Birthday Wishes

Birthday's just aren't the same as when you are a kid. It can just be another day.
My sweet friend, Kristy, invited me to Thanksgiving point with her and her kids to the farm. It was nice to get out and do something on my birthday. We were there the whole morning (there was more to do there, than I remembered from the last time I was there). We got to see all the animals, ride the horses, go on a wagon ride, eat popcsicles (it was a very hot day) and just chat while the kids played. It was actually a lot of fun.
When I got home, the kids had all fallen asleep on the car ride home, so I put them to bed and got to relax for a little bit before going to pick up Makena from school.
Makena came home, we got her homework done and Makena and Kali were off to play with friends.
Now on my birthday, I refuse to cook dinner. So I was wondering if Jarel was going to tell me we were going out to eat. I hadn't heard from Jarel all day and when he got home about 5:45, he came in the house and handed me a gift and then said he was going to shower downstairs today. Now, Jarel doesn't have a great track record with gift giving...I opened the gift and inside was 3 packages of some of my favorite candy. I was thinking, "if this is all he is giving me, I will be so mad at him." Not that I wasn't appreciative of the gift, just the fact that in years past he has not given me anything, has forgotten about my birthday (and remembered on his way home from work, so he stops to get me flowers or something like that), and so I was just hoping he would actually remember and put a little bit of effort into it. After he went downstairs to shower, he came up and asked what we were having for dinner. I told him I was going to Red Robin and he could join me if he wanted. The whole time at dinner, I was still upset that all he would get me was candy for my birthday. I wanted a camera so bad, but knew we couldn't afford one, but he could have at least given me a card with money in it to save for my camera, right?
Dinner was an event, Hailey wasn't feeling good, Kali and Tyler were all over the place and didn't want to sit and eat and I wasn't in the best moods.
When we got home, the kids wanted to play outside with friends and so they stayed outside and Jarel, Hailey, Kali and I came inside and then we were going to go out. Jarel was holding Hailey and set her down, and she crawled by the front door. I heard her playing with something and then Kali said, "Mom, why does Hailey have a balloon and there is a present?" I went around and sure enough there were balloons all over and a present. I opened it up and there was my camera that I had wanted! (Jarel's parents went in on it, too) I had hopes he would get it for me, but by this time (being 8:00) I was loosing hope. I got teary eyed, because he put some thought into it. I don't need to have elaborate things or even "things" for my birthday, but just some thought just one day of the year. He just needed to give it to me before dinner, so I could have enjoyed dinner a little more! Jarel told me he had different plans on how he was going to give it to me, but when he was late getting home, it just happened to go like this. I was grateful and it was nice ending to my birthday. Love you! I had to charge the battery so I couldn't use the camera tonight, but tomorrow my kids might be sick of their picture being taken!

Saying "I want to ride a pony"

Kali was excited to get the biggest horse

By the time the kids rode the horses, Tyler was tired, hot and hungry and wasn't too excited to be on a horse.

Kids in jail!

Playing in a small houseHappy girl

Looking at the pigs

Kali feeding a goat

Nathan, Kali and Brett

Tyler on a "big cow"

Tyler and Kali

Train & Museum

Tonight we took the kids downtown to the Church's Children's Museum. We decided to try out trax (since the line by our house just opened up). It was a lot of fun riding trax downtown, the kids thought it was neat that they didn't have to be buckled. We had to get off just once to catch another train to downtown, but it wasn't a bad wait at all and it took roughly an hour to get there.
We spent some time at the Museum for FHE. They have a new children's section all about the Book of Mormon. There were lots of activities for the kids to do and lots of things they could play with. They learned about Nephi's boat, the golden plates, Mexican dancing and services to others. We had a good time.

On Trax

Mexican dancing...Tyler didn't want to dress in the boy attire, he wanted a skirt as well

Dancing girls

In back of the truck

Playing with a bicycle wheel that has balls inside to spin

Picking vegetables from the garden

Seeing herself in the mirror

Playing with the eggs Tyler collected from the chickens

Swimming with the fish!

Tyler fishing off of Nephi's boat. Hailey throwing the fish onto dry land!

Collecting eggs

They could get the dolls dressed and place them anywhere they wanted

Playing with the paper dolls

Playing with the dolls

They had blocks you could build with

Trying to lift the "Golden Plates." I lifted them...and they were heavier than I had thought they would be.

Look Mom...

...NO TRAINING WHEELS!!!!!!!
Makena has been riding a bike without training wheels just over a week now. She is getting better each day.
The day she started riding (Friday, August 12th), Jarel was working late and I was trying to help Makena ride her bike while holding Hailey, helping Kali with her bike and trying to not let Tyler run over Buzz with his four wheeler. Makena was doing pretty well and I would run along side her and let my hand go and she would go a couple of squares on the sidewalk and then eventually she could ride by herself the distance of our house and the neighbor's house! I then had to stop helping because of other "mom duties" that needed attention. So Makena kept at it. She would try with all her might to get that bike moving by herself. And before I knew it...she was off riding her bike! It was awesome to see the progress she made and the learning she did in such a short time. She was super excited and was calling everyone to tell them she could now ride a bike without training wheels. She couldn't wait until Jarel got home from work to show him (and she had to wait a long time because he didn't get home until almost 9:00 that night). But when he got home, Makena was ready down the street to beat him home on her bike. Way to go, Makena!!!
I love watching my kids learn something new and to see the twinkle in their eye and the smile on their face when they accomplish something they work so hard at.
Makena (and not just because you can ride your bike), but you make me proud to be your Mom every day! You brighten my day!

Hailey

Some pictures of Hailey.
She crawled up on Tyler's bike and 4-wheeler and thought she was "hot stuff!"

Special Date

For the past 6 weeks, Jarel and I have decided to do "special dates" with our kids. Every week, either Jarel or I take one of the kids on a "date" and they get to pick the activity we do! It is a night all about them. Jarel and I also get to take a turn and go on a date (something we hardly do, but need too). So tonight Makena and I went to catch water skeeters. Makena was super excited to have picked this activity. We took our bucket and nets and spent an hour catching these little creatures. We ended up catching about 23 (they moved fast in our bucket to count) and got an hour to chat about anything she wanted. It has been a good experience for us and we hope to continue doing these "special dates" for a long time!

Family Reunion

Last night we went to the Forster Family Reunion (my Mom's side) at my Aunt Erma's house. She has a farm at her house and the kids love going to see all of her animals. But there favorite part is getting to ride the horses. Bart (black) and King (white) are their horses. When I told the girls that we would be going to Aunt Erma's house, they squealed with excitement and asked if I thought Lindsey and Ashley would let them ride their horses. I told them they probably would and they were more than generous to take my kids on 2-3 rides each (along with the other cousins there). I even got my big butt up on Bart and took Hailey for a little ride. It was fun seeing some of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles that I don't get to see all that often.

Ryan on Bart

Gretchen and Makena waiting for their turn

Makena on King

Gretchen on Bart

Kali on King

Me, Hailey and Kali on Bart

Jarel and Tyler on King

Kali even snuck up to the front of the line to ride on King again. She was so happy she got 3 turns on the horses!

Tyler on Bart

Feeding the Ducks

Tonight we took the kids up to Daybreak lake to feed the ducks. It was a nice relaxing evening spent with eachother. The sun was behind the clouds for the most part of our adventure, so it made it a cooler evening, which was nice. On our walk up to the lake, there is water running by the path and inside the water were water skeeters. The kids thought these little creatures were fun to watch. So after feeding the ducks, and on our way back to the car...the kids goal was to get Dad to catch one for them to see it up closer. These little skeeters are hard to catch with your hands. They are very fast. We were stopping every few feet, so that Jarel could try and catch one. We had no luck and the kids were bummed. As we got closer to the car, Jarel gave it one more try and caught one. The kids were all excited and looking in his hand at the skeeter. When it was Tyler's turn, Jarel opened his hand and the skeeter started crawling and it jumped out onto the ground. It was jumping all over the place and Jarel couldn't catch it to get it back into the water. It was quite funny to watch. The little skeeter finally jumped all the way over to the grass, I hurried and picked it up and flung it into the water again...and off it swam. The kids have decided that next time we go, we are going to bring nets so that they can catch them. Makena's idea is to bring a bucket so that we can put the skeeters in the bucket (water in there as well) and bring them home. I told her it was a good idea, but a better idea would be to pour them back into the stream once we were done looking at them. She agreed. So our next adventure up to Daybreak lake will include more catching of water skeeters! (and next time I will get pictures of it)

Baby ducks

Hailey watching the ducks

Three cute kids

Watching the ducks and fish

Kali

Bottoms Up!

Climbing on rocks

Hailey eating the duck bread

Makena

Hailey

Kali

Throwing bread to the ducks

Snacking again on the bread

Tyler