Birch Aquarium with the kids

So we had planned for a long time to go on an outing, during the kids' therapy, to Birch Aquarium.  Must be why it was on my mind when Kevin and I went on our date.  Anyway, we took the kids, and we definitely needed all three of us (our tutors, Sara, Whitney and me), to keep a handle on everything, but it was a lot of fun.  I ended up buying a membership, so I'm sure we will be back a lot!

Kevin's 35th Birthday

So, Kevin's not that excited he's turning 35 today.  I think he's at a good age though, and handsome as ever.  ;)  For Kevin's birthday I redid his dresser.  It was a pretty old and tired brown dresser when I started.  I had previously redone the drawers on my dresser with mod podge and magazine scraps to give them a mosaic look.

So, Kevin asked me to do the same with his, but to give it more of a camo feel.  I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  I also spray painted it a darker color.

I wanted Kevin to have a good birthday, so I looked on pinterest and got some ideas for a party, and while he was at work I prepared for it...although in the middle of it all, I got a call from the school telling me Caiti was acting like she was in pain.  They thought she might have an earache.  :(  So I went and picked her up, and she was my helper the rest of the day.  We get to go (yet again) to the doctor tomorrow morning.  Our favorite!
Anyway, I'm so excited by what I put together for Kevin's party.  It was mostly inspired by Pinterest...of course.

 I made my own little game of "Angry Birds" using pom poms for the birds and pigs and decorating them with googly eyes.  I tied hair ties to sticks for the sling shots...and I thought those foam rocket shooter things would be fun too...  :)

Kevin's not big on cake, so I made him his mommy's famous Minty Oreo Delight (crushed oreos on the bottom and then a mixture of cool whip and mint chocolate chip ice cream on the top).  I tried to make the cakes look like the angry birds pigs...but sort of failed.  It's the thought that matters, right?

 When I went to Wal-Mart they had the Angry Birds fruit snacks right in the front.  I was excited they were on the same page as me.  I also found a great idea on a crafting site for the Angry Birds bagel with salami, cheese, eggs and olives.  :)

There was a free template for Angry Birds baloons...but I couldn't find baloons.  So instead I copied the template and made a Birthday banner.  You can't really tell, but the little white squares between the triangles spell "Happy Birthday."  It made me VERY happy when Kevin posed next to it and did his "Angry Birds" face.  :)  So cute.  Just might be one of my favorite pics ever.  :)

Dinner was a hit with everyone.  :)

I told Kevin to pretend to blow out some candles when we got out the ice cream cake.  I love my honey.  :)

 We "played" my homemade angry birds game for about two seconds...it didn't work so well.  I guess we can just call it a cute decoration.  Ha ha.  It was so nice to have Michelle came over and help out with the kids.  It was a fun day.

Birch Aquarium

Kevin and I got to go on a date.  We stopped at a donut shop for breakfast.  Mmmm.  Love those apple fritters.    We stopped at the dollar store to get some supplies for something that has been stewing in my head for Jason's room (made with a drawer organizer, colored paper, superglue and cars).  This is how it turned out:

We didn't want to head home yet, as we still had a couple hours left of respite, so we decided to head to La Jolla and visit Birch Aquarium.  It was fun to be with my honey.

 I had never checked out the submarine up close, and had always assumed it was just a fun thing.  Turns out, it was a real submarine.  Leave it to Kevin to figure that out.

 Of course, we got our standard pose by the whale fountain.

 This is my naughty pic that I just had to take.  Makes me laugh every time cause I have the sense of humor of a little boy.

 Cute Kevin by the sardines.

 We didn't get any pics in the actual aquarium because I was using my iPad camera and for some reason, they didn't put a flash in there.  (Grrr...)

 That's okay though, we got some great pics outside.  I love the view from the aquarium.

 They have a fun little area for the kids to "find" different sea creatures.  I found an octopus and a shell.

 I think this is Kevin's "stop taking pics of me Christine!" face.

 I told Kevin to take a pic of me petting the sea cucumber.  Guess my head wasn't that important.  j/k.  :)

 Kevin finally was convinced to pet a star fish.  Save this pic for posterity cause it'll probably never happen again.

 Now, play some "Jaws" theme music in your head.... na na na na nananananananana.

Next to the scary Jaws photo booth were real sharks.  That was the part that Kevin liked the best.  There were also sting rays in there.  So then Kevin felt like he had visited a real aquarium.  :)

Garrett's 8 Years Old!

Garrett turned 8 today.  I had thought this would be a hard birthday for me because that is when kids normally get baptized, but he was so sweet and cute and I realized that it really didn't matter.  We had a great time.  We ate his birthday cake (Betty Crocker GF Brownies) for breakfast.  Then we had a swimming party with our little family and with Garrett's friends/tutors.  Garrett, Caiti and Jason were in heaven.  That is their favorite thing to do.  :)  It made me happy to be with them and see them so happy...even if the neighborhood pool is no longer heated.  Brrr....  I just love my Garrett so much.  He has blessed my life every day of his 8 years in our family.

Wednesday fun!

Wednesdays are my Jason days cause that's the only day he doesn't have preschool.   My friend Megan is in the same boat with her little guy who goes to the same school.  We always plan on having a play date with our kids, but it's crazy because both Jason and her son have therapies during the day at different times.  Coincidentally, Michelle is Megan's son's ABA tutor, so we decided they could all meet at my house and Jason and his friend could do play therapy with Aunt Michelle and work on play skills, and then Megan and I could hang out and have some fun.

Today was the first day we did this, and I think we'll continue.  We decided to make these days "Craft Wednesdays."  Today we got some wreathe frames, ribbons, and shamrock garland from the Dollar Store and made some St. Patty's Day Wreathes.  It was so much fun.  I'm excited, and I thought they turned out cute, especially considered we used Dollar Store supplies.  :)

Sarcastic Family Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas Everyone:
This year Garrett got so much smarter.  He figured out how to unlock the safety latch at the top of the door, and he totally figured out how to walk to McDonalds by himself with bare feet and how to go swimming by himself in the neighborhood pool in boxers and a T-shirt.  He made some new friends with the nice policemen by McDonalds.  He was such a good boy, getting us to install the security beep that goes off anytime a door or window to outside opens.  He also figured out potty training and did pretty great on that...He hasn't quite figured out the wiping part yet, but he is very resourceful and uses my bedspread instead.
Caiti's so comfortable in her own skin.   She loves it so much, she rarely feels the need for clothes.  Why bother with clothes when you have such pretty skin.  She figured out that if you fall limp to the floor and scream, people might not bother you as much.  She also figured out that if you pee outside, you can make your own mud.  This year, Caiti discovered the joy of getting her toys wet in the sink or trying to flush them down the toilet.  We luckily know the maintenance guys on a first name basis, so I guess I can thank her for that...don't know if the maintenance guys do since they have to unclog the toilet so often.
Jason figured out that it is so much fun to dump any sort of liquid left anywhere out on the floor.  He likes to leave pretty designs, like the one he just left me from pouring out a bottle of Sour Cherry syrup.  He loves his siblings...so cute.  In fact, he's trying to be like them...like the day he snuck outside in bare feet, and ran down the road, where Garrett and Caiti's bus driver picked him up and brought him back home.
All in all, we're all progressing in our own little ways.  Merry Christmas to all!
Love the Roaches.

Our Halloween Pumpkins :)

This year we got cute little baby pumpkins and used the fun Happy Meal Mr. Potato Head stickers to decorate them.  We loved them.  I let my kids choose which stickers to use, and then they were so good and put them pretty much in the right place.  I love them!

Happy 6th Birthday Caiti!

This year we decided to have a party for Caiti and combine it with the ward trunk or treat.  We invited her aunt Michelle and her tutors, Whitney and Kim.  We had yummy pies instead of cake.  Of course, it was fun to watch Caiti open her presents.  She loved all of her fun new friends and pretty things.

 We were grateful Whitney brought her camera to capture everything, especially us singing her her Birthday song:

 The ward Halloween party actually went pretty well.  We split up, and Kevin had the duty of passing out candy.  Caiti went with Whitney and Aunt Michelle and basically did her own thing (she was in a very contrary mood...so fun), Garrett got to hang out with his buddy Kim, and I got to carry Jason around trunk or treating because in the craziness I forgot to put his shoes on.  Sigh...  I was proud of us because we actually decorated our trunk this year. 

When we got home, we thought it would be fun to get a pic of everyone in their costumes (I was a ladybug because Caiti didn't want to wear the wings and I didn't want to waste them, Garrett was Officer Muscles, Caiti was Elmo...or Tinkerbell without wings...depending when you caught her, Jason was Thomas the Train, and Michelle was a flapper.  As always, Kevin was a Canadian).  I was so not surprised by the results.  :)