Family Birthday Party

Saturday night we had a family birthday party for the March birthdays. We celebrated Cade, Dylan, Lee, Ashley, and my brother-in-law's father, Bob. Earlier that day, Cade had a headache and a fever, which means strep throat. We rushed to Care Now so that he could get antibiotics and his party the next day would not have to be cancelled. Even though he was not feeling well in these pictures, he was still happy. Why not? He was being spoiled with many penguin presents :)


A penguin costume, perfect for my penguin boy.
Dylan was able to get some of his presents - he will have to wait for his birthday for his present from us.

Nate could not understand why he did not get any presents - isn't it like Christmas?
My sweet niece.
Cade has been thrilled with his penguin Webkinz. He got a little penguin Webkinz the next day. He is so excited to have a big one and a little one. He named them Icee and Snowee.
Grammy got beach towels for the boys.

Nate finally got to open a present! Grammy gave Nate and Chase an early birthday present so that they could have a towel for summer.

My cute pirate, ARRR

Do I even need to comment on this picture
Cade has wanted this Lego set. Mark and I and my parents got it for him. It was too big for my normal hiding place, so I hid it under the bed. Not the best hiding place. Cade found it and was so excited. He then tried to pretend like he didn't see it. I asked him if he could guess what we got him and he "guessed" Lego city. He then told me that he would try to erase it from his mind. Yeah, right! I still wrapped it for him.
My nephew, Drew. Or is it my niece, Drew?
Chase's towel

Cade was thrilled with his penguin music headphones and with the penguin that will play your MP3 player out loud.
More presents for Dylan
Doesn't he look cute with the headphones on?
Look! A penguin beach towel from Grammy.

Dylan's 9th Birthday Party

Saturday was Dylan's 9th birthday party. His actual birthday is not until the 26th, but his cousins were going to be in town so it was the perfect time for his party. We had his party at Laser Quest. They had a blast. Dylan said that it was the best birthday party ever! I played the second game with Cade. Part of the time Cade would hold the gun and I would chase after him (I was wearing the vest). Then, he would want me to hold the gun. It was super fun - we will definitely go back.
Most of the party animals - my sweet niece was the only girl there.
He wanted a Pokemon party.
Ready to eat cake.

My nephew, Trent, is so expressive

Happy Birthday, Cade!!

Today is Cade's birthday!! I can't believe that my baby is 6 years old! I don't have time to blog much about my sweet Cade, because we have a party weekend coming up! We are having Dylan's party on Saturday; a family birthday party on Saturday for Cade, Dylan, and the March birthday cousins; and then Cade's party on Sunday! We have relatives coming and many fun things planned. The boys are so very excited!! Cade is especially excited about his penguin party. Mark found him sitting in my closet the other day just looking at his party stuff! Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

The Sweetness of Chase

Before you read this post you must agree to 2 very important rules. Raise your right hand and repeat after me:

"I will not ever mention this to Chase"
"I will never let anyone under the age of 20 who knows Chase read this post"

Here is a story that Chase wrote in class. The assignment was to write about a time that you will never forget. He asked his teacher if he could write about something that has not happened yet, and she said that he could. Remember that girl that he has a crush on? Well.....here is his story. I have corrected his spelling because I just can't stand it.

I could never forget the time I got married. She had brown, short hair and blue eyes. The church we were married in was huge.

The first time I took her on a date felt right. I took her to dinner at the Cheese Factory for 1 1/2 hours. She was very nice and attractive. I personally fell in love with her at first sight. The food smelled delicious and looked delicious too. The food was awesome with its juicy steak and, of course, the cheesecake.

During the date I asked if she would marry me. There were billions of people watching when I asked that question. She immediately said, "yes". Everybody went "awww". I thought, did I do the right thing? I felt relief once I got home. For some reason, I felt happiness in both of our hearts like 2 waves bonding together and being one. There was something not even words could describe between us.

The day of the wedding I felt happy. When I put the wedding ring on her hand, I knew we would always be together. The party was awesome with punch and a grand white wedding cake. Everyone was there, including my friends.

I loved getting to get married. Marrying my loved one was the one thing I could never forget.

Good Morning!

Mark loves to make fun of the fact that I got up to make him breakfast the first 2 weeks of our marriage. This is a fact that I cannot deny. I am not a morning person. The beginning of Daylight Savings Time is not my favorite time of year. I am just getting to where I can get out of bed with no problem in the morning, when BOOM, the time changes and I have to drag myself out of bed. So the time changes Sunday. In my brilliance (and before I realized that the time changes Sunday), I booked a 6:25 a.m. flight. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I have to leave my house by 5:15 a.m. in the morning (which will feel like 4:15). I don't want to even think about when I need to wake up to get dressed and ready. I will arrive back home tomorrow by midnight. It is going to be a great day!!

Grillin'

Chase grilled for the 1st time. He makes a yummy hamburger. He also had another 1st. For the low cost bribe of 15 extra game playing minutes, he gave himself a shot. He has been mixing his medicine for a while, but we could not get him to poke himself. Can't blame him. If he can poke himself, then we don't have to worry about sending him places and trying to find someone to give him his shot. Yeah, Chase.

SNOW!

Seventy degrees one day, snow the next. Seventy degrees the next day, snow the next. It is almost spring, right? Crazy!!
Nate was so concerned that the snow had taken away the grass!

They built a snowman with the neighbors - Chase is trying to avoid snowballs
Cade talked all day about making snowballs. He was so happy to be able to make some snowballs.

Dylan got pegged in the ear - it was devastating!


Nate was NOT thrilled with the snow. He stepped in it and slipped. That was the end of the fun for him. I had to hold him because he refused to go down. He quickly wanted to go back inside the house.

Interesting snowman. A bit skinny with rocks for eyes and a nose and some branches placed at interesting places.

Anyone want to guess if the boys have school tomorrow?

Nate's Bike

I thought it was time for Nate to have his own bike. He had talked about it some, and I thought that he would love it. He does love it! He was so excited about it. He is learning how to pedal, although his legs really need to be a little longer. He loves, loves, loves his helmet. He wears it even when he is not on his bike. Today, we went to the park and he wore his helmet - it was super cute.

Nate also has a wonderful imagination. He was a cat today. He was crawling around and meowing. He wanted some "cat food" so I put some cheerios in a Tupperware dish. He would hardly talk, just meow. So funny!

What is that?

Oooh - Ahhhh

Bubble blowing is a dangerous activity which requires a helmet :)

My baby is getting so big!!

Juggling

Did you know that I actually took a class in college that required learning how to juggle? That was the semester that I tried Elementary Education as my major (also the semester that I decided that teaching was not to be my profession). Anyway, juggling and I did not really get along. Although I did not do well with juggling, I have always been good at other types of juggling. I can get quite a few balls going on in my life without dropping them - although sometimes it is not pretty. Recently, I have had a few too many balls. Do you know what happens when you throw in too many balls? It has not been good. I have been juggling the normal balls that are required when you have 4 boys. Then, I had a few extra balls from work since I had a very busy January. For fun, I threw in the flu ball for me and the respiratory illness ball for Nate. Too many balls! Some balls have been dropped. Some are just barely being juggled. I think that I am missing some balls, but I can't quite figure out what balls are missing. They will be sure to show up! My juggling act right now is not a pretty sight. Mark has been amazing and has scooped up some of the balls for me. I am working hard (with a quick blogging break, of course). I am starting to shovel my way out from under the balls. I hope. Back to shoveling.