Random Pictures

Grandpa Russ's Birthday was on the 4th (the day after Lukey's!), so we all went out and celebrated with him.  Becky gathered up all the kids for a picture and I made Nate go snap some as well.  This isn't everyone, we miss those who live too far away!  But it's fun to have a picture like this.

Luke got this big bubble ball for his birthday from Grandpa Hatch.  It's been SO MUCH FUN!!!  Luke treats it like his lounging chair and then he likes to dive or fall through the hole in the top.  Lots of fun.

You can see how big it is with Erika standing next to it.

Erika sure has enjoyed spending time with Alvin this last week especially, they became friends while we were tending him Wednesday night.  She's actually pretty sweet with him and he's so patient with her.  It's fun to watch them.  I laid Alvin on her old toy rainbow thing and he seemed to like it (even though it's girly) and Erika just couldn't resist crawling right under there with him.  Just like her big sibs :)

Noah gets a kick out of Alvin as well.  I think all of my kids really just can't get enough of him :)

Wednesday night since we had an extra baby we asked Brad to help with Erika, and he was actually glad to help rock her to sleep.  (it looks like he's got her in a headlock in this picture, but I don't think his arm was touching her :)  )  She laid there calmly, he sang to her, rocked her, just a regular big brother.  SUCH a helper!  It's really nice to know that my kids are developing these sensitive, loving traits that make them so good with little ones.  Very comforting.  She fell right to sleep and went to bed!

He must have pulled his fingers out of his mouth just before the picture.... I was going to point out how much he looked like Noah with his fingers in his mouth, but when I saw this, it occurred to me that he looks a little like Noah even without his fingers in his mouth!!  So cute!  The little pouty lip.  He looks more like his mom though, and Noah looks more like his Dad, so it seems strange that they would look alike at all :)  Just how it goes though I guess.... fun for me :)

Saturday, Nate went outside with the kids, it was just such a nice day, got all these fun pictures for me :)

She's already getting ready for next year!

Hoop Shoot- State Level

Well, the State Competition came and went last Saturday.  It was a BIG day for Charity!!  She was so good and so brave!  We got to the ghost town looking school way early, and had to stand around for a long time and let the nerves build up.  She started out so calm, but after a few minutes of practice shooting with the competition, the nerves just took over. 

We all couldn't believe how good the other girls were.  And not that Charity wasn't, but they were just REALLY good!  They were the kind of girls who look, walk, and act like guys, so they're super athletic.... not that there's anything wrong with that.  Charity definitely didn't fit that profile in her cute pink jersey and pink warmups with her twinkle toes shoes :)  I was so proud of her and how sweet and cute she looked :)  I'm glad my girl looks like a girl :) basically.  But anyway.  She kept at it, kept practicing, and kept getting nervous :)  We all knew she would do well and that she would do her best.  I had to keep telling her that I knew she could do it!  She really does have SO much in her.  She amazes me so much sometimes.  She's just so ambitious, and so strong and brave.

A nice little action photo.  You'll have to excuse the blurriness and overall crappiness of these pictures.  The place had incredibly terrible lighting and we were not allowed to use flash photography, so I did these all in manual mode to avoid the flash.... it was tricky for me :)  Too bad Brent couldn't have been there!

Charity has so much confidence and so much faith in herself.  It's fun to watch her try new things just for that reason.  She just KNOWS that it's possible!  Even with how good those girls were, I know she had an inkling that it was possible to win.  So she kept at it.

A weak moment/pep talk from Daddy.  Nate was so amazing and helped her through all of her practices and all of the nerves at each competition.  He's just amazing and so is she.

I love that she kept at it!  I LOVE that she tried her best and didn't let herself get down about things DURING the competition.  Those other girls didn't leave a lot of room for mistakes. 

She did really well.  Not as good as at the last two comps, but I really think it was just those bad nerves that got to her.  She did make 9 out of the 25 though, and we were so proud of her!!!  Third place!!!!  (we don't talk about how many people there were competing :) )

And hey, with a trophy like that, how can you not be happy with your performance!!!  She got the bronze trophey, a medal (which they didn't give her till the end when they realized they'd forgotten, so I don't have a picture of it on her there), another basketball (this is her second!) AND a certificate!!!  Doesn't sound like a loss to me :)  She was definitely much happier when she got the trophy.  I kept telling her that to make it as far as she had is nothing to be ashamed of.  And really, it had to end somewhere :)  Those girls spend a LOT of time practicing and have probably been involved in basketball most of their lives.  Sweet little Charity gets to do other things, and still made it to State, so we decided she has the sweeter deal :) 

She wants to try again next year and now she knows what to expect and can practice and get all excited for it.  They have made a shrine to her at her school.... there's a big poster with a bunch of pictures of her receiving tropheys and such.... pretty cool if you ask me.... she's practically famous!  So anyway.  This was a really neat experience for all of us.  I loved being the mom of that cute girl with the fun granny shot :)  She really made us all proud.  Thanks to the Elks lodge for putting this all together and giving us something to do and look forward to.  What a neat organization they are.

Lukey's big day!

Lukey's birthday was a blast!  He woke up to his big sibs telling him to come see the streamers and sign.... still a must :)... here's his half awake reaction to it all.... He was just sitting there a little out if it :)  Made laugh a little.  But he started jumping up and down and playing with the balloons.

He kept telling me to "take pic-chews of Ewika!" all morning.... so that's what I did :)

We had Lukey's favorite Crepes for Breakfast (even though I knew I had a Denny's "free kids meal" coupon.... I just couldn't get us ready and out the door in time for it... nor did I want to go to a restaurant and pay for everyone else, just to get a free meal.... maybe next year).  We played around a LOT!  Lukey decided it would be fun to "pway da Wii all day" so that's what he got.  They played the wii A LOT! 

My friend Kim Ball gave me a big box of "Bob the Builder Party Stuff" a couple of years ago and it was just so complete, I wanted to do a Bob the Builder Party.  Luckily Lukey was the one that raised his hand when I posed the question.  He's really not all that into Bob the Builder or trucks and cars for that matter.... but he was really thrilled about it all for some reason.  Maybe it was all the fun party stuff that we ALREADY had that made it fun... dunno.... but this was the cake we found online that struck Luke as the cake he wanted....

I'll admit I was slightly bummed that it was so simple.... I like to challenge myself a little I guess :)  Not that I should! HA!  But anyway, it turned out pretty good I think :)  The kids thought it was real dirt and then wanted some of it when I told them it was cake.  I had planned ahead that they would not want to eat it, and made cupcakes with remaining cake mix, for them to eat, but they were actually more excited to eat the "dirt".

(I dipped the frosted cupcakes in the "dirt".... my own idea :)  I was happy about it :) )

We put up all the cute Construction-y signs all over the room and Nate decorated outside with the caution tape.  I made him go out and put some balloons too since we have older neighbors, I didn't want them to think there was something wrong here, but even with the balloons, sweet little Lorna called to make sure we were in fact "celebrating". Such cute neighbors!

When the guests arrived we had them each build their own little "golf green" that I ordered from Lowes.  I'll be honest, they were about a quarter of the size I had thought they were (duh, should have checked the dimensions), and well.... just not what I had expected.  But the boys seemed to have a really good time, hammering in the few nails (just enough to enjoy it, not enough to lose interest... that was a good thing), and then they all putted their little ball into the hole a few times.  I was still slightly disappointed and embarrassed that they were so lame, but luckily they're delightful little children who wouldn't have expected anymore and they had fun with it.  Then we played a few games.

The day that we went shopping for the rest of Luke's party stuff, he had this great idea to buy some bubble wrap and stomp it out for one of the games at his party.  At first I thought "white trash!", but he was SO set on it.... so we just HAD to do it!  It was a lot of fun until Luke hurt his food stomping too hard.  And the other kids were kind of funny about it, but I think it meant more to Luke that he thought of it than anything, and I like that.  The boys we invited were all 4 and 5, and they were ALL so mellow!!!  I was SO surprised!  I mean, I've seen these kids in Primary!  I know they're not mellow!  It was nice, but at the same time, difficult to tell that we were having a party.

We played "pass Scoop" instead of musical chairs since Luke's foot was hurting too bad to walk.  Then we played "keep the balloon from touching the ground".  Luke's idea of course :)  Very fun!  And then we did the Pinata....

Luke didn't like the truck pinatas (not a surprise) and he had wanted the "5" one that we saw ---- he told me a few days before his birthday, "This is the ONLY time I'm gonna turn FIVE huh Mom!"  He was pretty thrilled to be turning five"---- but then we realized that the "5" was actually a "50" but we couldn't see the 0 attached to it.  So that was kind of a bummer, he had had his heart set on it.... but THEN we found this dolphin one.... and that was it!  He was sold.  There was no talking him out of it... the girls thought he was crazy for picking something outside of the theme of his party.... but it was HIS favorite!  Totally fits him too.

Lukey broke it open after everyone had had a turn wacking it.  There was WAY too much candy in this pinata!  I was worried about how much candy it was and later learned that one of the boys' mom is (of course with my luck) a Dental hygenist.  She didn't seem okay with how much candy there was even after I apologized.... kinda funny..... kinda not.... but whatever :) ..... I hurried and grabbed their little bags so that they wouldn't be munching on it the whole time they were here, and made it so the parents had to regulate it, but I should have emptied some of it out apparently :)  Better luck next time.  ANYWAY!!  It was a lot of fun!  My kids live for pinatas.

Lukey was so polite his whole birthday, didn't get greedy at all!  I was so happy that he wasn't too anxious to open presents and that he was respectful of all his friends and loved his presents.  He's just such a good boy these days. I still get a kick out of watching my kids give each other gifts.  Especially the ones they've bought themselves.... it's amazing how much love and care they put into something like a gift for each other.  Makes me happy.

This is the race car track that Luke has wanted FOREVER!  Everytime we go to the store he says he's going to "save up his money" to get it, and he just never could.  When Nate was shopping for his presents he found this and it was actually on the clearance shelf (how convenient!) so he just had to by it for him :)  So cool.  He was really excited :)  So was I :)

Luke really wanted the "5" candle (again, he was totally obsessed with the age he was turning). 

Couldn't resist taking a picture of this face....

The kids all seemed to have a good time.  It was fun to do a friend party for Luke.  This was his first one.  I learned that 4 and 5 year old boys are super shy and quiet at birthday parties!  And I liked that it wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be.  Should have invited more I guess :)

After Luke's friend party, some of the family came over to celebrate too! 

These are the hats that Kim had in the box of party stuff.... she had everything!  It was fun that we had some left over!

Grandpa gave Lukey this HUGE ball that you can climb inside and roll around in.... I need some better pictures of him in it.... Luke loves it.  He likes to pile blankets and pillows in there and then dive in.... makes me jealous that I'm too big for it :)

We had another cake to celebrate with the fam.  Milky way frosting on a Devil's food cake.... the Snickers cake didn't really work out.... won't be trying that one ever again.....

It's always fun for everyone when Grandpa comes.....

Luke seemecd to enjoy his birthday.  He was happy and cheerful the whole day.  He really seemed to have skipped over the birthday grumps that most of my kids get :)  It was quite pleasant.  It's fun to see him get older and be excited about being 5, but I sure do feel like my little Lukey is still really little.  I don't want him to grow up :)  He's always been really dependent and needed help with everything, so I thought he might just stay my little baby forever, but it's starting to look like he might actually grow up and go to school and such.... we'll see.  Maybe I can stall :)

Happy 5th Birthday Lukey!!