Michael turns 6! (about 3 months ago...)

Yeah, I know,  it's about time.

Let's just not talk about it and move on...

Michael turned 6 back in November. Here he is about to run through the barrier that is officially keeping him from actually being 6. His last moments as a five year old (sniff....sniff)

Chelsea helped me make these cute robots (thank you pinterest) for his class birthday treat. 

We wanted to take things easy on ourselves (me). We splurged and had his party hosted at a local gymnastics center. It. Was. AWESOME!

They had three huge rooms that the kids could run around and play in. A giant bounce house,

 zipline, 

jump-track,  and a center for littler kids.

  After getting a few things set up, I realized the kids were being quiet, so I went to track them down. 

When I found them, I laughed and just watched. They played in this little wooden bus for about 10-15 minutes! With all the awesome, Active things to do, they chose to play pretend in a school bus.

I didn't have to do a thing for this party. They had two hosts their who led the kids in activities and games. Of course, one being the parachute.

They made a giant tent for Michael and he did some serious dance moves for us in the middle.

Then we tried to wrap him up in the chute, and then pull fast to make him spin....but it didn't really work. 

Then they had a nerf-gun war. They turned off all the lights, and had a disco ball shining and the kids went crazy. 

Michael wanted a Bey-blade cake, or a pokemon cake, and while I've done some pretty awesome (ahem) cakes in the past, this was way past my level of frosting. I can frost with different colors and add sprinkles, but artwork? Nah...

So, I made cupcakes in ice-cream cones. He loved it. (Phew!)

He got some really cool stuff from his friends,

We made him wait to open his family presents until Dan got home from work, so he got to stare at them all. day. long. :) 

He was most excited about this...

And a lot less excited about this:

(but isn't he sooo handsome in it?!)

Here's his mini cake from the left-over batter and frosting from the cupcakes. Just enough for all of us to get one piece. 

Happy Birthday Potatoe!

They're BAAAAAaaaaaaack! Part 1

 December 1st:

Our favorite elves, Jingle and Belle arrived! Like last year, they brought gifts of Pajamas.  But this time, the WHOLE family gets them, AANNDD..... they MATCH! (Oh yes, pictures will follow....)

The kids love these elves and take them everywhere. They wake up each morning and say "What did Jingle Belle do?" In Brinly's case: "Where Jingle-Belle?!"

They also love pampering these elves with lush, soft beds and plenty of crackers and water. 

December 2nd:

The elves drew on the kids' portraits with....SHARPEE! dun dun DUN. The kids were shocked that they would write with a sharpee! I'm so glad they know that is a SERIOUS NO-NO in our house.

December 3rd: 

They found great hiding spots in the candle pillars

December 4th:

They hung the unmentionables on the TREE!

December 5th:

The elves have a toilet paper fight.

 December 6th:

The elves take pictures of the kids in their sleep. We found them sitting on Michael's dresser with the camera. 

December 7th:

The elves go fishing!

 December 8th:

They have a tough game of "Guess who"

December 7th: 

Mmmmm....Nothing like a hot class of chocolate milk and marshmallows!

December 8th:

They snuck off and went on Dad's hunting trip with Grandpa.

(Love this picture. Grandpa's expression is priceless...)

December 11th: Jingle painted their noses to look like Rudolph

(This was Sunday morning. I was playing a musical number at church and had to be there by 8:00 AM. Dan was already gone to meetings, so it was a rush to get them ready and out the door. I didn't have time to scrub off Brinly's nose, so she went to church as Rudolph...until I could get to her nose. )

December 12th:

Belle makes a chair fort from the folding chairs set up for that evening's piano recital.

December 13th:

Much to my dismay, Jingle and Belle snooped around the house and found these stockings hidden in my sock drawer. They decided to help by hanging them up.

I thought I had been taking pictures every day, but I'm not sure where the 9th and 10th went. OH well! As you can see, we're having lots of fun and look forward to the next 12 days! 

Overheard at our house

Brinly is cracking me up daily. 

We've been potty training this week. Slowly. Painfully. BUT, I think she might be getting the hang of it. I'm refusing to put her in diapers (unless it's bedtime). So, I bravely stuck to this when we left the house for 3 hours of soccer. 

During Chelsea's half time, I took her to the soccer complex's bathroom. These "big" toilets freaked Chelsea out when she was little and she wouldn't dare sit on the toilet. 

Brinly sat right down, and....drum roll....WENT POTTY!!!!

I was so excited!

She got a piggy back ride on the way back to the field. I sang "Brinly went to the potTY! Brinly went to the potTY! (in the conga line style). 

Then she chimed in "I got to fwush the Toy-et! I got to fwush a toy-et!" in the same style. 

Whatever makes her happy! Let's hope we have lots of toilet-flushes tomorrow as well!

Overheard at our house

okay, I always type that "hour ouse".

Anyway.

We have Netflix. The Netflix where you can instantly stream to your TV. LOVE this feature.

A few days ago, I introduced "Dora" to Brinly.


Yesterday, she had a runny nose, so I told her we needed to go wipe it.

She starts wiping her nose and says "Swiper nose! Swiper nose! Swiiiiiiiper NOSE!"

(If you aren't familiar with the show, there's a little fox who "swipes" things. To prevent him from swiping, Dora says "Swiper, NO swiping! Swiper, NO swiping!". If you say that fast, you can get her confusion.)

Happy Birthday Dan!

HAppy Birthday Dan!

This year I plastered pictures of his past years on a tri-fold poster board, 

and set it up in the break-room at his office. 

Michael picked out the balloons, and Brinly carried them into the work

We also made these cupcakes I found on pinterest. I had never made them before, but they were called "Butterfinger Blizzard cupcakes" and knowing Butterfinger Blizzards are his favorite, I gave them a go. 

Apparently, they got the thumbs up. 

:)

 And just so you don't feel left out, here are a few pictures closer up so you can enjoy the fun. 

That night we had a super quick birthday party, since we had a bishopbric get together to go to.

Michael "got" Dan Beyblade. If you don't know what that is, don't feel bad. I didn't either. Until two days ago. 

Can you see the excitement on Michael's face?

 Michael played it all night with the sitter. 

Happy Birthday Dan! we love you!

Family comes to visit!

Before we get started, if you like to give me input on decorating, please GO HERE. If you roll your eyes at that sort of thing, please continue and do not GO HERE.

We had some visitors come watch General Conference with us!

Dan's sister Katherine, her hubby Dan (yeah...we have two Matt-in-laws too, so it does get confusing at times), and their two girls, and Dan's dad. 

Katherine's family is visiting from Chicago, so we don't get to see them much, so we loved every second of having them here!

As usual, I didn't take enough pictures. 

On Sunday, we took a walk to the Columbia River temple. It was a gorgeous day!

Look at these cute cousins!!!

I wasn't fast enough, but all three were peering in through the windows at the same time. The line from the temple song popped in my head "I'll go inside some day..." and I almost cried. Almost. 

Annie and Brinly became great friends. 

Annie let Brinly do her hair! If Annie tried to get up, Brinly wrapped her hands around Annie's shoulders and plopped her back down. Such a good sport. 

During the priesthood session, Katherine was helping me get dinner ready. We heard Michael's dramatic cry: "Mom! Mom!!!!!! Brinly is doing something REALLY bad!"

Brinly is always doing something "really bad" and Michael is always being dramatic about it. So, we kind of rolled our eyes, but went to go see what the fuss was about. 

And we found this:

yes, that is Annie STRAPPED into the doll stroller about to go for a ride down the stairs. Both just looked at us like "What's the big deal?" 

Thank you Michael, for being dramatic! :)

Thank you Millers and Grandpa for the fun visit!