Keeping busy in January

 Well, it's been too long since my last post.  Here are some of the fun things we've been doing in January, mostly birthday related stuff since we have two birthdays this month in our family.

 The day before Nikki's birthday we took the kids to a place called "Monkey Bizness", which is similar to "The Jumpin Jungle" but they have several different things like the rock wall climbing.

 This is the first time either of us has done rock wall climbing (and I mean with a harness).  It was fun!

 Another thing different is this climbing jungle gym.  Nikki and Garrett loved this the most.

 And they have an area for smaller kids.

 I love that the parents can go on things too and not have to pay!  Wheee!  This was Jack's favorite.

 That night after going to Monkey Bizness we stopped at Idaho Pizza Co. for dinner, and yes that is a real fire in the background.  Our table was right next to this nice looking fire place.

 It's birthday party time for Nikki and me!  This year I decided to try something a little different with her cake.  As you can see we went with cupcake flowers.

 The birthday girls together with their cakes.  I also decided to do something different for my cake this year and bought a Boston Creme Cake.  Sooooo yummy!!

 Nikki with her loot of birthday presents.

 This beautiful jacket is from my hubby.  The funny thing is that he had me try it on before the party with my eyes covered.  He wanted to make sure it fit.  So I knew what it was before hand but didn't know what it looked like.  To go with the nice new jacket I also received a new necklace and bracelet from my parents and my in laws took me shopping for a shirt and skirt (I'm wearing the shirt in the birthday photos)  It was a great birthday!

 Curtis has a couple of air soft guns and one night we threw a blanket on the couch and made a bullseye on paper to shoot them at.  The kids loved it!

 Nikki was making the funniest faces while she was aiming.  She looks more like she was just smiling here but she had us cracking up.

 This is a new recipe Curtis discovered.  What should we call it?  Egg Surprise?  This is what happens when you try to boil an egg in the microwave.  It exploded and literally blew open the door!

 And who can resist this cute little boy giving his ducky a shoulder ride.  Priceless!

 I'll try to keep up with my blog better because I realize there are family(other than Curtis now) and friends out there that still enjoy looking at the blog.  I was better at it when Curtis was in Iraq but now he's home and I've been slacking.

October fun

Thought I would share a few things from the month of October that we enjoyed as a family. These first few were taken when we went shopping together one evening and had some fun at Saver's thrift store.

He has hair!!

Jack thought it was fun at first but then ripped it off, lol.

Do you think these glasses are a little big for her?


Then one evening we went to Curtis's brother's house for some face painting, treats, games, pumpkin carving, and a little bit of movie.

Nikki did all of Garrett's face paint.

What do you think? If you can't tell, it's Spiderman stuff.

I did Nikki's face of bees and a flower.

All the cousins watching a movie while the grownups played Uno. This was after we were done playing the game obviously because Curtis is in the shot, lol.


Happy Halloween!!

Batman, a Chinese princess, and a prisoner are ready for trick or treating!

We first made him dress up in a lion costume for our trunk or treat at the church but there was no way he wanted to put it on again for trick or treating so we made him a prisoner instead and he liked it much better. I made this costume for Nikki the year Garrett was born. Nice to get some use out of it again.

This is right before the men took the kids out trick or treating while my sister and I stayed at her house to pass out candy and watch "How to Train Your Dragon". Unfortunately we did not get many trick or treaters because it was Saturday but we were able to enjoy our movie without constant kid interruptions. It was a great movie :)

Our living room is complete!

My hubby, my nephew, and my brother in law drove approximately 5 hrs this morning (leaving at 6:30 am) to get this for me:

Our very own piano! Nikki and I are both excited to learn how to play. Garrett might even want to when he's ready also. It's kind of neat because this piano used to belong to my mom and she is a very talented pianist. I hope I have some of her talent in me. When my parents got divorced the piano stayed with my dad and then ended up going to our family cabin. It was rarely being used up there so when I was talking to my grandma about how I'd like to get my daughter in piano lessons she offered for me to have this piano. It was now just a matter of making the trip to get it and waiting for my hubby to get home so he could make the trip. After double checking to make sure it was still okay to have the piano my hubby made the trip this morning to finally retrieve it. I am so excited to have it!!

Birthday celebrations and Pumpkin patch

Wednesday was Garrett's 4th birthday but we decided to have his party on Friday. I wanted to do something for him on his actual birthday so I woke him up to a waffle with a candle and his sister and I singing "Happy Birthday" to him.

He just woke up so he wasn't used to the bright lights from the camera.


The next day we went to the pumpkin patch where they also had several other activities for the kids.

The corn box (like a sand box).

The hayride to the pumpkin patch.

The pumpkins we picked.

The straw bale maze.

The tractor tire playground.

The barrel train ride. I also got to ride so that I could hold Jack since all of the seat belts were broken.

The rotating swings! Jack had a hard time figuring out if he liked this ride or not.

Nikki loved it!

Garrett too! The operator let Nikki and Garrett ride for about 15 min or so because it was a slow day and didn't have much customers. So glad we went when we did. Made it more worth it!

And at last, enjoying popcorn and mini donuts! I've been looking forward to those donuts all year. Actually, 2 years because we didn't get to go last year.


And now "Come inside for a Batman Birthday Party!"

He was trying to pose like Batman on the picture behind him.

Our first activity was coloring some Batman pictures.

Daddy helping Garrett "Batman" to fly.

Our next activity was the "Gone fishing" game. All of the kids there enjoyed fishing for toy prizes.

Our last game was "Pin the bat on Batman" and here they are waiting in line for their turn. We used the Batman sign on the front door for this game. We just brought it inside and lowered it so they could reach it.

And now time for the cake and singing! Thanks so much to my sister who practically made the whole cake. In fact, the only thing I did was fill in the yellow and black frosting. She did everything else and I think it turned out great!

He loved all the gifts he received which were: a homemade Buzz Lightyear pillow & matching cape, a folder with Toy Story coloring pages and a framed picture of Buzz from his grandparents. A Batman action figure from his aunt and uncle. An electronic Buzz Lightyear game from his other grandparents. A BSU football from his friend. And a Buzz rocket ship toy, Spiderman puzzle, Spiderman book, jeans and a Batman glow in the dark shirt from us.

I think he really enjoyed his birthday this year and I had fun doing everything for him. But I'm glad the stress of it is over now.