Alternative Celebration

For my dad's birthday we were going to take him out to the new Bass Pro Shop in Manteca, hang out, look at the giant fish tank, get some lunch...until I noticed it doesn't have it's grand opening until three days later. Bummer. But instead we still went to lunch, at Carl's Jr., for the kids. Mom was at work, but Dad was there of course, me, the kids, Thomas and his friend Tyler. We showed up and there was no one else in the play area, whu-who, so we could sit around and chat while the kids played.

Thomas tried to go back to his childhood and play on the slide with the kids, but he almost broke himself.






I am tempted to cut my hair a few more inches so I can tease Thomas his hair is longer than mine.


See and compare...


Tyler


And the birthday boy himself.


Thomas tried to challenge him to a little Irish boxing, but there were little kids present, so maybe they'll take up the challenge later.


But the birthday celebration wasn't over... ice cream pics to come later.

We have entered the season of birthdays in my family. And today is my dad's day!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We are so excited to celebrate with you...and we'll have to celebrate again in Manteca next week.

Spa Kids

Last Saturday while all the husbands were busy some of us mommies decided to get together for a kids-allowed girls night. Our friend Christy has this great pool and spa that the kids of course LOVE and would have stayed in all night if we had let them. Almost all of them would have anyway. M likes to take a quick dip and then run laps.





J lost his water wings, but his friend had a pair for him to borrow. After climbing out of the spa I made him stop to take a few pics and he was cold.




It's hard to believe last summer he'd throw a fit if we forced him into the water and now we can't keep him out. He jumps right in and thinks it's the coolest thing to go all the way under. He uses floaties this year, but I'm betting next summer he'll learn to swim.

Poor Jen in the middle of all those splashy kids.

And look at all these cuties we all got to hang out with.










Then we ate pizza and caramel corn and didn't get home to almost 10 that night and they were exhausted. It's just too bad they didn't sleep in the next morning.

And oh ya...

...it's a girl!



That's her head to the right and her bum to the left. She's folded in half with her legs pointed back up her body kicking herself in the head...a very clear view this time.

Messy Beds and "Naps"

I'll admit it. I am horrible at making my bed...although not as bad as I use to be. I've been forced into making it about three days a week now. See, back in the days when it was "my bed" the sheets and blankets stayed where I put them. They would be nicely laid out, I'd climb in and sleep, and when I got up in the morning they were basically in the same place they started. Then I got married and that whole scenario changed completely. Nathan has a talent for messing up the covers. I'll wake up in the middle of the night with either no covers on me at all or completely buried and sweating because in his unconscious state he decided he was hot or cold. And he does this crazy weird thing in his sleep where he manages to pull the flat sheet out from under all the other blankets and throw it on the floor. How does he do that while under the covers and leave the rest of the blankets behind??? So you see, after a few days our bed is just a twisted mess and I have to pull everything straight and tuck and wedge all I can under the mattress so I still have covers on me after an hour of being in bed. Which brings me to the point...

...my kids seem to be attracted to my neatly made bed. As soon as it is fluffed and smoothed, they climb right in and "take a nap". A nap that messes up the covers almost as badly as Nathan. I have to guard my bedroom just to keep it made. So today they "napped" for a bit with party blowers.





And M was strangely in the mood to pose for me today. I just wish I had her in a cute outfit and ponytails. Or at least pants.

Poster Paint

Give my kids a little paint, and look what they do to themselves.

Back to Blogging

Our poor computer has once again tried to up and kick the bucket, but we refuse to let it go. I guess we're just not ready to say goodbye....or we just don't want to dish out the cash to upgrade. Nathan was able to do a little patching up - put in a new hard drive and some other fiddling around of sorts that I really don't understand. All I do know is he did something right. It's running a little smoother and I can once again get back to blogging. So lets see, what have we missed?

I believe I left off with my little brother Thomas having a birthday we were about to leave for. And what could be a better birthday dinner than a big bucket of fried chicken? I guess I don't actually like fried chicken all that much, but I am a huge fan of KFC's biscuits, so I was a happy girl. Plus it's a family tradition that goes back to my mom's parents - big family meal and no time to cook, just make a KFC run. And ice cream cake. I love the ice cream cake. We didn't have any candles that weren't scented and in a jar, but you've got to have something to wish on.


We did some lounging around on the couch...




...while Thomas sang some Beatles tunes for us.


Me.


One of our favorite things to do is to hang out around the fire pit in my parents back yard. Fall was in the air and it got really chilly that night, so the fire was extra nice. Here is the Birthday Boy.


I think M thought she could blow the fire out.


I made Nathan take actual pictures of me together with our kids.

J wasn't too thrilled to participate.

Look at M's funny face!


Nathan is never too excited to get his picture taken, but he puts up with me.


And he has figured out that if he is holding the camera I can't take pictures of him.

I stole Thomas' birthday present (the hoodie).

And a few more of my never still children.

All in all a very fun night. Happy Birthday Thomas! Lets do it again next year.

Happy Birthday

The baby of the family is working his way well into his 20's.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Here he is about a year ago.


I'm off to get ready to head over for a birthday dinner and ice cream cake...

Sprinklers

We were going to take the kids to a friends house to go swimming in their pool, but time snuck by a little too fast and before we new it, it was close to bed time. So instead we turned on the sprinklers and let them run out the last of their boundless energy. We had been swimming the day before and one pair of J's swim trunks were in the wash, and the other seem to be growing to big for him and fell right off. I guess it's possible that J could have grown taller and thinner, but he was already so skinny I think the shorts grew. So I dug through his shorts drawer and pulled out the lightest feeling pair in there, but they must have grown too and were falling down. Poor guy. That put him in a funk and he ran in the water once, decided it was "cold and itchy" and pouted the rest of the time.


The last time we turned on the sprinklers for the kids M was scared of them. I don't know what changed between then and now, but she has changed her tune and LOVES them now.


She took a break to share her giddiness with us.








How she was able to drink like this and not get water up her nose, I know not.


In the mean time, J sat on the curb and wallowed in his sadness.


But M was still loving it.






By this time J started to realize that sprinklers could be just as much fun in regular shorts and was warming up to idea of having a little fun.




I love the light here.


And he's off!

Then Nathan went out for a dessert run and brought us home milk shakes which is, of course, the perfect end to the evening.