Our Fire House Visit and Lunch with Friends

Caiden's birthday this year fell on a Tuesday. I didn't want to have his party on a weekday but it really worked out well because my mommy's group (Stafford Mommies on FB) had plans to tour a fire house and then have lunch at a local pizza place aferwards. I made some cupcakes for all the kids so that after lunch we could have a little celebration for Caiden's party. It was a lot of fun. We were a little late (shocking!) so we missed part of the tour but still got to see all the important stuff like the uniforms and trucks. The firemen were really good with the kids and gave each kid a chance to sit in a fire truck and turn on the lights and pretend they were driving to a fire. It was really cute and a really cool experience that I'm sure some of the older kids will always remember. It was during spring break so we had a few elementary age kids with us who really had a great time a the fire house.

Nothing to fear folks....Fireman Caiden is on the way!

Not one to be shown up by the boys, firewoman Ayla had to show them how it's done.

 Happy Birthday to you...Caiden!

 It was the first time a cupcake or really any baked sweet was put in front of him. He was a little hesitant, so first he just looked at it. Then he licked it with the tip of his tongue. Then...

 ...he shoved his face in it!

"YUM!"

Tongo Drum and New Purse

A couple weeks ago close friends of ours moved to North Carolina. We went over and spent an evening with them a few days before they left. They were getting rid of somethings that they didn't want to take and one of the things they were getting rid of was an authentic bongo drum. Matt (our friend) asked us if Ayla could have it since she played with it at their house. We said...yes? And yes with a question mark on the end, I wasn't too sure how I felt about my child bringing home a drum. Anyway Ayla loves it, she constantly plays with it. She insists on calling it her "Tongo" drum; I've told her 50 times it's a bongo drum but she still says Tongo drum. It's cute! She pretends that she is in a marching band and beats on it all the time. Luckily for me she likes to use "drumsticks" (baby spoons) to beat on it and this makes it a little quieter than if she were to use her hands. Thank you? Matt and Jamie....

The other favorite new item of Ayla's is her new Dora purse. I went to a consignment sale last weekend and bought it for 50 cents. She LOVES it and takes it everywhere now. She actually so far has been pretty responsible with it too. I was sure as soon as she took it out of the house it would be gone forever but she has been pretty good at remembering it. Here are some of the funny comments she has made about her Dora purse: "Mom my new Dora purse matches lots of my outfits!" "Mom my new Dora purse even matches my jammies!" "Mom my new Dora purse helps me to twirl better!" "Mom my new Dora purse has a secret pocket where I can keep all my yipstick!"  "Mom my new Dora purse makes me look like a big lady." "Mom would you like to share my new Dora purse" (said to me as I was running around the house looking for my own purse:)) "Mom can we put the car keys in my Dora purse" (asked as we were getting out of the car to go shopping)... the purse was worth every penny of that 50 cents and so much more!  

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day one of my friends had a little party. It was fun to get together with all the kids and husbands. (Normally when we get together the hubby's are at work, and the older kids are at school so they don't know each-other). Everybody had a good time! Caiden loved looking for "buried treasure" and spent almost a half hour digging around in the rice. He never plays with anything for that long of a period of time. It must have felt interesting to him. Ayla loved playing on the swing set with older kids. Mommy enjoyed talking with some adults.  And Daddy met another Daddy who also enjoys watching hockey and also happens to be from the northwest and the two of them talked for awhile. Everybody had a good time!

My friend Skylar made rainbow rice for the kids to use to dig in and find gold (chocolate). I thought it was such a good idea.

Aaron (Christine's little guy) and Ofelia (Kira's little girl) were the first to try it out.

 My friend Sheri's husband Ryan volunteered to go out with the kids and supervise while they played. It as very nice of him but I don't think he was planning on being out there for quite as long as he was. Ayla really wanted to swing but she was the littlest of the big kids at the time and so she went in the baby swing.

 On the swing is Kristina, my friend Sheri's little girl; in the back corner wearing the green shirt is her son Logan. Logan was born the same day as my niece Camila. Caiden has pretty much his entire wardrobe. Sheri has been very generous with giving me clothes as Logan grows out of them.

 Baby Jackson (2 months old)

Caiden decided he'd join the other babies in the search for gold.

 "Look Mom"

Skylar was very patient with the mess the rice made.

 The older kids were blindfolded and then looked for the "buried treasure"

 I tried painting a green 4 leaf clover on Ayla's face. She wouldn't hold still so it kind of looked like a green blob.

 Maybe not so blindfolded...

 "Oops the rice made a big mess, I better start cleaning up."

Kristina looking for gold

 "Hey mom can I be blindfolded too?!"

What can I say... my kids love to sweep.

 Skylar's son Kaden looking for buried treasure. Aaron kind of looked for treasure the whole time.

 Logan looking for buried treasure

Sheri and Kristina

 Sheri and Skylar's little girl Katie Beth (She's 1)

"Hey I wanted to sweep!" "Where'd all the rice go?"

Lunch with Santa

My friend Ann heard about a special lunch with Santa that one of the local bakery's was holding and thought it would be fun for her to take Ayla and I. Ann is such a good friend and has basically adopted my family as part of hers. She and her husband Paul look out for us and really love our kids. It's great to have them around. Anyway, Ann made the reservations awhile ago and last weekend was the big day. It was a really cute little bakery that is actually built in an old civil war era church. They had it all set up and decorated for Christmas and of course Santa was there. Ayla was excited to go out to lunch with just the girls. She thought that she was a big shot, especially when I let her drink out of a "big girl glass."

Watch her eyes in these first three pictures, you can tell what she's thinking. Here it's "What is this stuff, I'm not sure I'm gonna like it."

 "Oh, hey, it's pretty good!"

 "Wow, I do like it, in fact I think I LOVE it! It's delicious!"

 She was even more excited when her apples filled with banana cream and topped with chocolate and whipped cream arrived!

 Ayla and Ann

 When it was our turn to go see Santa Ayla was more than a little bit apprehensive. I'm not sure why, a grown man in a red velvet suit, with a full beard, who likes to hold little kids on his lap, isn't creepy at all!

 So... I had to sit next to Santa in order for her to even stand by him.

 Here Ayla's thinking... "Ok I'll turn my face towards the camera but I'm not taking my eyes off that creepy guy with the beard!" "He better not try to touch me or I'll haul off and kick him in the shin like I did last year!"

 Then Santa gave her a candy cane. She decided he must be okay after that and relaxed a little, but not much. She still wouldn't talk to him. (I'll have to have the talk with her about strangers and candy later on. But I need to get through another round of pictures with Santa and both kids first before I really freak her out.)

 Finally she told him what she wanted for Christmas. Here's her list in this order: 1. Camera (Santa already knew that one) 2. Watch (this is a new request) 3. Dora video game (I think Santa might bring her a Sesame Street video game) 4. a new rug (Really!) (Hey, I think that's on my list too!)

 After we finally let her walk away from Santa she was all smiles and so happy that she finally got to tell him what she wanted. Later on she told me "Oh no I forgot to tell Santa that I wanted a pillow pet!" ....Santa already knew

 Thank you Ann for thinking of us, it was a great afternoon!