Birthday Lessons

Alex turned 9! I can hardly believe it. This post is a little delinquent. This is mainly due to the fact that during the middle of Alex's birthday party I dropped my camera (lens open) and rendered it useless. Sad sad day. Mostly because I finally figured out all of the functions on it just in time to break it. Figures. Oh well. Half the pictures were taken with my long lost camera, the other half with the (really bad picture quality) iPod. This was our first friend party for Alex. Yikes! Lots of boys, lots of energy and LOTS of chaos. Glad it only lasted 2 hours. Chris thinks that next time we should have a 15 minute party ;) Anyways, we learned a lot during this party, but here are a few of my top knowledge tidbits I thought I'd share:

1. If you plan a game where they are supposed to run with a potato between their knees, it will most likely end up looking really inappropriate AND there will be potatoes thrown at your fence and all over the yard. Would so NOT recommend this game....

(Yeah, I know, not one of my better ideas)

2. While the mummy game is fun, just remember that it will leave your yard looking like homecoming. Maybe this is good practice for when we have teenagers? I don't know but despite the mess, this was probably one of the favorites from the party....

3. Playing games with bubble gum is a good idea until
              a. One of the kids tells you that he really isn't supposed to chew gum because of the retainer in      his mouth

 AND
              b. You realize that the 2 year old has unsuspectingly stuffed almost an entire pack of gum in her mouth

AND
              c. Prying sticky hot gum off of concrete after the party really makes you never want to play a game with bubble gum again

4. Sometimes the best games are the ones you have nothing to do with (aka "beat each other with the pool noodles" and "Bey Blades")

5. When you have a house full of 8 and 9 year old boys, don't buy a cake with a person on it. The boy who gets the piece with the "butt" on it will never stop talking and laughing about it. This will be about the time you start counting down the minutes until the party ends :)

6. Even though the 9 year old might try to act cool and tough, he's got a soft heart for his little sister who LOVES birthdays and thinks everyday is her birthday :)

 Happy Birthday Alex -we love you!

At least they're cute...

It was one of those days. I was completely exhausted, mentally and physically. Work has been chaotic- we've moved into a completely new space and with that comes a lot of little changes and "issues" that need to be worked out. I have been at work way more than I have been at home lately. If I'm counting- I've only been at home 1 day out of the last 10. My patience was running thin. Sarah was in a mood- defiant, obnoxious, snotty, basically her usual self. Anna and Alex started summer vacation- and it was cold and gloomy- and they were stuck inside. Yuck. All around, kind of a disaster of a day. I went to visit my mom for a little while and she was commenting on what a little stinker Sarah is. Then she followed it with, "Well, at least she is cute." And I thought, yep, you're right. As a matter of fact, they are all cute (of course I'm biased). Doesn't really change the behavior or make me less tired, doesn't fix the fact that Alex is disorganized and basically a slob, Anna is a drama queen with an attitude and Sarah is, well, one of a kind. But, somehow, at the end of the day as I tucked them into bed, I noticed just how darn cute they all are.....