Mr. Two Turns Six

At the beginning of December, Mr. Two turned six.  How did he go from that cute curly haired baby to a kindergartener so quickly?

Here are his birthday requests:

hot dogs and chocolate cake for dinner
a fish/ocean party with just a few friends
a remake of his third birthday fish cake
lots of ninjas and Legos

Not too challenging of a list, except for the tiny detail: that it is quite difficult (thankfully not impossible) to find ocean themed party supplies in December...

After scouring too many stores to remember, looking for suitable offerings, I think we were able to pull off a fun, but not over the top party for my six year old cutie.

He loved opening gifts at Grammy and Grandpa's house after his hot dog dinner.

The other Mr.'s were all too willing to help him build his golden Ninjago dragon.

Just look at that big smile.  He was very excited to get a wizard's tower to go with his castle set.

Mr. Two is not one for big crowds, or lots of activity.  I knew that for this to be a good party for him, it needed to be small and low key.  He only invited five friends, two of which could not make it, as well as his brothers.  That number was just right for him.  I kept the activities simple and let them spend time just playing in the yard for a good portion of the time.  That worked out well with this group.  I borrowed a few ideas from this super fun party at Delia Creates.

For his party, I filled the water table with water beads and an assortment of plastic ocean animals and colored gems.  It was a good open-ended, easy activity to start with.  This was a big hit at the party, especially with Mr. Four!

We made ocean "snow" globes for part of the activities, as well as a take home favor.  The boys loved choosing their animals and shells, then adding the glitter.  Mr. Two and Mr. Three had lots of fun playing in the colored water afterwards as well...

We played "Don't Eat Pete" with the ocean animal printable from the Delia Creates party.  The boys loved that!

Another birthday request was that Uncle Zach come to his party.  Zach was so sweet to come and play a round or two of Go Fish with the boys and enjoy some cake.  It really made the party special for Mr. Two.

Here he is blowing out the candles on his fish cake!  This year I added chocolate rocks ("aquarium gravel") to the cake, along with the graham cracker goldfish and the fruit roll up seaweed.  Such a fun cake!

We also had jello oceans along with the cake, with gummy sharks swimming inside.

Opening presents with his friends.  I cannot say how wonderful it is to have a nice back yard with a big covered porch right now!  The weather was so nice and it was so much better to have the party outside, with all these active little boys!

I sent the boys home with a little sand bucket and shovel, some chocolate fish, gummy fish, Goldfish crackers, and bubbles, along with their ocean globes.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Two, my quiet, creative little boy.  I hope your birthday was as unique and fun as you are!

The Force is Strong With This One... Mr. Three Turns Three

Mr. Three has taken to a mild obsession with Star Wars along with his older brothers.  On any given day, he is Yoda, or Luke Skywalker, or Darth Vader, or a Storm Trooper, or Chewbacca...  He is often found gripping his light saber pen as we drive around town running errands.  His Star Wars figures are left in various places around the house as evidence that he has been occupying that particular space.  Darth Vader, Luke, and an occasional Batman are regulars at the breakfast table.

We have seen this Darth Vader video so many times, I have lost count.  So it just made sense to feed the Star Wars fascination for his birthday.  Right?

When asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he told me he wanted cake pops.  Nice try Mr. Three, but not going to happen!  On second thought, he decided on pizza and a chocolate cake with white frosting and chocolate sprinkles.  So off to Grandpa's and Grammy's house for pizza on the grill and a chocolate Oreo-studded cake we went.

He received lots of Star Wars gifts and he was a very, very happy little boy!   Love the pizza sauce smudges on those cheeks.

 Look!  The Millenium Falcon, Mommy!  Two Han Solos, several droids, a few bad guys and a speeder bike or two later, and we enjoyed a piece of cake (after peeling all the boys off of the loot).

With all of the excitement and attention on Mr. One and Mr. Four during the weekend, I think Mr. Three just enjoyed being the center of attention for his special day.  We were all glad to give him a little extra love, too.  How can anyone resist those big eyes and adorable chubby cheeks?!  I love this sweet boy!

Mr. Four Turns One

 
We had lots of family in town for Mr. One's baptism, so we opted to celebrate Mr. Four's first birthday on Easter, just a few days before his actual birthday. 

He didn't mind having a little extra attention for a few days.  He liked the ribbons and wrapping paper just as much as the gifts themselves.  He especially loved the presents that made noise, dancing to the music that some of them made.  He can really rock!

 

Mr. One really dug into his first cake, literally, but Mr. Two and Mr. Three wouldn't even touch their's.  We had high hopes for our food-loving Mr. Four.  And baby didn't disappoint! 

He dug right in and started picking off the M&M's from the top, then kind of lost interest. 

Funny enough, he got a knee in the cake, then realized how much fun squishing cake was, and got a fist- and foot-full of chocolate.  That was fun, but starting to get messy, so we had to put an end to the cake-stomping fun and put the birthday boy in the tub.

After a bit of cleaning up, we enjoyed some Easter cheesecake and chocolate pie with everyone before our out of town family had to hit the road. 

 

 

We saved a few gifts for him to open on his actual birthday.  I couldn't resist the piano and few more good books!

What a fun celebration!  I am in love with our happy, rosy-cheeked cherub.  What a perfect addition to our family he is! 

Mr. One Turns Eight

Mr. One turned eight earlier in March, and on Saturday, he chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I still can't believe I have an eight year old already.  How the time flies!

We knew that his baptism, especially being on Easter weekend, would be a big event, so we opted to let the focus be on this special ordinance, and we had a simple birthday party for him with family.  No friend party this year.  His birthday fell on a Saturday, so we had a fun, relaxed day together to celebrate.  The morning began with french toast and a late morning soccer practice.  After soccer, it was time for lunch.  Because this was a special birthday, we offered to take the whole family to a restarant of his choice for lunch.  He chose Ned's Crazy Subs.  So, off to Ned's we went!

After lunch, the boys played Lego Star Wars on the wii together for a while.  He opened some presents and we let him build some of his Lego sets (notice the Star Wars theme is still going strong at our house?).

That evening, we went over to my parents' house (they have a big tv and surround sound) for dinner and a movie.  Some of the aunts and uncles came over for the fun as well.  We ate pizza as we watched "Return of the Jedi."  I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of the day for all the boys!  They loved every minute of it.  I have to admit, I actually enjoyed watching too!

The next evening, we had a family dinner to celebrate and Mr. One picked the menu:  salad, french bread, spinach ravioli, and cake.  He requested the "chocolate cake with chocolate shingles."  Grammy, being a chocolate lover herself was happy to buy the decadent chocolate cake.  Yum!  If there was ever a doubt of who this cute boy's momma is, just look at his birthday menu.  Pretty much all my favorite foods, too.

My little sis Jenny made this amazing lego blanket for him.  I am so amazed with her talent.  He loved it!

Mr. One was baptized on Saturday, one day before Easter.  It was the perfect way to celebrate the true meaning of Easter:  to see him follow in the footsteps of the Savior and choose to become a member of His church, to be washed clean and spiritually reborn, to be baptized and confirmed by his father.  It was beautiful.

It was wonderful to have a full room of family and friends supporting him.  We had several out of town family members make the trip here, which was so special.  He even bore his testimony afterwards, so heartfelt and honest.  It was a treasured moment.

After the baptism, we had a luncheon at my parents' home (they have lots of space and are happy to let us entertain there).  Lots of yummy food and extra play time with cousins for the kids.  At the request of several family members, here is the menu and a few of the recipes we enjoyed that day.

Baptism Luncheon Menu

sub sandwiches

Mom's famous potato salad (eventually I'll post this one)

anitpasti pasta salad (recipe here)

veggies 

fruit salad (recipe here)

chips and dips

gingersnaps (recipe here)

no-bake cookies

caramel oat bars  (see below)

cake pops (recipe here although I used a yellow cake and chocolate frosting)  

(Mr. One's only request for the luncheon was cake pops and I was happy to oblige.)

Here is the caramel oat bar recipe:

Caramel Bars (made famous in our family by my Aunt Shelly)
2 cups flour
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream

Mix together ingredients with a spoon and pat into a 9x13 greased pan, reserving 1 cup of mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
Melt 1 bag Kraft caramels with 3/4 cup whipping cream.  Stir until smooth, then pour over baked mixture.  Crumble the reserved 1 cup mixture on top of the caramel layer.
Bake again for 15 minutes.
Try not to eat the whole pan all by yourself. ;)

Mr. Three's Second Birthday

Mr. Three turned two on General Conference weekend.  Since we were with my family that weekend watching conference, we celebrated his birthday together.  One of our traditions is making the birthday person's favorite meal.  This proved a challenge for Mr. Three.  He is a picky eater.  However there are a few things he will always eat:  strawberries, candy and bacon.  Yes, bacon.  We made sure to have lots of bacon on his special day, but the silly little guy wouldn't even touch it.  Well, we tried!  He did eat the strawberries, though.

We also decided that he would really like Nutella cupcakes, too.  (Ahem, maybe Mom decided he wanted them...)  They were delicious, but again, Mr. Two hardly touched his.

So the food didn't go over terribly well, but we sure hit the bulls-eye with his presents.

He was so cute opening up his presents all by himself, and exclaiming, "Oh!" after opening each one.

Four days a week, we walk Mr. Two across the elementary school campus to take him to preschool.  Mr. Three has watched with envy as his older brothers put on their backpacks and fill up their water bottles to go to school.  He will take their old backpacks and wear them all around the house.  I knew that he'd love to have his own water bottle and backpack.  Auntie Carla found a perfect little Toy Story pack for him.  We also found a Cars water bottle for him.  He wears his pack to take his brother to school most days, with his water bottle and other random items stuffed inside.  It's so cute!

Mr. Three also has a stuffed puppy that he sleeps with every night, and Aunt Sarah found a soft Snoopy for him to love on as well.  He snuggles up with his two dogs every night (well, when he actually decides to stay in his bed at night, but that's another post.).

I made him his own superhero cape, like his big brothers.  He wanted to put it on right away.  So cute!

Grammy and Grandpa also found him a little talking laptop.  He loves electronics, so this was a natural hit.  He especially likes to play with it during bedtime and nap time, any time he's supposed to be quiet.  Gotta love toddlers!

The last gift we found was a water activity table.  He loves playing in the water.  Remember this post?  This was the perfect gift for him, and Aunt Jenny's gift of water/sand toys was the perfect compliment.  He and his brothers can play happily outside in the water table for long periods of time.  I'm the one that has to stop the fun because, either they have started to make a large mud mess with all the spilled water, or Mr. Three has dumped most of the water out of the table onto the ground, himself and/or his brothers.

Mr. Three is such a happy addition to our family.  We love his fun-loving, independent spirit.  It has been especially exciting to have him start talking in sentences now.  He loves to parrot family members and likes to talk in the car.  We don't always understand all that he is saying, but he enjoys being part of the conversation.  His cheeks are totally kissable and I will take any hugs and kisses he decides to send my way!  Even with all of the mischief he can get into, we love having him in our home.

Mr. One turns Seven!

What?!  Mr. One is now seven.  Where is the time going?  I am really loving being a "grader" parent.  (Mr. One used to call the older kids at the elementary school "graders" when he started in kindergarten.  Love it.)  He is such a deep thinker and so very imaginative.  I love hearing things he thinks up.  He still loves anything Lego.  Cars are beginning to take a distant second to building and creating with Lego bricks.  Another sign of my boy growing up I guess.  Well, that is until he gets into the teen years when I have a feeling that cars will start taking up a bigger interest for him.  Of course then it will be real cars and not just Hot Wheels that are so very enticing.  Thank goodness I have several years to prep for that...

He woke up to birthday signs on the bedroom door (a family tradition) and several "Happy birthdays" from his family.  Then it was off to school with cupcakes to share with his classmates.  My little gift before school?  No chores that day!  His birthday fell on a half day for school, so Mike and I took him and Mr. Three (Mr. Two was at preschool still) to Sonic for lunch.  He was happy to get a kid's meal and a slushie.  I was happy to get a cherry limeade (why are those things so addictive?).  After getting Mr. Two from preschool, we played on the Wii together until the party at my parents' house.

Mr. One asked for a ninja party this year, so I started searching and pinning ideas I found all over the web for his festivities.  Then, he informed me that he just wanted to have a family party instead of a friend party.  Well, that was a relief!  I'm still glad to have cataloged ideas, as I can see that they may come in handy for future birthdays.

Here are his requests for his birthday.  He wanted fish for dinner, a Funfetti cake with chocolate frosting and ninjas on top, and to play with his cousins.  Easy enough. 

 

 

We had fish and tater tots with lots of Pete's Fish and Chips sauce, sushi for the adults, veggies and strawberries.  I found some little plastic ninjas at a nearby party store to top the cake.  Mike and I tried to create a yin-yang on top of the cake with sprinkles.  It was subtle, but turned out pretty well. 

After dinner, we opened presents (lots of Legos). 

It was also close to his younger cousin's birthday, so we had a train pinata for him, filled with Tootsie Roll candies.  The boys loved that!

Last, we donned some ninja headbands (strips of leftover solid colored material) and played sword games on the Nintendo Wii Sports Resort game with the whole family.  Simple and fun for all.

Every present he opened was followed by an exclamation of how it was just what he wanted.  He was genuinely thrilled with each gift, whether a t-shirt or a Ninjago Lego set.  He had such a great time, and I adore how happy he was just to spend his special day with his family.  How I love this sweet, ninja-loving, enthusiastic boy!

Love is... The Birthday Edition

I wrote this post soon after my birthday last year, but couldn't access the pictures I wanted, so I put it on hold.  I haven't done a "Love is..." post for a bit, so I'm sharing now.

While I don't relish adding another year to my age, there are several things that I do love about my birthday.

As I get older, the gifts themselves mean less and less and the thought behind them and the people who celebrate with me mean the most.

I had lunch with one of my sisters at Joe's Farm Grill.  We had a carb-fest with an order of loaded baked potato fries and sweet potato fries.  Don't worry, we also ordered the BBQ chicken salad just to add in something "healthy".  Mr. Three came along but didn't really eat a thing.  He did enjoy roaming around our table with his "cell phone" (aka my little purse calculator).

I had fun talking to lots of family members on the phone throughout the day, wishing me a happy birthday.

I enjoyed a quiet dinner date with my handsome husband that evening.  My birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, so there was no wait at California Pizza Kitchen.  We ended up finishing earlier than we expected, even with two courses and a good conversation.  With the night being relatively young, I decided to take the kiddos out with us for frozen yogurt.  I wanted to include my boys in the celebration.

They loved the unexpected treat.  Their excitement at the shop was another little gift to unwrap that day.  However, bedtime was another story.

Note to self:  Giving children sugary frozen yogurt at bedtime is not the brightest idea if you want them to go peacefully to sleep upon getting home.  Enough said.

I received some lovely gifts from family (thank you! :)), and had a really great Italian dinner with my extended family on Sunday.  The maple doughnuts were a fantastic ending note (thanks Seth!). 

I love opening presents and all of the well wishes from loved ones, but  I wanted to save my best gift for last on this post.

I look forward to my husband's creative ways of saying Happy Birthday each year, and this year did not disappoint.  As I went about my day, I started noticing little pink paper hearts tucked throughout the house with short and sweet messages on them.  I called him in the middle of the day to say thank you.  He asked me how many I found, and I responded, oh, about 5.  He paused, then said something that gave me the sense that there were more.  So the hunt was on. 

It was interesting how I didn't realize that there were sweet little hearts all over the house, in obvious and not-so-obvious places.  I just didn't think to really look beyond the obvious few I had found in my bathroom.  There were 33 hearts in all (oops, I just gave away my age!).  I had the best time finding these tiny heartfelt notes, smiling and soaking in the compliments.  It changed my whole outlook on my day.  Oh how I love this man!

Then, I started thinking, isn't this just how real love is?  If you only see the obvious signs of love, you are missing out.  It was amazing to me how quickly I started finding all of the other hidden notes when I was in the frame of mind to look and seek them out.  Some of them were literally right in front of my nose, and I had somehow missed them earlier in my day.  I am guilty of taking my relationship for granted at times.  I just know my husband is there, and feel a general sense of happiness and wholeness when we are together.  That is a wonderful thing. Oh, but when I take that little bit of time to focus on specific reasons why I love him, or the ways I see our love developing and deepening, I feel such joy and gratitude!  This is a blessing.

Love can't be bought.  Love often is simple things done with purpose.  Love is thinking of someone else and finding ways to make them happy.  Most importantly, we can each gain greater love by seeking out all of those small manifestations around us that show that love is still there and is, in fact, growing.