No time to really write about the events of the last couple of weeks but everyone needs to see my 3 musketeers. My mom sewed the ‘hard’ part. ;) I put together the pants, shirts, HATS, sword-belts, and swords.
FYI-The pink musketeer was inspired by ‘Corinne’ from “Barbie and the 3 Musketeers”. Leah has to have her pink. :D
An interview with the Birthday Boy:
What is your favorite color?
-ummm…red (i happen to disagree, it’s blue)
What’s do you want for your birthday?
-A Nutcracker and 2 blankets
What is your favorite thing to do?
-Do Scribble-scraps (drawing)
What is your favorite treat?
-My favorite treat is a red one.
Do you like chocolate chip cookies or chocolate cobbler?
-I like chocolate cobbler. But mom I like Chocolate COOKIES. (He likes them both)
What is your favorite snack?
-Animal Crackers
What is your favorite TV show?
-Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Diego WITH Dora
What is you favorite song to sing?
-The ABC song … A, B, C, D, E, F, G, …
What is your favorite Primary song?
-God of the world (I have NO idea where this came from, can ANY one help me out?)
Who is favorite person?
-I don’t like persons. I like happy monsters.
as the interviewer of this fine young man I have made some observations…
I love this boy. He makes me crazy many times a day, but he is mine and I am glad to have him.
I love you my Little Man.
***WARNING: This post contains a plethora of images. Lots of pictures taken by many hands. There is not much writing but we’re heavy on the pictures. If you don’t have the time to devote to a good perusal I’d come back to the post later…There IS a lot to see.***
DEDICATION- This post is dedicated to the Daddy working hard in the land of FAR FAR AWAY. We love you, miss you and wish you could’ve been here with us.
This was an experience of ‘Monster’ proportions. The preparations were ‘monstrously’ daunting. Good thing we started planning early. ;)
Owen & his friend, Spencer, have birthdays 16 days apart. They spend ‘monstrous’ amounts of time together each week, and they both LOVE to pretend to be monsters. So when we asked them if they wanted a ‘Monster Bash’ Birthday Party they were both on board. :D
After some snacking on Pizzas, Carrots & Apples there were 3 stations for the Kids to rotate thru.
***Note- All signs below were designed by me and executed/colored by Leah (with some help from her bros on the “Monster Toss”).***
The Bean Bags were designed by Leah & Mason and executed by the Mommy, me. ;) The Board was designed and painted by moi…the night before the main event. I swear I was NOT procrastinating…you try and find time to paint with a 3 year old Mama’s Boy 2 steps behind you all day long. ;0) I am pleased with the out come. It is something I’ve wanted to do for years and it feels so good to have it DONE! Total Man hours for Bags: 14. Total man hours for Board: 10.
The Craft is the little 3-eyed Green Monster/Alien on the Board. The packaged craft is from the Halloween Craft aisle at Hobby Lobby. The kits makes 30. Needless to say, I have extras.
****BREAKING NEWS***
We interrupt this broadcast with urgent news from our sponsors…
If you have balloons staked out in a large yard, perfect for running in, children will confiscate them and run. ;)
Then there was the Pinata… This was one tough “cookie” to crack.
And of course there were Monster Cupcakes, why wouldn’t there be? Carolyn Friberg and I got together on 2 separate occasions in the week to make fondant, roll out fondant, begin the cutting, planning, decorating bit AND, of course, complete it. Total man hours: 20 (we have to combine her hours with my hours compounding the hours of “interest”).
Friends started leaving after the sugar rush of candy, cupcakes and Hawaiian Punch, but we stuck it out a bit longer to open presents inside the warmer house.
To round off the day we finished with ME having a little mini photo shoot with the “Birthday Boys”, siblings and cousin. These are just for us. But you’re welcome to see them too.
Have you ever heard of the “bucket bike”? I hadn’t till this morning, and I have to say I am intrigued. The idea that I could have a child plus ‘accessories’ all in one location sounds awesome. And it is so cute. Check it out.
I can easily envision myself going on bike rides with the kids with this. Leah & Mason on their bikes, Owen in the back of this one and a trip to the library, or park, or grocery store would be a breeze. Currently Leah & Mason have to stop frequently waiting for Owen and me to catch up to them.
If you’re in Utah, Monday they are having a rally in Provo, UT. A gathering of ‘Bucket Bike’ owners and will have a few bikes there to check out. Also, if you look at the bottom of the flier below you’ll see that you can enter a contest this weekend, just send an email to NieandMadsen@yahoo.com with your name & why you want a bike. If you win you have to be able to make it to the Rally to pick up the bike. Just another reason why I wish we were in Utah.
I’ve been using Groupon to get some cool deals check it out here.
I’ve treated Kevin & I to a delicious meal and today I purchased the Groupon for a Bucket Bag by SnapTotes. I’m ubber excited. :)
(This photo was entered in the iHEARTfaces weekly photo challenge “Smirk”)
On Mason’s first day of Kindergarten we parents hung around to get some photos of the “BIG DAY”. He caught us hanging out at the edge of the blacktop and he rewarded us with this look. This kid cracks me up. He is totally saying, “You’re STILL here!?!? Why haven’t you left yet? GET OUT OF HERE!” Then he ignored us pretending we didn’t exist any longer.
Dear Leah,
I love that you are a big sister to your little brothers. You have always opened your arms and welcomed them into your classrooms at school, introducing them to all your friends. I know that you look forward to having Mason in school with you and you are happy to share your space with him.
As your mother it makes me so happy, proud, teary and emotional to know that you have that love for Mason and Owen. Thank you for being a loving big sister to both of them. And just remember to use quieter voices with them when they irritate you and I'll work to do the same.
You are a beautiful girl growing up to be an equally beautiful young lady, inside and out.
You are loved...Always and Forever.
Hugs & Kisses,
Mom
MONDAY
-Clean house.
-Set up beds.
-Everyone (but Owen) staying up late to see Grandpa, Grandma, Ryan, Ethan, Anna & Garrett arrive. Then staying awake a little longer to visit before sleeping.
TUESDAY
-Wake up early. Everyone up and out of the house by 9:20am for the Early Bird Showing of "Toy Story 3." Movie was enjoyed by all. Owen and Mason made Kevin leave a total of 3 times for potty breaks. Such a good Daddy, not a single complaint crossed his lips.
-Lunch at Chick-fil-a. A free sandwich with your movie ticket when you buy a drink and fry. MMMmmMmmMMmmm. Diet Dr.Pepper. A weakness.
-A trip to the National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade.
Leah decoded 14 messages and earned a circle puzzle. We'll be going back in the next couple weeks to explore in more detail.
I might not take the boys along. Mason’s idea of a good time in there was playing “Angry Birds” on his Uncle Ryan’s iPhone. That won’t be accompanying us next time.
-I then took the adults to Ann’s House of Nuts Outlet store off Berger Rd in Columbia. No pictures, but we did get a steal of a deal on some nuts and dried fruits.
-The day ended with Susann & Frans Martin’s family joining us for a dinner of personal pizzas and salad. (Susann is my in-laws niece.)
WEDNESDAY
-Drove into DC and parked instead of riding the Metro in. $16 all day/car.
-Spent much of our day inside the American History Museum. We found an exploration lab that Leah and Mason had a great time in.
-Went over to the National Archives building. My brother-in-law Garrett had a large pocket knife with him that wasn’t allowed in the building. Mason and I volunteered to wait outside with the knife instead of going up to view the documents. We had some fun snacking and taking pictures.
-We finished of the day with a quick visit to the Natural History Museum and a walk past the Smithsonian Institute Building.
-Came home to dinner 1/2 prepared by Kevin. I finished it up and we were off to bed…after waiting for our turn to shower. ;) Having one shower really has its draw backs when you have company.
THURSDAY
-Grandma and Grandpa stayed home with the grandkids for a low-key day together.
-Kevin went into work.
-I drove the Young Adults and Teenager into DC once again, but this time to tour the Memorials and Monuments. I didn’t bring my camera along. I didn’t want the extra weight. I was the official photographer for everyone else using their cameras. Because of that I do not yet have any pictures, but that’s ok I wasn’t in any pictures. (I would like to note that it was over 90-degrees with humidity that day, probably over 100-degrees. I didn’t really want to know. I was so glad we left the kids at home.)
***Each pin represents a stop we made. In the following order.***
-We got stuck in horrendous traffic when there was a miscommunication between me and my navigator. A typical 30-minute drive ended up taking 1 hour-40 minutes.
-We were cutting through DC to get to the Washington, DC Temple. There is an exquisite display right now of bronzes statues depicting the life of Christ. Amazing craftsmanship! Anyone in the area reading this? Be sure you get down there to check it out. It’s on display till October and I plan on taking the kids down a couple times before they are gone. Beautiful.
-It was a record setting 36-minutes from the Temple to Home. Dinner was waiting for us---Chicken Broccoli Casserole. Thanks Mom!
FRIDAY
-Leaving our home behind at 10am we drove up to Palmyra, NY. Getting to our hotel and KFC at 5:35pm and to The Hill Cumorah Pageant by 6:10pm.
-The Pageant was fabulous. Despite being ‘oh so very tired’. I stayed awake by photographing the program and taking kids to the bathroom.
SATURDAY
-Up early. 6am. To shower and get to the Palmyra Temple by 7:30am.
-Attended the 8am Endowment session in the Palmyra Temple. I was so tired. I stayed awake, but just barely. The building is beautiful. I love stain glass and that Temple has it everywhere. So beautiful.
-We got back to the hotel with 20-minutes to spare before checkout. Everyone got packed up and out of there with minutes to spare. :)
-We went straight to the Joseph Smith Family Farm. Where you can tour the Log Home, Frame Home, a Threshing Barn, Cooper Shop, and The Sacred Grove.
-We ate lunch at the picnic tables.
-Drove into Palmyra, NY. Walked Main Street, past the Print Shop where the Book of Mormon was first printed, saw an intersection with a different Faith’s church on each corner.
-At 5:14pm, we parted ways with the Grandparents, Aunt and Uncles.
-We headed home from there. It took us 12 hours to get home. Mostly because I was SO TIRED I couldn’t keep my eyes open and help my husband to stay awake. We pulled over twice to sleep. The first time for only about 30 minutes. The second time for about 2 hours. I still couldn’t keep my eyes open enough to read to Kevin, but he was wired and awake. We pulled into home just after 5am on Sunday. It felt so good to fall into bed. I didn’t wake until after 2pm. My husband is the best Daddy…he got up at some point to take care of the needs of our 3 children.
And so I say, THE END…to this adventure.
This is my Owen having a conniption at a family celebration last June. He cried, he screamed, he was not a happy little man. I believe he was tired and not getting his way...gasp! I must be a terrible mommy. ;)
