Party with Ethan, you must!

Last year after Ethan's crazy huge Dragon party I told Ethan that he'd only be having big parties every other year (that's how my family did it) and that on off years he could have a small 2 person activity- like take 2 friends to the zoo or something. Unfortunately Taylor vetoed that plan and wants us to let the kids have parties for as long as they still want them. He (and lots of our friends who I polled) assures me that by 10 or 11 he'll not want big parties anymore so I might as well enjoy them while he does.
My one stipulation when Taylor insisted was that he HAD to be there and run some of the activities which he assured me he would. And in fairness the party last year would have been a lot easier if he had been there to help but unfortunately he was with Miles in the ER. So bright and early Saturday morning I was cleaning and getting things ready for the party and noticed Miles walking down the hallway spitting and spitting and drooling all over himself. When I backtracked his steps I found a 1/2 empty trial vial of perfume he'd found in a zipped pouch inside a closed drawer inside my bedroom where the door should have been closed. So I had to call poison control to see if we needed to rush him to the ER to get his stomach pumped. Which of course would mean no Taylor at the party AGAIN! But luckily he only drank a small amount and should only be slightly drunk (perfume is apparently concentrated alcohol- fun) and didn't need his stomach pumped but might need some extra supervision. Of course!
So Taylor got to stay and the party was great. It snowed AGAIN so we had to keep things indoors. We started by coloring Star Wars pages I downloaded from the internet, then Taylor took them all downstairs to watch a short episode from the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons Ethan is in love with. I should stipulate that this was actually a Clone Wars party since Ethan has never actually seen the real movies.
After a quick episode and some instructions on how Jedi's behave (we don't hit others) Taylor broke out the light sabers and let the kids practice their saber skills.
A little bit of chaos and a lot of fun with 15 five and 6 year olds.

Practicing proper landings on the bean bag.

Trying to keep balloons off the floor.

Miles was banned partway through because he wouldn't stop hitting others with his lightsaber.

Luckily Grandpa came along to help him hit balloons instead of guests.

And then we were all hungry so we broke out the ice cream cake that Ethan requested and I made. It was actually pretty easy- just select the 3 flavor of ice cream you want, melt one and pour it into a spring form pan, then let freeze and repeat with the other 2 layers. I also crushed up oreos to add some texture to the middle. Lastly frost with whip cream and decorate with sprinkles and Star Wars figures. Super easy and YUMMY! Okay so it was a little weird tasting because Ethan chose chocolate, strawberry, and birthday cake blast as his flavors, but it was a cake for a 6 year old so it fit.

We barely fit all the kids around the table. It was fun to listen to them all chat and make jokes and laugh. 7 of the kids are on Ethan's soccer team and it was fun to see them all together in a setting where they can play more freely. This year just like last year I kind of got put in my place. After finally agreeing to even do a party this year I told Ethan he could only pick 6 kids. Taylor again vetoed this and said that at least 2 people from each school and church had to come (so they'd at least each have 1 friend they knew besides Ethan) and that the entire soccer team had to be invited. In the end that made 15 kids including my 3 boys (it's not like you can exclude a brother). It sounded insane and too much to me again but just like last year, after it was all said and done, the parents that spoke to me and were the most grateful for us inviting their kids, are the parents of kids I NEVER would have thought to invite. I don't consider them his CLOSE friends. But what I'm realizing (again) is that Ethan has lots of friends and gets invited to lots of parties so I make the assumption that everyone does. But everyone doesn't. And so even if Ethan's not best friends with all these kids, maybe they don't care. Maybe they're just happy to be included since that doesn't happen as often as I'd assume. So we'll probably keep doing these crazy parties. In the end it was over in 2 hours and they all loved it.

Cake wouldn't have been complete without Yoda Soda and Jedi Juice. After food we opened presents and played BINGO (no pictures since it was a little insane trying to help them all find the right pictures.)

Ethan made out like a Star Wars bandit. Apparently Star Wars party means star wars gifts. Which I won't complain about since he got several duplicates and therefore sharing will be a little easier.

Yep, even 2 Captain Rex helmets. Isaac instantly claimed one for himself.

Miles tried to convice everyone that one of them should be for him, but come on, he can't even keep it on! "I've got a big head and wittle arms, I'm just not shure how well thoughout this plan was!"

After the party we had agreed to a night of vegging. We got pizza and watched the first Star Wars movie so Ethan could officially say he'd seen at least 1 of them.

A fun day. Lots of energy but lots of fun!

Did you miss the part where I said "baf"?

What part of "baf" did you NOT understand?

Face it, you're too slow, or too focused on other boys so I took matters into my own hands.

Really, you're going to say no to this cute face?

Happy Birthday Ethan Boy!

Can you believe he's 6 already? And such a sweetheart. Ethan is such a joy to have in our home. He is such a good brother. He plays with Isaac and only ever gets upset when Isaac won't share. He runs errands for me and helps Miles find his bottle and blankets when he's upset. He is kind to his friends and fun to be around.
And somehow our love of all things knights and dragons last year has now morphed into a love of all things Star Wars and Light Sabers.

So that's about the only thing he wanted and therefore got for his birthday. Luckily Star Wars has been around long enough that there's a good variety to pick from and luckily it's a great deal cheaper on EBAY!

We opened up his presents and then Ethan had to rush off to school. Which might have been a bummer if he hated school but since he loves it, he was excited to go. Plus, I got to bring in cupcakes for his birthday so that made it extra-special.

We LOVE his Kindergarten teacher!!! I'm so glad he had her this year. Such a kind, loving, orderly way to be introduced to school. I showed up with the cupcakes and Miles in tow thinking we'd just sing Happy Birthday and pass out the treats, but she has this whole Birthday routine the kids go through. First, he gets to sit in her special rocking chair in front of the class and I sit beside him (so did Miles who luckily was so mesmerized by all the kids that he just sat and watched the whole time). Then he gets to pick out a special book to keep from her personal book collection- Ethan picked one about snow since it snowed all day on his birthday! Can you believe that??? April 26th!!! Then they sing Happy Birthday and she asks the mom questions about Ethan so the class can get to know him better (funny things like what kind of a baby he was and silly stories from home) and then anyone who wants to gets to say something nice about him. Most of the comments were things like "you're a good friend" or "I liked when you helped me." I hope these sweet statements will be remembered by Ethan and not be just lost in the excitement of his day. I'll certainly remember them. It's not that often kids take the time to verbalize their friendship and I was grateful his teacher makes that a part of each birthday. What better present could a kid get than to hear that others love and value him? We wouldn't trade this teacher for the world!

What a difference!

Fine! I admit it! I have baby-girl envy. And so maybe I might have let Miles' curls grow out a little too long. But look how adorable he is! Okay so he's a little girl-y. I admit it. So I finally let Taylor cut his hair.

And thankfully a few of the curls still stayed.

And now he's an adorable little boy, and no more confusion there. Seriously how cute is he???

Grandma and Grandpa Come Through

The current obsession at our house is of course Star Wars and Jedis so when my parents asked Ethan what he'd like for his birthday, Star Wars and Legos were the only answers. Unfortunately I nixed that idea and my parents had to come up with something new on short notice. Luckily Costco came through in a big way (big enough to wrap in a blanket instead of paper even).
And he loves it. I'm not really sure what you call these car things. I've just been calling it his "car thing", but it's been an instant hit.

Ethan and Isaac and the cousins instantly insisted on taking it outside to ride. Miles unfortunately got left inside and made the most of the box.

When Isaac wasn't pushing him out of it like big brothers seem to often do.

It's really bizarre to watch them ride and ride and not use their feet at all. (does this NOT count as exercise of some kind)

They're in heaven so good job Grandpa Pat and Grandma Tina.

A BIG Family Dinner

Saturday after all the family fun we'd had earlier in the day we decided to add just a little more family and invited my aunt and uncle and cousin and her family up for some good homemade pizzas and birthday treats.
Way back in January I got Taylor a tiny brick oven for his birthday. He's always talked about putting a brick oven in a kitchen we remodel and since we're definitely not to that point yet, I found this one on Amazon. He makes up the fresh dough and cuts out the little circles.

Then you load your dough up with whatever toppings you want and stick it on a spatula and put it in the little oven. A big thankyou to my cute mother who demoed.

And then it's done in like 6 minutes and they are TO DIE FOR GOOD!!! You see all those empty plates? Yep, they're that good. The best part is that it's like fondue so you all have to sit around and chat while pizzas get made and cooked and eaten so it's a good family dinner event.

And since my parents were going to miss Ethan's birthday by just 2 days, we decided to have a small celebration for him and my Aunt Cyndi whose birthday was actually Saturday anyways. And since I wasn't about to make more cupcakes or cake, Ethan happily suggested pumpkin pie. So here's his Happy Birthday pumpkin pie!

The classic sign of a happy kid- he won't even focus enough to smile and look at the camera.

Temple Quarry Hike

The one thing my dad requested we do while he was here in Utah was to take a hike. Normally in April this is a fabulous activity as the weather is warm and the flowers are blooming. But this year we're feeling like we need to build an ark and start collecting animals with all this rain. So when it came to hiking, the options were very limited- especially with kids who'd have a hard time tromping up hills in mud so we opted for the only paved hike I know of: The Salt Lake Temple Quarry Hike.

The second we let them out of the car, my boys were off to the races. Okay at least Ethan and Isaac were. Miles found himself a stick and then dawdled the rest of the time trying to stick it places and drag it around.
And while we were out in the beautiful outdoors, my mom decided to finally snap some pictures of my boys since I've been negligent and not sent her enough. :) This one's not a character is he?

And this one's about the sweetest big brother I know.

Of course my dad couldn't resist climbing the towering rocks and my kids got to join in on the scary fun.

They're WAY up there in case you can't see. Luckily I'm not afraid of heights and am a very trusting mother so it didn't bother me at all.

After enough dawdling, Taylor picked up Miles so he could keep up with us. Miles promptly stuck his fingers into Taylor's ears and started saying "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah" Yep, he's picked up on that from Ethan who adds "you can't hear me" to the end. Totally hilarious when Miles does it.

We didn't even walk a mile but Isaac got himself a piggyback ride with my dad.

If you're in Salt Lake and need a paved hike, this is it. There are neat markers along the path explaining how the rocks were carved out and then transported down to the temple sight.

Someday we'll do it again and the boys will be more impressed with the history surrounding them than all the towering rocks, but for now, their love of rocks is enough.

As we climbed in our cars to go home Isaac exclaimed "this was the BEST adventure EVER!" And I agree. Super easy and fun. We need to spend more time outside if it ever stops raining.

Dieing for Eggs

One tradition we always try to make time for at Easter is dieing eggs. It's cheap, it's fun, it's messy (come on I have boys here- we're not very into coloring), and I love deviled eggs so this is a good way to get me started cooking our Easter dinner.

Isaac is sure he's a "big boy" and can handle anything so of course he insisted on dipping the eggs himself. Which resulted in lots of cracked eggs but oh well our deviled eggs were just a little more colorful than normal.

It helped that Miles was down for a nap (no WAY am I going to let the 18 month old in on this mess!) and that Grandma Tina and Grandpa Pat helped out.

Lovely to look at, fun to make, yummy to eat!

Crazy Quick Easter Egg Hunt

When I'm pregnant I like to claim that the reason I'm so forgetful is that I have "baby brain" but in truth, I'm kind of a flake a lot of times. This year we've been busy with LOTS of swimming lessons which the boys like but they're not allowed to just play in the pool. And our pool is pretty fun. It has a full water slide, a lazy river, and whirlpool, dumping buckets, sprayers... you get the picture. Most days they beg to get to play after lessons but that means me getting in a swimsuit and Miles too and paying for the whole lot of us, so we rarely do it. So when I heard the pool was having an "Easter Egg Dive" where the kids could hunt for eggs in the pool and then stay and play and swim afterwards, I signed up right up thinking it would be a great reward for these hard-working swimmers. Tragically I thought the date was the friday before Easter and showed up all ready for a dive... only to find out it had been the PREVIOUS Friday. HUH? Who holds an egg hunt a FULL week before Easter. So we went swimming anyways, but the kids felt kind of jipped that there was no egg hunt. Luckily there was a rec center hunt the next day.

So we dragged everyone out and found this:

Are you serious? Where's the hunting involved??? Literally 14,000 eggs spread across 3 football fields. At least they were smart enough to separate ages. I took Isaac to the 3-4 year olds while my parents took Ethan to the 5+ (he felt lucky to grab 6 eggs total with all the bigger kids) and Miles was in the 2 and under. Unfortunately the Easter Bunny showed up just as his hunt was starting and he refused to do anything but stand and point at the bunny.

Isaac however was a pro. Run, grab. Run, grab. He made out like a bandit with 20-30 eggs. Which was good since Ethan and Miles wanted him to share with them :)

Which of course he did because he's a nice brother.

Miles begged (or rather pointed) until we took him over to see the bunny.

And then we got a picture with the whole crew. The hunt began with a fog horn and literally lasted less than 2 minutes in each area. A whole lot of chaos for a short little hunt!

As we were leaving my dad noticed a little family where the girls were crying and the dad was trying to explain to them that they'd gotten there too late and missed the hunt and the eggs were all gone. So my dad suggested maybe my kids wouldn't mind sharing a few with the poor girls. We explained the situation very simply and pointed our the girls and Ethan and Isaac both ran over and simply started depositing eggs in their baskets. Ethan gave all 6 of his without any hesitation and Isaac even gave a little Bee egg he'd been flying and zooming around to them. He said to one of the girls "see it's a bee, you can fly it, it's okay". Okay so I almost cried. They honestly just gave up their eggs and then walked away without another word. Isaac shared with Ethan and Miles what he had left so everyone ended up with a few but it was warming to my heart to see their unselfish generosity.