Birthday Week

So, as you all know, I turned 34 last Wednesday. I had a great birthday and it is amazing how much more exciting birthdays are with facebook. Don't you think? Thanks for all of your birthday wishes.
The birthday celebrations started on Saturday when Steve and I were able to get two very good and fun babysitters for the boys and we headed off on our three hour drive to Columbia, SC to go to the temple. I made chicken salad and we had cheetos and grapes and had a nice drive and a nice lunch in the car. We were able to do a session together which doesn't happen as often as I would like it to, and then we headed back home. The babysitters were alive and happy, the boys were alive and happy, and Steve and I were rejuvenated and very grateful for the nice day. Cindy and Carina found the camera while we were gone and here are some of the fun shots they took:
Poor Cindy!

On Wed. Steve decided to work since he got Thursday off for Veterans day. The morning started off pretty rocky, but Steve called and sang Happy Birthday to me at least six times, so that was fun. That night I took the boys to Chick Fil A for dinner so I didn't have to cook and then headed to YW's. My wonderful YW had planned a little surprise party for me with cake and ice cream, ballons and streamers, chips and dip, and so on. It was so nice and it really made my day. So, we partied for half the time and practiced for Young Women in Excellence for the other half. It really was so nice. Then when I got home I had a clean house that Steve and the younger boys had worked on and they even made a chocolate marble cake.
Since Steve had the next day off we went to IHOP in the morning for my annual birthday breakfast. I got the chocolate pancakes and enjoyed them very much. Afterwards I went over to the salon for my friend to do my hair, I got a cut, color and highlights and she decided she wanted to see if she could make it straight. What do you think? I still can't get over Steve's reaction. He really thought he was seeing a whole new woman and was very excited about it. The boys even said when it gets curly again I won't be pretty anymore. How Rude!
{Here is a little pregnancy shot for you}

Well, Steve had class Thursday night so we still didn't go out to dinner and have birthday cake, which brings us to Friday. We made plans to drive to the city Steve works in to have a cheap game of bowling and spend some time together as a family. We haven't bowled since we moved back to the states, and we had a wonderful time! The boys loved it. Steve won of course, but not by much!
{This is Steven's friend Nash helping Jacob. He was with us and spent the night that night. He is such a wonderful boy.}
{Pizza while we bowled}


Then we came home to open gifts. Steve gave me {a sewing machine} which is exactly what I asked for and I love it!! No more sewing boy scout patches on by hand. And I hope to be able to learn a lot more than that on it too. Now just to find a place to put it.

Italicized words were added after Sarah's comment. Thanks Sarah! :-)

This is Halloween!

We had some great Halloween celebrations last week. Here are some pictures of them:

Last Sunday night we decided to carve our pumpkins. I knew we were taking a risk that they would stay looking nice for one whole week, and they didn't quite make it. It is still warm here, so the pumpkins were rotting and caving by Thursday. Oh well, we still did the tradition, but the pumpkins were in the trash can by Halloween. :-)

On Wed. was the ward trunk or treat. We had a marvelous time like always and Steve made some delicious chili to share with the ward.

{Playing games}

{and eating chili}
Friday was the Brooklet Pumpkin Parade. I love this parade. It is a very small parade where the kids from Brooklet Elementary get to march down main street with their class and they dress up as the characters in whatever book they chose that year. Brandon and I very much enjoyed it.

{Jacob's book was "Harry the Dirty Dog"}

{Nathan's class did "Play ball Amelia Bedelia"}

{This was another 4th grade class, but I love this book and they did a good job. At the beginning of the line some kids hold the poster so you know what book they read. }{Then the students dress like the characters of the book and the class has decorated a pumpkin like someone from the book that they pull along in a wagon}

{Steven's classes book}
{He was dressed as one of the rowdy brothers in the book}

Then Saturday was the big Trick or Treat day. Our community is just christian enough to announce on the news and in the paper, that we will trick or treat on Saturday so that we wouldn't be breaking the Sabbath. We were thrilled. The weather was perfect, and the boys went out for just over an hour with Steve driving them around in the car. I got to stay home alone and pass out candy. It was wonderful. :)

{Steve did this make up for Steven. Pretty cool huh?}
{Nathan the Ninja}
{Jacob}{Brandon the cowboy on his horse}


Now I am ready to get rid of those spiderwebs out front and put up some Thanksgiving decor!

Camping in the blue ridge "mountains"

We went camping as a family last weekend and had such a wonderful time. The boys and Steve took Friday off and we headed up past Atlanta to spend the weekend in the "mountains". The bumps that we saw once we got there, were far from mountains, but I guess to Georgians it is nice just to see the slight change in elevation. We got there Friday night and set up the tent just as the sun was going down, so that was a fun experience. We had grilled hamburgers for dinner at about 9:00pm and then we all cozied up in our huge three room tent that we bought last year. It is very nice having the whole family in one tent and still having plenty of room. As most of you know, Steve likes to camp in luxury, so both of us were on our own double thickness air mattress, and I slept very comfortably. The nights got just cold enough that you were cuddled in your sleeping bag and the days had beautiful weather.

On Saturday morning we woke up and made us some eggs in a frame. Then we headed to an apple orchard. There were lots of fun things for the kids to do, and then we picked some delicious apples off the trees on our way out.

{We went out to collect firewood first thing in the morning. Our fingers were really cold}

{success}
{On the jumping pillow}
{Steve and Steven decided to have a turkey leg for lunch}{Next, on to the petting zoo}

{Looking for the right apples}
{These are our apple treats. An apple fritter and apple pocket pie. Delish! This was right before Jacob got stung by a bee.}
{He got stung right there. The bee didn't leave his stinger in though, so he recovered quickly. }{Lastly a wagon ride through the orchard before we headed back to camp}

On Sunday morning we woke up and made more eggs in a frame. (of course) Then we did scripture study and a song with the boys. And then we headed out fishing. Our campsite was right next to Carter's Lake. Steve decided he wanted to rent a boat to fish from, so we were able to drive around the lake and play for four hours. Not much fishing went on. There seemed to be one problem after another, but we all had a wonderful time.
{Thank goodness for little boys}

Monday morning we packed up and headed home. Steve had a 5:00 class he had to be to.

School's OUT!

K, I am not going to write this blog tonight. Maybe tomorrow. But I decided to title it tonight so you can see the Jacob's birthday one that I started five days ago and just finished. So enjoy that one for now. I will be back tomorrow. or the next day. or the next day. whatever.

Jacob turns 6 (but doesn't look a day over 5)

Little Jacobie just had his 6th birthday! He does not seem or look six years old to me, but sure enough he is. :-) Fran and Lyle were able to stay for his birthday too which was wonderful!

For his birthday I went to the school and had lunch with him in the cafeteria. Brandon stayed home with Nana and Papa, so it was awesome to be just me and him (well, and the rest of the lunch room).

After lunch I headed home to get the brownies that he passed out to his class.

Then I picked all the boys up about 20 minutes early from school and we headed to the movie theater. We saw "How to train your Dragon."



Then we meet up with Steve at "Ryan's" which is a southern food buffet restaurant here.



Cake and ice cream was next


and then the presents.

From Steve and I, Jacob got a new lightsaber that makes noise and lights up. From Nana and Papa he got some money, and a tatoo maker thing. And then he got all sorts of birthday money in the mail. Aunt Kristin and Uncle John, Grandma Great, and Grandma and Grandpa Allred. Thank you all for thinking of Jacob. I am going to take him on Saturday to spend all that money.

And then to finish the evening off we got a sweet phone call from the Skinner family. They called and asked Steve to put them on speaker phone and then with everyone gathered around in clear and beautiful voices they sang Happy Birthday to BRANDON!. Hahaha it was hilarious. Steve corrected Laura and she couldn't believe she got the wrong nephew. I told Jacob that they were just joking with him and wasn't that a good joke. He honestly wasn't paying much attention anyway, so it wasn't like he was offended. But it was very thoughtful of them to call. We love you Skinners.

Now for those 6 wonderful things about Jacobis:

1. Jacob has a love relationship with his Crocs that I have only heard of girls having with shoes. He asked me every morning, including in the winter what day it was to find out if he could wear crocs, cause he is not allowed to on PE days. It just made his day when he could wear them to school. Often times I also need to tell him to take his shoes off when he is getting in to bed. He is not allowed to wear them to bed!
2. Jacob has these adorable little things on his face called freckles. And he seems to just get more and more. When he was smaller Steve would ask him what is all over your face, and Jacob would respond, "polka dots" except he had a lisp when he said his "s" so it sounded adorable. Because of that, whenever Steve would come home from work, he would ask Jacob if he could have a "polka dot hug". That was a special kind of hug that only Jacob could give. So, Jacob would hug his Dad and Steve would say that he got one of his polka dots. Steve still asks Jacob to give him polka dot hugs and Jacob is always more than willing to share those polka dots.
3. Jacob has been a star student in kindergarten this year. Once again I am amazed that a kid who went to school not recognizing all the letters of the alphabet can come out of Kindergarten ten months later and can Read! He read "Green eggs and Ham" to me the other day and did 95% of it by himself. Amazing. And he is well behaved at school too which is a big relief for me.
4. He played his first year of sports this year and choose soccer. He did AWESOME! And I was really surprised. He had no idea how to play when he started, but by the end of the season was kicking the ball the right direction, stealing it from the other team and making goals. He did great.
5. Jacob likes to tell every detail of a situation. Especially if he thinks he was wronged. If someone bothers him or hurts him, he will come and tell me every little thing. His story will go on for fifteen minutes. Now if you know me, you know that I don't let it go on for very long before I ask him to be quiet and deal with the situation, but I still laugh sometimes at him going on and on and on.
6. I posted this long enough after his birthday that I can tell you, he lost two teeth since his birthday. Birthday was on Thursday, he lost one at school on Monday and one at school on Tuesday. I have never known anyone to loose two teeth that close together, but he did and everything seems to be fine. His teeth are tiny though! Oh and the tooth fairy took four days to come to him! She must be getting old and very forgetful. We have come up with some valid reasons for her tardiness though. I am sure she didn't expect him to be loosing teeth this close to his sixth birthday, so she wasn't checking in on him yet. :-)