My 4 Year Old Firefighter

James wanted to have a firefighter/Planes Fire and Rescue party for his birthday. It was a fun party to plan! I resisted decorating until after James went to bed the night before because I wanted to surprise him. I'm glad I waited because he was so excited when he saw the flames everywhere.  

First the kids decorated firefighter hats with sticker. 

Then they colored pictures to put on the wall. The pictures are still hanging on our wall now several weeks later.

We played pin the water on the forest fire. Now I know why my kids always want me to hang up their art on the fridge. I was so proud of this picture I drew! It's slightly embarrassing how long I left it up on the wall after the party only because I wanted to show it off a little longer.

We sang some firefighter songs.

Next came the favorite activity, the firefighter training obstacle course. The kids went under the table, up and down the slide, over the ladder, and ran through the kids 'burning' bedroom that was filled with red, orange, and yellow balloons.

 

Right before we had cupcakes, we did the pinata. I filled it up with graham cracker snacks and fruit snacks (I'm kind of boring like that). After we sang to James, he went to blow out his candles and nothing happened. I realized he had an entire package's worth of fruit snacks from the pinata in his mouth and he couldn't manage to get the candles out. His friends were kind enough to help. 

After cupcakes it was time for presents. James has the most thoughtful friends! They know him so well.

After presents, the kids played and danced. We put up that hoop so they could shoot their flying toys through the ring (that was James' idea). 

It was a great party and I'm glad we got to celebrate my favorite little boy. 

Oh, and just for the record, I had our amazing 10 year old neighbor girl come help out for the party. She was so much help! Best five dollars I ever spent.

January and February

The more it snows, the more Mt. Crumpit (the snow plow pile in front on our house) grows.

The kids have been pretty fond of the snow. The cold, not as much.

To get away form the cold, James and I went to visit the Middle East (Hi Brenda!!). The science museum was having a really cool exhibit about 'The Silk Road'. I learned so much!

 Christian and I went to the science museum for a work party. It was fun to go to the museum without kids and the food was really good. Not to mention I had a pretty cute date!

We got the kids a dresser from Ikea. Poor James had never had a dresser, just a fabric stacker in the closet. This one is big enough for all the kids clothes, even sweatshirts! James loves having drawers of his own.

I let the kids take apart the old dresser. 

 James was apparently so excited about the new dresser, he tried to sleep closer to it.

Speaking of new things, a friend gave Kate a pair of hand-me-down boots. James decided that since she got new boots, he got to wear her pink snow boots. He wore them everywhere for about a week. Then he decided to switch to firefighter rain boots. 

 There were days it wasn't snowy. A friend invited us to Star K Ranch. They have a class about nature and then all the kids go on a hike. It was so fun!

We also had some beautiful park days.

There was one day that was even so nice we went out to ice cream in short sleeves! Denver weather is so fickle, but I enjoy it.

We drove up to Boulder and went to a Utah basketball game. 

When we walked in and saw the court, James let out a loud, "WOWWWWWWW!!!!!"

Kate has been making all sorts of art projects. One of my favorites was this robot costume.

Right after Valentine's, Christian got ridiculously sick. He had me scared there for a while! It turned out to be strep. After about a 5 days and some antibiotics, he finally started to feel better. While he was sick he kept falling asleep sitting up.

Kate's school did a 'for the love of engineering' day. The director made sure that James got a chance to play with them to. I love how she looks out for the little guys.

This is a building the high schoolers made.

One of the moms from Kate's school put together a chess club for the kids. There were about 15 kids there. Kate was the youngest playing, but she held her own!

Finally, Kate and James went to the most adorable tea party and their friend Ana's house for her birthday. They came home with these hats. Aren't they cute?

Lovely Love

 Valentine's Day was busy. In the morning I had a baby shower at my house for my friends Virginia and Jessica (the girls on either end of the couch). The kids spent the morning with Christian and the Wildlife Experience.

 Here was the spread. I was pleased with the way my polk-a-dot decorations turned out.

In the afternoon we went as a whole family to the park.  

For dinner we headed to Uncle Maddio's pizza. These are my cute, wonderful Valentines.

 I realized later that day that we had already had pizza once that week--Valentine Pizza with X's, O's and hearts. Oh well, no one complained.