Owen Turns 6

Owen was turning 6 just days before school and I had no ideas for a party. My sisters-in-law each rented this blow up water slide and thought it was "SO FUN" for the kids. I thought, "sure that sounds easy and fun..."

Then this monstrosity arrived.... dum.. dum-dum... dum... duuuuummmm!

With ALL these kids ready for a good time.... uh - oh!
Lots of running and jumping! Lots of laughing and screaming! Lot of fun - with only a few minor injuries - yikes! Yes, I almost had a heart attack watching after all these kids.
Nevertheless, Owen had an awesome good time! He loves turning older - he seems to think he is gaining on Paige.
And what would a birthday party be without this girl! Dirty, wet and having a grand ol' time!

Happy Birthday Owen! Next year it's going to me more low-key :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We celebrated John's birthday on the 9th. Paige was out of town, so it was just the 5 of us. It wasn't much, cake and presents... but the boys enjoyed themselves. Happy Birthday Honey!

Brocky Turns 2

I can't believe our little Brock turned two years old. We decided to just have some family over for a get together and have cake. Since there was no party planned I thought the least I could do was make him a fun cake... well I tried. My only hope was that he would recognize who it was. I guess you could say it was a success. He looked at the cake and immediately said, "Sully!" (from the movie Monsters Inc.) I know it's not that great, but he could tell and that was all I cared about. We all sang to him... this is Owen's favorite part - the kids practically screams Happy Birthday and then ends it with, "Cha Cha Cha... Kumbaya - Stick your head in Hot Lava!"
Brock was really excited about all his new presents, they immediately busted out the fire engine tent from his Grandma Vicki. I think they crammed 7+ kids in that small tent.
Happy Birthday Brocky boy... this birthday was just another reminder of how close we are to this new baby coming.

Owen's Birthday Party

Well Owen finally got a birthday party... I know that stinks considering he is 4. We decided to share the party with Avery who also turned 4 a few weeks ago at Scooters Jungle. Owen was SOOOO excited! Here is a group shot of all the kids. We had 30 kids at the party - wow, what a group! They slid down the huge slide, played hide and seek, climbed in the bounce house and ran around. I think they all had a good time.
I tried to get a jungle themed cake for the two of them - but they were all out. So we got a girl/boy cake instead. I think it turned out pretty good - what do you think?
These two loved being sung to. Just look at the anticipation on Owen's face.
And after the cake they gave each other a big hug.
Owen got right to work eating his cake!
I think all the kids had a good time minus the fact that the pizza was 1 hour late and they were 3 pizza's short. I was super bummed on that, but the kids were having so much fun running around it was hard for them to notice. Here is Paige having fun... I think she looks old here.
Oh and here were the goodie bags... I thought they turned out pretty cute!
It was a great party! I know Owen had a good time.

Things I Learned This Weekend

I have learned that...
I love to dress up and even more I love the 80's. We went to an 80's Roller Skating birthday party for our friend Summer this past weekend and had such a good time. I absolutely love roller skating and I could have done it all night! Thanks Summer for a good party! (No, my hand is not on that girl's butt) One of my favorite parts about dressing up was all the 80's poses I could muster up!

John looks like a pervert with a mustache. He was a little confused on what 80's facial hair looks like. I told him one mustache Magnum PI like and he came up with this... lock up your children... right?? At one point during the night John was signaling to me across the room that he wanted a drink of my soda, all I could think of was "who is that perv trying to hit on me." (Oh, Honey!)
Brock loves to wipe his face after every bite. We went to Wahoo's the other night and he wiped his face after each bite... we thought he was so cute and we couldn't get enough of this little guy.
Not to get a dog out at a pet store unless you are looking to buy. I have told myself for years that I would wait to buy a dog till we were done having kids and I always wanted to do the Christmas Morning with a Bow thing... I can not tell you how close we were to purchasing this beauty. If the kids were behaving better we would have walked home with her that night. Instead we decided to sleep on it and I had full intentions of going back Monday night to get her. Isn't she adorable. John talked some sense into me about waiting... so, we are going to wait... (I'll admit, I'm still second guessing this decision). She is a Bichon/ Shih-Tzu mix, who is hypoallergenic and doesn't shed... and she was so calm and soft and loving and she looking at me with her big brown eyes and melted my heart... Ahhh.. the anguish I feel!
Singing Happy Birthday and eating cake a second time is just as fun as the first time... if not better! We got to celebrate John's birthday with the Lowry's and the kids loved singing! I think we blew out the candles at least 3 times.
I consider these things lessons learned!

Birthday Celebration

What to do? What to do to celebrate Paige. How about dinner with the family? Paige picked her favorite restaurant to go to with the family. She said, " I want to go to the place by the freeway with all the birds." So there we went!
After a CRAZY dinner (that is an understatement) the kids enjoyed a few rides on the escalator.
Apparently dinner with the family wasn't enough of a celebration so on Friday we picked up a few of her friends after school and went to Wendy's house to get their nails painted.
Then we all went to see the movie Nim's Island. I thought the movie was really cute and adventurous. Paige got a little scared when the father went missing. She had to come sit of my lap for a portion of it, but the other girls all seemed to really like it. Maybe it was the sugar high of all the candy and popcorn they ate. :)
After the manicure and movie we all went to the park and then to dinner. The girls were all so sweet to each other and I think they all had a really good time. I have to say it was nice being able to be with Paige and her friends without the interruption of Owen and Brock (they stayed home with a babysitter). There was one time when Paige asked me to stop talking - um... ok... I guess I'm not as cool as I thought. Be quiet MOM! Sorry sweetie - I'll just sit here and let you all chat it up! :) Man, I'm old.

My Baby is 1

I can't believe that one year ago today this baby boy came into our lives. I really get choked up thinking about how fast he has grown. I can honestly say that he has been a pure joy this past year - other then taking 11 months to sleep through the night (yeah, you read that right). He has been all smiles all the time. And for any of you that know him you know I'm not just trying to paint a rosey picture... he is such a sweet-heart. Here he was 1 year ago.

Goodness! Look at this boy and that little face.

It wouldn't be a birthday without family, friends and some cake. I think he's a little intimidated by the 50+ eyes staring at him and his bright cake (yep, I made the cake - WOW is it bright!!!).
Oh!!!! Poor baby boy didn't like all the attention or better yet - he wasn't into the messy cake. Stop the torture and get this boy cleaned up!

Lucky for everyone else my friend Davlyn made us this beautiful Red Velvet cake. It was so moist and yummy! I seriously suggest you try hers sometime.
Well, he was a tad bit timid of the cake but made enough of a mess to get washed up. What would a birthday be without getting in your birthday suit.
Opening presents was a lot of fun for this boy. Lucky for him he had a lot of help from his cousins and friends. Happy birthday Brock!
For the record this boy took 5 steps today! Way to go!!!!

Thirty-One

May I just say that I love birthdays! I think they are so much fun and who wouldn't want to celebrate with friends and loved ones. People are always nice to you, old friends call you up and send emails, you get taken out to dinner, lunch and even given presents. I mean come on, no one likes to get older, but all this fun certainly softens the blow. So a special THANK YOU to all those who remembered me on my birthday - it was great to feel special and loved by my friends and family. Turning 31 wasn't too shabby. It isn't as glamorous as turning the big 3-0, which was why 31 was a little harder - I mean THIRTY ONE, yeah I'm just getting older that's all. I did go out and buy myself some eye cream to start this year off right. I should have probably been using the stuff for a few years now, but I haven't and now I am. Enough said about that - I had a great birthday.

Last Saturday night John took me to The Stinking Rose up in Beverly Hills for dinner - it was really good (if you go definitely get the boneless short ribs - they were like butter) and then we went to Pinkberry for dessert - neither of us had been before and we wanted to know what all the fuss was about. John absolutely loved it - I thought it was really good. After that we went to the Pantages Theatre to see Wicked.
I know!!! I know, we are the last people on Earth to see this musical, but I have been dying to see it and I loved it. It was a super special night and I felt like it was one of the best date nights we have had in a long time - if not the best (Hint... Hint... John). I love my birthday!

Then on my actual birthday Dr. Martin Luther King was kind enough to give the kids the day off of school so we went the the park where friends came and brought cookies (yes, Adrienne's famous peanut butter chocolate chip) and cupcakes. Once again - I love my birthday! Also, for my very special day my parents came in town from Utah - ok not really - they came to pick up their stuff to move into their big new fancy house, but they got here on my birthday. Good enough. So that night we went to the good old Harbor House (open 24 hours and will serve breakfast anytime you want) for dinner. It was a lot of fun. We came home to this gorgeous cake that John made and the kids and he decorated.
I made an outstanding wish (that I already forgot) and the kids helped me blow out the candles - there may be more spit then frosting on this cake.

The rest of my week was filled with pedicures, dinners with friends, breakfast with friends, sprinkles cupcakes, treats, more cookies and presents. I had such a good time and let's face it - I love my birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!

This is actually Wendy hijacking Jessica's blog (thanks for the great idea Jenny). It was Jessica's birthday on Monday and I wanted to give everyone a forum to send birthday wishes to her. So here you all are. Don't make me look like an idiot for doing this so give her a shout out. I'll start