Monkey See...

As of late, our daughter has caught MONKEY FEVER!

Thanks, no doubt, to the girl's store "Justice" (is my daughter really old enough to be "into" a store?)

Anyway, when it came time for her birthday - she was all over a Monkey Theme!

Kaitlyn's 9th birthday was on Wednesday 27th. Mid-week birthdays are so tricky...trying to fit in a celebration amongst school and volleyball and all the other commitments. We celebrate with a friends party every other year - this year being a party year - but reserved the friends celebration until Saturday.

Let the MONKEYIN' around begin!

Here is her monkey cake....

Here is the monkey birthday banner....

Here is the monkey banana split bar....

(I have to point out the water bottles - after bemoaning that I'm no good at parties, I took the party to the next level by making the water bottles themed! Thank goodness for party blogs)

Here is Kaitlyn sporting the THREE monkey shirts that she received the day of her party.

She was in MONKEY HEAVEN!

What can I say Monkey Girl?

We love you like a monkey loves bananas...

We need you like a monkey needs to swing among the trees...

Without you our family would be like a jungle without a monkey.

We're just glad you are ours! Happy Birthday!

Peek-A-Boo

Okay, so Ty is 19 months old and this isn't a particularly NEW skill...

But I just so happened to have my camera out during one of his "boo" sessions and captured these cute photos.

I just had to share because, really, how cute is this guy?

Let's go Cason, Let's go!

Cason had his first basketball game on Friday.

His team is green and they are the Sonics.

Cason is #3.

Cason was the first player on either team to shoot a foul shot. He made the first one (the one I got this picture of), but missed the second.

Cason's defense was amazing. Look at those arms spread out! They play man-to-man and he would CHASE his "assigned" player around the court - the other team player trying to get free of him and Cason not letting it happen - Cason's arms out the whole time.

Along with his free throw, Cason also scored a basket for his team during the second half.

Yea Cason!

Crafting it up with the Book of Mormon

We have 1:00 church now - which translates into "we have time to kill before church".

Last Sunday I broke out the paper scraps and let the kids decorate their Books of Mormon. I got the idea here.

The kids all seemed to have fun and I think the finished books turned out cute (cool in the case of Cason's back cover which is covered with, what else? footballs).

(Rich's response was "can you do that?")

The Lion King

Last night Rich and I went to see The Lion King at the Mandalay Bay.

Rich has wanted to see it for probably ten years. When he was first in the insurance industry he had an account that was involved in creating (or making?) the costumes when the show first hit Broadway. After multiple trips to New York, and never succeeding in getting tickets, we were thrilled when it came to Las Vegas and we finally had our chance to see it.

The costumes were simply AMAZING - how they created each animal and the puppetry involved was remarkable. The costumes deserve a museum to themselves! And, of course, the story was cute and the music was terrific.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the night out, the entertainment and the company.

Typical January Slump

After the holidays, it seems like life's routine is, well, routine!

Which means my camera stays on the desk and I don't have much to blog about.

So I guess this post is just a "we are still here" post.

By "here" we mean alive - not "here" as in home.

For the record (posterity, you know) this is what is keeping us busy in January 2010:

• Monday - speech for Jake, volleyball for Kaitlyn, FHE for all
• Tuesday - preschool for Jake (and mom), activity days for Kaitlyn, basketball practice for Cason, institute for mom
• Wednesday - speech for Jake, volleyball for Kaitlyn, RS for mom
• Thursday - preschool for Jake (and mom), piano for Cason and Kaitlyn
• Friday - speech for Jake, basketball game for Cason

Throw in daily gym for mom, school for Cason, homeschooling for Kaitlyn (just for January!), piano practice, homework, a family meal and attempted family scriptures - and I feel a desperate desire to add at least three hours to each day (with half of it preferably in the form of sleep).

Oh, and lets not forget poor Ty - he isn't signed up for anything. He just attends all the aforementioned events as the fan club - what a good sport!

Is there a potty there?

Last Wednesday I set out to potty train Jake.

No matter how many children you have potty-trained in the past, there is no guarantee to how the next child will react. As a result, I was a little nervous.

Silly Me!

• I spent ONE day reminding Jake to go potty.
• By Thursday he was pottying himself 100% independently, with no reminders.
• By Saturday he was done with the "little" potty and is now using the big potty.
• Naptimes? Skipped naps for two days, as to not disrupt the "flow" - he has napped in underwear since.
• Bedtime? First night in a diaper, two nights in "special" undies (otherwise known as pull-ups), in underwear the last four nights and he's dry!

I am breathing a sigh of relief and LOVING my Jake for making my job so easy.
(disclaimer: this is why I wait until age 3 to potty train!)

Now for the Post-Potty Training Stage - the one where you know where the potty is at every store you go to. Jake's first question each time we get into the car is "Do they have a potty there?" And you can bet that when I say "yes", that he will make sure that he sees that potty.

They accept tips

Christmas this year put my kids on the fast track toward future vocations.

Kaitlyn received a Balloon Art Kit.
In just one short week she has perfected making hats, octopus(s?) and swords - swords being helpful considering all the octopus(i?)

Cason received a Drawing Book.
Interestingly enough, our artist's first drawing was that of an artist. A bit of a self-portrait perhaps?

It looks to me like we aren't too far from hiring the kids out for parties.

Let someone else eat cake!

Just in case anyone has been keeping track...

December 22nd...

December 27th...
(and yes, there was still Handy Manny cake yet to finish)

December 31st...
(and yes again, there was still Coconut Lime cake in the fridge)

Any guess what my New Years Resolution is?
Needless to say, I'm just okay if I don't see cake or frosting again until...well until Kaitlyn's birthday I guess :)

Cason turns SEVEN!

Yesterday was Cason's SEVENTH birthday!

It's probably hard to imagine, but he chose to have a sports theme - again.
That makes one soccer birthday, one basketball birthday and three football birthdays thus far. Yeah, pretty much since he has had a say he has been a sports fanatic.

Cason gave me a gift this year when he agreed to let me make football brownies instead of a cake. I had a really cute..er, I mean "cool" cake planned, but I was caked out by his birthday. Once Cason was assured that the brownies would be footballs, he was on board.

We celebrated with pizza, brownies and lots of gifts. What more could a seven year old want?

Happy Birthday Cason. We love you!