Chris Birthday and Spring Break

I am a little behind, everything seems like it is moving so fast. We had Chris' 40th birthday party. We decided since he didn't have the best year, we wouldn't do all black especially since we have been joking about it so we surprised him and did everything as bright as we could. We did give him a 40th birthday pin and a black twisty straw with an old man sliding down it. We also gave him a special birthday cup, a giant teenage mutant ninja turtle cup. He was more into GI Joe and transformers but the cup was bright green and it went better with the decorations. I think he was surprised and had a good time. He is so good with the kids and acted like he loved their gifts even the homemade one from Brandon. (Bran tries hard but crafts just aren't his thing).

 Jessie gave him a stepping stone for his garden and a candle and a homemade card, her card she made had a bear and an outhouse on it to go with his outdoor likes

 We gave him this plaque that read "we do not stop having fun because we age, we age because we stop having fun"

 An outhouse toilet brush holder to complete his outhouse bathroom theme

 Decoration from the party, Mom made him a board with pics from his life

More of the decorations, the balloons were supposed to be neon colors

 
Mom said to make his cake colorful so I did, the inside was orange

Brandon's present he made, a vase with flowers, he also made him a card and bought him a clip on flashlight

 

 

The kids were also on spring break this week. On Tuesday we went to the movies to see Frozen which Jessie has been wanting to see forever. Wednesday we took the kids and dogs to the park and had lunch out there. Thursday we bought Jessie new sandals and watched movies at home. and Friday we went to the free day at the airport museum. It wasn't the most exciting week but I think they had fun and it was a break from school. With school only two months more, it is going fast, too fast. I am not ready for Brandon to be in middle school.





Jessie's birthday

We took Jessie out to Country Buffet for her birthday dinner on Thursday because we had coupons and Brandon could eat for 99 cents. On Friday, her actual birthday, she didn't have school so we had girls day and went to the mall to look at the girly stuff. She bought herself a little giraffe keychain, and Mom and I bought her a penguin and dolphin statue. The boys met us for lunch at Subway and then they went to Home Depot. We came home and watched a princess movie and gave Jessie a spa day. On Saturday we had her family birthday party with everyone. She wanted fairies, Antarctica theme, dolphins and mermaids and penguins. She also made herself several birthday signs to hang up. Scott's sisters came over on Sunday to give their gifts. She can really make a birthday last. She had a lot of fun but was worried because one of her friends said that turning eight brought a lot more responsibility and she wasn't going to like it. I think she will live though.

 Jessie wanted me to paint her a picture with whales

 She wanted a porcelain doll of sleeping beauty

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone again. This year was probably the most relaxed that we have had considering the stress everyone is under. No one fought, and everyone was in a good mood. We went to the riverwalk, to the mall to see Santa, and to elictricritters at the zoo. Christmas Eve was spent at Chris' winter wonderland house again. He really outdid himself this year. Check his facebook page if you haven't seen the pictures of his house. I am not sure whether the kids really believe in Santa or they are just pretending to but they aren't ready to give it up yet. In some ways it will be easier when they don't but then that just means they are growing up that much faster. Jessie loves everything about Christmas and I think she is afraid that will take some of the wonder out of it. Brandon worries about too much already and he isn't ready to give up that piece of childhood yet although I am pretty sure he is just going along with it. I made an advent calendar this year with little boxes with items inside that they can use every year and I asked them what each thing made them think of when they saw it and Brandon's answer was Jesus for everything even if it was a snowman. He told me that he didn't need presents this year just being with his family was enough. He still got presents though. It was a little rough without Rachel this year but Chris seemed to get through it fine. This was supposed to be our year and it wasn't but I am grateful that we still have a roof over our heads and were able to give the kids a good Christmas. I know there are many people that couldn't do that. Some day my hope is that we are well enough off that we can do more for the people who don't have much and give more. May next year be blessed and better for everyone.

                                   Jessie got a purple unicorn and a flutterbye fairy from Santa, Brandon has become a master at catching the fairy

                                 Brandon got a rescue helicopter and a antique firetruck

                          The annual Jesus birthday cake

Jessie

Brandon and Jessie were arguing over what the highest mountain in the world was. Brandon thought it was Mt Everest and Jessie thought it was Mt Kilimanjaro. I told Jessie she just likes saying the name and she said no they learned about it school, at least she thought they did. She said, "those darn teachers keep cramming information in my head and I can't keep it all in, I think some is starting to leak out."

Brandon's Scrooge play

Brandon was Marley in their fifth grade Scrooge play. He was very good. He didn't even get flustered when Scrooge forgot her lines. I was very proud of him. I didn't know he could get his voice so low. The only problem was that for almost his whole scene there was a podium in his way and no one could see him until he moved over. I wish the music teacher would think of these kinds of things during plays. Oh well. Here are some pics of him. They has him in black light to make it look more spooky.

 

 

Halloween

Brandon decided to be an Army man this year and Jessie an indian because I found an Indian costume to wear and she said that Scott and I had to dress up also. Scott went as a fireman, big stretch. We took the to the zoo for the boo zoo trick or treating and then the rides that night on Sat. They had their Halloween parties at school which was kind of disappointing because Brandon's class didn't even make a full circle so I didn't get good pictures of him. They still had fun though. That night we went to Chris' for dinner and then to GG's and trick or treating. They had a lot of fun.

Brandon's story

Brandon submitted this story for the Pueblo library's scary story contest. He was one of 12 winners. He gets a certificate, copy of all the stories, an award ceremony and a gift certificate to a book store. I am trying to convince him to give me the book certificate since I helped him type it but so far no luck.

Getting a scary package

 

 I got a package in the mail one night. It was a large package. My great grandfather sent it to me. It was covered in slime and had skull signs on it and a picture of a pirate. When I opened it, there was a cage in the box.  There was a furry ball in the cage. I opened the cage and out comes a big, black monster with raging eyes and razor sharp teeth. The teeth looked strong enough to bite through a semi-truck. It had giant feet kind of like Godzilla. He had giant claws on his furry hands. He had spikes down his back and on his long tail.  The monster started to chase me all around the neighborhood. I ran through the woods into the cemetery, jumping over open graves. The fall leaves were crunching under feet as I ran. The monster’s large feet made him jump higher than ever.  He chases me into a lake. I swam as fast as I could to get away. He chased me back to my house.  I ran into my room as fast as I could. The monster knocked the door down and I ran out the window. I got on my dirt bike and I went out into the forest. The monster started an animal roundup. He got all the animals to start chasing me. I was being surrounded by animals, so I jumped off my dirt bike and climbed a tree to safety. I jumped onto the monster’s back and I was able to control him by holding onto his big, long ears and kicking him with my feet like a horse. I was able to get him out of the forest and I thought if I drove him into the ocean that he would drown. But he didn’t. He swam all the way to an island. I thought I was safe so I went back home. Some time later, there was a knock on the door. When I opened it there was the monster. I screamed and he put his hands over his ears. I realized he was sensitive to loud noises, so I grabbed my trumpet and started playing loudly. He couldn’t take it anymore, and he crawled back into his cage where it was quieter. I ran over there really fast and shut it. I threw the cage back into the box. I took the box outside and burned it. The monster was finally gone.