Tres's 7th Birthday Pokemon Card-y!

So I've been waiting to get pics downloaded from my Mom's camera... we took pics with hers and mine at the party, and I know how to upload from my camera, but not hers! Maybe my super helpful and handy husband will help me out with that! But I want to get down the details before my memories of the day start getting fuzzy... and let's face it... after three kids and dividing and multiplying my attention so many times now... my memory ain't what it used to be folks! It's somewhat diluted. Smile!

First of all, he was a sick puppy the week before his birthday. We had planned to have his party the weekend before, but due to a high fever, and a very lethargic little boy, we were forced to reschedule his party. But, we rescheduled it for his actual birthdate day, and he thought that was pretty cool!

Hank took the day off, and we saw the boys off to school. They both skipped off to school in their Pokemon shirts! Then the madness began for us! We were wrapping presents, picking up last minute party items, getting goody bags ready, etc. We stopped mid day and went and ate lunch with our boys. (That is one thing I love to do.) Seeing them come down the hall with their class, walking orderly and looking around hopefully until they spotted us... then their little faces just lit up! I didn't realize I had the camera with us until after we had eaten with the birthday boy! C'est la vie!

After lunch, we headed over to my Mom's house to set up party central. About this time, I remember looking at the sky and realizing it was gonna rain. I was just praying it would hold off. It was hot enough to still let the kid's swim and run around outside... and all of the parent's were hoping for a good way to burn off some energy!

Hank ran to pick up the kids while I continued party prep... and before we knew it, we were in a countdown to party time!! But, the rain did not hold off, and as it started to pour, and I mean soaking-wet-through-and-through rain, Tres started to get worried that his friends would decide not to come.

{Insert picture of Tres sitting on Mom's front porch cross legged waiting for his friends to come, while it pours! Pic on Mom's camera.}

We had to pull my parent's grill into the door way of their garage to grill the hot dogs, and we had to make sure we had plenty of indoor games planned... well, at least, garage games! :) I was beginning to get worried that no one would come out either, and as I watched Tres sitting on the porch so forlornly, my Momma's heart started to hurt. But just about that time, I saw a car making a slow pass by the house... I had just enough time to grab the camera! I snapped the best shot of my baby waving to his first guest from the porch.

{Insert pic from Mom's camera here!}

I grabbed an umbrella, and began the wet task of ushering EVERY GUEST that we invited (with the exception of Caleb, who was sick) quickly into the house.



Then it was time for food! Hot dogs, chips, drinks, cheese dip, cookies. We got the kids set up and eating first. I was a little hardcore about no one putting hands into food. I was the sole server, and I had someone go around with the Germ-X once the kids were settled. Once they ate, I shifted the kids into the den for opening gifts and let the adults dig in...



Man was it fun to watch Tres open this year! My little man takes pure joy in all things, and has since he was a baby. He has always been and will always be my joy. Just look at that face!



He took great pride in reading each card this year. One of his classmates was sitting beside me and told me that Tres was the best reader in his class! That made me smile. Then she sighed and said wistfully, "I wish I could read that good."



Bryant is such a good brother. I really pray that my boys continue to develop their friendship. My sister and I were and are close and I love that. There is really something special about someone who knows you so well, that actually likes you too! :)


After presents, I handed out goody bags. This year, instead of the standard junk in a bag, Hank and I went online and ordered a huge lot of Pokemon cards. We divided it up and gave those as goody bags. The kids began trading immediately and were throwing around words like 'starley' 'rocario' and 'eevvee.'



Then it was time for the ice cream sundae bar! We went all out finding all sorts of topping to make this the best for the kids! And they really, really seemed to enjoy it! Again, I was the only one dipping ice cream, and Hank was the only one handling toppings.



Then we took the kids out to the garage and let them let with a nerf gun and a tower of pokemon characters! It was so fun, and the kids loved the satisfying racket the cans made when they shot 'em down! We had prizes for everyone, so everyone was a winner!



Well, that's all I have for now, folks! I promise when I get the pics from Mom's camera, I will insert them!

Birthday Check List

Hot dogs... check
No fevers.... check
Ice cream, and lots of it... check
Hand sanitizer... check
Pokemon cards... check
Tissue for the Mommy who can't believe her baby is 7...check
presents... check

Dear Mr. & Mrs. *Bryant's Parents*

Bryant had to move his clip today because he was talking in the restroom. We have had a lot of trouble with the boys talking and being loud in the restroom so we are really cracking down on this. I wanted to write you and let you know that there were several boys talking in the bathroom but when I asked who was talking, Bryant was the only one who told me the truth. I was very proud of his honesty and I wanted to let you know so that you could praise him at home.

Thank You!

Bryant's Teacher

I am a very, very proud Mommy right now. It really does begin at home, huh?

My Baby...

The baby that took us by surprise... that made us a family.... and started us on this crazy, wonderful journey is about to turn SEVEN -- take a minute if you need to and look at that again. He turns 7 tomorrow!

He has been battling a number of things the past couple of weeks: the swine flu, a double ear infection, and respiratory issues... and with all three he had a fever and was very lethargic. Last week, we just knew we were on the downhill slope of it all, cause he woke up in a great mood and headed off to school. Then on Friday around 11, the school called me and said he had a fever again.

Well, we had family coming in that afternoon and his party planned for the next day. The doctor assured us that it was his ear infection and changed his antibiotic, but he was so puny. When I mentioned to him that I thought we might want to reschedule his party, and he didn't get upset and only said "Okay, Mom." That was when I knew he truely felt bad.

I got the new antibiotic in his system, and in no time, he was starting to act like his old self. But since we has already sent out the cancel and reschedule, we decided to just have a family gathering... so I whipped up a quick cake, and wrapped a couple of small gifts... and voila... instant party!


We rescheduled his party for his actual birth date, tomorrow, and he is very excited about that!

Hank tried to take their birthdays off, if they fall on a weekday, so Hank will be home with me taking care of wrapping and getting everything ready for go time!

Take Two...

My mom is trying her hand at blogging again! So if you wanna stop by and see what Betty Fay has to say... it might just help her stay motivated to continue!

Not A Good Day...

When things get quiet around here, that's when I start worrying! So when Tres came running to me and told me Sophie had a sharpie today, I got a sinking feeling... I ran into the den and found a slightly discolored two-year-old and her 'artwork' on the kitchen table and our couch...




This picture really doesn't do it justice, but it's the best I could do in my frenzied state!! I was worried I wouldn't be able to get it out... but thank's to help from the facebook community... I used some rubbing alcohol and scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed!!! I got almost all of it out of the couch before I flipped the cushions.

And I put hairspray on the table and most of it came up... what didn't come up, I put Comet on and scrubbed it away!



Now the artwork on my daughter... it's still faintly there after two hour long baths and endless scrubbing... a few more baths and I think we're in the clear, though.
She even 'decorated' her toes in an extra special way!

Oh, Sophie.

Soccer Time!

It's that time again! Soccer season is underway. This year, Tres opted not to play soccer, but Bryant was aching to get started! Mother nature has unleashed a string of storms that made it impossible to really get started, but practices are definately underway now!

There is just something so fun about watching a little boy enjoy a sport so much! He may not be the best (YET), but he is having an ABSOLUTE blast playing! He had a bad cough today, so I had to make an executive decision to not let him practice and he was in tears! Just saying... he loves it!

It turns out that his coaches were soccer players at my high school when I was there... the Ziemet brothers. Robbie graduacted a year behind me his brother Kevin graduated in the class above. They have been super encouraging and have patient, which is important with a group of 8 five-year-olds! Bryant loves it!

Family Day at the Lake

My dad and brother bought a fishing bought not long ago and have been having a blast lately fishing and spending man time (why am I picturing Tim the Tool Man doing that stupid man yell right now?)
It turned out to be a breezy day, so we didn't feel like just jumping into the lake or anything.

But all the boys went intertubing behind the boat! They loved it!

After that, only Tres wanted to get in a little swimming... He reminds me of my Grandaddy with his feet sticking up like that! That's a memory I have of my Grandaddy... his little, white feet sticking out of the water.

And my Daddy spent some time fishing with each of the boys!

I spent a lot of the time we were there pushing the kids at a swingset that was just up the path from the dock... as the day wore on, Sophie got more and more hard to handle. Come to find out she had a double ear infection! But, just as a side note, this was a turning point for us, because she actually TOLD us, "My ee-ah huts!" It's so nice when they can tell you what's wrong!