Happy Birthday Zoe

This year Zoe really wanted to have Birthday Party with her friends. She had attended a few of her friends' princess parties and wanted to have on of her own. Except she also wanted to invite some boys to attend. Not knowing how to include boys in a really girly party, we tried to come up with another fun alternative. It just so happened we had checked out a book from the library that had a few fun stories with recipes included. Our favorite stories out of the book were "If you give a Pig a Pancake" and "If you give a Moose a Muffin." Zoe commented that it would be fun to make sock puppets sometime like they do in "If you Give a Moose a Muffin," giving me a good idea for her party. Between the two of us, Dan and I put together the perfect boy/girl party: we would read the story, make Moose Mud Muffins (instead of cake), then make sock puppets and put on a puppet show. Just like they do in the book. It just so happened that her Birthday fell on a Monday this year, so we decided to invite two families over and celebrate during FHE.

Dan put together these cute invitations.

The invites and packages ready to be delivered.

Our cute delivery people in their handy Moose Antlers. I thought it would be fun to have antlers instead of party hats. Dan figured out how to make the idea a reality and made them for all the guests.

The Moose Mud Muffin ingredients.

The baking crew: Noah, Erik, Kysha, and Zoe. Unfortunately the Steffens were unable to join us for the festivities.

The muffins all ready to be put in the oven. The kids got to show their uniqueness and creativity by adding their own candy to the top.

Hot out of the oven. They tasted and had the texture of brownies. We ended up pairing them with Moose Track Ice Cream.

Opening the gifts. She thought it was torture that I made her wait until the party to open her gifts. Since they were sitting on top of the TV all day.

I took this one to torture the boys with one day. I think Noah and Erik had just as much fun, if not more fun, than the girls did playing with Zoe's new My Little Pony Sweet's Shop.

Dan was in charge of making the sock puppets. He did such a great job supervising all of the kids.

Noah figuring out how to design his puppet.

Erik trying to figure out where to put the antennas on his alien puppet.

Zoe coloring away.

Jack slept through most of the party. Here he is in his Moose outfit. The kids insisted he wear this outfit for the party, since it has a moose wearing tennis shoes.

Kambrie telling Jack to be more quiet.

Kysha's puppet. Love the spider like hair.
Zoe's puppet.
Gretta, the puppet Dan made for Kambrie.
Dan showing them how it is done.
Kambrie enjoying her puppet.

The kids putting on a puppet show. Most of their shows involved their puppets singing Primary Songs like: "Follow the Prophet," and "I Am A Child of God."

The gang in their Moose Antlers.

The Birthday Girl. I can't believe my little girl is already 4 years old.

Thank you to the Christensen family for joining us in our crazy celebration. I know we all had fun, hope you did too.

All Aboard!

Dan was planning to take Noah and his best friend Erik to another Lowe's building workshop when suddenly came up with a better idea. He decided it would be more fun to spend the day together then just a few hours, so he took the boys to the Train Museum in Carson City. We have been wanting to take Noah there, pretty much since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago, but our schedule never seemed to match that of the museums. It also just happens that Noah's friend is also a big train fan. So off they went.

Noah and Erik enjoying the model Rail Road.

Exploring the trains interior.

Noah and the big engine.

Noah and Erik out on the museum grounds.
Exploring the railway.
On the caboose.
My big boy enjoying his day.
The boys.
More trains.
Noah and Erik operating the Handcar.
Getting a little help and a special tour.
Another interior.
More exploring.
The old firehouse in Dayton, NV.
The Spider Car at one of the shops Daddy visits regularly.

The boys also enjoyed lunch and Dairy Queen before heading back to Fernley.

Zoe ended up spending the day at Kysha's while Marissa Waffler babysat them and Kambrie. Jalyssa and I, with Jackson in tow, headed out to spend a day shopping in Sparks. We then had a yummy lunch at the Genghis Grill (a Mongolian BBQ).

It turned out to be another busy, but fun weekend.

Date Night

It has been a real long time since Dan and I have had a date night. Life is a little crazy when you have 3 small children. So, I thought it was time that I/we made more of an effort to spend some one on one time together. Plus, I was supposed to be teaching a class at Relief Society in a few weeks on "Dating your Husband" and realized I had no recent experience in this matter.

It just so happened that my friend Jalyssa had offered to watch our kids. She was already going to have a house full, as part of a babysitting swap agreement and figured it wouldn't hurt to have two more. Dan and I were first against it since her husband is currently deployed and didn't think it was fair to stick her with two more kids. Especially since we aren't in on the rotation. However, she kept insisting and wouldn't take no for an answer. So, I finally decided it would be fun to surprise my husband with a nice quiet evening.

I arranged for the kids to spend the evening at Jalyssa's house and I put together a fancy dinner for two. Steak with mushrooms and onions, asparagus, baked potatoes, bread and butter, green salad, and Creme Brulee Cheesecake for dessert. Noah and Zoe had a lot of fun helping me get things set up. I decided it would be fun to decorate our old table and chairs. I pulled out a table cloth I was given at my bridal shower and got the candles out of the closet. I even found and played the CDs form our wedding reception.

I had almost everything in place by the time he got home. The kids were gone, the house was clean, the table was set, music was playing in the background, and dinner was almost complete. He arrived just in time to cook the steaks. I think he was surprised to find a quiet house when he arrived; it took him a few minutes to put all the pieces together.

We enjoyed a nice meal without any interruptions. We watched a few episodes of Criminal Minds that we had recorded on our DVR. It was then time to pick up the kids. We came home, quickly put them to bed, and continued to get caught up on this season of Criminal Minds.

It was fun being able to finish a conversation and eat a meal while it was still hot. I can't wait to do it again. Thank you to all who made it possible.

Our fancy table.

Our yummy food.
Our one and only dinner guest.

Park Day

We are experiencing unusually warm weather this year. Here it is January and it is warm enough to play outside with sweatshirts instead of heavy jackets. So, we spent Noah's day off of school (Martin Luther King Day) at the park with a few of our friends.

Noah guarding Jack.

Zoe loving the swings.

Jack chilling in the stroller.

Noah and most of his primary class. (Olivia, Felicity, and Elina. Only missing Erik and Shelby)

Daddy was out of town, attending training and working in Vegas, so the plan was to clean up the house before we went to the park. We decided to eat a snack before we went and then stop by McDonald's to eat an early dinner. However, when we arrived at McDonald's, the lobby was closed, but the drive-thru was open. When we went to the drive-thru we were told that their fryer wasn't working. At this point I wondered why they were even open. So, I quickly had to come up with a Plan B. Slurpees at 7-eleven.

Naptime

A few moments of peace.

I just want to climb in with them.

Megamind

(From left to right: Erik, Jenna, Madison, Wyatt, Zoe, Noah, Dayton, Emma, Kysha; Jack in front)

It pays to have connections. We are fortunate to be friends with a couple of military families. On this particular outing we got to go onto the Navy Base in Fallon, NV. It just so happened to be Wyatt and Dayton's 5th birthday and they rented out the movie theater on base. So, we got the run of the theater. It was so nice not having to worry about keeping the kids in their seats, or making sure they were not disrupting others around them. Plus who could pass up fresh movie theater popcorn and fountain soda? Not me, that's for sure. We watched Megamind, staring the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Brad Pitt to name a few. I thought it was pretty funny. However, like most kids movies these days, I'm sure a lot of the jokes went over the kids' head. But, at least us moms got something out of it.

Thank you Brya , for the fun party. Next time I say we get babysitters and watch a chick flick.

Thank you Jalyssa, for the ride and for braving Burger King and the Dollar Tree with us.