Open Gym

When Alisa's family came to visit in December, we had a cold and rainy day.  They kids were bouncing off the walls.  Then, David came up with the genius idea to take them to Open Gym at the gymnastic studio where Emily used to take gymnastics.  Alisa and Daniel loaded up all 5 kids in our mini van and took them.

My kids hadn't been since a birthday party a few years ago, so I wasn't sure what the boys would think.  I knew Emily would love it.  Well, it turns out, the boys loved it too.  What's not to love, jumping, running and flipping to your hearts content.  

Here's Ben getting ready to jump off the high bar area.

Emily and Noah were going to have a competition on the rope, but then they did nothing.

Here's Noah jumping off the high bar area.

And Emily in the middle of the picture upside down.  She was flipping into the foam pit.

You can hardly see Noah, but he's running off the trampoline in the middle of the pic.

And Ben was in his element...running and jumping.

Here's Emily upside down...again.

Then, Ben found a bouncy ball and it was like love at first site.  

We got a new underwater camera, so I took all these pictures with it so I could practice before our cruise. This particular function can highlight one color, so I picked yellow.  Cool, eh?

And Emily flipping...

And smiling because she got her aerial (no handed cartwheel).

And flipping more...

And again...

I'm not even kidding, I think she did 200 flips in 2 hours.  Her legs were killing for days.

Then, an hour in, the put up the bouncy house.  That was Ben's favorite part.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  We even had a coupon, so it was cheap.  We weren't sure if parents stay or drop off kids.  The lady that works there said parents drop the kids off all the time.  Sweet! Next time, David and I are going out for Chinese food while they play!

Around Our House

I know the email and/or texts are coming from the Grandparents wondering what's going on.  So, here it is.  Just a quick recap of the last few weeks.

Emily had a slumber party with her three best buds.  They were eating ice cream sundaes.  I know, exactly what 4 tween girls need is more sugar.  I think they stayed up until like 4 AM or something.  I don't even know.  I just give them a tray of snacks and I shut my door and go to bed.  Whatever.  I remember many nights staying up with my childhood best friend, Liz.  Gosh, we always had a blast.  Memories...

We've been to the pool a few times.  The weather is crazy, it's freezing, windy and snowy one day. The next day, it's a high of 60 and we are at the heated pool. 

The kids wanted to take out the Easter stuff.  It's way early since Easter is so late, but whatever.  If they have fun, let them have fun.

We've been taking the kids with us on walks every once in awhile.  Mom, here's the hat and gloves you gave us.  Noah loves the gloves because the don't have fingers.

It's been Spirit Week at school.  I hate spirit weeks. Dress up like this, wear that, find costumes, blah, it just means more work for me. Luckily, my kids don't really seem to care about dressing up much for this sort of thing. But, tomorrow is pajama day. And that day, they like.  I don't mind it either as it's easy for me. But, the pajamas Noah wanted to wear have a hole in the crotch.  Seriously, the kids has 27 pairs of pajamas, but he wants to wear this pair.  So, I had to sew the hole.  The boys were fascinated with the sewing machine, so I let them try it.

I don't think either inherited their great Nana's sewing abilities, but hey, neither did I.  I think it's skipped three generations so far.  HA!

See, not much has been going on.  We leave for our cruise in 9 days, so I've been trying to prepare and pack for that.  We are super excited!

11

I can hardly believe this kid is 11.  Ben is such a great kid.  I say that, but he really is just a good person.  The core of him is kind and loving, and I have so much to learn from him.  He takes some time to get to know, but once you do, you'll realize that people like him are few and far between.  He's just goodness.

Ben is usually up before 7.  But, this morning he was sleeping in.  I normally take the boys to school and David takes Emily, but we were flip flopping this morning as I had a bunch of errands to run.  I had to leave at 7:20 with Emily and Ben was still sleeping.  I should've just woke him up, but Emily and I left.  We weren't 2 minutes away and my phone rings, he was up.  So, we flipped around and came back to give him hugs and tell him happy birthday.

Letting him sleep in was a bad parenting call on my part.  See, that's what I want on my birthday.  Don't you dare wake me up earlier or Momzilla comes out.  But, Ben, he wants snuggles and love on his birthday, and I failed to deliver.  See, I have lots to learn from Ben.

I got cookies and dropped them off at his school for his class.  Then, I wanted to make the rest of his birthday a little special and different.  So, I picked him up from the bus because walking home on your birthday is not as cool as having a Mom chauffeur.  And I had this fun note waiting for him.  It said: 

It's your birthday! Let's have some fun.

First, test your ninja skills trying to get in your bedroom.

Let's go on a scavenger hunt for your presents.

Present number 1 should be a little fun, you'll find it with a gallon, but a gallon of what?

As for present number 2, check where Mr. Moo goes poo poo.

Present number 3 shouldn't be too hard to see, look for it up in a tree.

It may be a little tough to find present #4, look high behind a closed door.

Rocko's bark sounds like a dog who guards, look where he lays to find your cards.

He was totally excited.  And had a great time.  I thought he would try to go through the streamers without breaking them, instead he ran through football style

Then, he went on the scavenger hunt for his gifts.

He found present two behind the cats litter box.  We have one in the garage and one in the house.  All the pics are blurry, but the kid wouldn't stop moving.  But, that's Ben....always in motion.

And here are the cards under Rocko's bed. I was surprised a few of the clues took a minute to figure out. Well, like Ben said, the dog lays everywhere.  So, he checked his dog house, his outside bed and then went to Rocko's bed in our room.  I'm glad it was a little challenge.

We had pasta for dinner and then he opened gifts.  He started with his cards.  Thank you everyone who sent them. I think he felt special. 

Then, it was time to tear into the presents.  He picked out everything Lego and with his gift cards, he wants to buy Legos.  Noah is looking so happy because it's like a birthday for him too.

Then, we went to the pool and came home for cheesecake!  Ben had eaten half before we got candles in it!  He loves David's homemade cheesecake!

I think he had a special day.  We all love him to pieces and just want him to feel the love that he always gives to everyone else.  

A Boy and His Ball

If you've ever been to our house, you know that one of Ben's most favorite things is the large gray exercise ball.  I've posted a video of him before jumping on the thing.  What he can do on it is impressive.  I've tried it.  It aint easy.  He jumps and bounces and slides and him and his big gray ball are like one.

Until it got a hole in it.  He brought it over to me after school yesterday and he was almost in tears.

We tried to put gorilla tape on it, but it wouldn't hole the air in.  As soon as he jumped on it, we'd hear a little sssssss and we knew it wasn't working.

Ben asked me to drive to Walmart and get another one.  I told him I would get one Wednesday.  I was busy making dinner and working, and Walmart isn't on the corner.  It's a 30 minute round trip drive just to get there.  Then, Ben said the best line, "I'm going to be without the one thing that brings me pure joy and happiness for 2 days?"  Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop laughing.  Yet, I felt so bad for him. He was seriously upset.

So, I did what any Mom would do and snuck in the bathroom and called David who was about ready to leave work.  He's Super Dad and went to Walmart to get Ben a new ball.  I didn't tell Ben, just in case they were out or something.  This is how he eventually looked.

When David walked in, Ben had the ball wrapped around him like a hot dog bun.  It was so pathetic.  Then, David pulled out the new ball.  And Ben was complete again.

That's it.  An $8 ball and he's full of pure joy and happiness again.

Our Weekend

We had a super fun and productive weekend.  On Friday night, we headed to downtown Prescott for our friend, Aaron, surprise 40th birthday party.  It was such fun.  I haven't been to a surprise party in ages.  Well, I surprised my Aunt Linda a few years ago, but that party wasn't a surprise.  In any case, it's super fun to surprise people.

On Saturday, David and I cleaned out the garage.  It was a mess from the hot water heater and sheet rock every where. We filled up the garbage can with junk we don't need and I found this beauty on one of the shelves.  I told the kids this is how we held it in the 80's and we'd walk around and listen to music.  Now they have a tiny ipod smaller than half a dollar bill.  

Then, on Sunday, David took Noah and Ben and Ben's friend Andrew to see Lego Batman and out to Dairy Queen for lunch.  I don't know if David got any pics. He didn't send me anything.  But, it was for Ben's birthday on Wednesday, so I'm glad they all got out and had some time doing something fun.

While the boys were out, I took my girl to some stores and then I had to run to the grocery store which has a Starbucks.  So, of course, she wanted a caramel frap.  So, I turn my back to get some bacon, and turn back and she's in the cart like a 5 year old.  That girl.  

We also got some yummy puffy Cheetos that are shaped like paws.

And she only found 2 shirts she liked, but we found tons of toys for the cat.

He's so spoiled. 

Ben turns 11 on Wednesday.  I can hardly believe it.  I seem to remember his birth the most vividly.  I think because with Emily's I was just in shock.  Like holy cow, this is happening.  I'm going to be a mother. Ben's was so fast and natural, and I was like, yeah, I got this. And Noah's, well, I was dying and so drugged up, I don't remember much. 

In any case, we'll probably skip over Valentine's.  I'm just not a fan really, and I'll be back with a post about Ben.  Now, Ben...I'm a huge fan!

Around Our House

Aaaccckkk! I've been missing for 2 weeks. My Mom reminded me of that today.  The natives get restless when I haven't blogged in awhile.

But, we've been super busy.

But, here's a pic of Rio looking crazy and cute.  Let me tell you, we all just love him to pieces.  Emily is his favorite person though.  He literally runs to the door to see her when she gets home from school.

And if you want to make my kiddos happy, cinnamon rolls straight out of the oven are their favorite.  Nothing fancy, just store brand basic cinnamon rolls.  They have simple taste.

And this guy lost his second tooth!  He was so exciting.  The tooth fairy folded his dollar in a paper airplane, which he thought was super cool.  

Then, I went to our garage and noticed a puddle of water by the door.  Ugh, the water heater was leaking everywhere.  We've been in this house 10 years in June, and that's about their life expectancy.  So it died, but left a wake of destruction.  The shelf it was on is all dry wall and when it gets wet, it's just like chalk everywhere. It was a mess.  

I found a water heater at Home Depot for $600.  But they wanted $800 to install it.  What? Are they crazy?  I called a local plumber, whose total for the heater and install was $1250.  Another plumber wanted $850 just to install. I called a few more places and everyone was the same.  Are these people nuts?  I'm watching guys on youtube talk their was through a demo of changing one out and it takes 24 minutes.  So, what in the world, they make $800 an hour?  I got in the wrong line of work!

So, when I relayed all this to my Dad in Phoenix, he finished up his golf game and said he'd be up by 1:00.  David was able to leave work and finish his day at home, so he could assist and learn.  And these two guys got to work. It took them an hour.  I was so grateful.  I had already heated water on the stove to do dishes that morning.  Playing Little House on the Prairie is no fun!  I was glad we were up and running in 24 hours.  Whew.  Thanks, Dad!  And my awesome hubby!

Then, that night after all the craziness, I figured we needed to relax at the pool.  The weather has been in the low 70's here as a high, so it's gorgeous out right now.  So, off we went.  The pool is heated.

Then, Aunt Pam sent the kids some nice Valentine treats!  She's so sweet.  Of course, Rio is into everything and anything. He's not supposed to get on the counters. He doesn't listen well.

And I saw my Mommy today!  She had a Doctor appointment up here, so she stopped by for an hour.  I should've got our picture, but it was so rushed, I forgot.  Next time, I'll make us some cute dogs on Snapchat.  But, it was so nice getting a visit from my Dad and my Mom this week.  

And that's a summary of our 2 weeks!

Tonight, we are going to a surprise birthday party for a friend.  Then, tomorrow, we get to take everything out of the garage and hose it down to clean up from the mess the dry wall made.  That should be fun!