While Sister's Away...The Boys Will Play!

Daron's Surprise Birthday Party

The kids and I had a lot of fun planning a surprise dinner and party for Daron on his birthday a few weeks ago. It was a Sunday and he already had a lot of meetings scheduled for the day so it was easy to set up while he wasn't home.

I invited some friends for dinner and they were here by the time he got home from his church meetings. Esther shouted an extremely enthusiastic "SURPRISE!" before he'd even gotten into the house. We enjoyed a football themed dinner - including pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches and IBC Rootbeer. The blue and white balloons were for BYU. It was also kind of "Hooray, college football season is almost here!" party.

I made the table runner myself based on a Martha Stewart project. It's a green textured table runner from TJMaxx, white ribbon, and adhesive numbers. Easy-peasy!

As soon as dinner was over, the cupcakes arrived. Blue velvet with cream cheese frosting - yum! Thank you Sabrina!! (Here's her link:http://sabcakes.blogspot.com/) As she started setting them out on the island, Daron started to wonder just how many guests I was expecting. Then they arrived en masse! I couldn't invite the whole ward, but it seemed like it in our house. The kids were all very well behaved and sat in the kitchen and chatted, colored pictures, wrestled in the living room, and helped Daron open his gifts.

Daron's gift from the kids and I was a frame backpack for those Scout and camping trips!

People stayed for about an hour to visit and then Daron left for yet another meeting. So we cleaned up, had a healthy green smoothie and another cupcake. The kids showing off their blue tongues.

Post party fun!

It was a great day. I know Daron doesn't like a big fuss made over him, but it was something I needed to do for him. This three kids thing has really thrown us off. Daron's schedule is getting busier and busier. It has been harder and harder to find time to spend together. I really felt a need to make a great effort on something for him. And this was the perfect chance. He understood that and was glad of the all that I'd done to make the day special for him.

Toothy Grin

Second one gone!

Blessed

Nathan said the family prayer tonight. He spent several minutes blessing every part of Jacob's body that it would grow big like his and Esther's.

"Bless Jacob's eyes will grow big like mine and Esther's. Bless Jacob's legs grow big like mine and Esther's..."

He went on and on. His nose, his fingernails, etc. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud!

Tummy Time

We just love our sweet rolling little Munchkin!

Adventure at Michaels

Today all three kids and I were at Michaels. We were checking out the craft paint and a woman came over twice to ask if we needed spray paint (it's in a locked area). I thought she was being rather over attentive and was a little annoyed that she kept asking.

On our way out, I briefly noticed that there was a button to push next to the spray paint to call for assistance.

It wasn't until many hours later when I was thinking about the pushy sales lady that it suddenly dawned on me that Nathan had been running around nearby. He must have been pushing the button!!

It also occurred to me that the lady was probably pretty annoyed with me - thinking we were "doorbell ditching!"

Yikes

This is what Esther saw and what Daron caught while I was out last night. They called it the walrus spider.

When Daron sent me a picture, I wondered what it really was. Cause it is pretty creepy looking.

Turns out it's a wolf spider. Yeah, venomous! It's not aggressive and the bite probably wouldn't kill you but you'd still want to seek medical attention.

Fortunately, Daron threw it over the back fence rather than in the flowers out front. Hopefully he's found himself a new place.

Shiver....