops. I'm still figuring out how it all works, but if you're on Twitter, look me up! I'm @OlsenAngela.