Happy 6th Birthday Jantzen!!

The long awaited day has finally arrived...Today was Jantzen's 6th birthday. I can't believe how fast time is going by and how he's getting so big so fast! Soon he's going to be taller than Jaron. We started out the day with green pancakes for breakfast at Jantzen's request. He was funny because he insisted on having his pancakes on a yellow plate (his birthday colors this year are green, yellow, and brown).


After breakfast we had to go to the store for a couple more things for Jantzen's party and while we were there I decided to let the boys have an Icee. They were both good about sharing with Jaedyn.



I didn't get a picture of the kids eating lunch, but Jantzen insisted on having a banana for lunch because "that's what monkeys eat"...he told me that. I asked if he wanted anything else and he said "no". I told him that I would make Jaron and Jaedyn some macaroni for their lunch and then he decided that he'd eat some of that too.

Jantzen chose a monkey theme for his birthday this year, so I decorated the house in green, yellow, and brown streamers and balloons. I even made vines that hung from the kitchen ceiling with a personalized "Happy Birthday Jantzen" sign (it had the same monkey on it that I used for his birthday party invitations). He chose green wrapping paper for his presents and I found a really cute huge monkey for him...


I couldn't find a monkey cake anywhere so I decided to make his birthday cake myself. I bought this cute monkey cake pan and I really tried to find someone to frost the cake for me because decorating cakes is just not my thing, but I had no luck and ended up doing it myself. Nena helped me make some yummy frosting and then I spent 3 hours decorating (my back still hurts from leaning over). I was actually really proud of myself for how it turned out. It looked a lot better than I thought it would and it tasted really yummy!


For dinner Jantzen requested Little Ceasars pizza, mostly for the Crazy Bread (he LOVES that stuff!).


After we were all done eating dinner we decided to let Jantzen open his presents. He'd been asking all day to open them and I kept telling him that he needed to wait until after dinner...it was killing him! His time had finally come and he was super excited!


The first present Jantzen opened was a pack of copy paper. I know it seems like a weird gift for a 6 year old, but if you know Jantzen, you know that he LOVES to draw and he's always taking the paper from our printer, so I decided to get him his own pack of paper. He was so excited for this paper, he was almost yelling about how excited he was to get it...it was so funny!

(Sorry for the blurry picture...he wouldn't hold very still, he was that excited)


It didn't take him very long to open all of his presents. He got a lot of fun stuff that he was so happy to get. He got a pack of copy paper, a pack of construction paper, a green notebook, 2 green folders, a stapler, scissors, a pencil sharpener, glue sticks, a case to put all of his drawing stuff in, 4 puffles, a green "Club Penguin", a new Mario movie, a new "Bulk", 3 books, a green squirt gun, a "Club Penguin" DS game, some "Cars" and torpedo pool toys (from Nena and family), Mario and Luigi stuffed toys, and a large monkey stuffed animal...he was super happy with everything he got. He yelled out, "This is the BEST birthday ever!!


After presents it was time for birthday cake. Jantzen loved how his cake turned out!


We all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He was so funny when we were doing this because he gets so embarrassed that he won't look at anyone, he always looks away...


Then he blew out his candles...


...and he enjoyed some cake (he chose the monkey's feet) and chocolate ice cream. He wasn't able to eat all of his cake, so we saved it for him for later.


I think he didn't want to finish because he was wanting to go play with his presents, I don't blame him.

Jantzen was really appreciative for everything we did for him and for what he got for his birthday. Josh and I asked him if he had a good day and he responded with, "It was awesome! This was the best birthday ever!"

We're so happy to have our little Jantzilla as a part of our family. He brings so much laughter and smiles to all of our faces, I can't imagine not having him as part of our family. WE LOVE YOU JANTZEN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Such a Cute Girly Girl!

Having a little girl in the house is so much fun (minus all the drama). Jaedyn is so girly and I love it! I was a bit of a tom boy growing up, so I like that she's not that way (at least not yet).

Any time I'm getting ready to go to the store, she has to grab her "stuff". This "stuff" includes her purse(s), jewelry, Mimi (Minnie), and of course a snack.


She's all ready to go now...


Another thing Jaedyn loves is my jewelry. I'm always catching her getting into my jewelry and putting it on. The thing with her though is "more is better". She can't just wear one piece, she has to wear a whole arm full!



I tried to get her to smile at me, but she wanted to show off her arms instead...


Jaedyn has now moved on to not only having my necklaces and bracelets on, but my rings too. Luckily she hasn't lost any of them yet and I hope she doesn't. I'm thinking she's going to get some more dress up jewelry for her birthday.

I L.O.V.E. this sweet little girl!!

A Rare Day in our Neck of the Woods...

Today was a crazy day for the weather here. When we went to church this morning it was sunny and a little bit windy...a typical day here. Later on in the afternoon a rain storm appeared out of nowhere. It doesn't rain here very much, so it's an exciting thing for us when it does. We all enjoyed watching the rain come down in marble size drops and bringing with it a strong wind (65 mph) and a nice smell (I love the smell when it rains).

Here's the view from our front yard. We temporarily had a lake forming, the water was making it's way up the driveway...


In the back yard the same thing was happening in our rocks and grass...


Our patio was flooded...


...And the street behind our house was flooded. There was water coming all the way up to our block wall...the boys thought it was cool!


We even had a pool on top of our pool (Can you see Jaron and Jantzen climbing the ladder to see the flooded street?)...


The crazy thing about rain storms here is that they don't last very long. They leave as quickly as they come, it's kind of sad. I really wish it would rain here more often and so do my kids.

Our 4th of July, 2011

We started out our 4th of July celebrations with some swimming. We went with the Smith's and McKee's to a family members pool to cool off and it was so fun. The skies were a little overcast and we got sprinkled on a little bit, but we still got some sun and enjoyed ourselves.

This pool was so fun for the kids. It had a board up so you could watch movies while you swim (I want a pool like this one), the boys thought it was the coolest thing! (My camera battery was dead when I went to take pictures, thank goodness for Josh's phone...he got some good ones for me).


My kids are like little fish in the pool, they just can't get enough of swimming...


I'm not sure what Jantzen was doing to Jaedyn in this picture, but I loved her facial expression...so priceless!


Jaedyn loved this floaty, but it was way too big for her. I had to hold on to it while she was in it because she thought she could go in the deep end with her brothers (she refused to sit in her baby float).


Mary got some awesome pictures of the boys under water, they were all having so much fun. Jantzen's arm floaties kept pulling him up, it was funny watching him try to stay under the water..

(from left...Chandler, Jantzen, Jaron, and Kaiden)


(Keagan and Jaron...with Jantzen, Josh, and Jaedyn in the far distance)



Here's me (squatting down so I don't look like a giant next to these cute little ladies), Rikki, and Mary looking hot in our swim attire...really, it was kind of hot that morning even though it was overcast.


Later on we went over to the Smith's house for dinner and fireworks. We had a yummy dinner that consisted of terriyaki chicken, rice, salads, and fruit. Surprisingly, my kids ate it and liked it!

Here's the kids enjoying their 4th of July dinner (I couldn't get them all to look at the same time)...

(The little kid table from left...Brody, Jaedyn, Camden, Emma, and Stella)


(The big kid table from left...Chandler, Jantzen, Keagan, Casen, Jaron, and Ashley)


After we ate dinner, the kids ran around the backyard. Jaedyn and some of the other kids were picking flowers from the yard (sorry Rikki) and Jaedyn stuck one of them in her hair. I wanted to get a picture of it because I thought it was cute and Jaedyn really made me work for it. I had to literally chase her around the yard until I finally got one, but she moved her head, so I only got a side shot of it.


Before fireworks, we took the kids over to play at the park for a little bit, they loved that. Jaedyn was in heaven because her daddy was there and he was nice enough to push her on the swing (I'm not always that nice). Jantzen enjoyed the swing too, but I didn't see much of Jaron while we were there. He was too busy running around with the "older" boys.


Josh thought he was being funny and he took this picture of me with his phone when I wasn't paying attention. He obviously forgot about the rules for taking my picture! I guess at least you can see that I was dressed all festive for the 4th of July...


Back at Rikki's the kids got ready to do fireworks. Before we started them, all the kids got a glow bracelet and a 4th of July treat from Mary. She made Kit Kat's into little fireworks, they were really cute. I don't think the kids appreciated how cute they were, they just wanted the chocolate!



We also got to enjoy some yummy homemade brownies and ice cream (courtesy of the Burnham's)...my boys were in heaven!


Jaedyn tried to be sneaky and grab herself some more Kit Kat's...


Stella and Jaedyn playing around, waiting to start the fireworks...


We finally went out front to start the firework fun. Jaedyn and Jantzen had a blast with their glow bracelets. Jaedyn was trying to put hers over her head to wear as a necklace, but it wasn't quite big enough...


Jantzen made me laugh with his glow bracelets. He put two of them together and made them into a "disk". That's right, he was pretending he was "Tron"...my boys LOVE that movie!


The kids all started off with sparklers, but Jaedyn wanted nothing to do with it. She just wanted to sit in her princess chair with her glow bracelet and watch everyone else.


Jaron and Jantzen had a blast with the sparklers...



Josh finally got Jaedyn to play with some sparklers and then she thought it was pretty cool...



After a few minutes playing with the sparklers, Jaedyn had enough and she just wanted to watch the bigger fireworks. She really likes fireworks this year, it's so fun to watch her watching them.


I made her special 4th of July hair bows, so I had to get a picture of them...she loved them!


My poor little Jaron was the only one who got hurt. He tried to put out a sparkler by stepping on it and somehow it burned his pinky toe and gave him a blister. I wrapped it up in a cold, wet paper towel and that seemed to relieve some of the pain for him, but that didn't stop him from being all dramatic about it. He went inside and laid down on the couch. Jantzen was a nice little brother and he went inside with him so he wouldn't have to be alone. Jaron didn't want me to take his picture, but I did it any way...



I think Jaedyn was trying to imitate her big brother here, but she's not quite tall enough yet...she's so funny!


We had a busy, but fun 4th of July with good friends. I'm so happy that we are able to have family and good friends to spend the holidays with. I'm also so grateful for the men and women who have sacrificed their lives so that we can enjoy all of the freedoms we have...HAPPY 4TH OF JULY and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!