Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah

We just couldn't bring ourselves to buy JR yet another Wii/Nintendo game for his birthday.

So we figured this year we'd try buying him a gift that you don't unwrap.

We took him ziplining.

And when I saw 'we', I mean Jason also ziplined and I stayed safely on the ground taking pictures.

Kyle and Reed even got into a little bit of the action.

They let them try out the practice zipline!

But it was the two big guys that had the serious fun.

2 hours of ziplining.

I'm pretty sure they're both "hooked"!

No Way That's Possible

There's no way it was 8 years ago today that I drove myself to the hospital.

No way that little baby I had 8 years ago, looked like this this morning.

(I know. His shirt is awful.

I was in Vegas when I found it and knew he would love it.

Of course, it's his favorite shirt.)

He's so much like me,

and so much like Jason.

So much like both of us...

Never passing up a moment to be the center of attention.

Fashion Fabulous Friday

Pirates of the Caribbean Birthday Party Edition

I was seriously excited when JR said he wanted a Pirates of the Caribbean theme for his birthday, cause I knew that meant one thing.

Costumes!

I might have had a little too much fun dressing up the party guests.

It wouldn't be Kyle if he didn't demand 'pink'.

Kyle and Reed had been walking around with skulls and crossbones on their cheeks for a few days. 

They happily let me practice on them before the "big event".

 The eye-patches got the flip-up treatment quite a bit. 

It's kinda hard to paint pottery and eat pizza with one eye.

The earrings became a huge hit later in the party. (You can see Jacob wearing one here.)

I saw earrings dangling from everywhere.

Especially their noses!

But what do you expect from a party with 11 boys and 1 girl?

It's Pretty Easy Being Three

I can no longer play the sympathy card by saying, "I have twin-two-year-old boys".

Because I now have twin-three-year-old boys!

When I asked Kyle and Reed what they wanted to do for their birthday they told me,

"Blow out candles with Price."

"Eat donuts with Price."

Well, that was easy.

 Done. And Done.

But before we headed over to Price's house yesterday, I drove through "Old McDonald's" and let them have a little pre-breakfast breakfast.

Price was more than happy to "blow out candles and eat donuts", although they made a last minute decision to switch out donuts for blue cupcakes. 

After a non existent nap, (they laid in their beds and screamed, "Is it still my birthday?!" for an hour) it was time to pick up JR and take him to piano lessons.

And since piano lessons just happen to fall during happy hour, they thought they could use a little birthday pick-me-up.

Kyle and Reed finished up their day with cake and presents at home. 

It certainly wasn't a party the likes of JR would find acceptable, but my little guys were happy as could be.

I Guess I Should Mention It

So I figured I should write about Thanksgiving day since that is the reason we went to Texas in the first place.

First, and most importantly, it was Jason's birthday.  And though we celebrated what felt like a million times, and this picture was taken a few days before at his dad's house, I figured I better include it so I don't hear, "Why didn't you say anything about my birthday being on Thanksgiving?"

My parents had 31 family members over for lunch, or as we call it in the South, "dinner". I didn't get out my camera since I was too busy talking and stuffing my face, but my cousin, Kristi, did snap this picture of our boys right before they left.  It was one of those, "Oh! We need to take a picture of JR and Caleb!"

JR and Caleb are 6 months a part and both in 2nd grade.  JR certainly has some growing to do if he's going to catch up to Caleb.

That evening we had a visit from everybody's favorite friend, JD. At one point I felt like JD was the celebrity guest star on the Muppet Show.  My 3 children surrounded him on all sides (one above his head) while they played the keyboard, a toy horn, and sang. 

JD also inherited a "cool" new nickname.  Kyle started calling him "ABC".

I'm not sure if Kyle just gave up on all the initial names (JR! JD!), or it was because when I told them to sing for JD (isn't that what you do when an opera singer comes to visit, make him listen to your kids sing?) that Reed broke out into his rendition of the ABC Song.  I'm guessing the latter.

Before I go I just had to add this little extra bit. Kyle just climbed in my lap to look at the pictures.  He pointed at JD and said, "There's ABC! There's ABC!"

Not Just a Turkey of a Day

This is what 40 looks like.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Party.Party.Party.Party.Party.

You counted right.

That would be five parties.

Five parties from Saturday to Saturday.

Party hop with me...

Party #1- I hosted a Christmas themed baby shower. 

Of course, I have no pictures since I was trying to be a good hostess. 

AKA: "Okay y'all, so get something to eat and drink whenever you want. And don't worry, we won't be smelling diapers smeared in chocolate candy.  Our game for today is just to visit with each other." 

Party #2- Jason's surprise 40th birthday party. 

Surprisingly (pun intended), I really did surprise him!

I knew he had no idea when I casually told him where we were going to dinner and he said, "Why are we going there? I went there for lunch one time and I didn't like the food."

(He did like the food for his birthday dinner.)

But how could you not? Just look at that cake they made him!

Party #3-Kyle and Reed celebrate Price's 3rd birthday. 

We let the boys party during small group with chocolate donuts. 

(I use the term "small group" in the truest form of the word since the only members are Niki and me!)

I couldn't find any birthday candles, but the boys seemed to think that was just fine!

  Photos taken by Niki (which is why they are amazing).

Party #4- JR attended an ice skating birthday party. 

JR and his buddy/our neighbor Jacob (who was not the birthday boy).

Party #5- Shelly's 30th sort-of surprise birthday party.

I went in search of appropriate party hats for the big occasion, and since I don't have a Target, Hobby Lobby, or Party City in a sixty mile radius I came up empty handed.  I took my own stash of Christmas hats as a substitute.  (On a related note, can you believe our WalMart doesn't sell feather boas?! What a travesty!)

Picture stolen from Shelly's Facebook page.

Tiffany, Jill, Tiffany, and Ashley waiting for the birthday girl to arrive.

Picture taken with my sad, little camera phone since Jason took the real camera on his hunting trip.

With all these parties I'm finally feeling in my element.  Let's keep it up!

7 Year Extravaganza

The 7 year extravaganza started bright and early this morning with hugs. And no, Kyle and Reed aren't usually "allowed" to hug JR, but I guess it was okay since they were wishing him "Happy Bir-day, Jar".


I have no idea where he got the idea that he needed breakfast in bed, but it was high on the list of requests.


Mini golf was also high on the list...although it was a pretty big decision if it was going to be mini golf or bowling.


And of course, Chinese food for dinner. Does anybody else see the irony that Harry picked to eat at Serious Texas BBQ last night after graduation and JR picks to eat Chinese food for his birthday?


JR wanted to try sushi for the first time. And yes, you're right, sushi isn't Chinese food. But we live in Durango, and since there's probably only about 20 Asians in the whole town, I let it slide that it's on the menu.
The tasting went really well at first.


But then quickly took a turn for the worse....

But it was nothing a trip to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert couldn't fix.

Baby Talk: Wow, It's Been Awhile

Reed: I can't even remember the last time Mommy let us talk. It's been forever! But she has to let us do whatever we want today because...Woo-Hoo, It's our birthday. Feel free to clap along with me.

Kyle: It's not so fun to have a birthday 2 weeks after Christmas. Mommy wasn't really in to planning a big party since we'd just had a big Christmas.

Reed: Luckily for Mommy, we're only 2 this year so we were just as happy with cake and presents at home as a big party.

Kyle: But I'd also like to add, I've seen the pictures of JR's big 2nd birthday bash, so I'm just letting Mommy know we'll expect some big shindigs in the future.

Reed: How cool is our cake? Yo Gabba Gabba is one of our favorites!

Kyle: We each had "Happy Birthday" sang to us and we each had two candles to blow out.

Reed: And I danced and sang along. "Happy Birthday" is one of my favorites. We both also screamed "ice cream" just to make sure we'd get some of that too!

Kyle: And then it was time for the best part...

Reed: Presents!

Reed: So here's to the 2's!

Kyle: 2 years old

2 of us

and ready to have 2 much fun!

Party, Party!

We had JR's 6th birthday party today and it was quite a success. Being that JR's still the new kid, I was a bit worried that he wouldn't have much of a turnout, but with 14 kids at his party, I'd say that's a turnout! We rented the clubhouse in our neighborhood, which is some of the best money we ever spent. Other well spent money: the bouncy castle. In Houston the bouncy castles don't get much of a work-out. It's just so hot that the kids bounce 2 minutes and then their done. Well, here in "perfect weather now that it's finally spring land" that's not the case. The kids would have been happy to bounce for the whole 2 hours. I had plenty of games planned that we never played (limbo and musical chairs need not apply when there's a bouncy castle) and I actually had to go get 3 boys out of it AFTER they'd been told it was time for cake and ice cream. I said, "He guys, It's time for cake and ice cream!" And they said, "That's okay, we don't want any, we want to stay here." Um, who turns down cake and ice cream? Not this Texan! I made a deal with them that if they'd come sing Happy Birthday they could go right back and bounce. We wrapped up the party with a pinata, which will get kids out of a bouncy castle and was a really big hit (literally). I had to laugh when one of JR's friends told me he was "so good at pinatas because [he's] a German Mexican". Maybe he should meet my mom the German Jew!

This Week in Birthdays

Happy Belated Birthday (Monday, 8/4) to my very first friend I made at UT! Happy late birthday, Caroline!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, yesterday, 7/25 to the most fun caterer and gourmet chef I know...Kelly!

Today in Birthdays

Happy Birthday to my second favorite twins (they were my favorite twins until about 6 months ago when Kyle and Reed took over the top spot,) Marcia and Shari! And to my favorite opera singer, and former student, J.D. Roberts. (Sorry, I don't have a recent pic of you, J.D., and I didn't think you'd appreciate me busting out any of the old ones.) Happy Birthday!