Happy Birthday to These Oldies

Happy 40th, 39th, 38th, and 36th birthday to these friends! 

We actually pulled off a surprise party! So fun! 

Jon read through all of his “most likely to...” votes. 

LBK and BV

We are leaving for a grand adventure this weekend! A weekend in Lubbock where my friends and I have the ultimate middle-aged-man surprise party planned, then onto Trail West in Buena Vista, CO for a week of cousin camp! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Just look at what my sister-in-law made. Ah!! Can't wait!

My Pupppppies!

Let's talk about my puppies. I'm really trying not to become that crazy person that talks about her pets way too much, but I am seriously in love. And I am so proud of them. (And I can recognize that that is weird.) 

They are the perfect little dogs for us. A well behaved lady and gentleman. They don't bark much, they remember not to jump on our 1 year old neighbor, and when I open the back gate to the alley they sprint out like rockets and then turn around and run straight back into our yard. They are committed to cleaning each other's ears, which is good because I told them that I didn't want that job. When I say "bedtime" they scamper into their crate. They haven't learned much yet in the way of actual tricks, but come on summer. We are ready to see Luna "dance" on command. 

We finally finished up all their shots. They are both around 6 pounds, 4 and a half months old, and expected to grow a bit more. 

Trying to get into a package from Mimi.

Personality-wise, Luna is 80% cat, Kingsley is 100% Chihuahua. If you put Luna on a leash for a walk, she lays on her back and bats at the leash like it was a string. Kingsley gets with the program and happily scampers along; someone eventually just picks up Luna and carries her. Luna plays with a laser pointer and bats at things with one paw. Luna is bigger than Kingsley, but will crawl into places he deems too small so she can watch the world pass by. Meanwhile, Kingsley is afraid of the stairs.  

They are doing good on the quest for becoming house-broken, but I just don't completely trust them quite yet. I am really excited for the days when they can sleep with Nolan, though. Those three would be happy as clams all curled up together. 

 

10.5

 What is it with these pictures? The camera angle? The shadows? Why does Ollie look so old? 

The other day he was helping me prep food for our upcoming trip to Colorado and Ollie said, "I just wish we had something to talk about. I wish I didn't know you so well. I wish I didn't know all your stories." 

This came as a surprise. Does every parent feel this way? The attitude of: you are basically my heart walking around outside my body and I would take a bullet for you, but there ain't no way you know me. 

Now quit being so presumptive and go set the table for dinner. 

I told him he should ask questions about how dad and I met and started dating. Once the stories got going (which included Jon and I going to a creek to catch fish for Jon's roommate's fish tank), I had to call Jon into the room to hear Ollie's very favorable responses. "Oh man, mom. You are a trooper. You are the absolute best. All the girls I know have too much drama to be involved in that."

I'm not sure if I was laughing harder at Ollie's comments or at Jon's response of muttering something along the lines of, "that's before I knew all about her opinions".

Ha! Anyway Ollie, happy halfie! Love you bud!

A Handful

I was looking for a birthday shirt for our fresh five-year-old a few months ago and saw some that said, "I'm a handful" with five outstretched fingers. While they did make me chuckle, I decided to go with the race car birthday boy shirt because while he is a handful now, he's not really a handful. Know what I mean? (Also, can we talk for a minute about how we are over a month past his birthday and I am just now getting to the re-cap? The struggle is real for the third child.)

I got to shirk my sub duties for a few minutes and go eat lunch with my birthday boy. Super enjoyable and entertaining.

These following pictures crack me up. I put all Nolan's birthday presents and new clothes in a big gift bag rather than wrapping them individually. (Again, third child woes!) I had carefully laid the clothes on top, so when he looked in the bag, it just looked like a simple pile of clothes. When he went over to peak in the bag, I threw Jon under the bus and said things like, "Oh no! Did Daddy forget to buy you any toys for your birthday? Did he only get you clothes?" To say that Nolan's face fell would be an understatement. (In hindsight, I realize I was playing with fire and am lucky I didn't have a sobbing five-year-old on my hands.) After he walked away from the gift bag I said, "well, why don't you pull out the clothes so we can at least see what is on them." Zoom in close on these next pictures when he realized there were toys hidden underneath. His expressions are priceless.

What's in there??

Oh, man. Just clothes?!?? 

What?? There's more stuff in here? 

Our family went to a go-kart track the weekend after to celebrate. I feel like it has been 20+ years since I drove a go-kart and I had so much fun. 

This track was for the youngest drivers and was painful to watch. The cars maxed out at around 1 mph. Ha!

                                   

Getting in a little cat nap. 

Nolan said this little roller coaster was his favorite ride.

Jon and I barrrrely squeezed in together. 

Dear Nolan, your life is a gift! We love to celebrate you and are grateful we get to be your second parents. Love you forever, Mom and Dad

PS You are only a handful sometimes. Like when I walk in the kitchen and see this. But then again, you are also smart. Just look at how you are containing your mess making/water play to the sink. Good job, son.