Charlie's Bowling Birthday Party

3-10

For the last few years, Charlie's birthday has landed on spring break. What a problem to have! :) When Charlie turned six, we spent his birthday at the Oregon coast saying our final good-byes before moving back to Colorado. He spent his seventh birthday celebrating on the shores of the Gulf coast in Corpus Christi, TX. Rough, right? This spring, we will be in sunny California for Charlie's actual birthday which means two things. First, we will be celebrating his birthday early. Second, this child has spent three consecutive birthdays at an ocean. How lucky is that?!?

Charlie wanted to have his birthday party at the bowling alley this year! Though I can't promise a "on-location" birthday party every year, I can definitely see the appeal. Pay money, show up, bring some treats, host the kids, do all the gifts and such there, send the kids home when their parents pick them up, and then go home where there's no mess from the birthday party. It was totally great! Charlie had such a fun time with his friends!! The birthday party package we chose was two hours of bowling for up to 12 people, so Charlie invited 8 friends, two of which couldn't come. He has some really nice friends (classmates); really respectful and kind. Easy kids to have around! 

 The girls got to bowl as well, obviously. They were pretty excited!

 Charlie, Jonathan, Luke, and Grayson (I LOVE that Luke and Gray slicked combed their hair extra special just for the party!)

 The kids were all pretty much on time so we got shoes and got started really quickly after we arrived. The kids bowled for about 45 minutes before we took a break for food and gifts. 

 Canon City Lanes has these adorable little dinosaur ball rollers. They're SO cute!! Molly and Hattie used it but Alanna bowled for her ownself. 

 Our almost birthday boy!

 Hattie was loving bowling and could have spent the entire two hours just rolling ball after ball down the dinosaur roller. She carried the ball from the ball returner over to the dino every time. A 6-pound ball doesn't seem like much, but when you're only about 30ish to begin with, that's quite a bit. 

 Little sassy hips was bowling her little heart out as well. All of the kids did well at getting the ball down to the pins. I think the bumpers got knocked and fell down maybe two times, and one time Rin's ball ended up in the lane next to ours, but for the most part, everyone did well at bowling. 

 Know what's funny? Listening to Grayson, Charlie, and Jonathan shoot the breeze while they were waiting for their turn!! Second grade conversations are HILARIOUS. 

 Rin, Bentley, and Alanna were also having some good times while waiting for their turns. 

 The birthday bunch!

Bentley, Grayson, Charlie, Luke, Jonathan, Bryce, and Rin

(they're all in the same class at school) 

 ...and birthday party silly faces, of course! 

 The bowling alley has a back room with tables and such where we were able to have some food and open gifts. Instead of the traditional cupcakes or birthday cake and ice cream, I opted for bowling popcorn balls. Matt helped me make them the night before the party. We dyed them blue, green, and yellow to look like bowling balls! I put them in individual baggies so the kids could eat them there or take the rest home, which was good planning. We got two pitchers of soda with the birthday party package so drinks were taken care of there. Did I say that we tried to keep it simple? Because that was obviously our goal! 

 I whipped up these little baggie toppers and printed them off before stapling them onto snack baggies of gumballs (bowling balls!). Party favors, check! 

 While some were finishing their snack, some of the other kids jumped on the arcade games to pretend like they were playing. They weren't. Sorry, kids. Quarters not included!

 Charlie opened his gifts and received two Nerf guns, one set of off-brand dart guns, a Star Wars Lego set, a remote control drone, and a big package (60 count!) of basketball cards. He also got a big giant blue outdoor ball with a cupcake on it. Charlie was excited about it, which made my heart happy. Yes, Charlie's getting older but he's not yet fully done being a little boy excited about a big blue ball. I love that. 

The party ended at 3 though it was closer to 3:45 before all the kids were picked up and everyone left. One of the mom's texted me that she would be late and a few other moms stayed to chat a bit at the end. I think Charlie had a really fun time with his friends and that the party went exactly as he wanted it to. We all had fun! Happy early birthday, Charlie!!

Notes and Quotes, Winter Edition

Hattie:
- will sit and go pee on the potty before bath at night, but I'm not planning to potty train her until after spring break

Molly:
- says "Sit by over me" when she wants Daddy or I to come and sit by her
- spells her name most often like this: MOYLL

Alanna:
- lost her first tooth in December and as of mid-February has lost three additional teeth! Update: end of February, make that a total of FIVE!
- she kept saying 'polem' one night, over and over, and Matt and I could not figure out what she was saying. Then she said, "You know, like a short sentence." Finally Matt figured out that she was trying to say poem.

Charlie:
- when Matt was asking him some questions to prep for his upcoming science fair, Matt asked Charlie to give him some background information about his project. Charlie responded with, "Well, I chose white because I thought it would match the color of the animal skulls." HAHA!!! Charlie was referring to the white poster board (background) that he put his pictures on, NOT the actual background of his project. We about died.
- Matt was talking about the housing boom in Pueblo West and Charlie said, "Why? Did a bomb go off" (because of the boom...)

Matt shaved his beard off the weekend before we left for our spring break trip. He got some interesting comments from the kids! Charlie said, "You look like a teenager!" and Hattie said, "Why your mouth on your face?" and "Why you paint your face?" HAHA! Why your mouth on your face - as if Matt's mouth wasn't underneath all that facial hair the whole time...

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Town

March 1- 5 6, 2018

Lake Grandma and Grandpa flew out for a visit at the beginning of March. We had a great time together doing all of the usual things; drinking coffee, visiting, playing with kids, playing games with kids, reading books to kids, playing cards with kids... you get it. :) We had some beautiful spring weather while they were here so we tried to take advantage of it while we could. It's always a treat to have family come to visit because we get them all to ourselves!!! 

Matt lead us on a hike in Temple Canyon, of which got very mixed reviews. Let's just say that hiking is usually done with two feet and one particular section of this hike (through the canyon) required two feet and two hands! It was a fun adventure! 

This picture was taken after we all conquered the hike. Good work, team!

 The kids all made these sets of mini beanbag games at a Home Depot clinic in February. Each kiddo made one board and received two bean bags. However, if you put two kids' sets together, you have a complete indoor beanbag set!! Grandma and Charlie were having a blast playing together!

Goodness, I really slacked at taking pictures this time. We were mostly around the house and didn't venture very far. Matt and I went out on a date one evening to try out a new restaurant in town and for coffee at the Pour House afterwards. Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to McDonald's where they ate dinner AND played in the play place. They were happy kids! We went to church on Sunday morning together and spent the rest of our time together just being together. It was lovely!  

This is the best group shot I got while Grandma and Grandpa were here. Our less than supportive brown couch isn't helping any. 

 While Grandma and Grandpa were scheduled to leave on Monday evening from Denver, their flight was cancelled that day by noon or so due to yucky weather in ND/MN. SCORE! Extra time together! On Monday morning, a crew from Fremont Concrete arrived to start laying our cement driveway. They prepped the space on Monday and laid the concrete on Tuesday, and since Mom and Dad were still here on Tuesday, they got to see the finished product. That worked out well! Thanks for coming to see us, Mom and Dad! We loved having you! 

February Wrap-Up

2-16

Alanna lost one of her top teeth! Her smile is changing so much these days!

 2-18

I think I snapped this before church one Sunday just because. I'm sure we were late to church (not because of the picture, but because we almost always are.)

 2-20

Molly and Hattie were really into their dress-up dresses for a few days. They were playing together so nicely while Charlie and Alanna were at school. It was really sweet and refreshing for me to see! 

 Strawberry Shopkins giving princess Aurora a smooch. Precious. 

 They even had purses slung over their shoulders to match!

 2-22

Charlie participated in Mountain View's science fair. Matt was definitely the parent in charge of all of that! Charlie decided on a project after Matt narrowed down his choices to about half dozen projects. Charlie settled on a presentation on animal skulls. He went with Matt to work late in the afternoon one day and they went through the collection of skulls that BLM uses for educational purposes, taking pictures to put on Charlie's display board. Matt had a few whole skulls that he's found along the way, so Charlie set those out in front of his display. He had to write his own speech and everything. Matt printed the pictures and then left the rest up to Charlie. He cut construction paper to act as borders for the pictures as well as color-code them for their type of animal (herbivore/omnivore/carnivore). Charlie added in all of the little graphics and signs, too. The science fair was judged by four high school students who gave out little critiques and praises on slips of paper. It was a good experience for Charlie! He ended up getting a second place certificate and qualified for the district science fair. Everyone who participated either got first, second, or third place. There were probably 30-35 projects from kids in K-8th grade. 

 2-24

This year's Young Life dessert theme was Casino Night (can you tell?). Once the event got underway, I was able to sit back and enjoy the evening a bit. This event takes months of prep so it's a big relief when it's done. It went really well, raising over $19,000 for YL Royal Gorge. The speaker started off the evening by praising the piece of dessert he had, and it just so happened to be mine! I made a peanut butter bar topped with butterscotch chips, so when Eric mentioned the butterscotch chips, I knew he was referring to mine. Hilarious! 

 2-26

Charlie and Molly put on a few talent shows late in February. Both shows featured basketball as the main event, though Molly did put on a dance leotard and do some twirling for one of the shows. According to Molly, these are her best basketball playing clothes. She was nearly working up a sweat trying to throw the foam basketball up to the hoop. Believe it or not, she made two or three shots! 

 Molly and Charlie are wearing matching headbands sweatbands. So cute!

(The black dance leotard pictures are actually from early March, but they fit with the talent show theme! Love the tiny section of Molly's undies peeking out from under her leo! Ha!)

 So much action!

2-27

Well, shortly after the basketball shows, Matt was nearly ready to hang the barn door that he built. The standard bi-fold door is about to be replaced by a beautiful stained barn door, hand-crafted by Matt. It's amazing and I just love it. It adds a lot of character and warmth to the room! I ordered a pull for the door after Matt hung it so it was about a week or more before it was fully complete. It looks so great!! Thanks for building the door, Babe! 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from the six of us! Alanna and Charlie both had Valentine's parties at school and decorated their own boxes. Matt covered Alanna's with freezer paper and she had fun drawing all over it. I helped Charlie cover his with blue and yellow paper and he had fun putting all kinds of Golden State Warriors things on it. Done! They were excited to pour over their boxes again when they got home from school. It was also a dress down (or up!) day at school that day. 

 The kids received valentines from both sets of grandparents in the mail as well. Super fun!  

 Big smiles and saggy pigtails!

 That night, Matt and I had our own date night with hot tea and a 500-piece puzzle. We thought that we'd just start the puzzle and see what happened, knowing full well that we would have to take it apart before going to bed. Two hours later, we finished the puzzle! Perhaps next time we'll start earlier than 9:15pm... it was a really sweet at-home date. :) 

February Catch-Up

2-10

When we got home from Grand Junction, Molly had another birthday gift waiting for her - a new game from Country Grandma and Grandpa! Bed Bugs!

 I put Hattie's hair in these cute ponytails one day. When I was growing up, we called this hairstyle 'three ponies up and down' and my mom was an expert at it. Fancy! 

 2-11

We got a bit of snow one day so Matt and the kids bundled up and built a snow fort in the back yard. They needed a bit of help from the sleds acting as the roof since there wasn't a huge surplus of snow, but they made it work. Fun! 

 Clearly that sun has some power due to Molly's hat-less head. 

2-13

 A little book time before bed.