It Doesn't Get More Random Than This!

Just a random catch up!

A couple Mondays ago we went to a family friends reception. Craig had to work, and so did my brother, so I went with my sister-in-law. We felt a little awkward at first, and we were about to leave, when the groom informed us that there was a free daycare downstairs. No wonder we felt so weird with our kids running around everyone else had taken their kids to the daycare. We dropped the kids off and enjoyed an hour of kid free time. And Craig even showed up at this time, so I got to enjoy a dance with my husband.

Seriously isn't that daycare a great idea?! I told my sister-in-law we should come up every weekend and see if there's a wedding. If there is than we can crash it for the free daycare.

Here's a very blurry picture of my nephew dancing with a little girl. The batteries were dying so I couldn't use the flash.



This reception also had a photo booth. How fun is that? I wish I had thought of something like that for my wedding. We had fun taking pictures and they gave you a copy to keep and a copy to tape in the guest book. Such a cute idea!



On a different subject, we found these cute school girl dresses at a yard sale. They kind of resemble the Montgomery Tartan. We bought them because we thought it was a fun coincidence. We have a few and, obviously, no girls to wear them, so if anyone out there would like one let us know. There are different sizes too.




One last thing, here is my new calender for organizing all our household projects. It took some effort to get the idea into actual, usable form so I'm giving myself a little pat on the back. So far it has worked great.

Art City Days 2011

We had a blast at Art City Days-- our city's local celebration-- this year! I wanted to get in on all the action because last year I thought I'd just get in on the festivities on Saturday and, by doing so, I missed out on pretty much everything. This year I marked up our calender and was fully prepared to take advantage of all this celebration had to offer.

I was lucky that Art City days was this last week because I had promised my nephew he could come spend some time with us after school got out, which was just about a week ago. He came to stay with us for two whole weeks because his mom also happened to have to report for her national guard duties. How lucky are we!

We started off the week at Family and Community night at the Art Museum. We were late but enjoyed the last part of an awesome local drum group's concert and then we participated in the art project.



On Wednesday we headed to the carnival for "Every ride only 1 ticket" night. It was crowded, but we made it on some fun rides. This was the twins first time actually riding the rides at the carnival-- or anywhere for that matter.





I even got to share the fun little roller coaster with them. When I was a little I loved this ride. Of course, back then it was a caterpillar, but it's still pretty much the same. I had to ride with them so we didn't get pictures of us on it-- Craig was waiting in line to ride The Fireball with my nephew during our ride. The boys cried the whole time, but it was still fun. Plus I think Big H got a little into it towards the end.



Nephew K and Nephew Big P rode it too-- this was after they found out they were too short to ride The Fireball.



My only regret was that we couldn't ride the Ferris Wheel together-- another favorite of mine. The line for that was horrendously long.

On Friday we woke up at 6:00 A.M. to attend our first Balloon Fest. I've always passed on these because of the early time, but now I have a balloon loving boy and suddenly the sacrifice doesn't seem so great. After all what's more rewarding than seeing that expression of complete amazement on their face. And, trust me, it was well worth waking up at 6:00 in the morning!




The kids got their faces painted while we were there. I was so glad that they could draw a shark because my nephew was set on having one drawn on his face.




The balloons would throw out candy and prizes as the ascended into the sky. My nephew kept complaining because he couldn't get any. "You have to fight for them!" I said. He never quite grasped the concept. I quickly watched for balloons going up so I could tell him to run over. One of the times he did he got lost. We searched and searched for him but couldn't see him anywhere. We found another lost little boy and, when we took him up to the front, we found our lost little boy. Phew!

As the balloons started to take off Big H ran up to them, waving his kitty in the air joyously. Why he did this I don't know. Perhaps he wants his kitty to have experiences just as we want him to have experiences.



We even waited two hours in line to enjoy a tethered balloon ride. The boys cried the whole time because of the noise from the the fire.





This is how Baby M spent his time at The Balloon Fest. He was sick all week with an ear infection and slept as much as he could. He's doing much better now and it's so nice to have my happy, smiley baby back. I missed him!



Well, waiting in line for the balloon ride took so long we missed The Fireman's Breakfast. So I convinced Craig to take us all out to Del Taco for some yummy breakfast burritos. The boys were feeling awfully independent that day. They both wanted to put on their own shoes. I helped big H and then he strapped them. What skills!



After breakfast we went to the children's art festival. It was a lot of work, keeping track of the kids and helping the twins with their projects, but it was so fun! I'm really glad we went for my nephew's sake. I think he really benefited from it and he made some BEAUTIFUL art!




On Saturday the boys and I enjoyed a wonderful parade in the morning-- my nephew finally figured out how to fight for the candy that gets thrown to the crowds.



The twins loved the bands the best!



I think this is my favorite float! ;)



After Baby M's nap we scurried on over to the car show. Their were some beautiful cars there.



Then that night we enjoyed a concert. . .



. . .and some fireworks.




The fireworks are my nephew's favorite. And I'm happy to report that Big H no longer cries during the show. Little H however watched the entire show with his face hidden in the blankets.



My poor, timid, little boy. One day I'm sure you'll love them!

And thus ends our Art City Days celebrations. It was a crazy busy week, but I'm glad we did all that we did. It was so great to get out and do all those fun activities together as a family!

Happy New Year Everyone!

We're all dressed and ready to ring in the new year.




With Craig at work I made plans to spend the evening with my parents. We enjoyed good food and family- that's usually the case when events take place at my parents.



Big H sat by the pumpkin cheese ball- its a sweet cheese ball that you put on wafers or graham crackers- and he kept grabbing the knife and digging in. I got him his own knife and smeared some on his plate, but that wasn't good enough. Grandma finally moved it to another table.



Boy were the kids excited. Nephew K got so excited waiting for his other cousins to come he just had to pull out the poppers- he calls them fireworks and that's probably a better term then the one I came up with.




This is what the twins thought about the poppers.



They didn't much care for the curly streamers either.



Finally the cousins arrived and, boy, was it chaos.



They had fun playing with each other, and we even got them all rounded up for a picture in their pj's. Baby M was downstairs asleep at this point. It was probably better that he wasn't in the pic because I forgot his pj's.



Craig made it home just in time. Lucky me! I get my New Years Kiss!



My brother was also able to stop by when he had a break at work.



HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!



Of course, all my men have to get a kiss!




Lets light some fire works! The older kids were way excited. The twins were still scared, and I didn't have the energy to try and get them into it.





Nephew M rang in the New Year by learning how to climb up the stairs.



Sadly Craig had to turn around and go right back to works at 6:00 AM. But after he got home, on New Years Day, we made plans to go sledding. My parents watched the baby and we took the twins.








The boys weren't too impressed. We bundled them up good, but I think they still got really cold. Plus, we went at nap time to try and accommodate everyone, that wanted to come but ended up not being able to make it, so they were pretty grumpy.