Nora's Birthday

Nora wanted a swim party for her birthday for most of this year. We decided to split it into two days, with cake in the evening so everyone could be there and swimming for the kids the next morning.

Less than a week before the party, she informed me she wanted a flip flop cake. After some brainstorming, we figured we could use the previous cake plan and add the flip flop decoration. Turned out so cute!

Six candles!!

Love her reactions. She has the best surprise/happy face. 

Next morning we set up and filled seven wading pools and a water table in Grandma's backyard. Given that we were expecting 11 kids between the ages of 1 and 10, we figured it was prudent to have multiple play stations. We ended up with so many pools, which was so awesome. 

I somehow didn't get a wide angle shot of all the pools, but you can see 6 of them in this picture. 

So much fun with cousins and friends. 

Everyone was more than ready for pizza when the time came. Thanks to Heather for completely taking care of lunch - I didn't realize how much help I was going to need!

So much love for this adorable and energetic little six year old. She's my kitchen helper, my snuggle buddy, and my little princess!

Zeke's 9th Birthday

Zeke's party this year was a Star Wars party. 9 candles...which works out to 3 of each color. Perfect for 3rd graders who have been working on their multiplication facts!

We invited a few friends for pizza and a movie. However, given that the kids had already seen the movie, they were much more interested in ping pong. When the grandparent, aunts & uncles, and cousins arrived later, it turned into a multi-player game of extreme ping pong -- hitting off any bounce, including other tables and walls. Zeke had a blast and noticeably improved in his return skills throughout the day.

Presents - he had eagerly been anticipating this! We gave him a bulletin board to hang his treasures on. Plus, pinned to the board was a voucher for family bowling. 

And lots of clothes. Not the most exciting part but definitely needed. This boy is growing like crazy! And he got some Star Wars shirts so he was happy. Not so happy about the tissue paper glitter migrating to his new shirts though. 

Blowing out the candles with a little cousin by his side.

Love this boy and his goofy, loving personality. He tells me jokes and makes me laugh, and he appreciates the silly jokes I bring home from work. He works hard at school and is learning so much all the time. He still loves cuddles and hugs and will sit on my lap. Happy 9th birthday Zeke!

Easter Eggs -- and Carrots

Easter has become one of my favorite holidays. I love the festivity, the traditions, and the simplicity of it all. And the springtime! There weren't any flowers yet this year, but still, you could tell spring was on the way. 

Coloring eggs. Fast and furious with these two. 

The finished product. 

Hiding eggs around the house. We came up with some great hiding spots this year. Zeke requested this one. 

This was Aaron's idea. Love it!

One of the highlights of the day was Nora combining her Easter presents from grandma. She used her new watering can to 'water' and 'grow' her Reese's Pieces carrot. So cute!

Colorado Cabin Vacation

We took an end-of-summer trip to Estes Park, Colorado with Aaron's family. All 21 of us stayed in this group reunion cabin. The kids were so excited to go on vacation to a 'log cabin'. 

The venue had some amusing idiosyncrasies, like the super creaky floors and the crazy narrow (and low ceilinged) stairs. But- every family did have their own bedroom, and the bunkhouse had beds for all of the kids! They loved bunking with their cousins.  

The cabin 'village' had a bunch of amenities, including an outdoor pool. Nora declares this was her favorite part. We also tried to teach the kids to play ping pong (which didn't work out) and they spent some time on the playground.

Estes Park is a fun little town. There were lots of options for things to do. We couldn't resist mini golf for $3 a person. It was a cute 18-hole course and it looked like the nice older gentleman who took our money (cash-only) pretty much lived there and took care of the place. Our kids had never mini golfed before, although they were so excited to try. We spent a lot of time teaching them technique. Zeke had moments of frustration but really did catch on quickly. He was doing really well by the time we got to the end. Nora took a lot more coaching. 

We had such a blast at the golf course that our family of 4 went back again for another round the next afternoon. We played pool at the bowling alley had planned to go bowling after (which our kids have been asking to do for a long time!) but the kids wanted to putt putt again. The second time went a lot faster and Zeke is on his way to becoming a master miniature golfer. He even got a hole in one!

Sunday was our down-time day. We played a lot of games and sat around the fireplace and chatted. Here is Zeke's stinky garbage can he drew in Telestrations.

....And.... Sunday was Nora's 5th birthday! We made some donuts and sang happy birthday to her and she couldn't have been happier. 

After singing and donuts, we went out for a bonfire and smores and the kids put on a talent show. It was cute and fun and I think it very well could become a family tradition. 

The one thing I didn't do that I wanted to was go into the town to walk the main street and do some shopping. There were some fun-looking shops and those who did shop came back with some really unique souvenirs. It's okay though, because I traded shopping for more down time / cousin play time, which Zeke says is his favorite part of the trip.

Zeke's Pizza Party

We celebrated Zeke's 8th birthday with a fun octopus cake

and a stack of pizzas

and some wonderful friends

 and train rides. The train was an unexpected bonus (thanks Grandpa!)

After a lot of playing outside, some pizza, and some more playing outside, Zeke opened presents and we had cake/cupcakes and ice cream. Some people made root beer floats, and grandma and grandpa brought rice krispie treats too.

Then it was back outside for more playtime until parents came. And - surprise! - the sprinklers turned on! Everyone screamed and some ran away, but most everyone came back to play in the sprinklers and it turned into kind of a pool party. Not what I had in mind for 8 pm in early May, but they had a blast!

A few of them left soaking wet, and very happy!

Happy, happy 8th birthday to my wonderful Zeke! He is an awesome student and really works hard to do well. He has a bit of a perfectionist streak in him, which both drives him and frustrates him at the same time. For the most part it works for his good. He treasures his [limited] free time when he can play games on the computer, play board games, build tracks for trains, race hot wheels cars, go on bike rides, and play outside. One of my favorite things to do with him is snuggle in at bedtime and read together. He makes me laugh and I love him more everyday!

Aaron's 40th Birthday

Aaron turned 40 in February and decided he really did want to blow out 40 candles. 

So, on his birthday morning, that's how we started the day.

 I'm glad he chose tealights and not regular birthday candles. Smart decision. 

And he did manage to blow them out in one big breath! It was awesome.

After church we came home and relaxed and ate cake after lunch and again after dinner. Mmmmm. We were so excited to eat it that I forgot to take a picture of the whole cake. But Nora let me borrow her piece for a quick photo. 

Valentine's Day Flying Fun

All Aaron wanted for Valentine's Day was to go flying. So we took him flying!

Zeke didn't get to fly, but he did help retrieve the plane. 

We also had a picnic lunch. It was a little windy so we turned the back of the van into a fancy Valentine's cafe for these two cute kids. 

I served up some turkey and cheese sandwiches and chocolate hearts for dessert. 

It was a great day of family fun. And we appreciated a little festive Valentine's love on the freeway. 

Christmas Gifts

It was a beautiful Christmas this year. We did a lot of giving, and I'm sure that made Christmas even better. This was the first year we did gifts for primary teachers and neighbors in addition to school teachers. We had so much fun with and it will definitely be continued in the years to come. 

For the school and primary teachers, we did chocolate bell Christmas trees. It was a group effort, with everyone contributing to our brainstorming and trial runs with multiple types of Christmas candy. They turned out better than I planned and I am thrilled that they were so cute!

The kids give books to each other every year. They were so excited to pick out and wrap their surprises. One fun new thing this year is Nora can write, and she filled out her own gift tag on Zeke's present.

Of course for mom and dad the best part of Christmas morning is watching the happy smiles and hearing (Nora's) squeals of delight.

Zeke declared that this was his best Christmas ever. And it was wonderful, a day of giving and receiving and being with our family.