Brady turns 6

Happy 6th Birthday Brady
Brady's birthday was last week July 5th. Besides having a party all Brady wanted to do was go to the pool and eat at McDonald's. Done. A pretty easy and low key day.

My kids love cheesecake especially when I make it. Chocolate cheesecake with strawberry sauce all over it. Very RICH but very YUMMY!

We spent the day at the pool with Brady's best friends Grayson, Thatcher & Jonah. Only Grayson isn't in this picture I think he's further down. Alex loves Jonah. Anytime he's around she plays mommy.

We brought McDonald's to the pool. I am not a fan of McDonald's but sacrificed for Brady's day. It was hard let me tell you :)

Brady is all about Legos. Here he is with his lego watch.

Here's Brady with his best buds...Grayson & Thatcher

Now for the birthday party. We did his party about 10 days earlier being that his birthday falls the day after the 4th of July & it being summer.
Of course, a Lego theme. Now I got a lot of my inspiration & ideas off the Internet and also using a friends blog. She did a lego party for her son & I used a lot of her ideas, Thanks Jadi!!!

I wrapped two big boxes with blue and green wrapping paper & then glued the same colored plastic cups on top to look like giant legos. They turned out pretty cute. I made Lego head pops and a lego cake.

These are the lego head pops. Super easy. Marshmellows dipped in melted candy mix from Michael's with lollipop sticks in the bottom. To make the top little piece of the head I just cut out circles from a marshmellow. I should have used mini m & m's. That would have been easier. For the faces I let Brady and Alex draw them with edible cake pens. Very easy but time consuming. I wish they were a little more smooth looking but I think they turned out cute.
If you like marshmellows then you will like these. Oh and to make them stand, I turned lego pieces over and put the sticks in the holders and layed legos all around to support the sticks.

I ordered lego plates & napkins online. For the goodie bags, I used colored bags and cut circles out of the same colored paper glued them to the bag to look like a lego. I put brick lego candy inside with a free lego magazine, lego stickers and a lego toy (that we all put together during the party)

I made these cute lego cracker snacks. Just crackers, cheese and cream cheese. Really cute.

When everyone got to the party they each got a lego toy to put together.

The kids had a good time putting these together. I was glad to have Joe there to help because I am not a lego mom. I can barely follow the directions and put together. But the boys all had directions to help put together. I was impressed because they were really concentrating and going as great job building the toy.

Here's my lego cake. The top pieces are marshmellows, of course. Brady's favorite color is green so we colored it green. I tried making it a darker green but couldn't get it dark enough. I was impressed with myself because I am not a cake decorator but I think it turned out great.
Brady loved it.

We also played a few games, one was lego toss.

Not a great picture but these are ice cube brick lego pieces and lego guys. I made them with kool-aid so they tasted pretty good. I had the kids put them in sprite which made them fizz. It was pretty cool. They kids loved these. After pulling these out of the freezer it's all they wanted. I think each kid had like 6. It was a hit.

Of course, it wouldn't be a party without jumping on the trampoline.

My big 6 year old.

Another group shot.

Dinner was pizza, chips and fruit.

It was a great party...I really loved planning this party and decorating for it.
Brady loved it as well. I will never forget his face when he saw the lego head pops, the cake and the big lego boxes. I think he was amazed that his mom could really do this. Brady loves legos so much that in his spare time whether its 30 minutes or 2 minutes he sits on the floor and puts together legos. He loves the ones that have directions. Its an engineer thing!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY BRADY

2nd time around

This blog entry has nothing to do with July 4th so before I start let me say
Happy 4th of July

Anyways, so last Saturday my wedding ring broke. It has been partially broken or should I say damaged for a while. The band was bent. Like its not a circle anymore but an oval shape. Not sure why this had happened but it did. Its not like we picked it up in a $.25 machine. So anyway...The broken part is the band. There was a crack that pulled the band apart. So a few days later, I think it was Tuesday, Joe told me that we were going out Saturday but it was a surprised. He had even got a babysitter. I of course asked many questions but the only thing I new was that I had to be ready at 6:15pm and be dressed up. Of course, being the smarty pants I am kept saying if you are taking me to Denny's or Costco for dinner could we just skip the dressing up part and wear my jeans and flip flops. I continued during the rest of the week to ask questions but got nothing. So Saturday came, the babysitter arrived and we left.

We pulled up to a restaurant; The Chop House that I have never been to or even seen before. Joe had been there with a few friends before so I just figured he wanted to take me there because it was so good. It was a fancy place with fancy food. By this point I knew something was up but wasn't exact sure what it was. After sitting down at our table, Joe said he had to use the restroom. Probably to much information for you readers but its not unusual for Joe to do this. He drinks too much water :) but he was gone a long time which made me wonder. He finally returned and we ordered dinner. Before dinner arrived at our table, Joe said, "let's get dessert." Of course, I said sure because I love sweets and had no problem with that. But it was very unusual for Joe because he usually doesn't want dessert. He doesn't really have a sweet tooth like me. It was a little odd but I went on with the evening. So dinner is done and we are ordering dessert. Dessert is taking a really long time. That's when I knew something was really up and the thought of him getting me a new ring. I didn't say anything to him but I kept looking around the restaurant just observing. I do notice the Waiter is talking to the hostess and looking at our table a lot. Then they are both over at the dessert bar. As I turn back, our dessert is coming with our Waiter, the hostess & someone with a camera. I'm thinking a little werid but they put the plates on the table; the dessert we ordered and a separate plate with a cream filled strawberry with raspberry sauce drizzled over it with the words, "I love you" written in chocolate with powdered sugar sprinkled all over it. Oh and my new ring sitting on the strawberry. It was very sweet and romantic. I was really surprised that Joe bought me a new ring but more surprised on how he gave it to me. Maybe even a bigger surprise that he took the time to go out and pick out a ring on his own.

So why he planned it this way.........................we don't have a romantic story for how we got engaged. Not that you have to have one. Most of our relationship while dating was spent apart. We dated almost 2 years before getting married but only lived in the same city for 5 months or so. We met in San Diego, then Joe went up to northern California to finish his last semester of college and then got a job in Idaho. We say each other a lot during the time apart but it was very difficult. He kind of proposed over the phone about 2 weeks before he was coming out for a visit. He said he wanted me to have time to think about it because he would only be in town for a few days and wanted to start planning it then. Of course, being that I said yes. What he doesn't know is that I had already been thinking about it and could have given him an answer right then! So anyways he figured since getting me a new ring that he should do it the right way.

Let me just state that I never felt short changed about how we got engaged...just in case Joe reads this :) It was never an issue. But he definitely did a good job and pulled it off. Oh and the ring is gorgeous. I absolutely love it. Nice Work hubby,,,,

Now I have that romantic proposal only 13 years and 11 months later :)

Bike Ramp

The kids have been wanting a bike ramp for there bikes and we just happen to come across one at our neighborhood garage sale. I do worry because injuries can happen on this but they are doing really well plus it's only 2 feet off the ground.

KEEP READING....A FEW MORE UPDATES

Alexnadria's 8th Birthday

Alexandria turned 8 years old on May 6th. We had a slumber party with 3 of her closest friends. We had a few issues to say but it all worked out in the end. All the girls slept in their sleeping bags on the floor in the Alex's room.

In the morning the girls did each others nails. Alex has a spa kit that she got for Christmas so they used that. They soaked their feet and then painted their nails. It was really sweet.

If you know Alex then you know that she loves animal print; cheetah & zebra. So we did zebra print. We found zebra plates at Target with a pink trim. Very cute. So everything was zebra; plates, napkins, cupcakes holders, cups and crepe paper for decorating.

Alex & Jamiee...being silly with rainbow cupcakes with whip cream.

Enjoying dinner and dessert.

The girls playing in Alex's room with music, magazines and of course, make-up. If you look really close you can see the make up on Alex's face. They all had so much on that I think it was gone by the next morning.
If you can see her bed she even has zebra sheets...of course new for her birthday

A group picture with the birthday girl on top......

Alex loves the store Justice so she got a justice beach bag and all her presents are wrapped inside with zebra wrapping paper.

Riding bikes to school on her birthday with her new birthday outfit she wanted.

Alex loves cheesecake so I made cheesecake for her birthday. Her actual birthday and then birthday party were on different days. yes, some pictures are out of order.

The girls also did a few crafts......
It was a great day for Alex.
Happy Birthday Alexandria. Mom, dad and Brady love you so much!!!!!!!!

Crazy Snow & A New Pet all in 1 week...

It has been a busy week for us...crazy snow & a new bunny.
Alex & Brady have been talking about getting a bunny for a while and I just keep saying, "oh I will think about it." That has been going on for several months. About a week ago, the kids decided to count their piggy bank money to see if they had enough to buy a bunny and yes they did. So they bought the bunny and mom bought the cage.
She is a sweet bunny. We say she because she is only 8 weeks old and too little to see if she's s she or a he. For now it's a she. The kids named her sparkle.

We Keep her in the kitchen and let her run around when we are home. My hopes are to litter box train her. We will see if it works. If you are familiar with bunnies they poop a lot and all over. Just little pebble looking poops that just keep coming.

She loves to walk all over you if you lay down plus Brady loves it.

Or sit in your lap.

In the same week we got about a foot of snow with a 18 hour power outage. It was a cold night and day but we were thankful that it was only 18 hours and not any longer.

Since it is too cold to go out riding our bike on the weekends, Joe loves to get it out when it snows to take a quick trip around the neighborhood. I don;t think the neighbors are too happy about it.

We made a snowman. We used Cheetos balls for eyes, a carrot for a nose and a stick for a mouth.

Brady loves to chill in the snow

Career Day at Piney Orchard Elementary School

Today was career day at the kids school. I really like days like this because it is really cute to see kids dress up and show everyone what they want to be when they grow up. I guess you could say that career day is a lot like Halloween...every year it changes. Last year Alexandria dressed like a teacher but now she wants to be a country singer. This is Brady's first year but I imagine next years career will be different. If you couldn't tell, Brady is a firefighter.

Oh and did anyone notice that I finally figured out how to rotate my pictures. It was very easy, I only wished I had figured it out sooner.

Christmas, Christmas Break & New Years

Pictures are so out of order but I am lucky to have them posted...

Christmas and New Years was great.New Years at some friends house...the kids loved doing sparklers and yes they stayed up until 1:00 am that night. It helped that Brady had a nap earlier that day.

All the kids enjoying some snacks...

Over Christmas break we went to the ice event down at the National Harbor. We had a blast. We were all amazed by the ice sculptures and color in each, Yes, they even had a ice slide.

I think this is Alex coming down.

This is Brady coming down. That was probably the best part.

This is all ICE behind the kids. Can you believe it?

Family pic with the Grinch.

So, they give you parkas to wear while inside the ICE exhibit because it it 9 degrees. I am serious. So cold!!!!! The jackets are kind of nasty because all kinds of people have been wearing them but trust me it was worth it because it is that cold. Hats, gloves, thermal, snow pants...all worth it.

Again...cute kids, more ICE and nasty jackets.

But the kids were pretty warm.

Cute, Cute & Cute.

The Harbor. It was a pretty day out.

Down on the harbor was a weird statue...a giant. The kids are on his head and then his legs and arms are poking out somewhere else in the sand.

If you can see, Brady is actually in his mouth and Alex on his beard.

We also went down to the White House to see the Christmas tree. Not the best looking tree. I think I expected more. Every Christmas, people talk about the White House with its lights and big tree in front. I couldn't wait to see it but I was not impressed. I feel horrible saying that but it's the truth.

A closer look. The trains in front of the tree were cool. Brady and Alex just wanted to watch them all night.

Christmas day....Stockings. Brady already had the helmet and costume but he got the arc light for iron man in his stocking so he had to put everything on for the picture. I love how you can see his eyes in the eye part of the helmet.

We also went ice skating. The kids do a pretty good job.

Back to Christmas...Brady got a superman and wolverine action hero plus a robot iron man.

Brady really wanted a K'NEX (did i spell that right)roller coaster. That was the one thing he asked for. It took Brady and Joe 2 days to put it together. It had 565 pieces. I almost got the one that had 1032 pieces but opted for this one. Thank goodness. But it is pretty cool.

Alex and her stocking, She loves Taylor Swift, nail polish and head bands.

On Christmas we stayed home and hung out in our PJ's. It was great. My own attempt at a family Christmas day picture.

Alexandria wanted a Madame Alexander doll with some doll clothes. She still loves dolls. I really like that because she is getting older and no longer likes the princess things but still like dolls. I hope it will last a long time.

Still loves dolls but also like cheetah print...a jacket and blow dryer

Christmas Eve...cookies and root beer for Santa

I thought the turkey turned out nicely so I had to share.

Christmas outfits

Sitting on Santa's lap....

Brady on Santa's lap

In early December, we made Christmas cookies, a gingerbread house....

and a gingerbread man