What a GREAT Birthday!

Just wanted to say thanks to my awesome wife, kids, & friends for an AMAZING birthday. Here's how my day went:

7:30 am - Carson woke me up asking when the party was. Opened presents with the kids who thought my King Sized Hershey's with Almonds bar was by far the coolest thing I got. (Thanks for the book & shirt too honey!)

8:00 am - Friends took me on a spectacular bike ride through some great trails near Lake Houston in Kingwood

10:00 am - Took Carson to his first Tee-ball practice. That kid is fired up! We've been trying to gauge his interest in different sports lately. It sounded like karate was what he was leaning towards, but after practice he jumps in the van and says to Alisha, "Tee-ball is SO MUCH FUN! Mom, no karate for me... I like Tee-ball the best!"

11:30 am - Stopped by Academy and picked out a lighter bat for Carson. I just love seeing that kids face light up when he gets something new... especially something he can swing in a similar fashion to a sword!

12:00 pm - Bucket of 50 chicken McNuggets... need I say more? My family doesn't look forward to the Superbowl for the commercials, but rather the arrival of the McDonalds nugget deal.

1:00 pm - Admire the new 46" Sony Bravia. Alisha caved at Costco on Saturday and let me get my TV before completing my end of the bargain. It's not my fault she still hasn't picked out the color she wants me to paint the gameroom!

2:00 pm - Primary activity. Nothing funner than hanging out with your 'beams on your birthday. Those kids are the greatest... they even shared their Valentines cookies with me that had more frosting and sprinkles than cookie.

4:00 pm - London rolled over. Obviously she knew it was my birthday because she only did it once and hasn't done it since. Right after she did it Carson says, "Dad - one more present you didn't know about - London did it just for your birthday!"

5:00 pm - Babysitter shows up. Kelsey is an awesome babysitter - we didn't have dinner ready or anything, but she took it in stride and the kids loved hanging out with her.

5:30 pm - Café du Bois. Alisha got reservations at the best French restaurant I've ever eaten at - including all the places I ate at in France. She was such a good sport even though there wasn't much on the menu that looked at all inticing to her. She even let me order an assortment of stinky French cheeses for the appetizer. It was quite the fancy place and they brought us this crazy awesome desert plate for my birthday that had all sorts of different chocolate/mango/raspberry sauce artwork with French-sized portions of cheesecake.

8:00 pm - We had planned on going to ColdStone after dinner, but the other entrées were absolutely not French-sized portions and there was no way I could have downed a cone bowl of ice cream! Instead we went home and put the kids to bed and enjoyed a movie together on our (did I mention this already?) amazingly awesome new TV.

As you can see I had a fun-filled day with intermingled calls from friends and family wishing me a Happy Birthday. Your wishes worked - THANKS to everyone!

It's time...

This makes me really sad to say, but it's time to make our blog private. I have loved keeping our blog open because I've been able to reconnect with friends that I probably wouldn't have been able to find. However, it's time to take the security up a notch. I do not like receiving inappropriate posts from people I don't know, and I don't like knowing that they can view pictures of my family. So - if you would like to be invited to view our blog please send me an email and let me know, or you can leave your email address in a comment and I will delete it so no one else can see it once I've received it. Thanks for your understanding.
(The blog will be made private on Sunday, Feb. 28th)

London

London is getting SO BIG! I love it, but my little baby is growing up too fast. She loves her toys and is starting to interact with them a lot more. Bridgers aunt sent her this adorable outfit, and I had to get a picture of her in it.

Yay for the attempt to be crafty

Made a few things today, thought they were cute. I'll explain what they are in the pictures.

The big long one is for hairbows. I can never find the hairbow I am looking for, or they get smashed and ruined in the big bucket I keep them in. I've seen similar items to this at boutiques, but am not willing to pay that much for it.

Oh no...problem....I only have about 1/2 of London and Hailey's bows on this...I might need to make another one! Now I need to get it hung up on the wall of the girls room.

Of course I had to make a few more hair clips since I now have an awesome bow keeper!

The shorter ones are to hold Hailey's curtains back in her room. I didn't want to get the boring old hook that you screw into the wall, so I made these.

Sundays

What does your family do on Sundays? I love Sundays around here. In the beginning of 2009 we made it a family goal not to watch any TV on Sundays. (Bridger is such a good sport...he misses all the football games-yes even the superbowl!) We have made a few exceptions for CHURCH material only. So yes, Bridger and I have watched Legacy or something like that...and we have even let the animated scriptures slide a time or two when we are sick or just needed a little downtime. I must say...we have done some really fun stuff. We go for walks, play tons of board games and card games, and just hang out! Well, last Sunday we busted out a puzzle I have had since I was a little girl. Here is the completed puzzle with the two biggest helpers for putting it together! :)

Sleeping

It is a good thing these two girls are so cute...because they have been awful sleepers lately.

London is getting so big! I feel like my newborn is gone! I think she looks adorable in this photo!

Yeah I can't get Carson in pictures anymore...He won't look at the camera, and runs away from it.

What to do about Hailey? She is terrified of the dark. No idea where this came from. The past few weeks she has been so scared she will not go to bed. We have a night light in EVERY plug in her wall, and have even left her closet light on with her door open. This however leads to her grabbing all of her books from her shelf and looking at them on the bed for hours, or playing in her room. Any ideas how to help her get over this so she will go to sleep?

Bow party!

Today while Carson was at preschool the girls had a bow party. I have had three different friends show me how to make hairbows, and every time I've tried I cannot do it. I am just not crafty. I try to tie the cute little knots and they just don't turn out. So - yesterday another friend showed me how to make the flower hairbows. They are so easy...I can actually do them! These cost $5-$8 in botiques...so I am way excited I paid maybe $2 for the cost of everything! Here they are:

So the orange and dark purple are huge...may have to wait a few years before the girls can wear them. Don't know if I am liking the button center or the flower center more.

Mommy, this flower is too big for my head!

This is my favorite one. I think next time this is the size of gerbers I should buy.

These are the bows I have tried, and tried, and tried to make...ugh. Maybe next time I will try my luck at making corkscrew ones.