Grandpa Russ's 70th!!

Nate's Dad celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday!  Grandma Ruthie threw a really nice party for him.  We were in charge of the kid games.  I thought it was a pretty good turn out!  I especially enjoyed talking with Liz, Allan and Brayden.  Thankfully Kelly was willing to man the games for the most part.  Nate was in the mood to mingle and I was in the mood to sit and do nothing.  I was just lucky I made it there, You wouldn't believe the excuses I had come up with to get out of this one.  I know that's bad, but it's really just how my brain works right now.  Social things are difficult.  To say the least. It really was a good time though.

They even had a pinata!

Jack showing off his goods... mouth watering and everything :)

 So when the party had come to what should have been an end, Craig, Nate's cousin, got out these big "bubbles" for the kids to all play in.  Apparently he had had a "work party" in that same building (he works for the church) where they rented these human balls to play in.  There were about 12 of them just bouncing and rolling all over the gym.  It was a LOT of fun!  Two whole hours of fun to be exact!  I couldn't believe how long they kept the kids entertained.  I'm sure Craig and Mindy were regretting getting them out :). 

I don't know if you can grasp the fun-ness of this whole thing from these pictures, but EVERYONE was having a great time!  Including all the parents standing by...

Here's Noah :)  He was going going going the WHOLE TIME.

Noah rolling around... I mentioned to Chris that "doesn't this look like so much fun? and don't you just wanna steal the bubble from your kid and have a turn?" And then he had to go all fun-wrecker on me and bring up how sweaty and stinky they would be inside and how after a couple rolls I'd probably need to puke.  bummer.  He was right, but bummer.  So on the kids went :)

There were a few casualties... only people who WEREN'T in the bubbles of course.  Usually the miniature people too.  Sad.  We should have watched our kids better I guess.  Here's Marcus before...

And here he is after.  Poor guy.  Enoch got him.

Yes, Nate strapped our 2 year old inside of one...

and he of course loved it :)

This was right up Jack's alley really.

Even Erika took a little turn.  I was so worried about her getting smashed into by the big boys since it was further on in the evening and those teenagers got pretty crazy!!  She of course loved it.  Even though her bubble was slightly deflated.

This really wasn't Kelly's cup of tea and after a few near-misses, I think she decided to sit it out.  Still "smiling" though :).

Luke was an animal in the thing.  He was more into doing tricks and hanging up-side-down and stuff, than bumping into people.  

Cute little Erika still

Charity had a go at it... she seemed to feel like it was a little awkward and hurt her knee on one of her falls.  But she's always up for a new game.

Bradley was a lot of fun to watch, he spent a little time in the bubble at the beginning but for whatever reason (maybe couldn't get his hands on one after having to share, I'm not sure), he spent most of the evening running around knocking into them bubble-less.  He worked up quite the sweat as you can see- here he is high-tailing it before Marshall (?) gets the better of him.  He is such a tease, I think he kind of asked for most of it :)

There's me, that was my favorite part- pushing them around, crashing them into each other and the walls... it was extremely entertaining!  I had a great time.  

I only wish I'd gotten a picture of Luke up-side-down, and me trying to deflate them... well, maybe I don't want a picture of that... I must have looked pretty funny!!  It was still fun though :)

 So 10:15 rolled around and we were finally rolling out of the church parking lot.  I couldn't believe how late it was when I looked at my phone.  We never did have dinner because of my poor planning and lack of knowledge that it started so soon.  We had to leave our house at 4:45, so dinner had not yet hit my brain.  We had planned on getting pizza once we were there, but never did.  So at 10:20 at night, Nate came out of Little Caesar's with three pizzas.  So not good for us, but we were definitely starving.  Ice cream and candy just don't fill you up.  So anyway.  It was a little nuts, but that's kind of how we roll.  Everyone fell asleep very quickly, including Jack Jack.  2-6-15

Some random pictures- have I mentioned that Erika likes to take pictures?

My favorite part is when he finishes a tower/car/whatever and says, "Ta-da!"  It's adorable.

this photo is not photo-shopped in any way- how did he do that?!

Luke is NINE!! The friend party!

Luke woke up to a beautifully decorated house- courtesy of Kelly- she really saved the day- even using stickers because she couldn't find the tape.  These traditions are everything to some kids!  I had left to go get some cool whip for crepes that Lukey loves.  I like to do their favorite breakfast on their birthdays.

Then he opened a quick present before school.  

Last year, Nate and I checked Luke out and took him to lunch. Just something we decided to do with most (unfortunately we forgot a few) of the kids.  I think he thought this was a new tradition or something because he asked me if we could do it again this year.  I figured- why not!  So even though Nate was not off, Erika, Jack and I checked him out and took him to, his choice, Arby's :).  That turned out to be a really fun little time!  He and Erika were total buds the whole time (he didn't seem at all bummed that he wasn't the only one there), they were sweet and giggly.  Kinda reminded me how alike the two of them are.  Jack slept the whole lunch away, in my arms, which was not convenient, but it was better than him crying- he wasn't feeling real great.  So Luke, Erika and I talked and talked, it was so much fun.  I would love to do that everyday if I could :).

Once school was out, it was time for the big party!

Luke wanted to go to Boondock's arcade for his birthday party.  I tried really hard to interest him in something else there, but he was set on the arcade :).  It was so cute of him.  So Luke.  So that's what we did!  We drove him and his five little friends (he has a small circle of friends this year) to Boondock's, Nate spoiled them with LOTS of money to play with, thanks to the HUGE discounts.  Even with the discounts though, it hurt every time I saw them play a stupid money waster... you know- the ones that don't give out many tickets!  Jk.  Well.  Mostly.  It sure was fun to watch them all.  Their cute little faces just lit up when they'd get a big string of tickets.  That's just too fun.  When I was a kid, a lot of tickets was like 3 or 4, on the skeeball at Peter Piper Pizza... but this is just too cool when they get up in the hundreds!  Fun stuff.  They all seemed to have enough fun.  Well, minus Henry.  The poor kid wasted most of his money on the claw machine.  He only had like 80 tickets.  When compared with the 717 that Luke got (or any of the other kids for that matter), it was really sad.  Plus he was done WAY before everyone.  Just kind of wandered around watching everyone else play.  I guess he learned probably.  But anyway.  It was fun to see them all interact and play.

We came back with our dinky little prizes in tow, had some pizza,opened presents, and then ate ice cream cones.  

The candy cake was a big hit.  Luke had been wanting one of those since Bradley's party a couple years ago.  The boys were totally into it.  I only wish I didn't have to send them home with so much candy.  I know some parents just don't go for that.  Oh well.  If you don't want your kid to have candy, don't send them to my house.  We don't have it all the time, but for birthdays, it's a must. 

This is the big, bouncy baseball Luke got with his tickets.  I wish I'd gotten non phone pictures at Boondocks

Present time was a lot of fun for some reason.  We did the whole disguising your voice, guessing who it is thing like kids like now (move over heavy heavy hangover :) ), they all got into it :).  It took him a few tries to guess Austin.

I've been getting pictures of each of the guests with the birthday kid at their parties with the last few and I like it :).  Makes me happy to look back at them later... or it will anyway :).  Here he is with his second cousin, Henry Widdison.  They are funny friends.  Or should I say frenemies.  They are off and on so much it's amazing they happened to be on that day!

Trenton was hilarious that night.  He was so different than I've seen him before, it was totally cracking me up!  When he was doing the disguised voice thing, he got real close to Luke's ears then all of a sudden YELLED, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in his ear, no disguise :).  I know I shouldn't laugh at my son's misfortune, but it was Hil.ar.i.ous!!!!!  I've never seen anyone do that.  Very creative ;).  We all laughed- even Luke- you can see Luke's a little surprised by his crazy behavior too :).  Makes me laugh just looking at this picture- he was like that most of the evneing.  Funny kid.

Here's the gift we gave him.  I was so happy to finally get out of him what he REALLY wanted (since he hadn't said ANYTHING yet and I had no clue- no thought going on in this brain right now), but then he added the "Jazz" part after I'd already bought the orange and white.  Rats.  Not that it really matters- he just wanted his own basketball and really he's not picky, just me being me of course.  I'm sure he loves it.

We were all so happy that Carter could come to the party!  We found out kind of later in the game, I wasn't sure if I should text his mom or what- since they're in Bountiful, I wasn't sure they would make the trek anyway though.  So we were pleasantly surprised.  Luke was relieved too :).  He just LOVES Carter.  I think he will always be his "best friend" even though they see each other like once a year now.  

Such kindred spirits though... how can ya blame him.

I always feel bad forcing the shy kids to be in pictures and stuff, but suck it up and say cheese!  This is one of Luke's very favorites too.  Not a surprise that he's shy :).

He really likes Austin lately too.  I'm glad he's choosing good friends- they all seemed like very nice, polite little boys.  Not near as much crudeness as I would expect from 8/9 year olds.  Very impressed, though not surprised.  Luke is picky :)

And of course we tore apart the "cake" before doing the candles... duh... so we put his nine candles in the bowl of blueberries I'd been pushing on the boys all night.  It worked.

I was so glad I was able to text Tara and find out if I'd put on the invite whether we were bringing the boys home or not.  My brain is completely dysfunctional now.  I seriously don't know what I'm going to do for the next seven months!  Or the rest of eternity for that matter.  I hope it gets a recharge or a new battery or something when I'm resurrected at least.  Assuming I make it that far.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUKE!!!

 I loved watching Luke.  He's a different kind of birthday kid.  Very humble.  He doesn't try too hard to please everyone and is okay with not having all of everyone's attention.  Makes sense why he only invited 5 friends.  They were pretty fun boys.  Noisy.  But fun.  I thought it was a great time.