Friday, May 27, 2011

Quick Update

Classic Ren faces.
I want these engrained in my memory forever.
What a blondie he is!


A Bub funny:
Background - Bub slapped Miriam. Now, Miriam sometimes deserves to be slapped, but this particular time I think Bub just wanted to slap someone. He kissed her cheek right afterwards (too little too late, M never holds back on the drama). After a discussion about whether or not it would be right to let M slap him back, the decision to do a time out, and a confession to Dad about his behavior he said the following:

"I am really good at kicking and punching.
But, I can't use my talents because Jesus Christ is watching"

Thank heavens he isn't blaming me!





Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Heart of a Hero Party

Dex The Heart of a Hero by Caralyn Buehner is one of Bub's favorite books.
We based his party on this story with a few comic book characters thrown in.
So of course we read the book.

We finished our hero attire by painting masks.

{The two party helpers}

The whole crazy crew

We moved on to Hero Training.....


We were rewarded with cake and ice cream.

Played "Heavy Heavy Hang Over"

Everyone went home with candy, tiny ninjas, paratroopers, and comic hero silly bands. If the girls were disappointed in the loot, it didn't show.

Guests went home but the party didn't stop because the little Superman pictured above invited Bub over for a play date up until the time Dad came home!

Which brings us to Bub's choice for birthday dinner....

We stopped by In -N-Out before we picked up the happy meals for the kids and then drove to a park so Bub could try out his new toy.

Thats a darn good birthday. It's good to be 4

An interview with the 4 year old:

What makes you happy?
Ummm when my friends do silly stuff.

Who are your friends?
Livie, Kennie, and Fielding and others like Ashor, Nadalie, she is the one who threw sand in my eyes...wemembor mom? And Sophie but she hardly plays with me.

What makes you sad?
When my friends hit me or kick me

What is our favorite food?
Ummm macaroni and cheese and just dino nuggets and chocoate chips!

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Cowboy! In the desert! Cowboy who lives in the desert desert desert with lizards and camels camels camels...horses get bit from snakes!

What is your favorite book?
Dex the Heart of a Hero and Bob and Brian

Where is your favorite place to go?
The places my cousins go.

How can you not adore that boy??











Monday, May 16, 2011

Super Hero Details

Super Invitations
I used my turn to teach Joy School to hold Bub's party.
Turning 4 years old, 3 set party guests making 4 kids total, easy peasy (lemon squeesie). My mom told me to keep the guest number to the child's age years ago, but I have never taken her advice until now.
It's a golden nugget of sanity saving wisdom.

Super 4 year old birthday shirt.
Same motif as Soren's but fabric paint and freezer paper rather than embroidered felt.
4 years old is big boy territory...felt just wasn't going to cut it!

Super Cake
Hershey's classic chocolate cake (on the cocoa powder box) with classic chocolate frosting....only I added a heaping scoop of peanut butter to the frosting which made it perfect for our family palate.

Big thanks to Marcus for the toys!


Super expensive $20 pinata
(darn that Zurchers!! Highway robbery!)
The kids had so much fun whacking it I need to let it go.


Sorry Darin....I had to do it


34 Reasons I adore my husband

1. He unclogs some disgusting sinks around here!
2. He has been bringing me flowers on our kids birthdays since Miriam's first birthday. (Bub's flowers are outside waiting to be planted)
3. He is a builder. He doesn't enjoy speaking negatively about people or things. He wants to discuss solutions.
4. He is a problem solver. Check out at the bike seat he rigg
ed up for Soren.


5. Large puppy dog eyes with long eye lashes...Bub inherited them both lucky boy.
6. He will HATE this post.
7. He has great and unique tastes in music.
8. He is Mr. Fix it...overflowing toilets, broken disposals, flat tires, my man either knows what to do or learns what to do.
9. He cares more about who people are, and what they can do than what they look like.
10. He doesn't like fake beauty...cosmetic surgery (unless medically needed), fake anything-tans, eyelashes, hair. He doesn't even like lots of make up. Can I tell you how refreshing that is? I feel like the worldly pressure on women is intense if I felt it from Darin as well I would totally cave.
11. Witty and intelligent sense of humor. His whole family has it, it's a gift.
12. He gets obsessed with learning things. He will read and study everything he can find about whatever he happens to be into at the moment.
13. He is extremely slow to anger.
14. He doesn't jump to conclusions.
15. He cares deeply about nature, he is willing to take action to keep it clean and healthy.
16. He is a thoughtful gift giver. I have beautiful pearl earrings from Mother's Day {and he helped the kids with breakfast in bed}
17. He loves and respects the women in his life, his mother, his sisters, his daughter and lucky me! He is always respectful to women he works with.
18. He takes on difficult tasks he has no desire to do, just because someone needs to do them.
19. He is not a glory seeker, he never wants limelight ever {not even on his birthday}
20. He encourages the children and I to be creative and use our imaginations. Through his own creative example, and also by providing opportunities.
21. He has written intelligent and persuasive letters to congressmen about policies he is concern about.
22. He is careful with my feelings and insecurities.
23. He loves to play with the kids toys. I don't enjoy putting together hot wheel tracks, or hexabug habitats, how nice that I can say "Daddy would love to play" and he does!
24. Clothes are for function only, he doesn't care about brands {unless it's a brand known for functionality}, trends, or what people tell him is cool.
25. He will watch BBC mini series with me
26. He introduces me to great TV (The IT crowd, Freaks and Geeks, Community and dare I say it??? We are currently watching Battlestar Galactica)
27. He lets me splurge on nice church clothes for the kids because it means so much to me to see the kids dressed up nice on Sundays.
28. He would rather be in nature than a theme park, but has been known to enjoy a good thrill ride.
29. He reads the information plaques at museums.
30. He likes to play funny games on his ipod like Goo World but doesn't overdo it by playing too much. It never would have worked between us if he was a video game addict.
31. He keeps our technology up and running smoothly, he also gives a lot of his time to help family members with theirs.
32. He researches where to get the best price on whatever we need to buy, and finds little ways to save a few dollars here and there.
33. He likes to try new foods and eat at locally owned restaurants. He doesn't like spending money on subpar fast food.
34. THIS LIST WAS SO EASY TO MAKE! I have tons of other things I could add...good thing he is getting older every year!


He does have one MAJOR flaw.....
it's hard to buy him gifts!!

How did I get so lucky?



PTA Carnival


I volunteered to help with face painting (stamping) at Mimi's school carnival.
Too bad M left town the weekend it occurred. She went to watch Aunt Julia's dance recital and play with cousins.

So we partied with the boys.

Games and bounce houses for Bub

Soren's first taste of cotton candy.

A family 4 mile bike ride to and from a fun park.
I am sure lovin' that Madsen.







Sunday, May 01, 2011

Soren's Circus

Handsome, sweet and spirited....thats our Soren.
This last year seems like a blur. It makes me glad I blog, and wish I would have been more consistent at it. How can it be so hard to remember just a few months ago?

I digress.... on to the party.
Our friends and neighbors the Malleys came for dinner and a circus. Their son is 2 weeks younger than Soren so they were born to be friends! I was busy being the hostess and failed to take pictures of our guests. We are so glad they could come.


Soren celebrated by eating the sixlets but left his cake alone. He liked the applesauce cake plain I know, because he ate it earlier that day. It seemed the icing turned him off, which is fine, he filled up on birthday taquitos instead.
After dinner we began the circus.
Darin juggled, I swallowed a light saber, Byron stabbed people, and Miriam did a trapeze act off her loft bed. It was a quite the party.

Soren showed off some of his tricks as well.

He stands himself up rocks back and forth for a bit and then takes 3 or 4 shaky steps.
It's darling!
He can also....
crawl up and down the steps by himself
drink from a straw
get whatever he wants through loud and persistent screaming.

Darin came home with beautiful birthday flowers for me and a huge package of chocolate chips!
The chocolate chips were not necessarily a birthday gift, just because I buy them enough to make bulk purchasing worthwhile. Quite exciting though, to see Darin bringing in beautiful flowers and 5 lbs of chocolate.

Soren has been a wonderful addition to our family, we are so blessed to have him.