Happy Birthday, Mae!

So...

Mae had her big 5 B-day party last week... and we had a BLAST.

The morning of her birthday we all woke up to a breakfast of her choosing--Breakfast Burritos with sausage (a surprise to us because she usually wants waffles).


Later that day we all went to a nearby lake, had a picnic, rented a paddleboat, and sat around and watched while Mae demonstrated her swimming skills (something that she has come a LONG way in--last year at this time she was scared to put her face under water and cried any
time we washed the shampoo out of her hair).



After visiting the lake we headed home to watch a movie together with popcorn, rootbeer, and candy (the movie was Nancy Drew and Ian only lasted as long as the candy and popcorn did, but Mae loved it).


Finally Mae got to blow the candles out on her made-to-order-My-Little-Pony-pink-with-purple-flowers birthday cake and open her presents after a dinner of fire-roasted hotdogs and fresh fruit salad among other things.



Mae spent the waning evening hours before bedtime riding her new bike up and down the hallway and playing with her new Barbie and Barbie car in her bed (she fell asleep with her new stuffed horse in her arms). All in all she had a great birthday! Thanks to all of your for your presents and phone calls--she LOVES getting her own personal calls, but caller beware... Mae will not let you off the phone if you do call her because she has plenty to talk about.

Funnest Ward Party Ever!!!

I had to work on the 4th of July, so our family kind of bagged the holiday. Brad put Noah and Ian down at their regular bed time (7:00), and let Mae stay up to watch the fireworks from our house. They didn't end up getting to see much due to the large trees in their way, but that was alright because Mae was more interested in the fireflies anyway.

Anyway....the next day totally made up for it. Our ward party was held at one of our ward member's home. This man is Oklahoma's version of Wendell. He rigged up a humongous slip and slide. This thing was amazing. (Apparently he has been doing this for years) They also had an awesome volleyball net, a blow up jumpy house thing for the kids, and their property backed up into a pond where we could swim. Our family spent almost the entire time on the slip and slide. We got there at 4:00 pm an left at 8:30 pm. Except for the short period of time that we were able to tear the kids away to feed them dinner, they were on that slip and slide. Brad and I had a great time too. There were plenty of people there willing to hold Noah so I was able to take a rare opportunity to really play with my kids...the kind of playing that is as fun for me as it is for them. I definitely need to do this more often. When we got home we all had grass and mud under our swimsuit...totally worth it.

I am already looking forward to them hosting another ward party!!

Twinkle Twinkle...Ian's Version Anyway

Smiles from Noah...

Just wanted to share (especially for those of you who don't always get to see how cute he really is)!

Wii may be in the market for...,

...well, a wii.



Brad has borrowed a wii and a wii fit from a friend at school. Mae absolutely loves it, and Ian thinks that he loves it (only because Brad cheats for him so that he can get a high score). This video of Mae on the wii fit hula hoop game just makes us laugh because she is so in to it, and so bad at it--but she doesn't care. She is just having a great time--incidentally, Mae did beat Brad's friend at bowling on her first try!

Who knows... I think Brad's plan of getting me addicted to it as a nice investment in our family time may just work. Maybe we will get one for Christmas this year!