More Pictures from the Kids' Birthday Party

Hey, I'm only a month and a half behind on posting these. I have been a big slacker with the blog lately. And not because the entire month has been like the week I last posted about either. We did survive that week just fine, and we've had plenty of happy moments to help me forget most all of the bad stuff of that week. Any way, here are the pictures...


The Birthday Boy (mental note: give him his other sunglasses to wear when he is also wearing a hoodie. As Dave pointed out, he looks a little too "Unabomber-ish" with this combo. Disturbing!)

The Birthday Girl with one of her new gifts

Wild Man
Dave's sister Cyn and I
Cyn, Cheryl (Dave's and Cyn's mom), and Cyn's husband Mike
My Grandpa L with my brother Justin, my dad, and Justin's son Trance (4 generations!)
Me and my siblings and their spouses (minus my brother Brian and his wife Natacha who live out of the country): Travis & my sister Alison, me and Dave, Melissa and my brother Justin
More of my grandparents! Grandma Bertha, my Grandpa L, and my Grandma B
my Grandpa and Grandma B
Brynn with her Grandma Ida (who was in town from Utah, and representing Brynn's Grandpa Ralph as well)
Trying out the new scooters and helmets that Dave and I got the kids for their birthdays
After the party, Brynn and Collin each had fun releasing a balloon.

Just in case you ever wondered...

...It is absolutely possible for a DumDum lollipop stick to break in half from toddler drool and then be swallowed. And, in case you wondered, although lollipop sticks may be no match for toddler drool, they apparently can withstand said toddler's stomach acids and digestive tract. Yeah, it's been a bad week. Let's review: Sunday--both kids had to be taken out of Sacrament meeting multiple times for bad behavior (during one such exit, the not-to-be-named child pulled free of my grip and fell to the floor in front of the entire back half of the congregation. Lovely.) Monday--a series of full on meltdowns and refusals to do weight checks and vision/hearing tests during both kids' well checks. The worst of the meltdowns occurred right by the row of women on the phones scheduling appointments, as well as our nurse and doctor. Yeah, let's just say all 3 of us left that appointment in tears. Tuesday--after multiple nights of poor sleep from Collin, he decides that a 15 minute nap on the way home from the mall is more than enough sleep for him. The rest of us spent that afternoon and evening disagreeing. Wednesday--the lollipop incident (where I got to be re-humiliated when I had to explain the problem on the phone to the same nurse who got to witness the Monday antics). That is also the day they decided that it is fun to climb on the back of the couch and jump onto the tile. I can only imagine what my blood pressure must be like this week. I agree that its important to "keep it real" on blogs and everything, but can I just get some flowery, blissful moments to post about next week?

Passing on my love of photography...

I really love the creativity and imagination of my little ones. Really, I do. But not so much when their imagination results in my alarm clock going off before the sun is even up. Both Brynn and Collin have decided that my little battery powered alarm clock makes a really fun camera. They take turns holding it up to their eyes and requesting that we pose for "pictures". Then they click away. Each time I catch them "taking pictures" I remind myself that I need to make sure they haven't changed the time or set the alarm. But I forget. So...I was in a tired daze very early the other morning (thank you, morning insomnia) and everyone else was asleep, when I hear an alarm going off. I rarely have to set my alarm (again, thanks AM insomnia), so I didn't recognize where it was coming from. As it started getting louder and faster, I ran around the house trying to hunt down the source of the noise before it would wake the kids. It was on the piano. Of course! I think its time to retire the camera, I mean the clock.