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.  :)