Kerry's 34th Birthday

This year for my 34th birthday the gift that I bought myself and demanded of my children was having family pictures taken and having them be happy about it!  After school on my birthday we all dressed up and had pictures taken.  When we got home we got the younger kids ready for bed and the older two were going to babysit so Spen could take me out to dinner and a movie.  It was a lot of fun.  We tried a new Chinese place and went to the Amazing Spiderman.  While we were at the movie we got a phone call from the kids saying Mason was screaming.  Mason has these episodes and has this problem that usually is gross enough that only I take care of it.  It is pretty traumatic for the both of us and this was what was happening.  Spencer was on the phone with Ethan and he simply said, "dad, I got this, I'll call you when I'm done." and he took care of it himself.  There was nothing I could do but cry and worry while sitting at the movie, but sure enough we got a phone call about 10 minutes later from Ethan telling us that he had taken care of everything and was cuddling and holding Mason to calm him down. 

That was the best birthday present ever.

Ethan just took care of his brother without even thinking of what that actually entailed.  He did it and was so happy to do anything to help Mason that it didn't matter what it was.  My 9 year old was doing something that most people would refuse to do and would drive to the emergency room before attempting.  The love he has for his twin-spirit brother Mason was something that made this birthday the best of all time.

 

My kids didn't see things that way and felt like they hadn't really celebrated so they planned a surprise party for me that Saturday morning.  Spencer took me and dropped me off for a surprise massage and when I came home the house was all decorated and the kids were ready to spoil me! 

They gave me fun presents that they shopped for with Spencer.  They were very excited to give me things.  That's always fun

They were all even willing to have their picture taken with me.  That is really showing how accommodating they all were for my party.



The big activity that they were all so excited about was the pinata they filled for us to break.



The funny thing was that it was a cardboard box taped shut.  That thing did not want to break open!  It was a lot of fun and everyone got several turns before it broke!

Ezra was so funny.  He wanted his friends to come over and watch him do the bat on the candy box. 

Finally we gave Spencer a turn and he broke the box down a few too many times.  We could no longer hang it and hit it so we just had to beat it from the ground.  Still fun though.

They even made me a cake and sang to me that night.  It was a lot of fun and the best part was that I was totally surprised by everything they ended up doing.

Mesa Verde ~ Fall Break

On our drive back home from El Paso we decided to stop in Cortez, Colorado for the night and to spend some of the next day in Mesa Verde seeing the Indian Ruins. The kids were a bit disappointed that we didn't stay in the 'grandma hotel' again, but were happy when the saw how nice the place was we found. Vika and Ethan got to share the fold out mattress on the floor. It was really funny because she was trying to trade anyone because she kept saying that Ethan likes to cuddle too much! I really thought it was funny to wake up in the morning to find Ethan's half of the bed empty and both of them scrunched back to back on the other side! Adorable. We packed the car and made the gorgeous drive into Mesa Verde.

There really was only one hike and dwelling that we could get to with the wheelchair so that decidion was pretty easy.  We went to see the Spruce Tree House dwelling.  It wasn't really that long of a hike, but it did get pretty steep in spots!  I was happy that Spencer was the one in charge of Mason's safety!

I'm the only one who has visited this area before and none of my family really anticipated what they would see.  It really is pretty incredible to see such amazing dwellings in such obscure places.  They were all amazed.

Mason was really fine and happy until we arrived at the ruins.  I held him most of the time and that helped.  The park rangers had some weird suggestions as to why he was so upset, referring to ancient indian spirits, but I think he just wanted to be moving and not lingering at the noisy stopping point.

Ezra really was enjoying himself and had a hard time following all of the rules and staying in the allowed areas!

 

Lucky for us, not a lot of people noticed that after Ezra climbed down into the Kiva he wet his pants.  It really helped us decide how long to stay, but was a bit embarrasing!  I think everyone saw everything they wanted to see at the Spruce Tree House.

Spencer and I really want to visit and spend a few days either with just our big kids or by ourselves to tour all of the ruins here.  It was well worth the detour on our drive home!

 

Fall Break ~ El Paso, Texas

This year for fall break we wanted to take the kids somewhere to visit family.  We haven't really taken them anywhere in a long time and thought it would be fun.  The sad thing is that once we were talking about it we realized that we have never been to El Paso to see Spencer's Grandma and Grandpa or his aunts who spend the 4th of July with us.  Grandma Bea has never met any of our 4 children.  That meant that it was very overdue for us to make the drive to Texas.

Our kids were all very excited.  They were pretty good in the car.  We were happy that the landscape was pretty bare so we could make frequent 'pit stops' for our potty training boy!

We stopped in Cortez, Colorado for the night on our way there and had plans to go out and see the area.  Unfortunately, I was pretty sick with a sinus infection and strep throat, but was lucky enough to get in touch with one of my Dr.'s to call in a prescription for me.  Spencer booked a hotel online and when we got there it was pretty old.  Ezra walked in and immediately asked, 'what does it smell like!'  and 'is this a grandma hotel?'  From then on that hotel was the grandma hotel.  The next day we packed up and finished our drive to El Paso.  We drove straight to grandma Bea's house and the kids got a bit silly as we arrived.  Ethan really liked the shape of the shrubs they had outside their house.

We had a very nice visit at their house with grandma Bea and grandpa Ralph.  Lizett and Cindy came and brought take out for dinner.  Ethan and Victoria were so excited because they had planned to stay with Lizett and Cindy at their house and not with us at our hotel.  They were looking forward to meeting Lizett's 6 dogs, and Cindy's 3 dogs.

They had a good night and the rest of us were nice and spread out at our hotel!  We met the next day for breakfast and to go see the school where they teach.  That night we made the 45 minute drive to a cattle ranch restaurant named Cattleman's.  It was a working ranch in the middle of nowhere.  There were animals to see complete with a rattlesnake pit and buffalo.  We walked the grounds before being sat in the restaurant.

There were playgrounds and stations to purchase food to feed all of the animals.  It was a huge place.

The restaurant is the most delicious steakhouse I have ever been to!  The menus boast that the meat that is served is cut the same day.  It was amazing.  Lizett and Cindy really outdid themselves.  Victoria could not get over the bill for dinner.  Spencer kept saying that this dinner was worth the whole drive! 

The next morning we met again for breakfast.  Victoria couldn't understand why all of the restaurants serve beans and Mexican food for breakfast!  Ethan and Spencer were absolutely loving it.  We then drove downtown to visit the 'Chalk the Block' that was going on.  It was a very big event.  Grandma had a hard time walking the whole way so we left her to eat her treats while we found a few of Lizett and Cindy's students.

One thing about Grandma Bea (or Grandma Bete as Ezra called her) was that she has a sweet tooth.  She always had a treat in her hand.  She was nice enough to share with Mason.  She was so tender and sweet with Mason.  She connected with him almost immediately.  He shared her entire coconut Popsicle!  She was a very brave grandma to share Popsicles with the Moose!  That's something that usually only a mom or dad would do.  I thought it was so darling.  He was LOVING it.

One of the interesting things they had was a giant 'light maze.'  We decided to give it a try.  It was kind of strange, but very cool.  Mase couldn't stay in there very long because it was pretty hot.  All of the lines and color strips on the gray maze create colored light inside.  It was pretty cozy and relaxing.

Ezra and Ethan had the most fun.  They didn't want to leave.  I just chased Ezra around and hoped that everyone else was OK!  We spent some time relaxing.  After we left downtown the kids wanted to go and see a movie.  We spent our last night with grandma and grandpa at their house and were so sad to have to say goodbye.

Ethan was in heaven staying with Lizett and Cindy.  Victoria joined us at the hotel on the last night.  Ethan was in love with all of the dogs.  He spent hours just petting and playing with them.  It almost made me think about getting a dog.  I decided instead to ship him to Lizett and Cindy's more often!  He was pretty upset to leave.

He insisted I got his picture with each of the dogs.

Ezra loved the dogs and loved to follow them around trying to hand them their toys!  Everyone of our kids asked us how soon we could go back.  They all want to visit El Paso again soon.

We were just so happy to finally get to see where everyone lives and meet all of the dogs we have heard about for years.  It was great to see the school we have been told about and especially to get to see Grandma and Grandpa finally.

It was a very long drive, but was very worth it.

Thanks for making us feel so welcome!

 

Ezra's 4th Birthday

Ezra was so excited to have his birthday.  He couldn't wait to 'turn into 4!~'  I was pretty excited about how happy he was.  I never know with him how he is going to react.  He couldn't decide what kind of party he wanted to have for his friends.  I was excited that Spencer could come home from work during his lunch break and we could have his friend party while everyone else was at school.  They were a little sad, but it really was a lot less stressful here! 

He wanted a Cars, Monster, Batman, Spiderman, Ghost,  Superhero party.  I think we pulled it off.

 He picked out pumpkins for all of his friends to paint for one of the activities.  It was a really big hit.

 They went on a ghost hunt to start.  Ezra was really the best hunter.  He hunted for the other boys ghosts to help them.  I kind of don't think they understood the game very well!

 

 I really am happy that I got away with only having his 2 best friends come.  These boys are inseparable.  They have such a good time and get along so well.  Ezra never stops talking about them.

 

 Ezra's friend Bradley gave him a cape and a mask.  He immediately had to wear it and didn't take it off all day long.  Konrad gave him a cool Iron Man toy.  They all wanted to play with that.

 The Monster cupcakes were a big hit. 

After we painted pumkins and played all of our games we played a game my mom made for my birthday parties when I was a kid.  Pin the cupcake on Birthday Bear!  I wasn't sure if they would like it but they played it over and over again.

 For our family party later that night, we loaded everyone up and went to Chuck-E-Cheese.  It seemed like it would be a fun time and it really was.  Mason even was happy.  We had cupcakes and presents  and games and pizza!  Ezra was the happiest boy in the world.  All of the kids made sure to give him all of their tickets so he could choose the biggest and best prize of all!

We are so lucky to have our 4 year old Crazy Beans in our family.  Happy Birthday Ezra!

Ezra part 3 ~

Ezra makes me laugh everyday.  He also is the most maddning child everyday!  He thinks of the craziest things to to and sometime crazy is exhausting.  I wouldn't trade it though.  He keeps things interesting and fun.

What little kid wouldn't want the movie popcorn from the night before?  This is how we all should eat it!

Spencer put the fence in to finish the backyard last fall so that I could let Ezra play outside without worrying about him running away and hiding in some neighbors house.  It lasted about a week this spring before I realized he had figured out how to climb up and let himself out.  Now that fence is wired shut.  He still can get out if he really wants to.

One afternoon he was 'helping' Spencer with a project in the kitchen.  After buying Spencer 3 new tape measures for Valentine's Day (Ezra had cut the ends off of every other one we had in the house) Ezra found a new way to torture Spencer during his project. 

Look at the innocence on that face!  He would never...