Gosh, I can’t believe she is already 8! How in the world did this happen!  We celebrated Sky’s 8th birthday earlier this month. Throwing a birthday party so close to the beginning of harvest has been impressive over the years; however, it indeed has been a great way to kick off the next season around the farm.  

This year Skyler choose a donut birthday, and it turned out so gosh darn cute! I honestly am not a huge fan of character birthday parties. They just aren’t as fun to plan for me– eventually, I’m sure my kids are going to talk me into it one year, but until then, I’m going to enjoy themes that let us get a bit more creative!  

Sky helped me with the balloon arch this year!  We picked up some balloons with confetti in them to look like sprinkles on donuts, and they were so gosh darn cute! If you are planning on creating a balloon arch, I HIGHLY suggest picking up a balloon pump! It will save you hours of work and high headedness! — This is the one we have, and it gets used quite a bit!! 

 She also helped me make the little donut cookies, which were super easy to make!  To make these cookies, all we did was take a straw and cut the center out of some Nella Wafers to make the donut’s base.  Then we picked up some cookie icing in pink and white. Skyler was in charge of dipping the iced cookies in the colorful sprinkles! We let them dry on a cookie sheet with a pan under it to catch an sprinkles that didn’t stick! The kids have been munching on these cute cookies all week! 

I also stuck some donut holes on popsicle sticks for the cutest, and easiest donut cake pops ever! This year the week before Sky’s birthday was a busy one for me.  I flew out to Oregon for my little sisters wedding, so I decided to outsource the big birthday cake this year to Pour some Sugar Cakes.  Rhonda created the cutest donut-shaped cake complete with fondant icing sprinkles! 

I love throwing back yard birthday parties, even if it is a pain to haul my round kitchen nook table outside for them! 

Earlier this spring, Sky and I headed to the horse paddock to take photos of her with Rosie, her little pony.  I love being able to document these little moments and things unique to each of my kids.  This was why I dove into photography in the first place.  To take better photos of my kids!  Every year I try to make each kiddo and to a little mini photo shoot that is all about them. I love being able to mark each year with these photos. This summer has been the summer of rodeoing for her.  She has been competing in a summer series every other Wednesday, so it fitted to take this year’s photos with Rosie!  

If you’re interested in my top 6 tips for taking better photos of your kids, grab this free guide below!

In case you are interested check out this post on how I keep all my digital photos organized!