Finishing February

The last 2 weeks of February have been busy.  Not that I have done anything big or significant, but just busy with running around and trying to get things done.  I don't feel like I have had a moment to rest, and if I did I just wanted to relax.  Here are some fun memories from the last couple weeks:

 We have a relatively new game around our home called Minecraft.  Nathan and Ryan are obsessed while Annie loves to watch.  Today she informed me that if you push "W" then you walk forward.  She knows way more about that game than me and I think it is fun to hear her talk about it.  The boys could talk your ear off on the subject. Their piano teacher told me that Nathan did just that the other day and she had to continue to tell him he could tell her about it, after his lesson.  On a side note Greg and I just recently beat Lego Harry Potter.  I loved playing the game and reliving all of the books (1-4).  Greg loved that I was playing a video game with him so it was a win-win situation.

 Callie has the cutest scrunchy face when she smiles.  I love it.  She does it for other people too and then they think it means they can pick her up.  Nope.  She is a mama's girl through and through.  She will smile for anyone but prefers me to anyone.  I love it sometimes, other times, not so much.

 Our family has a favorite place for frozen yogurt called "Frozen Yogurt Junction".  It allows you to serve yourself from 6 different flavors (changed daily) and a bunch of toppings.  Then you weigh the yogurt and pay accordingly.  Annabelle set up her own station and was very proud of her concoctions she made Greg and I.

 We can't get enough of this little girl.  She has the best smiles and loves to be chased up the stairs.  She is taking steps and just loves us, almost as much as we love her.

 Ryan got a "paper" guitar for his birthday and it is quite a fun toy.  He has always been our guitar playing rock star and this makes it all the more fun.  Callie laughs and dances whenever he gets the guitar out.  Annie was playing the air guitar on the sword.  And if you look close the girls are wearing the skirts I made them.  I forgot to get a good picture of the two of them, but this works a little.

 Nathan had his Blue and Gold Banquet on the last night for basketball.  So he and Callie came with me while Greg took Ry and Annie to the game.  Let's just say I am glad it is over with, again.  Notice Nate in his cool bear gear?  That's right, he is no longer in my den.  While it was fun, I think this will be a good change for us.  Except the younger boys are a lot crazier than I remember the last group being.

 Annabelle loves the snow.  She always wants to go out and I am not always keen on going.  She was SOO happy to help daddy the other morning shovel like the boys do sometimes.

 The girls in our family are full of love and smiles. 

 Goat-Romano-Parmesan-Fontina.  We had 4 cheese pasta the other night and we all loved tasting the cheeses before hand.  Callie and Nate loved the goat cheese.  Greg loved Romano.  I like all of them.  Such crazy flavors.  Unfortunately mixed together wasn't the biggest hit for some family members.

Annabelle invited some girls over and they got all dolled up and danced like crazy.  Callie LOVED it.  She danced or just stared at the girls.  I love having the girly stuff after all the cars, trains, and sword playing I did for so many years.  It is so different but a lot of fun.

Annabelle came home from preschool today and wanted to make a fort.  I came up with this design and at first she was really upset because it was not how her teacher did it.  Luckily once her friend came over to play it was okay and they all had a blast in there.

Cousin Sleepover

Being the awesome mom that I am (at least 1% of the time), I told Nathan's cousin Aaron he could spend the night after the party Saturday night.  Then being the nice aunt that I am I told his little sister she could as well.  They live about 40 minutes so I was insuring that Aaron would come since Nathan loves his older cousin and it just wouldn't have been a great birthday without him.  If you ask Greg, on Saturday morning, after staying up late with Ryan's party the night before, I was ready to cancel the whole sleepover thing.  I was tired and not really looking forward to another late night.  Luckily Greg calmed my fears and I didn't cancel.  The kids had a blast!!
When we took Nathan out looking for presents one thing he saw and loved was a big box of blocks.  On the way home I called Greg and asked about a certain box of blocks that Grandpa Ray used to have.  Being the awesome Grandpa that he is he brought them over for the boys for their birthday.  While none of the boys remember playing with them at Grandpa's old house (it has been probably 5-6 years) they sure loved them.  Add Aaron in the mix and the boys had a blast.  They sorted, built crazy towers, chairs, crafting benches, and even a cool arena for Nathan's new Hex bug.

 

 

 

 

The girls also had a blast.  It was cute to listen to their higher pitches and the giggling.  They slept down in the playroom since Annie and Callie's room is too crowded.  While the party was going on they watched a movie in the playroom and played with toys.  Annabelle is hoping to do it again with more cousins next time.

 

Ryan's 7th Birthday

 Due to power outages and school lunches, Ryan was a sport and was okay with this kind of donut for his breakfast feast (don't worry he also had a yogurt with granola before school).  I can't believe how this little guy is getting.  He is so smart and outgoing and we had a fabulous day with him.

 When Greg took Ryan to the store to see what he wanted for his birthday he said a sword before he even got to the toy aisle.  And Greg said that when he saw this sword he said he really wanted it but told Greg, "I know that I won't get it because mom doesn't like swords."  Well, SURPRISE!  Mom is awesome and we got  him the sword.  He was VERY happy.  All day on Nate's birthday Ryan was said because he knew he wouldn't get an ipod like Nathan.  Well, luckily a couple years ago Greg had won this MP3 player (ipod to Ryan) and Ryan was ECSTATIC that he too got an ipod.  He, like his brother, danced around the house all day and couldn't stop telling people what he got.  While I think it is cute to see them dance around, I have already decided that I am not ready for them to have head phones on all the time so that I can't talk to them and they can't hear me.

 

 Like Nathan, Ryan wanted me to come have lunch with him at school.  Greg took the day off so I got to go without the girls (so nice!).  It was cinnamon roll day so I was REALLY excited.  Unfortunately the cinnamon rolls are different than last year and were a BIG disappointment.  Good thing Greg and I went out to lunch afterwards!  Out a recess I noticed a big difference with the first graders.  I had a heard of them all around me.  They were holding my hands and wanting to play with me.  We played tag and went down the slide (one little girl said I was the first adult to ever go down the slide!) and played red light green light.  When we finished one activity they would all (I am talking 20+kids) gather around me and ask what we were going to do next.  I would just look to Ryan and tell them I was here to do whatever he wanted.  Ryan loved being in charge of so many kids.  More and more kids kept coming over and asking to play and I tried to not leave anyone out.  It was a lot of fun running around with Ryan and his friends.  When the bell rang (finally! since I was freezing!) I was happy to go and I even got a big hug from Nathan as he was coming out to recess.  If you ever want to make your child's day, go have lunch with him/her at school.  Spend $1.50 for lunch and 30 minutes outside and they will love you forever, or at least until you tell them "no" for something.

 

 I was kind of sad that the boys just wanted cupcakes.  It was so easy and boring.  I have decided that next year we will do a big party, no matter what.  Hopefully we can do them together, otherwise they will probably have to be a couple weeks apart. 

These boys watched "The Adventures of Clutch Powers".  None of them had seen it.  It is a new Lego movie and by the looks of their faces I think they were all really into it the whole time.  7 year olds are definitely more loud and crazy than 9 year olds.  It is a fun crazy, but definitely a difference.  

I am glad that we were able to make the boys feel special this weekend. 

Nathan's 9th Birthday

 It is official, I am getting old.  I have a nine year old.  I didn't even live at home when my little brother turned nine.  I have no idea what to do anymore.  Luckily Nathan is a fabulous little man and I am sure he will help me figure it out.  Nathan couldn't have been happier than getting his very own ipod for his birthday (don't tell him that is was a really old ipod we bought of my little brother a few years ago).  He danced around the house all morning and after school.  He was so proud of it.  So far he is loving the ABBA songs on it.  I took the girls with me to have lunch with Nathan.  I offered to take him somewhere but he preferred I eat at school with him.  First the class sang to him (I took a video and somehow it didn't take so I am glad I got one picture).  The class tried to make him turn red and Nathan said he was trying really hard not to.  After we passed out donuts we headed to lunch.

  

Lunch was just as I remembered it.  Callie loved the potatoes and gravy while my favorite part was the chocolate milk.  The kids are so rushed in the lunchroom and Nathan really wanted to go outside and play so Annie just put her lunch on the stroller and we headed outside.  We played Red Rover until I could tell Callie was freezing.  It was a lot of fun watching and being with Nathan.  He loved having me there and as one of the school's secretaries said, "showing me off."  

 For dinner we had Nate's Favorite-hot dogs.  I boiled them since we had just 45 minutes between scouts and basketball to eat and be ready.  Man, they are much better BBQued, but luckily Nate loved them just the same.

 After Ryan's game we let Nathan climb the rock wall.  You pay for an hour but after he climbed to the top 3 or 4 times he was done.  Oh well.  We went home and played with new toys before his game started.

 

 Nathan wanted separate parties this year.  I told him that it meant I was not going to do a huge themed party and he was luckily okay with that.  We invited friends over for cake and ice cream and a movie.  We watched "The Borrowers."  It is from the 90s and luckily none of the kids had seen it.  From what I saw, they all seemed to enjoy it.  It was a long night but I guess 9 year olds are used to staying up later and everyone was happy and got along. 
It is crazy to think how fast time flies.  I know everyone says it, but seriously, wasn't Nathan just a little toddler stacking sprinkle jars on top of each other and clapping at his talents?  Wasn't he just learning to write his name and BINGO on the sidewalk with chalk?  Didn't he just start kindergarten and learn to read?  Time really flies.  The secretary at the school also told me that she thought it was great that I was coming to eat with Nathan because sooner or later he won't want me to anymore.  She's right.  I need to hold on to these times as much as I can.  Happy Birthday Nathan!  We love you So much!

 

Valentine's Day

 

 This year Nathan got to make his own Valentine box.  He was SO excited and went straight to the basement to sort through all of our random boxes we keep for just such an occasion.  He brought a bunch out and started deciding how to put them together.  We then cut holes and glued it all together and sprayed it silver.    Nathan was very anxious to decorate it.  A few hours later we got out the craft supplies and got to work.  I guess in third grade the name, "Bob" is really funny because Nate said he just had to name his Valentine robot, Bob.  The coolest part is that Bob is holding a sign that says, "Happy Valentine's Day!! Put Valentine's in my head.  Thank you -Nathan Felix  have fun (in cursive)"  And then when you put said Valentine's into the head they go down another hole into his tummy.  Needless to say he won "Best of All" in the contest for his class.
The second Picture above shows Nathan opening the tummy and getting his goods.  I got to help in Nate's class that day.  Greg watched the girls so I could focus on the kids.  We played a game the ladies at boot camp help me come up with.  I made these little fabric hearts and each player had one.  The person who was it rolled a dice and on a certain number tried to trap the hearts while the other players pulled their hearts away.  It was a lot of fun,

Ryan had a lot of fun this year and loved getting lots of candy and treats.  I love that he doesn't think it is too cool to wear a goofy hat. 

 Annie had parties at school and ballet.  Luckily her school party was the Friday before since she was sick on Valentine's Day.  She is growing up so much and is always proud of her masterpieces she brings home.

Greg and I were able to go out on Friday night.  He spent the day skiing but got home earlier than expected so we quickly called Grandma Pam and she was awesome to come down and watch the kids for a few hours.  We went to Red Lobster and had a blast.  There was a bit of a wait but it had been a long time since we went out to eat without Callie (November!!) that is was fun to just hang out.  We walked around and talked and shopped.  Once at the restaurant I saw a new side of Greg that was really cool.  For the last few months he has been going out to eat more with some friends at work.  It is a win-win since I don't feel bad about not making his lunch or buying nice stuff to put in his lunch and he gets to eat out and make good friends.  Anyway, since he goes out more he is a lot different at a restaurant.  While I used to take charge and talk to the waiter the tables have now turned and Greg takes charge and makes sure we get everything we want and need.  It was really a treat to watch and I look forward to doing it more.
All in all it was a great holiday.  I got flowers a little later than Valentine's Day, but that just means they were cheaper and on a day when I needed them more.  I love my husband.  I love my Nathan, Ryan, Annabelle and Callie.  They are the best things to ever happen to me.  I am truly smitten with each of them. 

Just Say Yes

 Last week I was talking with some friends and someone mentioned how much fun it was to say "yes" more often to their kids.  I decided to give it a little try.  Because Annabelle and Hattie got their kindergarten shots Tomie and I rewarded them with a trip to Kangaroo Zoo.  I checked out the boys 15 minutes early from school (this was a huge treat!).  We got there a little early and when the kids asked for a snack I said, "yes."  When they asked for their own slushy, I said, "yes."  When they asked for chips, I said, "yes" again.  I admit that I didn't let them get a large slushy, but they were SO happy that I let them get their own.  Callie loved the slushies also.

 These girls are so cute together.  They are the best of friends.

The boys made a new friend, Logan, and had a blast running around the gym playing tag.  

 Both boys loved going on the slides.  Ryan got hurt a little but was ready to get back into the blow-up toys after a short rest.  I even got in on the fun and rode a couple slides with Callie. 

 Callie had fun but was ready for a nap, I think we were all tired when we left.  I think I will try a "yes" day again sometime.  It was fun to be the nice mom for a change.