Our Amazing Man of The House

A post fully dedicated to the man who works so hard so the rest of us can play all day:

First his super softball skills.

Where we would have sat had we made it there in time to see more than this

The final "good game" hand shake

So Tough.

I did make him hold the bat and pose for this photo

Still in great spirits after tasting defeat! They all seemed to have had a great time. But I'm not sad that I skipped out on the softball tournament this year. I'd much prefer just watching my man swing that bat!

Next up his cool choir capabilities!

George Dyer came to town to do a benefit concert for Kids Against Hunger. A choir accompanied him during a few numbers and they asked Blake to take part.

Can you see him?

How about now?

They sounded really great. George Dyer is one of the top 10 tenors in the world apparently. He has a beautiful and powerful voice and was also very entertaining. Which was fortunate, because two hours of sitting in their chairs and being quiet was asking quite a bit of Kayli and Bryce. Near the end Bryce was really struggling to hold it in. I could tell he was trying really hard to behave, but I was afraid that at any second he was going to climb on his chair and do a Tarzan yell as he finally released his pent up energy. But somehow he made it through.

And the choir numbers were really great. We couldn't really see Blake, but we'd listened to him rehearsing, so I knew he sounded (and looked) amazing!

And last, but not least his Terrific Tucking-In Techniques.

He even lulled the dog to sleep. This photo is confusing in that Blake was awake and Zima was asleep, but they switched when the camera flashed.

And that's our Handsome Hero and Fabulous Father in a Nutshell!

Oh, No You Didn't!

You did not grow up without my permission and get big enough to go off to Kindergarten!

Or you did. A week and a half ago.

And you were so happy to do it!

She loves Scooby Doo, so finding a Myster, Inc. lunch box was huge.

Oh, you will be missed.

This is where she lines up to follow her teacher to her class.

I was worried about splitting these two buddies up.

Fortunately, my friend set up a little play date at the park for all of the younger siblings being left behind.

The tire swing is Bryce's favorite place to be.

Thanks so much for setting that up, Sarah! It really helped both of us get through the day!

Until it was time for her to return home. I let her ride the bus home.

She was nervous to get of the bus.

But she was so happy to be home and tell me all about her day.

She's loving Kindergarten. She's got a new friend named Grant. Apparently, he's a really good burper. I am so glad she's choosing good friends!

So far, she's come home super happy every day. She loves her teacher and her school. The bus has been scary for her. It hasn't helped that the bus came early three days and I wasn't there in time to get her! Don't think I'm a bad mom. I was still there 10 minutes early, the bus just came even earlier. Fortunately, a friend who actually lives close to the bus stop has helped us out. But she's getting the hang of things.

And so am I.

But it does appear to be completely wearing her out. She's a little bit of a crab apple when she gets home. Yay for school!

No Dot No

Back to the signs posted on my garage door on my birthday:

See the two parts on either side? That's an arrow pointing away from the way I "no dot no" should go.

Can you tell what this is a picture of?

It's this. And it's huge.

It's a friendly garden spider.

Right. It's a little too freaky for me. But apparently, it's helping to keep the grasshopper population down. The kids actually caught it in the act of devouring one. Yay for science lessons. Who needs kindergarten?

Technically, "our spider", as the kids call it, lives on the other side of the fence and he seems to keep to himself, so I suppose we'll let him stay. I just wish Kayli weren't so obsessed with watching him and trying to toss grasshoppers his way.

The Great Birthday Weekend Continues

I returned home to discover that the family was out finishing up some errands. And the garage door was decorated thus:

It says "No Dot No", so I thought it meant that I shouldn't go inside. I'll explain what it really meant in tomorrow's post.

When I walked in, I discovered this on the table. So nicely arranged by my cute husband.

Kayli wrapped this for me all by herself. I didn't even have to wait for her to tell me that. Somehow, I just knew.

It was a little elephant ballerina stencil she had recently acquired. See my pretty flower headband? It's there, behind my crazy bangs.

And Bryce gave me the same lipgloss that he's given away to each family member at least once since Christmas. Can you tell I got less than 3 hours of sleep?

Excitement and sleep deprivation do strange things to my neck and face muscles.

One of my gifts from Blake. One of two heart rate monitors. This isn't the one we kept. But apparently, we were so excited about that one, we failed to get a picture. But it is quickly becoming one of my best friends. It's a Garmin 405CX. It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Blake is the best gift giver.

I usually end up making my own cake/pie/whatever, but this year Blake insisted on taking care of it. So, we bought this delightful brownie cake.

The kids were pretty excited about it. It was a great end to a wonderful weekend. We also had pizza for dinner. Going back on the diet was rough, but it was nice to have a little break. And it served to confirm that Treyton is indeed still allergic.

Thanks again to everyone who took part in making this such a great and fabulous and wonderful birthday!

My First Birthday Party Since I was 17!

I typically dread my birthday. No matter how hard I try to fight it, I always get bratty and grumpy on my birthday. I feel like it shouldn't be a big deal to me since I'm an adult, so I try to downplay it, but then it really is a big deal to me and I get mad at everyone for not making a big deal of it.

Don't you envy Blake?

Anyway, this year I was too busy to dread it and it would have been a waste of time anyway because this year my birthday completely ROCKED!!!

Starting with a bunch of my girl friends the night before...

What?! We're going to dinner with five other beautiful ladies?!

He could hardly handle the excitement!

And seriously, I cannot get over how cute the thumb sucking is!

Anyway, some of my wonderful friends took me and another friend out for some wicked good times for our birthdays!

First to the Cheesecake Factory:

So pretty! And yes, I took 24 hours off of the MSPI diet. It was my birthday, after all!

The whole bunch of us! See the pretty flower in my hair? Okay, well you can't really see it well in this picture, but one of my cute friends made me a flower headband and I LOVE it! I also got a gorgeous pillow that fits perfectly in my living room, socks (wicked cute!), beautiful handmade book marks and book labels, yummy yummy smelling soy candle (hurray for fewer allergens in life!), and gorgeous Mary Kay eye makeup! My friends are so sweet!

And then we went shopping! We wandered Anthroplogie for a while and then I snuck off to buy myself a birthday present from The Loft--super cute trouser cut jeans--LOVE them!

And as if dinner and all the gifts and good times weren't enough, they took us to a darling bed & breakfast.

The sweet owner had made us a birthday cake.

My friends love cake. See how excited they are? One of them might have even had a slice of it for breakfast the next morning.

Aren't they cute? That's my fellow birthday friend on the left. Hers is just two days after mine.

Then we played games, talked our lips off, and stayed up obscenely late for mommies. 2:30 for some, 3:45 for me, and 5-ish for the truly wild women.

One actually slept like this. I could never sleep like that. Especially because we couldn't figure out how to get it cooler than 80 degrees in the house.

But eventually, she woke up to eat her quiche on the couch while others painted their nails. And we almost had a fist fight over where it's appropriate to clip your toenails.

I loved the decor inside the house. It was very eclectic and fun.

Like this chair.

I love this plate rack. That ladder leads up to a loft with another bed. It was ricketier that it looks. Yes, that is a word. I checked.

This is where we birthday girls slept. Or chatted, at least. Not much sleeping was done since the excitement of it all woke us up at 6:30 AM. Or, it might have been the heat.

I don't know why, but I loved this painting above the bed.

And I was a big fan of these baskets.

And all the baby-hungry hands willing to hold Treyton, leaving my mine free to feed my face, take pictures, or just hang by my sides. What a new and unfamiliar feeling!

This is what happened when I pulled my camera out. She is just really proud of her pajamas. And maybe that she is the one who thought of this whole crazy fun weekend. Thanks, Anna! And thanks to all of you for making my birthday weekend one of THE BEST EVER!!!

So, we had a nice relaxed morning eating the quiche and cinnamon rolls prepared by the owner. I received a birthday morning phone call from my family. Apparently, the kids were disappointed that they couldn't serve me breakfast in bed. So, I told them I'd take a rain check on that one (still waiting, hint hint. Just like I'm waiting for the post someone promised he'd type up on our anniversary. Hint hint).

And then we hurried home so I could see what fun fun fun my family had planned for me there!

Combo Catch Up Post

Yeah, I'm getting a little worried that I will be posting two weeks late for the rest of my life. Which is okay, I guess, except for two things: 1. My memory is a little sketchy these days, and 2. I won't be alive to post about the last two weeks of my life.

Yes. Blogging is that big of a deal.

Anyway, so this post is a conglomeration of events and not necessarily in chronological order with other posts.

So, the day that Grandma and Uncle Chris left was sort of a sad day for us. Therefore, we had to make it a happy day! While I drove my mom to the airport, Blake took Kayli and Bryce to a local water park. No pictures, but they're still talking about it, so it must have been lots of fun.

Immediately following my return, we loaded up in the car and headed off to a birthday party!

The cake was super cute and the kids had a lot of fun playing, but this is the only picture I took that wasn't blurry and didn't involve an inappropriate chest shot of any of my gal pals. And yesterday was the inappropriate post, so I stashed those and you just get this one of Kayli holding her cute cupcake while her friend looks on longingly.

And to top off our super fun Saturday, we washed the cars!

This little man is an amazing helper. He is getting so big and capable! I love it and I hate it, all at the same time.

It's hard being a mama sometimes.

And now fast forward (don't worry, I will still be posting about the exciting adventures that happened in between, they just deserve their own posts).

Last week a few of us got some new hairdos.

Daddy styled Treyton's. He was so excited about his new 'do, he could hardly contain himself.

You have to look very closely to see where Blake twisted his long, scraggly hairs into points. One on either side and one on the top. He's such a great daddy. Look how excited he is!

And then Kayli and I went out and got some tinsel in our hair.

Food on the face was optional, but do you see the pretty sparkles in her hair?

Here's mine.

It's hard to get it to show on camera. But it's pretty fun stuff. It's tied in and feel kind of like traditional tinsel, but you can wash it, blow it dry, use straighteners and curlers, etc. And it will slip out in a few weeks, I'm told.

Hers is mostly purple, but there's one multi-colored strand you can see right at the front there. It looks so pretty on her!

And there you have it. Now I'm off before I miss Kayli at the bus stop for the third day in a row! (In my defense, it has been extremely early the last two times. Yesterday I was there 10 minutes before it was supposed to get there and still missed it! Thank goodness for wonderful friends/neighbors!).