Tinkerbell Party!

For the first time in my life, I can honestly say...I am so glad we only have birthdays once a year! I'm all partied out for this year! Brielle and her friends all had a wonderful time, but I was exhausted by Eight 4 year olds...what was I thinking? Tinker Brielle's little Fairy Hideout

Fairy friends and Pirate pals...FYI--fairy wings hurt little girlies underarms and little boys don't want anything to do with pirate hats...but they do love swords! Brielle and her bestest buddies--Cash, Kastle & Ella
Chris is such a sport! I told him weeks ago that he was going to be the Indian at the party...I don't think it registered because a couple days before the party I mentioned it to him again and he laughed and wanted to know if I was joking! Luckily, he is such a great Dad and played the part perfectly...nice deep Indian voice, broken English and lots of 'How's'! FYI--the brown paper is supposed to be a Tee Pee!

Mini flower cakes--I had big plans for these to be covered in pink pourable frosting...but due to a few glitches...they were not frosted an hour before the party and when my sis. tried to make the frosting pourable--it just did not work out and we ended up with these cute little brown (chocolate) flower cakes with a dab of pink frosting under the Tinkerbell's...not quite what I had planned...but still darling!
"I'd really like to get my hands on that" said baby Dean!My darling little 4 year old! Gosh--I cannot believe it! I love this picture because this is exactly how Dean spent the entire party...following the kids as quickly as he could! We had a treasure hunt and he tried so hard to keep up with them as they ran up and down the stairs...he's such a doll!

Going CRAZY...

I've decided I'm going CRAZY! Here are a few reasons why...


Dean is obsessed with the dishwasher! Every single time I open it up he darts toward it and starts climbing up on it! One day I thought I was getting really smart because I told Brielle to grab Dean's rocket. I was so happy it worked and he walked away pushing his rocket. After a few minutes I thought 'Hmm, it is awfully quiet" I turned around and found Dean trying to scale the banister! He is barely 10 months old and he just started walking!!!! He is SO different then Brielle ever was at this age... he gets into everything! He is obsessed with the Toilet! He can even lift up the lid!
I have the Birthday bug! Brielle's birthday is coming up and I've been getting ready for a month now! My mom said I'm 'out of control', but as my sister pointed out that is the 'pot calling the kettle black'...where do you think we picked up this trait!? Anyway, I don't think it is out of control because I'm having so much fun! How many times is Brielle going to be such a cute fun age? Never again! Plus...my obsessiveness has saved me lots of money! I made these invitations with left over bottles from the 4th of July and paper I found at the dollar store; I bought the skits and wings on eBay for $2 and $3, I bought the flower wands & flower garland for the head wreaths for 10 cents each at the craft store! It was all so cheep and it is going to be so cute to have them all dressed up! On the flip side...I've spent a million hours doing all this & more....but I've had so much fun!
The little map invitations are rolled up inside the bottle's (message in a bottle). The Invitation says: "Fly with us... where dreams are born and children never grow up, where fairies roam and pirates plunder, and Tinker Brielle turns 4! You provide the faith & trust, we'll supply the Pixie Dust. Follow the map to Never Never Land, second star to the right (our address & the date of the party) for a teedle ee dum tee day!" At the bottom it says "Think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings! Think of all the joy you'll find when you leave the world behind and bid your parents goodbye...You can fly, you can fly, you can fly! RSVP regrets only"
Each little girl gets one of these 'dress-ups' and the 2 little boys have pirate hats, swords and eye patches. Brielle wanted a Tinkerbell party, but she has a couple little boy friends..so we made it a never land/Tinkerbell/pirate party! It is going to be great!

Finally....these two kids are so cute it makes me crazy!

Flying by July...

I can't believe the summer is almost over! I cannot believe how fast time flies now...I must be getting really old! Here are a few of the 'goings on' at our house...

Aunt Amanda came to visit us! Brielle LOVED following her around for the couple of days she stayed with us (before and after she went to EFY)...we just wished she could have stayed longer...4 days was not enough...next time we want a week! Can you tell these two girls are related or what?!
Dean loves to cuddle! I'm always surprised when people say there kids don't like to cuddle, because mine love it! Dean wakes up at 6:30 or 7...I'm lazy, so I bring him into our room and put him in our bed to drink his bottle. Sometimes I'm still awake and I'll burp him and then we'll cuddle and snooze for another hour or so...other times I'm fast asleep when he finishes his bottle and he cuddles up to Chris. I woke up one morning to find them asleep like this, I love how Deans little arm is around Chris' neck! What a crack up!
Nat Snat & Ty came to visit for 3 days...don't get me started about how short of a visit it was...next time they need to stay for at least a week too! We miss you & Happy belated B.day Tyler!
Dean took his first bike ride in the trailer! He was not sure about the whole thing...luckily he had his big sissy there to take care of him. On the way home, I looked over at them and Brielle had her arm around Dean and he was leaning his head on her shoulder while he sucked his Binky!
We learned about the Pioneers...sometimes it is complicated to explain to an almost 4 year old that her ancestors (what's an ancestor?) walked all the way from Grandma Inger's house (so to speak) to Utah...(why didn't they drive? why did they want to come here? I want to go to Grandma Inger's house! Why did those people not want them to live by them? Why did they bury the dead people and leave them?) but at least we had a pioneer hat for her to wear while we sang pioneer songs! Dean was doing his own thing...as you can see!

Happy Independence Day!

I love the 4 th of July and this was a great one! We went to the Parade in the morning, came home for naps, had a great dinner at my parents then attended The Stadium of Fire. Unbelievably Dean fell asleep during the LOUD Blue Man group performance and stayed asleep until we left...who can sleep during REALLY LOUD concerts? Brielle loved 'Hannah Montana' and hated the fire works...we left early because she was bawling! She does not like the noise...she had a hard time enjoying the whole show because she was worried about the fire works, it is funny because she is never scared of anything! The patriotic part of the program was great and well...I think I'm getting too old for tween sensation concerts! We had great tickets (thanks to my moms brother) and all in all we had a great time!
Baby Dean playing with his shaved ice, he loved sucking on this ice and soaking himself with it.

Beautiful Day For A PARADE!

I love the 4th, and I especially love the 4th of July parade! This year was the greatest thanks to my wonderful uncle and aunt, who slept outside (in front of a building they own) to save a spot. You would NOT believe how many people slept along University Ave. last night! I've never seen anything like it! When we went downtown at about 5 pm, the night before the parade, there was not a spot for 12 blocks that was not already staked out...people had their tents up, sleeping bags out and were sitting there in the 100 degree heat! It was nuts! When we lived in Pasadena (home of the Rose Parade) we drove down the street at about 1am and there were fewer people waiting to watch the nationally televised New Years Day parade of Rose Floats then there were at 5pm in Provo the night before the parade! I still cannot believe how many people slept outside! My cousins had a tent set up and they were selling sno cones and crepes until 3am! Then, they slept for 3 hours on the grass before they woke up and started selling again! Crazy! Anyway, when we showed up at 8:45 we parked in their building parking lot...about 30 feet from the 10 blankets they had set up...we picked up a crepe along the way and grabbed a sno cone when we got hot...it was all perfect! Thanks Uncle Mike & Aunt Leslie!

Brielle & her Bobpa! Bri stayed under the shade of this minutre tree whenever the sun came out...luckily we had some fantasitc clouds that blocked the sun and made the weather perfect!

Dean and Bopba (my Uncle's building is in the background...the old BYU Gymnasium). Nice hats boys!

My two boys!

Up, Up & Away!!!

The 4th of July is one of my very favorite holidays! I love the parade, the colors, the patriotic feeling & American pride and of course the "Arts Festival" in Downtown Provo. We braved the crowds & heat tonight and met up with Brielle's favorite buddies! Are those the cutest kids you've ever seen? It makes me smile to see these 3 together because they are the son & nephew of my 2 best childhood buddies (and the closest thing I've ever had to brothers). This little ride went up and down...about 20 feet off the ground...they all loved it! Brielle loves carnivals and she LOVES these boys...she says they are her 'bestest friends'!
Luckily they all had nice strong stomachs and we did not have a repeat of an unfortunate event that happened to these kids parents...me in particular 20+ years ago! We went to this same park for the 4th of July carnival and I convinced my two buddies to go on some crazy twisty turny ride...then I made the mistake of sitting in between them on the ride home...let's just say neither one of them had very strong stomachs and I had to get sprayed down with the hose when we got home! Ohh...memories!

Cutest Little Boy in the World!

Dean is such a cutie! He just kills me...he's such a doll! I ran and got my camera when he was playing with Brielle's 'left-behind' Princess toys because he was picking them up out of the lunch box and throwing them at the castle...it was so funny to me (remember I don't have any brothers), boys are just so different then little girls! Brielle never threw things like that! Anyway, the funniest part was that I was trying to take a candid picture...but everytime Dean saw the orange light from my camera flash, he would look up at me a smile/pose for the picture...I wonder where he learned that! He LOVES the Piano! I am a firm believer in allowing little kids to play/pound on the Piano (even though the pounding can make you nuts!), I think it's great to let them love playing and making music! This was his first time sitting on the bench by himself, usually he just crawls up to the piano and stands while he pounds away!
ATTACK! ATTACK!! This is Chris' new favorite word to yell at Dean...and he knows exactly what to do...ATTACK BRIELLE! He thinks this is the greatest game ever! The sad and scary part is that he is already getting so big that it is not going to be long before he can really 'take her out'! Dean loves to wrestle...if anyone lays down on the ground, he scurries over to them and starts climging on top of them (Attack)! A couple weeks ago in church, he did this to a little 1 year old boy...they were sitting next to each other and he started trying to climb on top of him! Little boys (and the big boys who teach them to attack) are a whole different breed!

Brielle is really in to taking pictures lately! She took this one of my sweet baby boy today! Look at that face! Gosh, he just kills me!