Lorien's Family Birthday Party

After school, Lorien came home super excited because she knew after homework we could open presents.  She got all sorts of really nice things from our family.

Opa & Oma gave her some Legos & a Lego book.

Daddy surprised her with a Rainbow Loom
to make up for him being gone on her special
day.

Mimi & Baba gave her a Lego Juice Bar.

Mamoo gave her a Style Barbie.

Taya gave Lorien the monkey she sleeps with
every night.  It's Taya's favorite toy & it was
so sweet of her to gift it to her sister.  I love how
much my girls love each other.

Cadence bought her a Lego lifeguard set.

My friend Nancy sent some fun clothes, a puzzle,
a rock set, & some nail polish.

Auntie Cari & Uncle Justin sent a mosiac craft.

Grandma Kinsfather sent $10 to spend however she
wants.

The boys got her some rubber bands for her rainbow loom.

And Trek & I got her a Merida Lego set & a storage
case for her Lego people.

For her special dinner she asked me to make taco salad, kiwi, & kook-aid.  Taco salad is a favorite in the Potter house so everyone was excited for dinner this time around.  And kiwis are another favorite.  Everyone had a very happy & yummy dinner.

Happy 9th Birthday my sweet little Lolo.  You bring so much happiness & joy to our family.  We love you so very much.

Birthday Cupcakes

My favorite part of all my kids' birthdays is going to their schools to take cupcakes to their class.  I love eating lunch with my kids & I love sharing those little moments with them.  Lorien was SO excited that her birthday fell on pizza day.  She's been wanting me to try the "school pizza" for ages now.  I even stood in the lunch line with her & got some pizza for myself.  

Do you want to know what makes me laugh?  The fact that school pizza hasn't changed since I was a kid in elementary school.  It's the exact same pizza I had as a kid in Arizona as well as the same pizza  I had all through middle & high school in Utah.  Yup, school pizza is & will always be SCHOOL PIZZA.

Lorien was very excited to pass out cupcakes for her birthday.  The rules of her school say that all baked goods have to be store bought so she picked some vanilla cupcakes, some chocolate cupcakes, & some oreo cupcakes.  All the kids loved them.

The boys were happy to pack up a lunchbox & eat lunch with their big sister.  They LOVE eating lunch at the big kid school.

Lorien had a blast.  She ate her oreo cupcake in one single bite.  Her friends loved their treats & we all had a great time.

Even Canyon was enjoying himself.

Happy birthday Bug.  We love you.

Lorien's 9th Birthday Breakfast

Happy Birthday Lorien.  I can't believe you're already 9 years old.  Where does the time go?

For Lorien's special Birthday Breakfast she chose toaster strudels, orange, & the famous birthday breakfast ding dong.

5:30 comes a little too fast sometimes, but Lorien is always smiles no matter how early she gets up every morning. . . especially on her birthday.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl.

We love you & all that you are & all that you will become one day.

Nothing But Trouble

So it's been a very busy week with Lorien's birthday among a bunch of other things I had to get done.  I haven't had time to do much of anything lately & on Friday I was DETERMINED to make my bed for the 1st time in a week.  (I hate unmade beds.)  After I got the girls on the bus, I put a movie on for the boys so I could go & officially make my bed.  Poor kids. . . I told them to NOT MOVE.  I told them I'd be very very happy if they would just sit on the couch like good little boys.

It's not a long process. . . it doesn't take any longer than 5 minutes or so, but it was heaven to make my bed look nice again.  I was happy with myself for accomplishing my task at hand & made my way back downstairs to get going on my day when something caught my eye. . . 

My cake decorating cupboard was open!

It was open & there were 3 bags of Wilton chocolate melts all across the floor.  Those 3 bags were brand new & sealed, yet there were chocolate melts all over my hallway & also leading into my kitchen.  I stooped down & glanced at the chocolate bags.  On each of them a corner had little teeth marks in them where SOMEONE had bitten the corners off to get to the chocolate.  The melts were melted & smashed into the floor & there was a melted chocolate trail similar to a snail's slimy trail leading from the cupboard, through the kitchen, & onto the carpet in the living room. . . a large, messy, sticky, chocolate trail.

Someone was in trouble. I assumed it was Craiger because he has a way of being mischievous.  He always seems to find a way to reach things he's NOT supposed to reach, open things he's NOT supposed to open, & hide things that aren't supposed to be hidden.  Oh boy was this kid going to be in trouble.  I stomped into the living room with my angry face when I beheld this:

CANYON?!?!?!?

Dude, you're 9 months old.  How in the world did you get those chocolates open?  He was covered in chocolate.  It was all over his face, his hands, his clothes, & my carpet.

Bladen looked at me & said "Um, Mom?  Canyon got into your chocolate." 

I looked at him & asked "Why didn't you stop him?"  

Wait for it. . . . . . .  "But you said NOT to leave this couch!"

Ouch.  Good boy Bladen.  Thank you for obeying me.

I spent the rest of the morning cleaning up this kid, my carpets, my floors, & my cupboard.  Little imp.  He's going to be trouble as he gets older, I can already tell.  

But seriously, how can you get mad at THIS face?

Pickle Fun

I took my 3 boys on a date last week to the local ice cream shop.  They also serve sandwiches there & since we were there at lunchtime, we got some sandwiches with our ice cream.  Canyon was itching to eat some of our grown up food so Craiger gave him his pickle since he hates pickles.  Canyon went to town on that pickle.  He used his 2 teeth to literally skin the inside of the pickle into his mouth.  After about 5 minutes Canyon handed me the empty pickle skin.  Silly boy.

100th Day of School

For the 100th day of school this year, Taya's Kindergarten class decided they wanted to dress up like they were 100 years old to celebrate.  I laughed & tried to figure out what we could do to make little Taya look like an old lady.  It was a blast.  We put her hair up in a bun, put a dress on her with pearls & a shawl, then my favorite was the fall down knee high socks.  SO FUNNY.  Oh, & of course I had to get out all my fun make-up & add wrinkles, bags under her eyes, & crows feet.  The fact that she was missing 3 teeth added to the effect as well.  She was the most adorable 100 year old I've ever seen.

Bounce House Fun

On Presidents Day I decided to get the kiddos out of the house for a change of scenery.  I took them to the bounce house in Chesapeake & we had a BLAST.

Bladen is a master climber.  He's a crack up.  He's not scared of anything when it comes to scaling walls.  He's been able to climb things since he was 2 years old.  It used to scare me to death, but now I know it's just Blade & he'll always make it to the top safely.

Craiger was scared of the bigger bouncy things, but there was an area for 3 years & under & he loved it in there.  He helped Canyon around & felt like the big brother looking out for his baby brother.

It was nice to get the kids away for a day.  They all had a lot of fun.

After the bounce house, we visited the mall & just walked around & played for a little bit.  The kids liked the little car machines, even though we didn't put any money in them.

It was a really great day for all of us.  We had fun & enjoyed one another's company.