Michael's Birthday

Michael turned 6 this year! (I just really can't believe he's already 6). Since it's an even year, we had a friends birthday party. I asked him what kind of birthday he wanted, and he said Lego Star Wars. Due to family events and commitments and fall break, the best day that worked for the party was smack dab on Michael's birthday. It made for a busy day, but that's okay. 

There aren't a lot of Lego Star Wars specific party favors, so we had to get a little creative. I found these sweet molds on Amazon of Lego bricks and others of Star Wars characters. Brian and I made little candies with the molds, threw some on some cupcakes, 

 Throw in some cupcakes, paint an eyeball pinata to look like the Deathstar, and Ta-Da!

I wanted to come up with a game from each episode in the Lego Star Wars Game. The first game: Free the Naboo pilots. I hid a picture of a pilot with each child's name on in inside our castle. So, they had to find their pilot, and then got to play in the castle until everyone arrived. 

Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything for Episode II. So we skipped it and went straight to III. They had to get across the hot lava without falling in and burning up. They loved this!

 For Episode IV, we blew up white balloons and drew storm trooper faces on them. We told the kids that the storm troopers had invaded my ship, and they had to defeat them.

They each got a turn trying to hit one with nerf guns.  

 For Episode V, they had to use "the force" to carry Yoda back and forth across the yard in a relay race. It was a little windy, so we allowed them to use one finger to stabilize Yoda in the cup.

 Then, before I could stop them, (there were 13 kids!) they started attacking the "stormtroopers". And I thought, you know what? Why not. They were destroyed within 2 minutes, but they had a blast doing it.

 Lastly, for Episode VI, they had to destroy the Deathstar, once and for all. It was not an easy thing to do.

 I finally just had to toss them candy from the hole they were able to put into it when they knocked it off the string. Brian said I looked like I was feeding chickens and had to take a picture.

 Next, Michael opened his many presents, loving all of them.

 And then we sang Happy Birthday and had treats.

After the kids left, we took Michael out to eat. He wanted to eat at Cafe Rio, and we sure didn't argue!

I can't express enough how much I love this boy. He came crashing into our world and into our hearts, and we have never been the same since. He is smart, inquisitive, and soaks up everything around us. He constantly amazes us with his enthusiasm and zest for life. He is frustratingly independent sometimes, but he has one of the sweetest, kindest hearts. We live for his giggles. We laugh at his antics and creativity. And we melt with his hugs. Mostly, we're grateful and in awe that he is our son.

September

September flew by---and dragged at the same time. It was boring; it was fun. It was lazy; it was crazy! But mostly, looking back now, the details are a little fuzzy. 

 Both kids took a turn being sick. Rachel started it, and Michael got sick while we were in Idaho for Labor Day. I have to say, Rachel is the most pathetic sick kid around

 We had a Regional Broadcast for church one Sunday, which meant we got to go watch it at the building in our neighborhood--within walking distance of our house--and not at the building 10 minutes away that we normally meet at. It was a welcome luxury. (Technically, I think we were supposed to meet at a different building, since this one isn't in our stake, but we didn't. It was just too nice going back to our old meetinghouse.)

 We fed Rachel's sweet addiction--probably a little too much:

 The kids started swimming lessons (more on this later). It was a bit of a love/hate relationship for them. They both love the water, but lessons were a little exhausting.

 We carried on our tradition of a dinner date when Brian has his release night. Here we are at Kneaders:

 And of course, it wouldn't be a month at our house without some projects. I made this cool apron for my neighbor Sam's birthday. You can't tell from the picture, but the black and white fabric says "Sam I am" all over it. I saw it months ago and had to get it for her. I washed it and it was sitting in my laundry room forever waiting for me to think of something to do with it. Her birthday gave me a deadline and a push and this is what I came up with:

 And Brian made some shelves for our furnace room. Now we just need shelves in our cold storage and we're all set for storage room shelves! Yay!

Brian's Birthday

This year, Betty Crocker gave Brian a great birthday present: She brought back Rainbow Chip frosting so I could make Brian's favorite cake:

He was pretty excited, but I think he wasn't as excited as I was since I know how to make a good substitute. 

For his birthday, we went out to eat and then we went to see Ant Man. Brian really likes that movie, and he knew that his birthday was the only way he was going to get me to go see it in the theater. It wasn't as bad as I was expecting, and I must admit, I did enjoy it. Other than that, it was a pretty chill birthday. 

Despite the chillness of the day, I have to say that it can never be overstated how grateful I am that he was born. He is my best friend, my partner in crime, and my hero in so many ways. I can't imagine my life without him. He knows all about my shortcomings and flaws, and somehow overlooks them, making me feel like I can do anything in the world. He is smart, but more importantly, he is kind. He makes me want to be a better person. His super power is making others feel completely at ease around him. Thanks for being born, Brian. Thanks for coming to BYU. And thanks for picking me out of all those girls. I love you! 

Of Mice and Men

Not too long after school started, I noticed something kind of funny and adorable on Michael's homework:

My first response was to laugh out loud at the name which he had inadvertently started identifying himself. Also, I knew it needed to be addressed---it's an important distinction between a C and a K in this case. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: (showing him one of his papers, and pointing to his name) What does this say to you?
Michael: Mike.
Me: I thought that is what you were trying to write. Do you know what this actually says?
Michael: No
Me: It says "mice". It's one of those cases where the C makes an "s" sound. If you want to write Mike, you need to spell it M-I-K-E. Why are you writing Mike? I really don't like Mike. I didn't think you liked Mike either.
Michael: But my name is SO long. 

The next day, I started seeing this:

I pleaded my case about the Mike thing again. "You're Michael, not Mike! Everyone will start calling you Mike if you keep writing your name as Mike. It's only 3 more letters. You need to write Michael."

My brother, McCallan empathized with him on the lots of letters thing. He had to write 8 afterall. 

Michael's such a good boy. I haven't seen Mike for months. 

Labor Day Weekend

On September 4, we headed up to Idaho to 1) see family and 2) pick up our pig. We arrived at my parents' house in time for a short visit before the kids needed to go to bed. The next morning/afternoon, we headed to Blackfoot for the Eastern Idaho State Fair. My dad really wanted to go, and even though Brian, Taryn, and I have the words "lame" and "boring" pop into our heads when someone mentions "state fair", we decided we could make it fun. Dad convinced all the kids to ride with him and my mom

 and we enjoyed a quiet ride to Blackfoot without kids. It was pretty nice. Our mantra for the day: This is going to be the best day ever at a fair!

 Once we got to the fair, we decided that we all MUST eat some lunch. We may have lost our heads for a minute as our starving stomachs and all the options were at war with each other. My regret: I made a hasty decision and had an okay meal. I wished I had decided on a blue ribbon winner. Oh well. David was the only one with a cool head and scoured them all before deciding on his choice of Dutch oven.

 After food, we headed to go see the animals:

 After that, we wanted a snack, so we sampled some of the fair musts, tiger ears and cotton candy for the kids.

 Then, while my parents checked out some booths, we took the kids over, bought some way overpriced ride tickets, and let the kids go on a couple of rides. They loved them.

 After rides, we met back up with my parents and headed home. It was the best state fair I remember attending. I actually wanted to stay longer this time.

Sometime in the middle of Saturday night and Sunday morning, Michael threw up. My parents handled it. We didn't even know about it until the next morning. I felt a little bad that my mom cleaned Michael up, but I was also really grateful that she did. Brian went to an early sacrament meeting so he could stay home with Michael while the rest of us attended my parents' ward. After church, we were getting ready to head over to my grandma's house for dinner. As we were heading out the door, I noticed that Michael had fallen asleep in Brian's arms. This. Never. Happens. So, we left them.

 Don't worry, Michael woke up in time for Brian to come eat dinner with us. (There were still preparations to be done at Grandma's house.) After dinner, I forced my grandparents to take a picture with me:

 And Rachel wanted in, so my mom had to come in. 4 generations:

I love my grandparents so much--they would do anything for those they love, and almost anything for those they don't know. I hate to think that anything would happen to them, and the hardest part about me getting older is realizing that they are too. And none of us are promised tomorrow. So, each time, I try to get as many pictures as I can and get as many hugs as I can, and hope that they will still be around for another 20 years at least. I made Grandpa take a selfie with me. I hate how I look in this picture, but I love that I got him to smile. 

 

The next morning, Grandma & Grandpa stopped in for a visit, bringing along Brutus. Rachel loves Brutus. 

Brian loaded our car, Brian and my parents' helped load our pig, and then we were headed home again (home again, jigged y jig).