Lincoln's 11th Birthday Party

Since we only do birthday parties every other year Lincoln had plenty of time to plan what he wanted to do. Because of Christmas parties, traveling to Utah, baptisms, family visiting, etc., the birthday celebration got put on hold until last weekend (thanks, Lincoln, for being so patient!).

This year he wanted to go go-kart racing --and Linc thought it was well worth the wait. They had a blast. Mom, on the other hand, was a bit nervous that someone was gonig to crash and get hurt. Although they started out driving tentatively, that lasted about one lap, and then I think they forgot that there were brakes. However, everybody walked away unscathed, and every kid had "crash" stories to share over pizza and dessert.

It was great.

I love this picture because they all have red eyes like little demons - and that is how they drove. :) Trust me, I know who I will be watching out for on the road in five more years!

Happy Birthday, Lincoln (aka Montesque on the race track - don't know where that came from) We love you!!!

P.S. We have requested that the driver's license bureau extend the period of time you are required to use a learner's permit prior to a real driver's license. We are also saving up for private instructors. :)

Tessa's Birthday - For Real This Time

After approximately three billion inquiries as to when it would be her birthday it finally came - and we couldn't have been more ready for the big day to get here. The morning of her birthday Ted came in and told her that she wasn't his favorite 3-year-old anymore. She laughed and squealed that she knew that because now she was his favorite 4-year-old. Man, she was excited. And so were we.

This is how she spent a great deal of the day - eyeing, touching, shifting things on her cake. Then I came in behind her to try and "re-sculpt" it. By the end I just wanted it eaten and gone!! :)

(I want to get clips that actually STAY in to keep mykids' hair out of their eyes, but that's another birthday wish...)

In case this scooter looks familiar, it should. She received this same scooter for Christmas a year ago - but the big kids played on it and it broke, so she was very clear that she needed a replacement scooter for "the one that the big huge kids took from me and broke!" FYI: The big huge kids are Lincoln and Sam, so apparently that scooter isn't cleared for a very high weight.

Emma's sweet friends were so concerned about Tessa that they even brought her birthday gifts...and she ATE up all the attention!

That Friday we had her birthday party and headed to Build-A-Bear. We let her invite a few friends and they stuffed their bears....

bathed them.....

named them, and played with them.

Our big fancy (yeah right) party then headed out to the courtyard area where they ate cupcakes. Ted and I were trying to keep it as simple as possible and it turned out great.

As you can see, Tessa was primed and ready to pose for pictures. Then again, she should be. She's been practicing for her birthday celebration for over six months now. :)

Happy Birthday to our favorite 4-year-old!

And in case you are wondering, she really is already planning her next birthday party. I'll break the news of the "every other year" policy for parties later on.

A trip to the ER

Last weekend was fantastic - crazy, but fantastic. I had art in Sam's class on Friday, family arriving Friday afternoon, Sam's baptism on Saturday, we were the musical number for the baptism, I had to speak in church on Sunday, and Ted had to teach the fifth Sunday lesson for the men and women on Sunday (luckily he had some help from his parents speaking about missionary work). It was a packed weekend, but it was great. Monday morning I was determined to get back on top of things I had put off for a while.

We had gymnastics for Tessa, had to do some grocery shopping, pick up a few last minute things for Tessa's birthday, and then we made some birthday treats for Tessa's school. While we were making the treats she asked in a very matter of fact tone, "will you hand me that cup, my legs hurt and I can't walk." Yeah, right. What mom hasn't heard that before? I'm sure if it were candy her legs would be working just fine, right? I blew off the comment.

An hour later she said the same thing to Ted. Then she accidentally got bumped into and had to take a few steps and started screaming. Ted tried to pick her up and she was screaching that it hurt for her to be picked up. I tried picking her up and she did the same thing. This was no tantrum, this was her real cry. When we pulled her pants up to look her knees were huge. They were hot to the touch and were very swollen. When I set her down she couldn't walk. Her legs were just aching, but if we held her the right way where nothing touched her legs she would stop crying, but the slightest touch to them sent her into fits.

We dropped what we were doing and headed to the emergency room (because as is the case with every emergency it happens after doctor's offices have closed). She was a pro. She was calm, collected, and actually pleasant once we had her in the wheelchair so we weren't bumping her knees on accident.

The ER doctor initially thought she had broken her legs and went into a lengthy discussion about how this happens a lot when older kids jump on trampolines with younger kids. He ordered x-rays of her knees. As they came in to take the x-rays we noticed that she was starting to break out in a rash all over, and her knees looked like they had horrible bruises all over them. We asked them to call the doctor back to see all of this and he then canceled the order for the x-rays saying this was something else. He said it was Henoch-Schonlein-Purpura. He then told us not to look it up when we got home because we would freak out.

When we got home we looked it up.

But we didn't freak out. He had prepped us with what to expect. I was a little frustrated because he said to come back if we saw excessive amounts of blood in her urine or stools. How much is excessive???? He said she would be dramatically worse the next several days and that the bruises would last for several days to weeks. However, we weren't to worry, it would be fine.

It was fine. The next day she was fine. Her knees were still swollen and a little warm, but the rash was gone, the bruises were gone, and most importantly she was walking. It was a happy surprise since it was her birthday. We did have to go and draw blood for some further tests, but she is fine. The blood tests showed inflammation, and indicated some sort of viral infection in her blood, but she seems fine now. Other than that, it is a mystery.

However, Tessa has learned a valuable lesson. She has learned that all she has to say is, "my legs hurt" and mama comes running. She's also getting a crash course in telling the truth so mama doesn't flip out.

Sammy turns 8!

That's a soccer ball cake - not our best, but time was short. :)

Yep, he's 8. He is one sweet kid who is hardly able to contain himself because he is so excited about getting baptized.

Shepherd's pie and fruit cocktail. I guess you can imagine that he's not all that hard to please. :)

Of course he had to have a few new spy gadgets for playing "laser baby" with his friends. Of course "laser baby" is now more grown up, and she can usually catch them when they are sneaking around which just meant they needed some more sophisticated equipment...at least that's what they said.

The only thing not shown here that Sam asked for for his birthday was a new suit. He wants to look his best for his baptism. I'm just not sure he can look any better to me than he does right now.

Sam's baptism weekend

Sam had a great weekend. We all did. It was so fun to have everyone up here. Ted's sister Rebecca and her family came up, my sister Lara came with her daughter, Rebecca, and they brought another cousin, Katelyn, too. My parents were here, and so were Ted's parents. It was a great time. On Saturday the baptism wasn't until 4:00, so in the morning we went to the Discovery Center, and the kids had a great time and were able to run off a lot of energy. It was perfect.

I had to laugh because this is a giant bubble screen, and every time Sam would lift it up the little boy in this picture (don't know who he is) would wait until Sam was about to blow a giant bubble, and then he would reach in and pop it. It was funny in an annoying sort of way. This seriously happened about 25 times, and finally Sam just walked away muttering "that boy is not very nice and kind of annoying." I was thinking the same thing, but I was happy that Sam didn't get too upset.

Then it was time for the actual baptism. It was seriously the most perfect day. Sam was SO excited. He had invited several of his non-LDS friends to be there with him, and they were, and he was thrilled. We all were.

Here is a picture of Sam and his buddies: Chase, Sam Wagner, Sean, Sam Cain, Blake, and Jaren. The two on each side of him aren't members of the church but were so polite and excited. The other boys are giddy about when it will be their turn to be baptized. It was so exciting and touching to have so many people there to support him. I was overwhelmed by how many people love this sweet boy. We all do.

The girls saved the musical number for us - Tessa sang the first verse of "I Am A Child of God." She had been throwing a tantrum moments before, but when she got up there she sang loud and clear, and I couldn't help but think how perfect it was. Then the older kids sang the next two verses, and it was beautiful. The boys sang too, but they weren't quite as excited about performing as the girls were. Regardless, it was beautiful.

Lincoln and Spencer - inseperable the whole time.

Oh my, where did the last eight years go? I see this picture and begin to panic at how quickly the next ten years will go and we will begin suit shopping for another momentous occasion - his mission.

All the grandparents.

Wagner family.

Thompson family.

Of course there are always hiccups in the day. Lincoln had to tease Sam over something while they were getting ready, we forgot a comb for Sam's hair, and Tessa absolutely had to be the center of attention at all times so she weasled her way into the circle while Sam was being confirmed (we didn't know that until after the fact). But these are the very moments that add color to the pictures in my mind, and the picture I have of this day is stunning.

I had to chuckle because Sam's friend, Sean, was very curious about the whole baptism itself. He went home and was describing to his mom what happened, and how he thought we should call it "bathtism."

Seriously a great day.

Congratulations, Sammy. We love you.

It's all relative I guess....

I was talking to my mom on the phone and Jack was ringing his bell like crazy to get outside. When I looked out to see what he was so excited about, this was standing by our back fence. Can you see it? It is a coyote. I see them around here all the time, but this one kept pacing back and forth by our yard like it was looking for a small and tasty morsel to come out and play.

I've decided the yard threats are all relative.

The rock chucks are kind of cute even if they do eat a few of the plants.

The gophers are inconvenient and dig up the yard, but they don't bother anyone really.

The skunks are smelly of course, and that is the pits when the smell comes into your home and car. However, I don't worry about them eating my dog.

The deer eat our plants and poop in our yard, but they are kind of pretty and fun, and my mom always loves to see them. They do scare the pants off of me when I'm out running and it is still dark and all of a sudden something comes bounding across the lawn, but other than that they are great.

The coyotes raise the creepiness factor up a significant notch. I hate listening to them cry back and forth to each other either at night or when I'm out in the mornings. I do worry about them eyeing Jack as a tasty treat, but for the most part they keep their distance. However, lately they have been getting more and more comfortable lurking on the path behind our house (or maybe I've just noticed more). Either way, I worry. So, I keep a closer watch on him and all seems to be well.

And just when you thought it was safe to let your dog out again, my next door neighbor calls. Yesterday when he went out to put something in the trash can which was already out at the curb he thought he saw a cat, then he thought it was too big for a cat. Turns out it was a bobcat. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! Now I'm not only worried about Jack, but I have to admit that I worry about Tessa too! Ted assures me that it wouldn't approach Tessa, but I don't think he is really thinking about the craziness that I attract when he makes that statement.

I love animals and I love nature - but I may have just hit my limit.

The funny thing is when we moved here we were warned about all the rattlesnakes we would see. Guess how many of them we have seen? ZERO! I've seen snakes, but no rattlers. Then again, we have some more yard and house projects coming up. Maybe we'll feel like Indiana Jones as he discovers the den of snakes. I swear, nothing would surprise me anymore. :)

Look out Chef Emeril....

Tessa's favorite gift this year? No contest. The EZ Bake Oven. Mom thinks Santa was a little CRA-Z to buy this when it requires specific food packages that are not so EZ to come by. But mom will search high and low and avoid being LA-Z and will stock up on our EZ Bake Supplies. Tessa will make FANC-Z cakes, brownies, and treats full of oozy goodness.

At least they are nutritious (HA ! - RIGHT!). :)