Happy Birthday Aiden!

Aiden's 6th Birthday was yesterday.  We had a wonderful time celebrating him.

Aiden is a wonderful kid.  I love that he always wants to do what's right and wants to please me.  I love his curiosity about the world.  I love that he loves his sisters. I love his excitement for this new baby.  I love that tonight he prayed that "the devil would choose the right".  I love this kid.

Highlights of the day:

-having Aiden walk into our room at 4:45, 5:15, 5:45... etc., the birthday excitement was palpable
-having Annie walk into our room at 6:15 saying her eye felt funny.  This is what we saw:

-Chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  And learning that Norah is a true pyromaniac.

-Aiden's birthday party.  He went with a Science Experiments theme and it was a blast! It was the perfect way to entertain 8 five and six year olds.

-Making slime/goop

 -Exploding "elephant toothpaste" Despite the picture, I think he did have fun.

- Quasimodo seemed to enjoy it.

 -Opening presents!

 -Making ice cream in a bag

 -Eating said ice-cream (some kids were heavy on the ice, others heavy on the cream)

 -And eating some truly disgusting slime cupcakes.

We had a great day and I'm excited to see what this year has to bring for Aiden!

Trampoline

We recently got a trampoline.  I figured it would help keep the kids busy while I got pregnanter and pregnanter, and eventually have this baby.  It has been fantastic.  Since I didn't grow up with a trampoline, I have no games up my sleeve.  But Landon, he is a trampoline pro.  Here was tonight's family night game(s).  

Wrestle Annie:

 An intense game of duck duck goose.  A Norah favorite.

 A bit of kids vs. Dad.

 Checking out the clouds.  It was all too much for Norah.

 And then the classic: bounce the kids.

 Norah got demolished.

 And one self-timer picture to finish off the night.  Thank you, Aiden, for that face.

I'm a fan.

Vacation!!

With Landon's job we have learned that if things are slow at work, we go on vacation.  Immediately.  Generally with no notice at all.  On Thursday he unexpectedly came home at 4:00 and our vacation started.  Camping is generally our go-to vacation, but I didn't really want to go 8 months pregnant.  You can judge.  Soo, we had a "staycation" instead.  Beginning with an evening trip to the zoo. On Friday we woke up and hiked up to donut falls.  On Saturday we hiked up to the "H" on the mountain above our house.  Interspersed between these activities were some good naps, office organization, and Landon still had to work about six hours- which he managed to do after we had all gone to bed in the evenings.  We had a great weekend with Landon home.  We'll see when we get to to it again.

Of course, we only have pictures of our hike up to donut falls.

Here is the cast: GQ Aiden, charmer Annie, and confused Norah.

The setting: Beautiful Big Cottonwood Canyon

 Aiden and Annie would rather run than walk.

At the falls, I turned around to see Aiden up here.  What you can't tell from the picture is that it is pretty much straight up and down.  I sent Landon up after him to avoid any deadly falls.  

 Here are the boys at the top conversing about whether or not it is really a good idea to continue scaling the cliffs.  Aiden was all for it, Landon held him back.

And of course, Norah spent most of the time screaming at whoever was closest to her. 

Until she found my lame ponytail, which she thought was hilarious.  Real nice, Norah.  You know I have issues with my hair. 

These two were great hikers on the way down.  But first Aiden had to help Annie accessorize. 

Norah refused to ride in the baby backpack, but why would she ride in that when I have a perfect little travel seat built in.  

 Success!!

The happy family at the end of the trail.  

The Girly Pies

Annie's dance recital was on Saturday morning.  As always, it was delightful. 

Annie got ready by smiling at us.  Her friends got the last of her nose-picking done. 

 Don't mess with this girl when it is time to back up.

 Is she going to fall...... no.  I'm happy to report she never fell.  Which is saying something if you have seen her dance.

 She is by far the deepest bower.  Color me proud.

 And her focus is incredible.

 And seriously, isn't she gorgeous?

Monday was Norah's birthday.  I love two year olds.  I knew that she would be easy to please- especially since she had zero expectations for the day.

We started out by feeding her whipping cream.

 Followed by a butterfly balloon at breakfast.  It appears that $1.99 would have been sufficient as far as she was concerned.

 But we splurged a bit and got her a bike.

 She must not be used to having things that are only hers because all morning she sat on the bike saying, "Norah's Bike!  Happy Birthday!"

 She had a brief meeting with Aiden and Annie outside.

 Followed by a trip to the splashpad

 Look at that face.  She was thrilled by the dogs at the park.

 Later that night she showed off her bike to Pampa.

 Annie showed off her moves on the trampoline.

 Only to be horribly upstaged by Uncle Mike.

 And I don't want to brag too much.  But I made this cake.  Folks, it's an ice cream cake and I was very impressed with myself.  I am a notoriously bad cake maker, so this was a formidable accomplishment.

We had a great day celebrating Norah.