Happy Birthday Carter!

Well, the highly anticipated day has now come and gone. My little Carter-Cutie is now 6 years old. Carter has been informing me all month that it is his "special day." Especially when I would tell him he couldn't do something. When it finally was his "special day" I did let him plan out the day's events and boss everyone around. The meals he chose were:





"The Biggest Breakfast Ever"-
Pancakes (He chose the biggest AND the smallest one)
Raspberry Yogurt
Toast?
Apple Juice

Lunch -
He would have chosen squiggly noodles...but we were out, so he chose:
"Cheesy Quesadillas" made with corn tortillas. NO sour cream!
An Apple, not cut, because he wanted it to help get his loose tooth out.

Dinner -
Spaghetti with no onions, mushrooms, or tomato chunks.
Salad

I think his favorite part about choosing the menu was that he got to help make everything. He's a great helper and he loves to mix, measure, and pour things.

We celebrated Carter's Birthday a little early because my Mom and Rachel were in town. He wanted a Millennium Falcon cake, and this is what we came up with. Steve had the brilliant idea to make it out of cupcakes, and Laura did all the detail work. I know...I know...I'm always pawning off the hard stuff, but I think I did a great job slathering the cupcakes with purple metallic gray frosting! I didn't take any pictures of him opening his presents at that party or at Grandma and Grandpa Stewart's on his actual Birthday, but Carter scored some much needed clothes (How do they wear through the knees of their jeans SO fast?), lots of activity books and markers, Spongebob Legos with TONS of pieces (Thanks Steve and Jess!), various potato heads, a transformer that looks like a cop but is a bad guy so they tell me, 2 Ninja Turtles (Shredder chopped the arms off of a couple of his old ones), and Diego Chutes and Ladders. Thank you everyone for helping make this a fun and memorable Birthday for Carter!

Happy Valentine's Day!

To Celebrate Valentine's Day we...

decorated rice crispy treats...

I stole this idea from my friend's blog. Aren't they cute? They were delicious! We gave some to Carter's teacher and ate the rest. (Yes, Carter's in that phase where we can't get him to smile normally.)

made valentines for Daddy...

Carter's includes a picture of Mommy and Daddy kissing on their wedding day, and the ever popular television and X-box combo (his favorite thing to do with his Dad). Lydia and Meleah's are a little more abstract as you can see.

and ate pink heart-shaped pancakes.
I hope everyone had a fabulous Day of Love!

25 Random Things

I got this tag on facebook and decided to copy it on here if for nothing else than to move the massive pregnant woman a little further down on the screen. Here are 25 random things about me:

1. I can't stand to have dry feet or socks on when I go to bed. I put lotion on every night right before shut-eye. I even have to make my husband put it on for me when I can't do it myself (after c-section, etc.), which is only a big deal because my husband hates feet. 
2. I like to play with my food. I split my bananas into thirds, peel every last membrane off my grapefruit, peel my grapes...
3. I usually eat one thing on my plate at a time until it's gone, and I can't stand when two different items are touching.
4. I'm horrible at decorating my home for several different reasons: I'm creatively challenged, and I hate spending money or cleaning time on things that don't have a function.
5. I'm a reality TV junkie. I love American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser, Iron Chef America...you name it, I've seen it.
6. This won't come as a surprise to my family or High School friends, but my middle name is Arvilla, and no, it's not pronounced Arviya.
7. I've had more embarrassing moments than anyone I know. This might be partially due to the fact that
8. I'm a scatterbrain. I forget/lose EVERYTHING.
9. I have to do something either fun or productive on Saturday or I am not a very happy camper.
10. I'm somewhat obsessive about the time I spend with Randall. If he isn't at work or at school, he'd better be with me. (Or at least have a pretty good reason not to.)
11. I hate cleaning. Especially bathrooms.
12. I love shopping whether it's for groceries or clothes for my kids. Lately I've been a big fan of online shopping since dragging 4 screaming kids around to the stores is somewhat unappealing.
13. I'm a sucker for a sale, and I LOVE to find a deal. Even if Lydia already has 4 pink sweaters, if it's under $2 I'm buying it.
14. One of my favorite things to do is watch home videos. Whether it's my hubby rocking out to the air drums when he was 5 or something we filmed last week; I love it all.
15. I delivered Meleah naturally in my home. That was RANDOM.
16. I LOVE to eat out. I realize that it seems like everyone does, but Randall would actually prefer a home cooked meal most of the time. Then again, he's not the one that does the dishes. Ü
17. I'm extremely indecisive.  People probably think that I just don't dare to give my opinion, but the truth is: I really don't care whether we go to Subway or Arby's.
18. I hate fighting, whether it's physical or verbal. It makes me very uncomfortable. I can't stand to watch boxing on TV.
19. I've never had stitches, a broken bone, or a bee sting.
20. I love to stay in hotels. Once again, one of those things that pretty much everyone loves. What can I say? 25 things is a lot!
21. I love being from a family of 11, and I obviously plan to have a large family myself. Not quite that large, though. Ü
22. I loved High School, and look forward to the day that my kids are in High School so that I can live vicariously through them.
23. I hate dirt. It gives me the chills just thinking about it. Whoever invented sand boxes was an idiot. Same goes for chalk boards.
24. I love to cook. I would do it a lot more often if it didn't make such a big mess.
25. I love to go on long walks. Especially if I have someone to chat with and if my kids aren't crying or telling me they need to go to the bathroom.

As usual, I tag anyone that wants to do this.