A Birthday Recap

Who told Jake he could grow up? My littlest guy is getting way too big, way too fast.

We threw him our go-to family birthday party tonight. Pizza, cupcakes, cousins and gifts. Dirt, sticky drinks, sports, and thankfully, perfect weather.

My sister took a boat load of pictures (thank you Jeanette!) and I just couldn't narrow them down.

Jake reminded us (as he does a lot lately) to say a prayer for the food. My nephew kindly helped him out.

My baby boyfriend, Eli.

He's big enough to carry his own food. One of the perks of having a big kid two year old.

We played in the dirt.

We played baseball.

And of course, basketball.

He was a little nervous about the presents.

I love this kid. He is mischievous and sneaky. He back-pats when he hugs. He waves and yell "HI!!" to every single person he sees. He doesn't say many words, but he sure isn't quiet. He is obsessed with trucks, dogs, basketball and books. He'll only eat granola bars for breakfast. He still loves to be swaddled at night. He still uses a binki, the blue being his favorite. He is pigeon toed and also walks on his tippy-toes. He doesn't really walk, he runs. He brings Ben his blanket whenever he gets sad. He loves helping with yard work and cleaning. He skateboards on his belly. He is funny and smart and he makes my heart melt and I'm so lucky to be his mom. I love him like crazy.

Opposites

I was looking through some pictures and ran across a couple that made me laugh. If I didn't give birth to both of my boys myself, I would never guess they were brothers. They really are opposites in every way. Of course they look very different. Ben looks like both John and me, I think (my long face, John's eyes). Jake looks exactly like my mom, only a ginger.

While Ben is passionate about sports (and the outfits that go along with them), Jake is the super coordinated one. Ben enjoys playing alone, with "guys" or watching a movie; Jake is more of a mover and a shaker and likes to be where the action's at. Ben is slightly shy to new people; Jake will charm hugs out of people in the grocery store (a lady actually kissed his face once... creepy!). The only thing they share is a house and their love of sugar.



And these two together just make me laugh. Jake and Luke, who are the same age (Jake is a month older). I know it's bad to say, but I love watching them battle it out over toys. Luke has size and brute strength, Jake has nothing but sheer determination. They are hilarious together.



And because I can't even write the word "opposite" without singing this song, here's a little McSkat Kat and Paula Abdul for you...

Mother's Day Shoot

My mother-in-law is the best. We decided to surprise her this year with pictures of all her grand-boys. The crazy lady has five grandsons and no granddaughters! (Amber, it's up to you to fix that. No pressure.) I think she loved the surprise!

My very talented sister, Jeanette, of course did our pictures. Here are just a few of my kids. (I wasn't too sure about posting too many of the other kids. That could get a little creepy.)

But first the group shot that we had framed:



A few of my handsome little guys:









This one kills me. We call it the engagement picture.


Jake was being a monster pill that day and cried almost the entire time. He was not happy about having to sit still.



Ben, on the other hand, wanted to do the entire shoot in his fireman outfit. I said no, he said yes. After much crying and complaining, we comprised on him bringing it and changing after pictures were taken of him in regular clothes first. Here he is feeling like a million dollars in his costume.


The very best part is, the pictures are doubling as a Father's Day gift too. Get ready for some new desk photos, John!

Tree Huggers

Last summer, John's side of the family started our first annual Mann-Brown Retreat. It was loads of fun. Really, it was. We rented a mansion for a weekend and did nothing but play games and eat food and had ourselves a heck of a good. We also decided it was a perfect opportunity to take some family photos. So we all brought along a white shirt and spent a day tie dying some classy shirts for our classy family photos.



After the weekend was over, the shirts were forgotten, lost in the bottom of pajama drawers. Until a few weeks ago, when I saw Jake strutting out of his room, jammied up in his tie dye.



Then Ben, not wanting to be left out, decided to throw his shirt on top of his pajamas.



I love it! They just look too funny!

Parenting Skills

Please let winter end soon. I'm running out of ideas to keep the kids entertained.

Ben has recently, out of boredom, come up with a fun new game. It's called Sled Boarding. It involves him sledding down our barely inclined driveway into the street. It's safe; it's really, really safe. And I let him do it. Why? Because how else am I suppose to entertain the kid?!







He will Sled Board for hours. Hours, people. While I sit inside my warm house, watching him from the couch, Jake watching at door. Sometimes I wonder what the neighbors think of a four year old outside sledding down the driveway by himself. I've got parenting skills, people. I really do.

The other way we've been keeping entertained: indoor swimming.



It's easy, fun, time-consuming and mops my floor and washes my walls all at the same time. Plus, it keeps my kid off the street. Literally.

Annual Sledding Party!

I'm playing catch up with the blog. It might get messy around here...

What would Ben's birthday be without our traditional family sledding party. The day we went it was hovering around 12 degrees. It was frigid. I'm getting cold just looking through the pictures.

Here's what Ben (who is notorious for coming up with some kick-A outfits) decided to wear sledding. He insisted on wearing goggles and a helmet. The chosen goggles were lense-less goggles that came with a tool set and the helmet is a cheap race car helmet. He wouldn't leave the house without either of them.



I think my sister peed her pants a little bit when she saw him. I'm so used to seeing his funny outfits, I didn't know what she was laughing so hard over.

Since we'd already had a friend's party for Ben, we decided to just do a quick donut cake in the back of car.



Did I mention how freaking freezing it was that day? SO COLD! My ears were about to fall off.

And here is the traditional family sledding photo.



Oh! And I can't forget to mention, this was the first year Ben didn't cry the entire time. Although the tears did eventually come when he got snow to the face (can't believe those goggles didn't work!) on what ended up being the last ride down the hill. Jake went down a time or two but wasn't super impressed with the whole thing.

The Knight Party

We celebrated Ben's big number FOUR today with a party fit for a brave knight.

The call for other brave knights and fair ladies.

We decorated shields to protect us while we fought the dragon.

The finished masterpieces. Don't they look powerful?

The swords used to slay the dragon...

...and to entertain while the cake was being cut.

The ferocious shield cake. (My very first home-decorated cake. Don't laugh at how silly it is.)

The Battle of the Blow Dryer. The glitter glue on the shields wasn't drying, so we brought out the blow dryer and the kids "warmed up" for their fight with the dragon.

Quick break for present time.

Slaying the dragon. (This is not Ben, but it is the best picture of the pinata that we got.)

All in all, a very successful 4th birthday party!

Santa Claus Was In Town

Trolley Square has the best Santa. It's free, the backdrop is beautiful, you take your own pictures, and NO ONE was there! He only visits for two days out of the season (I think), so you have to time it right, but it was totally worth it.

This was our second time visiting Santa this year and it didn't go any differently than the first time we saw him. Ben wasn't very impressed, but we did get a small smile out of him:





Then I sat Jake down on Santa's other knee. I guess Santa can be scary. If you're a baby...



I thought Santa was going to start throwing coal at me, I was laughing so hard at Jake. Seriously, doesn't he look pissed off? I was laughing pretty hard.



Thanks for putting up with us, Santa. You can bet we'll be back next year!

The Catch Up Collage Post

I haven't done any serious blogging in like, a week or more, so to cut back on the length of this post, I'm doing it all in picture collages. Starting with...

Yo Gabba, Gabba. I took Ben and his cousin Zeke to Yo Gabba, Gabba back in October and we had so much fun! The boys favorite part: the glow sticks. Go figure, right? They light-sabered almost the whole show while I thoroughly enjoyed myself watching my fuzzy friends on stage.




The other day while we were getting the kids ready for bed, I had to run downstairs for something. I came back up in time to see that Jake had pushed a chair over to the sink, grabbed a washcloth and was doing some serious cleaning. So freaking cute. I was fussing over it so much Ben got a little jealous and had to jump in a picture.




Speaking of Jake, he got his very first haircut. I'm such a nerd, I always get a little sentimental during the first haircuts. They turn my babies into big kids. He was a perfect boy and not a single tear was shed. And now my baby looks all grown up.




Not related to the kids... A few weeks ago I had a little weekend trip with the "law wives." We became friends while our husbands went to law school together, and years later, we are still going strong. We headed to St. George and had a great time shopping, eating, getting pedicures and talk, talk, talking late into the night (I still laugh out loud when I think of the "special sex" conversation). I love these girls! Thanks for the fun weekend.



Well, that put a dent into my catching up. I can now check blogging off the list for another few weeks.