Tag: birthday

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Snow play

Today we helped our friend, I, celebrate his 5th birthday by sledding down the gigantic hill in his backyard.  (Seriously, the hill is epic, complete with a jump midway down.)  The temps were fantastic and the kids all had a great time!  Nolan took a few trips down the hill with me and attempted one solo run – he tumbled out of the sled and did a log roll at the end.  I think that caused him to reconsider a second attempt alone, but I’m proud of him for giving it at least one try 🙂  Lincoln wanted to play on the swingset, which has a great enclosed fort.  He was happy just clomping around in his boots and running from one wall to the other.  One of the moms who caught a glimpse of his “clogging” said he did a great rendition of the Riverdance.  Poor kid really can’t play in the snow very well because his boots fall off when they get stuck in the deep stuff.  I suppose it would help if  his snow pants had elastic that kept the boots on and the boots themselves weren’t 2 sizes too big.  Oh well, in spite of those two challenges, he always still manages to have fun!

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Mom’s birthday – the first of 2010

My mom celebrated the first family birthday of the new year.  Several years ago, my dad started a birthday dinner tradition to commemorate her special day.  He prepares his now famous, Beef Wellington, every January 3rd.  This year we had twice baked potatoes (made by Tony), julienne carrots, asparagus and chocolate vinegar cake for dessert.  I think everyone looks forward to this meal each year.  The boys were more interested in the veggies and cake, but I’m guessing if they’re anything like their dad and uncle, it won’t be long until they go back for 2nds from the main course.

It wouldn’t be a birthday without opening gifts.  The kids helped Nana find her presents inside the birthday bag.  I think they pulled everything out in less that 20 seconds.  🙂  My mom hardly had time to see what they pulled out before they grabbed something else.  After opening gifts, I tried to take a picture with Nana and all of the boys, but Nolan decided to pout.  (That’s him behind the railing in the green sweatshirt.)  To round out our visit to Nana & Papa’s the boys had to visit Taz & Gwen (Uncle Tony’s bearded dragon & gecko.)  They love going upstairs to say “hi” and feed the lizards.  It was an extra special treat to have Uncle Tony with them for tonight’s visit.

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OTW – food (cake) frenzy

At lunch on Friday I was getting something from the kitchen, turned my attention from the table where the boys were dining for a split second and saw this when I directed my attention back at them:

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Nice huh?

Saturday we had hosted a birthday party at our house.  Our friend, Deacon Joseph, came over for dinner and knew WE were celebrating with him, but had no idea about 20 other people were going to show up to surprise him too.  Nolan had so much fun getting the birthday decorations out for the party.  By far the best decoration in his mind was the Mylar balloon which we accidentally forgot to send home with our friend.  Whoops!  I guess we can re-use it for Jesus’ birthday in 11 days.  🙂

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Sunday we had a visit from my mom and a friend of hers who was visiting from SD.  She saw our house shortly after we bought it 6 1/2 years ago, so a lot has changed since then.  It was fun giving her the tour – she remembered so much about the way the house used to be.  I’m so glad we no longer have straw on the ceiling in the basement or black & neon fish wallpaper in the mudroom.  Seriously…you should see the pictures.

We’re still eating leftover cake from Saturday’s party.  We even sent cupcakes and cake home with other people.  I don’t think the problem was that we made too much, it’s that people didn’t eat enough!  Now I’m stuck with yummy frosted desserts staring me in the face when I walk into the kitchen.  My willpower just isn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation.  We had cupcakes for dessert tonight and Lincoln had a great time with his.  At one point he was using a portion of it like it was some sort of animal.  He hopped it along the tray of his highchair and made animal noises.  I know I should have probably kept him in line, but it was too funny.  I missed getting a picture of that specific scene, but do have a few of him making quite a mess.

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Nolan didn’t take a nap today.  The result was one tired boy at 7pm.  It was amazing how fast he crashed once we got him ready for bed.  I had told him earlier in the day that he was going to go to bed early tonight, but I didn’t think he’d have a problem making it until 7.  Guess I was wrong.  Lincoln on the other hand, was in good spirits for about an hour longer than his big brother.  That meant he got a little solo time with his mom & dad.  Here he is reading with his Daddy.  I love how much our kids enjoy reading books.  They even enjoy reading to each other – so cute.

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Birthday part 3

Nolan had his first preschool conference this morning.  From the sounds of it, he’s doing pretty well 🙂  I’m glad he is enjoying it as much as he is.  I catch him singing things he learns in class from time to time.  Those moments really make me smile.

After conferences, I took the boys to MG to swim.  We picked up Nana and headed for the pool.  Both boys had a blast going down the kid slide and playing in the zero depth area.  I wish I had brought my camera to capture the excitement on their faces when the fountains and waterfalls came on.

Tonight we celebrated my birthday for the 3rd time.  How’s that for a three day party?  My parents and brother came over for cake (Angel Food this time) and ice cream.  Afterward, we hung out in the porch with a nice warm fire and Nana read to the boys.  I love that my kids have opportunities to spend time with their grandparents, aunts & uncles.  They are loved by so many people.  What a gift that is to me as their mom.

Today’s randoms from Nolan:

For some reason he wanted to attach balloons to his pockets.  I don’t ask why anymore, I just roll with it.  (See the last picture above)

While in the porch this evening, he told Nana & Papa the “mometer” (thermometer) on the wall “measures the number of colds outside.”  Papa then asked if it measures the “number of hots” outside in the summer.  Good question, Dad 🙂

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Happy birthday!

My view of birthdays changed a few years ago.  I’ve reached a point where I really don’t keep track of how old I am, but still enjoy having a birthday.  (As I’ve mentioned before, I love cake!  Especially birthday cake!)  I’ve come to realize that once you’ve hit the “milestone birthdays” – 16 (driver’s license); 18 (voting); 21 (legal consumption); 25 (insurance rates go down) you don’t need to necessarily make as big of a deal about your specific age.  Birthdays become more about celebrating with family & friends and reflecting back on the year God has given you, with thanksgiving.

Today, I’m specifically thankful for the disappearance of the migraine that plagued me most of the day today.  I was hoping to get out of the house with the boys this morning, but instead, laid on Nolan’s bed while the kids played in their room.  We only had one casualty in the form of the barnyard lamp that was on their dresser.  Jake came home at lunch armed with Tylenol and a Coke so I could try and combat the pain while resting.  It seemed to work.  When I woke from my nap 3 1/2 hours later, most of the migraine was gone.  Unfortunately, so was most of the day.  But we made the most of the few hours we had left before the boys went to bed.  The kids had been waiting since Saturday to give me the presents they wrapped, so I had them help me open them .  Before I could open my 3rd gift, Nolan said, “It’s an iPod!”  He actually slipped up and mentioned something about it a while ago, but I had forgotten until that moment.  He was SO excited for me to remove it from its packaging.  I think it’s crazy how at 3 1/2 he knows what an iPod is.  Maybe I should have him teach me how to use it.

After we opened presents, we had dinner as a family and had birthday cake again.  Thanks, Larissa!  Nolan even sang the Happy Birthday song to me 🙂  Here’s to another year of good times with family & friends!

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OTW – nature, family, scrapbooks & cake

We met friends of ours at Springbrook Nature Center on Friday morning.  There is a visitor center with live and formerly live animals that the kids enjoyed looking at.  I’m not much for snakes, but they had some pretty cool ones that were native to MN.  Maybe I didn’t mind them so much because they were contained in their aquariums.  Once we were done with the inside part of the visit, we ventured outside to walk one of the trails.  The older boys had fun running ahead of us while my friend Brooke & I pushed the little ones in strollers.  It was a beautiful morning to be outside.  We ended up finding a grassy clearing and hung out there for a while so the kids could explore, play & eat a snack.  They had so many animal crackers I don’t think any of them needed lunch.

Side note…Nolan has a book called Help’s on the Way! It’s about rescue vehicles.

Firehouse Tales

In one part of the book, Red, the firetruck helps rescue Milky, the ice cream truck.  Milky is a big, white, boxy, truck.  On our way to the nature center, Nolan said from the back seat, “Look at all those Milkys!”  I paused for a moment, wondering what in the world he was talking about.  When I looked in my mirrors, I noticed that we had just passed the RV sales lot with all of the big, white, boxy, RVs.  I couldn’t contain my laughter 🙂  To his credit, the RVs DID in fact resemble Milky.

Friday night & Saturday I was able to spend time with friends organizing pictures and putting together a scrapbook with pictures from our engagement & wedding.  This has been a project I have been meaning to start for quite a while, but just haven’t gotten to it.  (I wonder why.)  Now that I have things organized and also have a scrapbook to put the finished pages into, I’m hoping to be able to complete the book some time in the next year.  We’ll see…

While I was doing my thing on Saturday, Jake took the boys to Hastings to see Auntie Kari (who was in town for the weekend), Grandma & Grandpa.  From the looks of the pictures, they had a good time playing outside!  They also helped wrap my birthday presents, which was pretty cute to see.  I made sure not to look closely at those pictures until after I opened the gifts.

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Sunday evening, Jake’s parents came over so Jake and I could go out to dinner (a day in advance) for my birthday.  We went to Biaggi’s and had a fantastic meal!  Our server was a friend of my brother’s, so it was fun to catch up with him a little, too.  We ended the evening with pumpkin pie and funfetti cake (made by Larissa).  It was a great birthday-eve!

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OTW – full of fun

Friday night was summersault practice in the living room.  They are one of Nolan’s favorite things to do and little brother Lincoln (who loves to do everything his big brother does) is getting close to figuring it out too.   Check it out the form the kids have!  This clip makes me laugh every time I watch it!

Saturday was a busy day.  We had a little visitor in the morning; she came to play for a few hours before we headed to an Eagle Scout ceremony for a young man we know from church.  After a celebratory lunch (with cake,) Nolan and I headed downtown.  A friend of mine invited us to join her, her son and another friend & her two daughters at a Baby Loves Disco pj birthday party complete with lots of music, bubbles, fresh fruit treats,  juice boxes and of course birthday cake.  It was a fun afternoon with my favorite 3 ½ year old.  We came home and had pizza & chocolate cake (Nolan & I ended up having 3 pieces throughout the day 🙂  I consider it a tasty way to practice again for my upcoming birthday – I’ll gladly take one (or three) for the team.

Nolan wanted to wear a tie to church this morning.  Lincoln of course wanted to wear one too.  We put one on him for the 7 minute drive to church, but I took it off  when he went to the nursery, just to be safe, since it clips around his little neck.  When we got home, he insisted on wearing Jake’s tie and posing for a picture with Nolan.  Then he attempted to share a hug or a take-down.  From the picture Jake took, it looks like it could have gone either way.