A Birthday Party for S

Can you believe it? We had another Birthday Party today. Today we had a pool party for S and his friends. If the pictures are looking familiar, it's because we had a familiar party with just different participants and different birthday boy. Today was S' turn in the spot light. It was the first time we did a birthday party for him, and he's been SO excited. He had 5 friends come and play today. They played in the pool, rode scooters and bikes, played with all the toys in the house, and had a great time.

Here are my two birthday boys. They are great friends to each other....most of the time.

Birthday Party

Here are all the lucky party go-ers. Only one wasn't in the picture because he showed up later.

 Birthday Party

We had barbecued hot dogs for lunch then chocolate cupcakes with orange frosting.

S at the birthday party

He LOVED being sung to again. After cupcakes, he opened presents. It was quite funny--just about every one of his friends would tell S what they got him and help him open the present. He didn't mind the help. They all played for a bit more before the moms came to claim their kids. One of presents he received was a Thomas train set. He LOVES playing with trains, and we promptly set it up for him.

S and his train

We had a lot of fun this morning. The boys all got along great, and everyone had fun. About an hour after his friends all left, S came up to me and asked me if he could have a friend come over and play. I told him I was all friended out for the day, but maybe tomorrow.

One more birthday to go.

A little side note--I lathered up the boys with sunscreen SPF 50 this morning. Poor kids have no chance with 2 pasty-white parents. Hence, the swim shirts. Anyways, R noticed this evening that S has a sunburn on his back.....a thin sunburned line along his plumbers crack. Oops. I hadn't put any sunscreen there. And this is after reading my sister's blog about how her 5 year-old got sunburned along his "crack-a-lackage."

Happy Birthday S!

Happy 4th Birthday S!

Today we celebrated S' 4th birthday! Hooray. We had a family dinner with cake and presents today. Tomorrow, will be his birthday party with his little friends. So, more Birthday fun to come. (Well, and more birthday fun to come with MK's birthday on the 5th.)

We went to church in the morning. The primary sang 'Happy Birthday' to both S and C. S was very happy to have been given a sucker. He told me it was chocolate and offered to let me have some so I would know it was chocolate, but I passed. I told him I believed him. S is so easy going that we were able to keep our normal Sunday routine. We came home from church, had lunch, and had some quite time. Love quite time.

My mom came over for dinner and cake. She has some friends from Saudi who were staying with her for the week and came along. They are on their way from Saudi to work at the Embassy in Cuba and were able to stop for a week in Utah with my Mom. It was fun to have them as well as my Mom. We had a yummy dinner and some delicious chocolate cake.

Here is S enjoying the Birthday Song followed by our Danish Birthday Song that is a Haws Family tradition. I love the look of anticipation on his face.

S blowing out the candles

S blowing out the candles

He blew out 3 of the 4 right away, but had a hard time getting that 4th one out. Mom joked that he was still 3. Once he blew out that 4th one she said, "Now he's 4!"
He opened presents before dinner.

Birthday Boy

S loves puzzles and got 2 new ones from Auntie J and Uncle Neal. He was most excited about this "cool Hot Wheels one."

Birthday Boy

We got him a new scooter for his birthday. He left his last scooter behind my van. Can you guess what happened to it? Yup. I didn't see it and ran over it. It mangled up the rear wheel axle and couldn't be fixed. He's been without a scooter for a good part of the summer. But, he'd always start or end his lament about his old scooter by saying that he left it behind my car and didn't put it away. We're hoping that means he learned his lesson. His last scooter was a 3-wheeled scooter. We got him a 2-wheeled scooter. Here is S trying it out.

Birthday Boy

We are so happy to have S as part of our family. He is such a character! He keeps us laughing with all his crazy antics and goofiness. He's easy-going. He's a gadget guy (our little engineer.) He gives great hugs and kisses. He's fearless. And he's loving. What would we do without you, S?

Happy Birthday C!

Happy 6th Birthday C!

Today C celebrated (Again. But for reals this time) his 6th birthday. Like I mentioned before, I had to work today so C, S, and MK went to the sitters this morning and C had to wait all the way until dinner before we let him open his presents from the family. This is a picture that C took during the day.

C's Birthday

Can you tell what was on his mind? He got a new backpack and workbook from mom and dad, a new 'cars' shirt from S & MK, paint and paper and LEGOS from Auntie J and Uncle Neal, and some cash from Grandma and Boppi. He's been asking for Legos forever!

C's Birthday

R sat down with him and watched C put together his LEGO car. C did it all by himself and was having a blast doing it. We took the kids out to the church parking so they could ride their bikes. It was a great day.

We love having C as part of our family. He is always eager to help. He is a great example to his younger brother and sister. He is creative. I love his stories--especially in the morning when he tells me about his dreams. We love you C!

C's Birthday Party

Birthday Week has officially begun!

Yes, tomorrow is C's birthday, but I have to work tomorrow so we started celebrations today. C has been telling me for weeks now that he wanted to have pancakes with a candle on it for his birthday breakfast (and he uses hand gestures to make sure I understand that it's on top of the pancake.) So, this morning he started of his 2-day birthday celebration with a pancake breakfast.

C's Birthday

Then, we had friends over for a birthday party. We pulled out our pool and had a water party. We have gotten so much mileage out of that little pool. Thanks Mimi! Here's S helping as I'm filling it up.

Birthday Party

They played in our little pool and popped balloons. Their favorite thing to do today was to pop balloons on the grass. Go figure. Here are all the boys.

Birthday Party

Grandma came by for a little bit to wish C a happy birthday and check out all the commotion.

C and Grandma

It was a FUN party--but man was I exhausted when it was all said and done. I pushed myself to clean it all up, telling myself that I could sit down for a little bit when it was all cleaned up. (There was water, cupcakes, balloon corpses everywhere!) The boys and I (well, me really) finally got it all cleaned up, and I grabbed a lemonade and sat down to rest. I started hearing MK in the kitchen and sent C to check it out. This is what we found.

MK playing in the Cheerios

Yup--she was hungry and wanted some cheerios. Do you think she got enough? She was quite pleased with herself.

MK playing in the Cheerios

She was kicking her legs around to move the cheerios around and giggling. She made little "cheerio angels" with her legs. And you can see the necklace she put on herself, too. She'll find the boys old glow stick necklace or necklaces I have in my bed side drawer and put them on. She gets mad when we take them off her.

MK's Big Week

MK has had a very big week.

1. She's finally gotten teeth. Okay, this one has been a couple weeks in the making, but still needed to be noted.

2. She's finally in a crib. Can you believe she's spent almost an entire year sleeping in her pack-n-play? Or her swing? We finally moved the boys out of her room and into their own room on real beds even. So, we could put up her crib. She has done great with the transition to her crib and sleeps better than before. Love it!

3. She's learned to go down the stairs. Nice. With the boys moving downstairs we couldn't keep the gate up all the time. I worked with MK a few times on the stairs showing her how to go down...which basically was me pulling her legs out from under her to put on the stair below her and making sure she was on her belly. But it worked! Now, she crawls over to the stairs (which still makes me nervous) and turned so her feet were first and down she goes. It sure is a cute little shimmy-shimmy she does.

4. She's watched her first fireworks show and LOVED it. She slept through the 4th of July fireworks. Last night was the 24th of July, which is HUGE here in Utah. A neighbor has a block party every year that is Bring-Your-Own-Fireworks. MK loved all the fireworks and kept clapping after each one.

5. She's taken her first steps! Wahoo! She's been standing for a while and just recently started to do the "furniture walk." Then out of the blue a couple days ago, she started walking. She's now up to about 5 steps before she goes down and just crawls the rest of the way. I finally washed our push-walking toy for her today. She now cruises around the house, giggling the entire time.

Happy Birthday R!

Yesterday we celebrated R's Birthday! Too bad he woke up with a headache and overall not feeling well. Sucks, doesn't it?

We had church in the morning and after our Sunday Quiet Time, we drove over to my mom's for a birthday dinner. My mom made us baked salmon and veggies, and I brought the cake. R kept telling me that he didn't need 33 candles on his cake.....but where's the fun without the fire hazard? Once he blew the candles out we were worried the smoke alarm would go off....but we were able to clear out the smoke. =) R was able to open up a few gifts from the kids and me, play a game of bocce ball against my mom (R won) and relax while my mom & I took the kids to the neighborhood park. Well, really R stayed at my mom's to fix my mom's computer/TV problems for her since my dad is in Saudi again.

It was a fun evening and were glad to celebrate R's birthday. We love you, R!

California Trip Part 4 -- Family Day

Our last day in California we spent with my entire family. We did family pictures in the morning at one park, then went to another park with more room for lunch and games. After the park, we all ended up at Steph's house for a light dinner and more games. It was a LONG but FUN day. Here's a picture of S waiting around while others were having their pictures taken.

S

S took this picture of me. Not bad for a 3 year-old, right?

I liked this one of R, my dad, and Brett.

 

MK really like Brett and would snuggle up to him. She was having a hard time while in CA--always needed to be held by me. No one else would do. My arms were quite sore by this point of our vacation. As long as she couldn't see me or hear me, she would calm down and enjoy the person she was with. Here's a picture of her with her cousins. She loved to look around her....I just had to be careful to not be in her line of sight or she'd lock her sights in on me and reach for me.

 

After lunch, Leslie goaded S on until he tackled Brett. It was hilarious to watch! Brett and S wrestled for a while....and S took Brett by surprise with his moves. S likes to practice at home with R and C. S was very determined.

 

And here is Brett admitting defeat.

 

We all gathered around to watch and play bocce ball....a Haws Family Tradition. Here I'm playing against Gerald. Leslie and I schooled Brett and Gerald. Whassup!

 

C is trying his hand a bocce ball. He'd try so hard to throw that ball....and it'd go maybe 5 feet. It was pretty funny.

 

And here is R sitting with MK watching the game.

 

R couldn't get time off of work to come to CA with the kids and I. He did, however, fly out to CA late Friday night and spent all of Saturday with us there. Then, lucky guy, he was there to enjoy the drive back to Utah on Sunday.

When we arrived in SLC, it was about 8:30 pm and S asked me, "Can we go to T's house for dinner?" Um, no. Sorry. "Then can we go to Lady C's?" Sorry, no. Not turning around and driving another 10-12 hours to do that. They miss their cousins.

It was such a great trip--being able to see my family, support my brother, enjoy some new adventures. It had been a year and half since the last time I was able to go out to CA. I'll have to see what I can do to make it happen more often.

California Trip Part 3 -- Graduation and Park

The main reason we trekked out to California was to be there for my brother's graduation. He received his doctorate degree in Math from UC Davis. WOW! I know. It was great to go to his ceremony and cheer for him when his name was called and he walked across the stage to be hooded and receive his diploma. He is currently driving cross country with his wife to his new job at University of Kentucky. Here is a picture with the kids waiting for the program to start. S fell asleep on the drive to the campus. He woke up a bit while we visited with Dave and Tami at an Ice Cream Social (I mean, who doesn't wake up for ice cream?) but is now just bored.

My brother Dave and his bride, Tami. Next year, it'll be Tami receiving her doctorate.

Luckily, David walked the stage pretty early on in the program because the kids were restless. I had quite a few "looks" from people sitting by us. One lady even told me I was brave to come with 3 small children, but what else am I to do if I want to support my brother? Well, once he walked the stage and we cheered, Leslie and I gathered up the kids and went outside to let them run wild while everyone else got their chance to walk. I let C, S, and Lady C use my camera to keep them entertained. They found a group of trees that they called their "jungle house" and played.

I thought this picture was pretty funny. It's Lady C pushing S in the stroller through their "jungle house." (photographed by C, copyright)

After the program, we took pictures and then went to dinner together to a great steakhouse. It was amazing how the noise level dropped considerably once we left. It was a fun day. The kids and I went back to Stephanie's house. The next day, Steph, J, & T took us to a nearby park that had a 3 story play sturcture and a water fountain play area. It was a bit chilly, but my boys were determined to play in water. (At Steph's they kept putting their hands in her pool saying it wasn't too chilly and can't we please swim. Yeah, right after this lightening storm passes.)

I can never get S to hold still for a picture...this is the best I got of him that day. Every other picture he is in motion....there was just so much for him to do and see, he didn't want to stop for a silly picture! If you can tell, he is rocking back and forth on his feet and saying "cheese." This is him posing for a picture....this is a common picture, just change backdrop and we have a million of these. Love the kid.

And here is C being silly....as usual. Like his fangs?

We packed up when it started to sprinkle and headed back to Stephanies.