Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl!

This year Anya turned 7 on the 18th! Happy Birthday!

She loves being an active girl.  So this year she got a big(ger) bike, roller skates, and protective gear. 

The gear was a must!

The roller skates were the big hit!  Ever since going with our friends a couple months ago, she has begged to do it again and again.

It only took a couple (or more) falls before she got the hang of it again.  She hates help and is very independent......

I wonder who she gets that from.

So my baby girl is now 7 and in second grade!

And not much longer she will be a big sister and not the baby anymore.  But she'll always be my sweetheart.  (Her missing tooth count is now up to six, four on top and two on the bottom.)

And of course, the birthday cake (the Texas Chocolate Sheet cake is preferred among the kids.) 
Make a wish!

Cruz's 8th Birthday

So...a couple weeks ago Cruz turned 8 (on September 10th to be exact.)

Lately he has loved to have the same shirts as his dad, so he requested that they both wear their Superman shirts.

He wanted Pad Thai brought to him at lunch.  Gladly, (as if I needed a reason to eat at Thai Spoon,) I brought and ate lunch with him.  I found it hilarious that he marked his leftover box when he came home with "No daddy."

He got two games for the X-Box / Wii and two lego sets. 

And his last request was my famous "Texas Sheet Cake" for his birthday cake! 

I can't wait until I'm eight!

Happy Birthday Cruz!

Cruz turns the magic "8" today.  He was such a blessing when he came into our lives. 

Being the only boy, he has brought so much joy and "new" things into our lives.

Cruz at his blessing in Utah.  My dad had asked me if we would baptize Cruz in Utah so he could see it.  I know he'll be able to see it here in Texas now.

 

He was afraid of fish when we was a baby, but he LOVES to learn about sharks now.  Before we had Cruz, Jacob and I were set on the name Crux.  (pronounced Crew).  Jacob had always wanted to keep it a secret so we had never told anybody the name.  His middle name was a given as it is passed down through the oldest boy in the family.  A couple weeks before I had him, I confided in McKay (I don't know how smart that was at the time) but I told her the name of the baby.  I immediately realized I didn't like the way Crux went with Alma and we switched back to Jacob's first choice Cruz.  I'm glad we did!  He's definitely our "Cruzamatic"!

A Decade Later

Kirsten Skye turned 10 on August 20th (Monday)! 

We started the day off by joining a breakfast picnic with some friends (this was only half of the kiddos.)

 

Later on we went swimming at a friends house. 

  

To come home and take a shower and invent a braid named after her ("The Kirsten Braid, never done with any of our kids before.)

 Followed by a fun photo shoot.  Kirsten has definitely grown into a beautiful girl!  I now have two in double digits!  Ouch.

  We then opened presents when Jacob came home.  They had been patiently sitting on the table.

They were all a surprise and a hit!  The white boards have gotten popular in our home.

Kirsten requested Italian Chicken, baked potatoes, and corn for dinner, followed by a Texas sheet cake. 

We started to sing "Happy Birthday" but the candles melted to quickly, or we waited too long to sing....

So she blew them out before we even got half way through the song.  None the less, I hope she has a wonderful tenth year and we love you Kirsten!

Jacob's Special Day!

I don't know why but as Jacob has gotten older his birthday's have gotten more important, and on July 27, he turned 36!

 

McKay and Kirsten made their dad breakfast in bed. 

And then we followed that with making two applesauce cakes (this year we remembered to add the baking soda),

and took them to his work for his team and friends.
He said that this birthday was definitely in the top three. 

A Happy Happy Early Birthday Present

Here's a little history lesson: (a pre-lesson before the real history lesson)....

 For some reason, Jacob and I have never really been able to figure out the whole holiday / "special" day thing.  It's just not been our strong point.  Whether we haven't had money to do gifts for each other or we've been apart for birthdays or just even the whole, "we aren't getting along thing;" we haven't figured out the secret yet.  This year I was afraid it was going to be the same, until I started reading and learning about the Nexus 7.  It was stated to be: "The new tablet to make Apple come out with a cheaper one."  So I started thinking......

I ordered it the day it came out and was so excited, but I couldn't keep it a secret.  So when Jacob had to spend a little over a week in Boston and he wanted me to fly out for the weekend to join him, I gave him a "week early" birthday present....and he was happy.  (Not surprised because I just couldn't hold it in, I showed him on the computer earlier than that even.)  

I hope he likes it and I hope its the perfect start to the perfect birthday week! 

My baby is SIX years old!

Katanya's Birthday

Katanya turned six on the 18th!  She wanted to go shopping and pick out pictures and things for her "new" room. 

Betsy and her family showed up early evening.  We were excited to have them come and visit!

Anya chose Chuy's for dinner.  It is a family favorite for many!  Our wait was unfortunately long and they even dropped Jacob's and McKay's dinner so their wait was even longer.  Although, you can always rely on it being tasty.

 

We celebrated the evening with an Ice Cream Birthday Cake!  Happy Birthday Anya! 

Holiday Weekend!

Memorial Day weekend....

also known as my birthday weekend......

consisted of Jacob going to Maddy's wedding in Utah, loosing my car key at Wal-Mart (and it was never found), and going for a run, falling and getting pretty scraped up.  Although it did have it's highlights.  There was a great BBQ at a friend's house and the kids all had friends over to play.

Kirsten has a fun group of girls from her primary class that live in the neighborhood.  They had a blast having a late night.  They really didn't want to go home....just yet.

My mom sent back to us some homemade raspberry jam (the tuperware broke in the cooler and this was what was salvaged),

and 80 pounds of her "homemade" beef.  The airlines lets you check on coolers as luggage so when you pay roughly $100 dollars to bring home 80 pounds of ground beef, steaks, and roasts, you can't go wrong!  McKay will be excited as she has told Grandma that store meat doesn't taste the same and she HATES browning store bought ground beef.

-MOVING PHASE UPDATE:  We are still moving with just a mini-van and a small trailer.  Its a little at a time but when you are able to move a load and unload the load to the place you want it, it makes a HUGE difference!

The other golden rule

The "LEFTOVER" rule

McKay chose Chuy's for her birthday dinner a month ago.  It's been a family favorite here for awhile.  Anyone that has come to visit has loved it too!  So you can see I got a little carried away on the leftover boxes.  I love their salsa and creamy jalapeno dip and Cruz had wanted an adult meal so we split.  (As I can never even eat half of it after I have a generous helping of chips and dip.)  Jacob has a spoken policy on leftovers though.  You aren't allowed to touch another's for at least 24 hours (as I learned once not to even take a small piece of his chuychunga.)  Somehow my leftovers (salsa and dip) were the first ones touched and not by me!  I felt cheated.

One year older and wiser too

Happy Birthday McKay!

My oldest is 13!  It's crazy.
McKay spent the weekend in Kansas with me as we ran our half marathon.  I gave her the option of going or I said that I would come home earlier if she didn't want to go.  She of course chose to go and see her cousin, Aspen.

McKay is such a smart and beautiful young woman!  I love her ambition in life and her will to choose the right.  I'm proud to call her my daughter!  I love you!

(I would love input if you like the first picture or second picture better.)

P.S.  More to come on the race / trip tomorrow!

cruzamatic

My little guy's birthday was last Saturday. He always waits so patiently as his birthday is the last one in the year. I love his smile and how happy he is in this picture!
He got plenty of presents and we spent the day driving remote controlled cars & helicopters and we ALL ended the day with a big nerf gun fight led by his dad. This one shocked me because it's usually Jacob that growls and doesn't like to play around.
He picked his cake and tried to blow out the candles. This year we found some really tricky trick candles. (From Toys R Us if you are wondering.) He eventually had to give up because they all wouldn't go out.

Happy Birthday Cruz! I hope 7 is Super!

Kirsten's special day

Kirsten had quite the day yesterday.
We started it off by taking her and only her shopping. She had wanted to pick out her own clothes and some jewelry. We went down to Forever 21 and she was in love. She picked a couple new outfits and of course....
A necklace and some "danglely" earrings. She has some rather nice taste.
Later in the afternoon she opened her presents and she was surprised. She loves to sing to her ipod and she her only thing on her birthday list was a microphone. I had been thinking that maybe a karaoke machine would be nice but Jacob suggested that maybe the Wii might have something that would work. It did and it works so much better. Plus between the two new games that she got, it has a lot of her favorite songs. She's been singing the past two days.
For dinner she chose to go to Rudy's. For those of you that don't know, this is probably my favorite BBQ place ever. You have to like meat to go here. Here is what we got.....
You pick out the meats you want and how much (in weight), choose some sides, and then they give you bread and butcher paper. It's delicious! I forgot to include a picture of their tasty BBQ sauce.
We started our fast after dinner as our stake, and several others in the area, were fasting for rain. We are in the middle of a bad drought and heat wave. Kirsten wanted her cake on Sunday. It was a good dessert to break our fast. She chose "pie O dirt" for her cake. (Chocolate pudding in a graham cracker crust with oreo's and gummy worms {I used bears} on top.) May her birthday wish come true!

"Nine is no longer considered a little kid."

Or this is what McKay has said and Kirsten hasn't forgotten it. As of now, It is Kirsten's birthday....officially.

Nine years ago on August 19th, we helped my parents take their garden out. I was pulling out corn. I remember thinking, "maybe this will help me go into labor." It did. I woke up a little after 2:30 a.m. with heavy contractions and my first thought was, "I have to do my hair and makeup." I didn't want the pictures to look horrible. I learned a lesson after the first. She came less than 4 hours later. We could never decide on a name before she was born. Jacob and I took one look at our sweet little angel and we looked at each other and said "Kirsten." And so it was.

Kirsten Skye reminds me of when I was a little child. I think she looks the most like me when I was that age. Although she is a very strong willed child and a counter just like her dad, she has a tender sweet spirit. She wants to learn and wants to do what is right. She really looks up to her older sister. I am so glad that she is a part of our family. Happy 9th Birthday Kirsten! I hope this year is fabulous for you.