Happy {Angry} Birthday, Max

I really can’t believe that Max is already 6! He was so fun this year. He decided he wanted a birthday party, so we looked online for ideas. He is slightly obsessed with the iPod lately and as soon as we saw an idea for an Angry Birds party, it was all Max could do to get to the party day. He was so stinking excited! It turned out so fun.

The Cupcakes:

The Decorations:

The Games:

Thankfully, it was a nice day outside so we played most of the games outside.

We played Bird, Bird, Pig (aka Duck, Duck, Goose). The kids could have played this the whole time. They had tons of fun!

We also played Red Rover, Red Rover which has absolutely nothing to do with Angry Birds, but was a huge hit!

Finally, we went inside and played a game we called Pig Stomp

The Presents:

The Cake and Ice Cream:

And the Rest:

Max and Bria helped me put the treat bags together ahead of time:

I got super duper ambitious and made some cookies to put in the treat bags. They look nothing like the tutorial of this incredibly talented lady that I tried to follow, but it was still fun!

And, since this may very well be the longest post in the history of posts, here’s a couple of pictures of Max after school on his *real* birthday. We saved our big present until then.

St. Patricks Day/Bion’s Baptism

 

For St. Patricks’ Day this year, we were in Utah. My sister’s son was getting baptized and so we headed down there for the day. In some ways it was an awful trip! Dave was SO sick. And he really doesn’t get sick. He was sick enough to stay in bed all day. But, he was amazing and joined in most of the festivities anyway.

Our hotel was right in downtown Salt Lake. To give you an idea…here is the view from our room:

The kids had tons of fun looking out the window all morning. After a while, Bria started noticing people.

A lot of people.

And they seemed to be gathering on the side of the road for what looked like maybe a parade. So, we looked it up on the iPod and sure enough, Salt Lake has a huge St. Patrick’s Day parade and it was scheduled to start in 10 minutes and go right in front of our hotel! So, the kids and I headed down to attend this unexpected parade.

Logan wasn’t sure he liked all the noise from the fire truck.

It was a fun surprise! Salt Lake really knows how to put on a parade, too. It was almost 2 hours long! We gave up about half way through and decided to finish watching from our hotel room.

Later in the day, we got to go to Bion’s baptism. I didn’t get any pictures myself. Thankfully, my mom did!

Winter

 

We had such a mild winter this year. It was so wonderful. It really reminded me of home. It was such a nice break from the normal 15 below temps we usually have.

Most of the winter looked like this:

Can you tell our Idaho kids missed the snow?

Max was so happy when we finally did get snow one day.

Logan….not so much. He must take after his mama.

We did get at least one day with hoar frost on the trees. This is on the way to the kids school. It’s really a canal, but drained it looks just like a little lane to me.

Overheard Conversation

The other day I told Bria that she couldn't play until her room was clean. She's funny because she never seems to get any motivation to clean unless her friend is actually at our door wanting to play. Which is what happened the other day. Bria spent an hour wasting her time and not cleaning, and suddenly wanted to play. She asked...no begged me to let her friend help her clean. I've been down that road before. Friends helping = no cleaning. So, I told her no. Bria left to go tell her friend and this is how the conversation went:

Bria: My mom said you can't help.

Friend: Did you pinky promise that we would really clean?

{NOTE: A long time ago, a pinky promise to Bria was next to writing a promise in blood. At that time I would have taken a pinky promise}

Bria: Yes. But she still said no.

Friend: Did you try to Girl Scout promise?

Bria: What's a Girl Scout promise?

Friend: It's where you hold your fingers up like this and then promise.

Bria: What happens if you break a Girl Scout promise?

Friend: I think it means that you won't get to be a Girl Scout anymore.

Bria: But, I'm not even a Girl Scout now. I guess I'll go try it.

So, Bria came back to me and Girl Scout promised that she and her friend would really clean her room together. I couldn't help it. I let them. And they did a really great job.

Happy Super Tuesday!

This year, Idaho has been taken by political storm! It is a predominantly Republican state, which might explain some of it what with the Republican Nomination up for grabs. We've even had  T-W-O Republican campaigners come to our part of Idaho to share their message. Mitt Romney was here last Thursday and Ron Paul came in last night and is actually spending Super Tuesday in Idaho. I'm so used to feeling like Idaho's political voice doesn't count, but we are one of only ten states actually participating on Super Tuesday this year.  And because we waited to have our caucus on Super Tuesday, Idaho actually has more delegates up for grabs than Arizona!

It's fun having our kids getting older. They can actually grasp a little bit of what all of this political mayhem means. It is so important that we as parents teach them by example and take a political stand ourselves.

Bria brought this home from school today. She made it for Dr. Seuss Day last Friday. They were supposed to re-design The Cat In The Hat's hat. This is what her design looks like:

See how patriotic she's getting? And I have to say...I'm so proud! She was the only one in her class who took a patriotic theme in her redesign.

Did you notice who she is campaigning for?

By gosh, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't support my daughter!

This year I'm voting for The Present! (And I fully support the affiliated party).

Happy Super Tuesday, everyone!

(And it all seriousness...I am thrilled that we have a daughter who is so patriotic.)

Through Bria's Eyes

Guess who got glasses?

Doesn't she look beautiful? She picked them out herself.

About a month ago, Bria's teacher told me that she's been standing up and leaning over her desk. She thought that maybe Bria needed to get her eyes checked. Way back in Kindergarten, Bria REALLY wanted to get glasses but didn't need them. I took her to get her eyes check then and she was fine. When her teacher first told me this, my first thought was that Bria was trying hard to get glasses like before, but didn't really need them.

Last week, we had errands to run anyway so I decided to stop in the Walmart Vision Center and get a screening done for her. Turns out she didn't just need glasses a little bit, more like a lot! Even the doctor was surprised that she hadn't been in already.

I found a handy vision simulator to give you an idea of what Bria's been seeing:

Instead of what she should be seeing:

 

The second to the last line on the chart is 20/20 vision. The top? 20/200. It's no wonder she's been getting so many headaches.

 

 

When Bria first found out she needed to get glasses, she had a little panic attack. It took her a good three days to realize that it wasn't the end of the world and that she was actually really excited about it.

Today she is thrilled. Although I do think it'll take her a little while to get used to wearing them. Because her first prescription is so strong, the doctor prescribed bifocals so she doesn't get headaches learning to near focus through her glasses when she reads.

I think her new look suits her just fine.