Billy The Kid (and Kaisa) on Spring Break, and the March Birthday Party

Kaisa had spring break off from her nursing school last week, so they came over and spent some time with us. We had a lot of fun. While they were here Billy bought some "skates", so here he is trying them out and helping me get some "action shots" :)

Then while we had everyone here, we decided to have our March birthday party (AND get some new family pictures - next post) for Me, Ryan, Emilee, Scott and Tanner.

We had pizza, caesar salad and bread sticks for dinner and then each of the March birthday people's "significant others" made a birthday cake/dessert to share (along with homemade ice cream of course). Here's a picture of the goods!

. . . Happy birthday to you . . . .

Making a wish (notice Tanner's birthday train cupcakes on the lower left)

The ceremonial cutting and serving of the desserts

We gave Tanner this outfit for his birthday. I was worried he wouldn't be too excited about it, but was delighted with his response. He understood it was "soccer clothes", put them on right away, and seemed very pleased with how he looked.

Then Nellie and I went to Selah for Drill Team State Competition (Jen was judging) and stayed with Kaisa and Billy for a couple of nights. Lucy was so excited that we were coming that she got all dressed up! I guess that would make "her" a dog cross dresser? ")

A Belated Happy Birthday Dinner for Emilee

Here's Emilee's "Princess/Queen" cake as she IS, and always will be, a Princess to us :) . This crown would have worked much better around a regular layer cake like it was supposed to be, but Emilee wanted a cheesecake so I tried putting the crown around that and since it was a softer one . . . it didn't work very well.
I forgot to grab the camera until after Em was done with her breakfast/birthday dinner :(. We had french toast (w/strawberries and whipped cream), omelets, fruit and a little OJ/chocolate milk to drink!

Paul LOVED his whipped cream!!

Grandpa making a silly face (imitating a mouse caught in a trap) and Paige thinking he's THE most hilarious thing in the world!

Paige and Emilee with big eyes

Bailee too

(I believe the quote goes something like this:) "train a child up in the way they should go and when they are old/grown they will not depart from it"

We train them young :)

Getting ready to huff and puff

Emilee ALMOST got her wish!

Wearing part of her "crown" - that's my Princess ")

Happy Birthday Em - we love you and are glad you're part of our family.

Oh Happy Day!! :)

This picture was taken 2 years ago (the date on the picture is wrong). . . and today is a VERY happy day for me because. . .
I now can join Nellie in celebrating the fact that I no longer wear braces - YAHOO!! Nellie got her braces off 17 months ago, but I made her smile with me for this picture, so we could have an "after" shot. My mid line is still 1/2 mm off, but that's better than 3-4 mm off like it was before 25 months of braces (a month longer than originally thought). I've learned through this whole process that my nose is actually off, making the mid line look worse "~. The funny part is that Lee didn't even notice that I was now "brace less" - it sort of hurt my feelings at first, but then I had to realize it was a big deal for ME, and I shouldn't expect him to be as excited about it as I was. I took Paige and Addison in to the FD today to see him this afternoon, and he didn't notice. I talked to him after work, and before I left for my RS birthday celebration, and he didn't notice. The only reason he DID notice is because I asked him to take this picture of Nellie and me tonight, for this post!! Oh well - so much for surprises!

Turtlesaurous turns 23!!

Scott (AKA Turtlesaurous) turned 23 today. His birthday dinner consisted of the same thing it has for the last several years; Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and gravy . . . and "Jesus rolls" of course :)
He only got one gift tonight because we'll celebrate all the March birthdays later in the month, but tonight it was just Scott, Sarah, Chad, Nellie and Lee and I, so this is what he got.

Years ago when I was making the girls their rag quilts, Scott had asked me when I was going to make one for him, so I decided to do it for his birthday this year. I chose fabrics that had to do with dogs since that seems to be a big part of his life, and added a bit of this and that (some of the plaid is from old Christmas PJs - hopefully for good memories).

While he was here he got a phone call from Emilee's family singing happy birthday to him. He also had messages from the other kids' family's

Here he is with his motocross cake (Family Fun idea). I thought it fit him perfectly. The toy dirt bike even makes noise and the rider has a removable helmet and all!!

We later decided it wasn't as much of a challenge just to blow out 2 candles, so we added the rest on the "trail" of his cake

Happy Birthday Scott - our life would definitely not be the same without you. We love you and are SO glad you're part of our family!

Our Dog/Kids Play Date

We had a fun play date this last Saturday @ Carnation Elementary complete with dogs: Tug and Skeet were there with Scott, Penny was there with the Stokes Family, and Dohini (sp?) came with the Kevin's. We had a lot of fun. We threw sticks for the dogs, talked on the 2 way radios with the kids, and played tag.

With all that running the kids got tired so Grandpa got into his fire car and got water for everyone, with the little crystal light juice things to add, so we ended up with some cute "juice-stashes" running around.

Lee's UN-eventful "real" birthday

We had already celebrated Lee's birthday on Sunday with Tyson and the family, so Lee's "real" birthday didn't seem too exciting. He's been doing a good job trying to watch his weight lately so I tried not to load him up too much for his birthday breakfast - however he does heart scones, so that's what he got for his royal treatment of breakfast in bed

He had to go to Seattle for a meeting that morning, but then he took the rest of the day off and we "strolled" through Molbak's. That's what his birthday wish was, so that's what we did. I thought we may end up going out to eat so I hadn't prepared anything for dinner, but when I realized we would be "dining at home", I asked him what he would like for dinner - to which he said "egg sandwiches"! How's THAT for a special birthday dinner?

Here's lookin' at YOU kid! I love you!

Braden's birthday shopping trip . . . a little late

Braden turned 5 last September, but we're just now doing his birthday shopping . . . better late than never right? ")
He found what he wanted right off the bat @ Target . . .

. . . so we headed to McDonalds for a "treat" and to play on the toys

Here's my little McDonald guy serving me a happy meal

Practicing on Grandpa

Here he is "surprising" his family when they returned from Gracie's violin practice - "shhh, Grandma, don't tell them."

We enjoyed our time with just Braden and we definitely learned a LOT!!