You've got a friend in me...

Can you believe my baby boy is turning 6 in eight days?  I can't either.  We celebrated a little early this year and had a fun party with his friends.  We had to kinda make up for last year.  Last year, he had to celebrate his birthday party in the hospital because a certain little sister who will remain nameless decided to make her entrance a few days early.  Anyway, today we celebrated with a Toy Story 3 theme.  We started out with some games.  Musical chairs was a lot of fun.

Then we played a claw game with the aliens.

And we had a friendly little race on which team could put together the Potato Head fastest.  This was my personal favorite.  Daniel even took pictures of the potato heads they were to build with the pieces available so they had a guide.  Lots of fun!  After present it was time for cake.

Isn't he just the cutest??!

Oh, and David is too.  :)

We had a great time.  David was so happy that all of his friends were able to make it.  Lots of fun was had by all!

Happy early Birthday Buddy!  We love you!!

Girls just wanna have fun....

For Christmas Madelyn got an Easy Bake Oven.  So when Rachel came over to spend the night, the girls decided they wanted to make some S'mores.  

If you've never had one of these little appliances, let me explain the process.  First, the little door and knobs on the front are just for show.  The heat comes from a 100w light bulb inside.  You put the "food" (I use this term loosely) in a hole on one side, let it sit there for the recommended amount of time and then push it out the other side.  Now, you would think S'mores would be pretty easy right?  Basically just warming up the ingredients, melting the chocolate?  

Not so much.  The "graham crackers" came in the form of a powder.  We had to mix them with water, then bake them.  6 of them at 8 minutes each....one at a time.  Then we had to mix the powder "marshmallow" with some water.  Then we had to mix the powder chocolate with water and warm it in the warming drawer before putting them all together to make 6 teeny tiny little S'more sandwiches.  Needless to say, Rachel declared the Easy Bake Oven not so easy, and within 10 minutes, they were off playing while I finished the baking.  What a crock!  Oh well, after what seemed like an eternity, the girls were finally able to enjoy their mediocre S'more.  

 

And I was left to clean up the mess.  Thank you Easy Bake Oven.

We are the Pirates...who don't do anything!!!

"And now it's time for Silly Songs with Larry:  The part of the show where Larry comes out and sings a silly song."

Last week, I scored some free tickets for Veggie Tales Live from a friend.  (Thanks Amy!)   So, Madelyn, Rachel, Aaron and I headed for the show.  Notice, I did not include David in there.  Unfortunately he had a little incident at school and then lied to me about it and had to stay behind with Aunt Heidi.  I think that decision was harder on me than him in the end, but I think it was the right one.  Anyway, we had a great time.  After grabbing some McD's on the way, we headed up to Carmel to a huge church.  The girls had fun dancing and singing in the aisles to songs like "Cheeseburger", "Bellybutton", "Waterbuffalo", and "Barbara Manatee".  And Aaron....well, he suffered through it.

Madelyn and Rachel weren't quite sure what to expect.  Before the show I asked how big they thought Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber would be.  They showed me with their hands the size of a real life tomato.  HAHA!  Imagine their surprise when they took the stage.  One of Madelyn's questions, was why they had feet and didn't hop like they do on the show.  Rachel kindly explained the use of costumes on people.  HAHA!  They crack me up!

I think the best part for Aaron and I though was at the end.  Unexpectedly, Larry the Cucumber got a little tripped up and fell FLAT on his face.  After what seemed like an eternity of struggle, the vegetable picked himself up and faced the audience.  To our surprise, the black part of his eyeballs were still lying on the stage.  Madelyn's response loud enough for all around to hear: "Where are his eyeballs??!!"  Aaron and I looked at each other and just roared laughing!  Luckily they quickly shuffled him off the stage, fixed him up and he was able to join the cast for the last number.  Larry was saved!!  And we had a good laugh. 

Mom's weekend off....

Last weekend I was able to enjoy a mini vacation with the girls.  We had so much fun.  When you get a bunch of ladies together, emotions run a-muck!  We laughed, we cried, we bonded and of course we ate!  I am so blessed to have such great friends.  And don't forget a hubby who steps up and allows me the time away.  Thanks Daniel!!  Here's some pictures from the weekend!

Melissa and Chasity

Jen - looking cute!

And to prove I was there....

Good times!!

My best friend Mary and her husband Josh from Wisconsin came to visit us the week of Memorial Day. We had the best time! We hadn't seen each other for at least 5 years. A lot has changed since then... namely 5 sweet little children. We had a lot to get caught up on!


The kids seemed to get along pretty well. Typical for preschooler's anyway. :) Here's Brooklyn, Joscelyn, David and Madelyn enjoying the back yard.


Madelyn and Joscelyn slept in the same room. They had some pretty late nights. They would sit up and talk and rock their babies. We laughed because during the daylight hours they really didn't play with each other that much. But when the lights would go out, they would be up talking and giggling like teenagers! The last night we decided to set up a video camera in the room. We sure did get a lot of laughs out of that! At one point, Madelyn spent about 5 minutes or longer slapping Josie. We learned that Josie would run and get back in bed when someone came into the room to quiet them down, but as soon as the door shut she sprang back up. And Madelyn would quickly run back into her bed before someone walked in and would have her fingers in her mouth and her pig over her face as if she had been there the entire time. That little sneak! The following day, we showed the girls the video and confronted their behavior. Oh, how fun that was!!


We kept pretty busy all week. We had a cookout, went to the pool, played at the park, and visited an indoor playground. The boys got some geocaching time in and Mary and I were able to get out one evening for a much needed girls night out! I fell in love with her sweet girls and even though it's been 5 years we picked up right where we left off! Best of friends! We have already made plans for another visit, this time up north!