Jared's Birthday Party

It has been a year since my last post, but Kristin inspired me to try blogging again, so here goes!  Today was Jared's birthday party.  We celebrated on his actual birthday with the family, but it has taken a full month to be able to find a good day to have his friends over for a little celebration.  At one point (I think we were eating pizza), Jared leaned over and said to his friend, "This is the best party ever" (or something along those lines!).  I'm so glad he had a good time! 

During the third hour of our Wal*Mart shopping trip for the party, Jared started repeating the word "hibernation" over and over and over again.  He actually did really well for such a long shopping spree.  As soon as we got home, he wanted to fill the piñata with candy.  He picked out a really cute dinosaur piñata and named it Tommy.  It was actually almost too cute to hit with a stick. 

We invited 2 friends from church, and a friend from the library, plus siblings!  It ended up being a really nice party, I thought.  Jared opened each present as it arrived... a bit non-traditional, but it was the way it worked out!  Emily had prepared a bunch of water balloons and a tic-tac-toe game. 

As soon as the pizza got here, we dug in!  Then we did the treasure hunt.  Matthew prepared the coolest map, with a puzzle piece at each location.  The map and puzzle were both painted with watercolors!  The kids had to put together the puzzle to reveal a picture of where the treasure was hidden.  The puzzle was a bit harder for the kids to do than we had thought it would be, but they eventually figured it out!  The treasure was hidden in the cabinet under the TV.  Each of the kids got a brown paper bag with a Hot Wheels car (for the boys), a mini composition book and pencil, bubbles, and Play-Doh.  The little girls got a Dora bracelet with lip gloss.  It was kind of hard to find cool treasures at Wal*Mart without spending a lot. 

Next up was the piñata ("Tommy")!  It didn't take long for the kids to crack it open...Emily and her friends didn't even get a chance to to hit it!  But the kids all seemed to get plenty of candy, and no one fought or got upset about it! 

Whenever there was a little break between activities, the kids would go back to Jared's room and play with his toys.  They tried out the bow and arrows, and the cash register and McDonald's play set were a big hit!  I guess it was a big deal, because Jared hasn't had very many friends over to play since we've moved in here.  There aren't many neighbor kids around here at all.  We invited one little girl from across the street, but didn't hear back from them.  I didn't know Patty's grandkids were here visiting, or we would have invited them.  Patty is a really nice neighbor lady. 

After the piñata, we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes and ice cream.  Some of Jared's friends requested their own candle in their cupcake.  His friends were all very sweet and polite.  After the cake, we got ready to do water balloons.  Em had spent a lot of time getting them ready, so it was a real bummer that all the balloons were broken by the time she and her friends got outside.  The little kids were so intrigued by the balloons, they just kept throwing them on the grass and watching them burst!  It only took a couple of minutes for all of the balloons to be broken :(  We ended up continuing the party for an extra hour, with the sprinkler and then the Slip 'n Slide.  The kids all seemed to have fun in the water! 

I'm glad Jared finally got to have his party.  He's already talking about his future birthday parties!

Hopefully, we can post some party pictures tomorrow!

Now I'm thinking of all the other posts I can write...Emily's birthday, Spring Break... San Diego (in a week!!!)  I'm so excited about this trip, I can hardly believe we're really going!!!

Tulsa!

Wow!  A lot has changed since my last post!  The biggest change is that we have left the lone star state, and now live in the panhandle state!!  The drive up was rough...felt so sleepy...ate lots and lots of pretzels to help me stay awake!  We feel a little bit homeless, and Nellie kind of adds to the effect.  The hotel in Sherman, Texas was really nice, and we have really liked our hotel room here in Broken Arrow, so much so that one night has turned into 5 nights...and counting! 

Tonight, we got to have a picnic dinner with Kristin, Bryan, and Nora.  They are on their way up to Michigan, and were able to make a pit stop!!  The kids had so much fun running around and playing together.  It was such a sweet moment in time!  *We got a few pics...will try to post!!!

Nellie really enjoys sleeping under a chair in our hotel room, but as soon as we leave the room with her, she goes nuts, barking wildly at everyone!  It's upsetting, especially when she barked like crazy at the nice lady at Camp Bow Wow today, and they had to turn her down as a camper.  They did recommend some classes on socializing at PetSmart, and I'm really thinking about trying it out.  Our lives are kind of revolving around her this week, because we can't leave her in the hotel room for 5 minutes without our neighbor getting spastic about her barking and waking her from her nap.  So she goes everywhere with us and sits in the car with the a/c running, while we do laundry, play at Carl's Jr., etc.

We are hoping everything will go through with the sale of our house on Pinecroft...we will miss that house, especially the treehouse!!!  We are ready to make an offer on a house in Claremore!  The setting is my favorite part...open fields, hills, just very serene and peaceful...  We love the ward, the schools are supposedly really good...the only negative is lots of driving for Matthew to get to work (about 45 minutes each way!)...  I hope it's the right choice. 

Jared and Emily have been so sweet together, playing all these little games that they come up with...one where Jared acts like a baby, and Emily has to cover him up with all the pillows...Emily spinning J around super fast in the chair...one day, it was so cute hearing them talking...they were just laying on the bed and having the most serious conversation about what kind of gummy bears and ice cream they like...Emily has been so great with him.  It makes me so happy, because this hasn't always been the case!  I was hoping this move would help us grow closer as a family, especially Em and J, and so far, it seems to be working!

Well, I will sign off for now, but I'm feeling really good about the direction things are headed...I would really like to start exercising soon and working on some personal goals like that, so I can feel more comfortable in my own body!  Good night for now!

Birthday party fun!!

J-Bo (that's Matthew's nickname for Jared)

some of Jared's recent sayings:

Me already did throw up.

No me like it.

No please eat it. (if he hands me something he wants me to save for him to finish eating later)

Somebody's sleeping (if he wants me to be quiet or stop singing)

also, on a recent trip to the mall, Jared was extremely uncomfortable around the female Easter bunny, and wants to make sure she won't be wherever we're going now. He wanted gummy bear earrings at claire's really badly, so to console him, I decided to get him a Build a Bear. (It was Emily's birthday present to J. He got some earrings for her as a birthday gift.) He was a bit overwhelmed by the whole Build a Bear experience, but Em helped him choose a nice, less expensive puppy. He named him Chocolate Chip. It was awesome how much fun the doctor had today, doing an exam on Chocolate Chip! too bad it didn't work as well at home, when Chocolate Chip took his medicine. We're having a rough time getting Jared to take this antibiotic. It actually does taste really bitter, even with the bubble gum flavoring! :(

Soon to come...a photo of Jared's mud bath

A not-so-spiritual nursery moment

I really felt the Spirit in sacrament meeting today, but in nursery... not so much!

Things were coasting along pretty well at first...Our nursery leader was out today, so by default, I was "in charge" (I use this term very loosely).

We were at our usual 1:1 ratio, with 4 kids vs. me, 2 subs, and a dad. The dad kept trying to sneak out, but his son wouldn't stand for it. The problem is, when this little guy gets upset, he doesn't just cry, he throws up. So, as soon as the dad finally snuck out to teach his Primary lesson, I took the big lid off of the trash can, and had it ready to go, with the little boy on my lap, and sure enough, within about a minute, he was barfing into the trash can! I was pretty pleased that not too much got on the carpet this time, and none (that I know of) landed on my new dress, but one of the subs was having a really hard time. I guess she can't stand the smell of throw-up, and if she even hears someone doing it, it could make her throw up.

Of course, the other 3 kids were trying to eat their snacks while all of this was happening. Luckily, there was not a chain reaction with the kiddos.

Someone asked where the dad was, and I said he was teaching Primary, and I tell you, I have never seen 2 ladies jump out of their chairs so fast, racing for the door! They both declared, "I'll teach his lesson!" at the same time, but the one who declared it more firmly and reached the door first was the winner.

So...the dad ended up back in the nursery, we opened one of the doors for some fresh air, had a few good laughs, and we even found a bubble machine and ended the day on a high note.

Sadly, the lady with the really weak stomach did not win the 2 yard dash for the door.

Flower Girl

My first attempt at posting a pic! Emily with her new flower lamp from Grandma Joannie!