May #2

Thursday May 7: Today was Charity's Birthday. That girl is the cutest, sweetest, most tender, adorable, kind, patient, loving little thing in the whole wide world. She is always writing cards and drawing pictures to tell everyone how much she loves them. She has filled her doors and walls with her artwork. She LOVES dance and gymnastics, and she is getting so good!! She loves to sing and dance and be active. I just LOVE that girl! My favorite thing about that day was hearing her say - "Mom, I still feel 5 - I don't feel 6 yet." Ya, Charity - I still feel 21... ;)

The day was filled with fun. She woke up VERY early, so I got the kids ready, packed them in the car and took them to the donut store before school. At lunchtime, I checked her out of school for a date to McDonalds. On the way back to school, we swung by the store and she picked out a cake for herself (a cookie cake) and also some treats to take to her class. When she came home from school, we headed to gymnastics (where she took some leftover treats to her gym class). She had run out of treats by the time she got to ballet class, but I think she had given/partaken of enough treats by then. She came home from school wearing this big hat saying it was her birthday. She didn't take it off ALL DAY (well, she did for gymnastics, but it went right back on for ballet). She got a hoolahoop and a bike and a few new clothes for her birthday. Grandma and Lydia (& Kaitlyn & Mckinsie) came over for her little birthday party. Her cake was quite interesting. It was a cookie cake that had originally had "Happy Mother's day" and hearts all over it. She saw it at the store and LOVED it and just HAD TO HAVE IT! To oblige the birthday girl, I scraped off the Mother's day stuff and wrote her name on it. I just hope she had a wonderful day! I am so glad she was born!

The kids help put in the candles - see - very classy.

The biggest hit was the hoolahoop!! PS: I LOVE having an empty room!

Her face was so cute when she got that bike!!! FINALLY she had a girl bike and not a hand-me-down boy bike from Aaron!

Saturday May 9: We had the big birthday extravaganza!! We convinced Jeff & Michelle & family to come up for the fun! We had a bounce house, and made the party like a carnival - kids had tickets, and we had various activites. I think it was fun. It would have been nice to have maybe 2 more adults there to help me... but overall, the party was successful. The kids were in heaven. They had friends from their classes there, and also their cousins (Dan & Richelle & family and Cherry & Scott & family). It was great! I was so happy the Walls came all the way out as well! Yay for friends, and Yay for having just 1 crazy party a year!

How many kids came? I don't even know...

All you have to do is have a bounce house, and that makes a party - right?!

I wish I would have taken pictures of the ZOO of children in front of our house playing games... Couldn't even catch a breath until only the cousins were left at the house.

Poor Paul - he had to just sit and watch everyone on that bounce house because of his broken collar bone... at least, when the parents didn't have their backs turned... He might just have added an extra couple weeks of healing by doing that though. :( I feel so bad cause that kid is one of the most athletic little boys I know. Somehow, Nate got a hold of my camera, and I just had to jot down how cute he is! My little 3 yr old decided to take pictures of his most favorite toy... Of course, it is a train. He loves pictures. He loves taking them, posing for them and ESPECIALLY looking at them. I had to laugh! This is my favorite from the collection of train photos: I love his little fingers!
Sunday May 10: Mother's Day was very chill. Jeff & Michelle and family packed up and left mid-day. So, I just took Charity and Nate down to my Mom's house to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. I think it was the first time in a VERY long time that I was the only one there, and my kids were the only grandkids there. Mom and I had a chance to play music (duets, violin, singing). We ate dinner and we just had a good time being together with not a lot of chaos surrounding us. I really love my mom. She is seriously my best friend! I had a wonderful evening over there! Happy Mother's Day Mom! You are the best!

OOOOH SO SAD!!!

I was going to go out with a girlfriend.
Alas, before I could go, Joe said - check out the piano room.
This is what I saw.
My home-made music collage crashed to the floor and shattered. I was so sad. Now, my music room is COMPLETELY bare. :(


Monday the 18th: I turned 30. I didn't know how I would take this day, so I just wanted it to be low-key. Joe brought me a bowl of cereal for "breakfast in bed". I went out to lunch with my friend Nancy and new friend Andrea and Lydia (and Joe ended up coming and meeting us there too). FYI: My new favorite place to eat is Corner Bakery! Then, we went to the mall (mini shopping spree), and then Nancy, Lydia and I took the kids to the pool. It was a very low-key day. Joe came home and I got a babysitter and went to dinner. The kids had fallen asleep by the time we got home, so we didn't do birthday cake till the next night. The kids and Joe got me a card, and it was sweet. Very low-key and relaxing - it passed by and was no big deal. It was just the way I wanted it to be.

May #1

May is pretty busy, so we'll break it down...

May 3rd: Today was Aaron's Birthday! We woke up, and Aaron chose to have waffles for breakfast. We made his cake, then, we went to church. He got bbq for lunch. He had VERY specific instructions for his birthday cake. He helped me decorate it. Charity helped as well. I had to laugh at how cute he was in describing (and implementing) exactly how he wanted the cake. Then, we had choir at our house. After choir, the Jettons (from across the street) and Dan & Richelle & Jamie, Paul & Kody came over for his blowing out the candles party. He got some cool leggo sets and some rollerblades for his birthday. I hope he felt special that day. I really love that kid. He is so sweet and smart and funny. He is growing up so fast. I can't believe he is already 8 years old! I remember when he was a little baby, and it was just him and me. He has always been my little buddy. I am glad he will still occasionally crawl into my bed in the morning to give me hugs and cuddle with me as I wake up. I am so glad he loves to protect his little brother and sister. He has always been such an easygoing stud. I am so glad he is in my family!!!

ok, here's the funny story - Aaron would NOT stop talking about how he wanted to get a cake in the face. He kept asking if he could smash his face into his birthday cake. I said - "um, NO". Because nobody would be able to eat it afterwards. So, the compromise was a cupcake with frosting on the SIDE that he could smash in his face... That way, his hard work on his "landscape" cake wouldn't go to waste (and I could eat some chocolate cake too). Well, he got what he wanted. He is so silly.

He is SOOO excited because now he is in CUB SCOUTS!!! He loves it!

SPECIAL DAY!!!!

We went to the zoo with Lydia on the kids' random day off school. They had a lot of fun. I am really going to enjoy having Lydia around this summer! I haven't gotten to live by her since I was a newlywed and she was a little freshman at BYU!
I am always so amazed at how Aaron instinctively protects other children. He really is a sweetheart. Just going through my pictures, trying to pick which one to post, I came across these... He is so tender. Seriously, what a stud.

Nate STILL has issues with the birds. He loves all animals - except birds for some reason. It is so funny... One day though - just wait - he WILL feed the birds...

April

Holy Moly! Is May almost over already? Spring is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!

April 8: This was Nate’s birthday! I can’t believe my baby is 3 years old! He is so cute. He is my little buddy. He is such a cute kid. He is so funny and sassy! I love his cuddles. I love this little guy so much. He is so tough and easy going. He loves trains. He loves to just hang out with me. He is actually really fun to have by my side all day doing errands. I love to hear him sing. He is growing up way too fast! He is such a light in my life!

For his birthday, I made him a cake. He LOVES trains, so, of course, we had to make his cake with Thomas the Train on it. He was so excited about the cake. He was so excited about the Thomas toys on top! His day was pretty low-key. He pretty much gets spoiled every day, so making him extra spoiled that day was not very difficult. We cuddled and watched his favorite shows. His dinner was his favorite – MacNCheese. When Joe got home, we had our little family birthday party, where he got his presents and spit out his candles - literally, the classic spit wad on the cake. I laughed pretty hard. He is so funny.



We waited a few days (or weeks) before we had his party. We wanted to wait until Grandma got back in town and Lydia and Dan & Kaitlyn & Mckenzie came out for the summer!!! (so Dan could do summer sales in DFW) We are so thrilled that they are here for the summer! Anyways, once they got here (on the 19th) we had a little birthday for him at Chucky Cheese (the perfect location for a 3yr old’s birthday party). Although, his 2nd birthday cake was pretty pathetic (in the form of cupcakes and a lame triple used candle). The kids (and even the adults) had a great time. Nate had a great time, so it was a successful 2nd birthday for him!

We were also blessed to have Owen and his FIANCE Alyssa come to his party! They were en route to their summer sales/internship location in Atlanta. It was great to see them. I am getting excited for their wedding (set for August).
Birthday Boy!!!!!! He was in HEAVEN!
His oh so classy cake.
Yay for the Liddles being here!
2 very NON COMPETITIVE people...