Cool Dude Is 12!

Evan turned 12 last week and had a camp out with 6 friends to celebrate. I have a new found respect for parents of only boys, and so appreciated how my hubby could handle all of the "boyness" that was going on. Lauren and I ended up retiring to my bedroom to hang out and watch movies all night while Roger was able to keep the boys in check. We had pizza, cake, and they did archery, the trampoline, climbed trees, played soccer, and ended the night watching The Avengers and eating popcorn. We did have some drama, which I won't get into, but it was intense. Again, thankful that Roger was able to handle it well. It took them a long time to quiet down once inside the tent and I think they were told to be quiet and go to sleep about 5 times. It was around 1am when I didn't hear any more talking. I heard noises at 7am so got up and Roger and I made pancakes and bacon. Then they all played outside again until their parents picked them up at 10:00. Evan had a great time, but honestly, I don't know if I could go through all of that again!

Camping themed cake--we forgot to add Lego people on the bridge and canoe

Opening presents

Soccer

Archery

Eating breakfast on the deck

Lookin' all nice...

Lookin' like the wild and rough-n-tough boys they really are

9 Years Old

I just can't believe my baby girl turned 9 years old this year! We opted to have her party at our house so it was cheaper and she could invite as many girls as she wanted. Including Lauren we had a total of 12 girls and all of the parents dropped their kiddos off and decided not to stay so that meant Hubby and I were the only adults! But, the girls did great and had a lot of fun.

We decided to make the party theme garden/bugs. I was searching the internet for ideas of how to make that kind of a themed cake, and when I posted on facebook that this was the theme, a friend replied that she had a special cake pan that made 8 individual bug cakes. When Lauren and I saw it we loved it. The day before the party Evan and Lauren helped me frost the cakes. They actually decorated most of the cakes on their own and they did a fantastic job!

Ladybugs and butterflies

Dragonflies and bees

We took a trip to Party City to see what kind of decorations they had for the party and I was so happy to see that they had a bunch of things for our theme. One of the things was cute bug antenna tiaras that you see in the pictures. We also bought goodie bags and cute bottles of bubbles, tattoos, and pencils all in our theme.

The time for the party was 2 1/2 hours. The first 30 minutes the girls spent playing in our playroom downstairs and that allowed time for all of the late guests to arrive. When everyone was present, it was time for cake and presents.

Lauren chose the pink ladybug with purple spots for her cake

The next activity was painting nails. We had the girls sit on the floor lined up against the fireplace with their hands on the floor. Roger started at one end and i started at the other until we met in the middle. We painted the girls' nails red then went back and with nail polish pens put black polka dots on the red so their nails looked like ladybugs. It was really cute, but I didn't get a pic of the finished product. I think Roger should be nominated for Dad of the Year and Husband of the Year for helping me with this activity! Also, I am happy to say that no polish spilled on the carpet. (It's old and ugly and we hope to replace it in the not so distant future, but still...no spills!)

After this we went and played pin the spot on the lady bug--our version of pin the tail on the donkey. We got this idea from Party City who had this game already packaged up and ready for you to buy at $4.99. We knew at home we had a large piece of paper and could make our own and that's just what Lauren did. She drew the ladybug and cut out all of the spots. During the game we wrote the girls' names on their spots so they could see where their spots landed on the bug, or wall. It was a lot of fun.

Lauren blindfolded and getting spun 3 times

Close!

 

 

 

 

The last activity was outdoors. I had found butterfly nets at Target for only $1 a piece so I had bought a bunch along with some lightweight orange balls which acted as bugs and the girls paired up and threw the bugs back and forth to each other and caught them in their nets. They had a lot of fun with this game, too, and the girls got to take a net home with them along with their goodie bags. After this we brought out jump ropes, hula hoops, bubbles and they played outside until their parents came to pick them up.

Over all, Lauren's party was a huge success and I'm so glad we did it at our house and got creative with our cake, games, and activities. Believe it or not...she already knows what she wants as her party theme next year!

Birthday Party

My first born turned 11 years old last week. My how time is flying by. He chose a laser tag party to have with some friends at Laserquest. Just some info for you if you ever decide to have a party there yourself...you have to have a minimum of 8 people for a party, and everybody gets to play 2 games and you get a tiny party room to have cake in. They provide you nothing for the party except the room and saving $1 off the cost of two games for everyone, oh and a sign that says Happy Birthday to the birthday child. But, no plates, napkins, silverware for your cake, or drinks. They did pass out game passes for the guests for buy one game and get a second free which was nice, but they expire in less than 2 months. Oh well...all of the boys had a great time, so I'm glad for that.

 The cake I made Evan was simply two square cakes and I frosted them to look like Lego blocks. The connectors were jumbo marshmallows we had that I cut in half and frosted. Evan decided he wanted to add some of his Lego people to the cake.

8th Birthday

Lauren is turning 8 years old on Saturday!!! She had a few friends join her for a bday party at Build A Bear this past weekend. They all had a great time. After they built their bears and picked out their outfits and accessories, we headed down to the food court in the mall where she opened her presents and we ate cupcakes. Then we headed over to Aunt Jenni's house to celebrate Lauren and Jenni's birthdays with yummy homemade pizza and a delicious chocolate cake Grandma made. 

She wanted to wear my cupcake apron while she helped me make her party cupcakes.

Pretty and yummy!

A fun party!

Lauren and Aunt Jenni blowing out their bday candles.

My Birthday

(This post was written 2 weeks ago [February 24th]--I just now got around to posting it.)

Today was my 40th birthday. Happy? Not necessarily. Sad? Not really. It's just when you're a kid, time goes soooooo slow. Then, when you're an adult, time goes sooooooo fast! How did 40 get here so quickly? The baby picture of me above says 9 weeks old on the back of it. Look at all of that hair and chubby face. :-) The picture below is one of my senior high school pics (so approximately 1/2 my age ago). I remember at this age so excited thinking that finally being an adult was here. Boy, little did I know that another 20 years would get here before I could blink.

I have wondered how my parents feel about me turning 40. When my oldest is 40, I will be 70. That's 30 years from now, but it doesn't seem that far away. I know it all--you're only as old as you feel, age is all about attitude, 40 is just a number, you're young at heart, etc., etc. Even with all of that said, I still can't help but think about life, and time, and growing older. Well, before I start contemplating that too much, I thought I'd throw in a pic of what I look like at 40.

Let me tell you about my day. It was pretty ordinary. We did homeschool. The kids went to their YMCA class. Oh, but then there was the right rear passenger tire blowing out on the way home from the Y.

It wasn't dangerous. The kids and I heard a loud sound and wondered what it was. Then we could feel and hear the funny sound we were making on the road, and the tilt of the van. We knew what had happened and knew what tire it was. (The same part of the van that did this to us in the spring or summer). We were close to home, probably 3 miles. I pulled over onto the nearest road off of the main road to avoid traffic. It was a sandy country road that was wet and muddy from all of the rain last night.

I called Roger and he said I could attempt to change the tire myself because he couldn't quite get off work yet. I decided to try, even though I hadn't done this before, but I've watched Roger. I read the car manual and understood it, so I thought, yeah, I can do this. I called home and asked my sister to come so that the kids could sit in her car while I worked on the van. I also asked her to bring some old towels or sheets I could put under me to avoid the mud--she found a tarp in the garage; yea sis! Oh, did I mention it was very sprinkly, gloomy, cold, and windy? Bbbrrrrr. And that's not all.....when I first got out of the van to look at the tire, I slipped in the mud and fell! My shoes got all muddy, but I had fallen towards the middle of the road on my hands and knees instead of the side where all of the mud was, so I didn't get too dirty. Yea??!!

Our spare tire is under the van. On the inside of the van up front between the seats is a hole (I'm not sure what else to call it) where you stick a metal tool bar into and twist and it lowers the spare from the van onto the ground. I did that just fine. Then, you have to use the hook and pull the tire out from under the van. In order to do this, I had to jack the car up. I tried, and tried, but just couldn't get the van raised. I called Roger and he said I needed a board to make the ground more level and create a hard surface for the jack to sit on. It was decided that my sister would take me home and when Roger got off work, he would come and change the tire. So, about 3 hours later we were all back up on that road and Roger got the tire changed successfully. The nice farmer who lived in the house that I had parked in front of even came out to see if we were okay and needed help. Very friendly of him considering the wind was really blowing and it was freezing cold by this time. I am so thankful to God though, that we did not have to deal with any snow, pouring rain, or icy drizzle. All things considered, it could have been worse.

Once we got home, Roger made french toast with my favorite homemade honey wheat bread I had made earlier in the day and some turkey bacon. That is what I chose for my birthday dinner and it was yummy. He had also brought home a cake for me.

I received a lot of well wishes, gifts and cards from family and friends that made me feel so special on this gloomy, ordinary, tire-blowing day. My kids kept giving me hugs and kisses and telling me happy birthday--I LOVED this soooo much! And, I am excited to say that my celebrating isn't over yet. We're going to go out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants this weekend--Texas Roadhouse! I have fully warned Roger that he better not tell the restaurant it is my birthday because there is no way I want to sit on a saddle and wave a kerchief yelling Yee-Haw and getting my picture taken. Then, in March Roger and I get to go away for 2 nights out of town for a special celebration that involves something on my list of things I want to do in life. I'm not telling people what it is yet, but I can hardly wait!

Update: We went to Texas Roadhouse with my parents, sister, and nephew, and Roger earned some good husband points by not alerting the restaurant that it was my birthday. The next night we went to our small group where Roger sneaked in a huge birthday cake; I cannot believe I didn't see any of this happen. It was a total surprise and my friends were so sweet and sang Happy Birthday to me. I have to admit that it made me feel special, even though I told them they didn't have to do it.

Birthday Party Time

I'm so glad my kids' birthdays are within a month of each other--it sure makes planning parties for them easy sometimes. This year they celebrated together at Chuck E. Cheese. Do I really need to say how happy and how much fun they had; after all, it's the place Where A Kid Can Be A Kid!

Awana Awards Night

This year in Awana Evan finished his first book in T&T, and Lauren finished her first book in Sparks. They both worked hard and were so proud.

The closing program happened to fall on Lauren's birthday and Gma and Gpa Merriman were in town and got to attend the program. After that we went to Freddy's Frozen Custard and got some ice cream to celebrate.