Alaina's 11th B-day

Today was full of Surprises for Alaina. As soon as she headed out the door to school Dan, Hudson and I got to work on her birthday surprises. She had no idea what was in store for her.

Surprise #1: Hudson and I started on her birthday cake. We used food coloring in white cake mix to make a rainbow surprise cake. We frosted the outside of the cake white and plain so it would be a big surprise when she cut into it.

Alaina has been wanting a chair, like the one below, since Christmas so that's what we got her. After I purchased it though I started thinking about where she would have room to put it. That lead to surprise #2. While Hudson and I were working on her cake, Dan went into the girls room and stacked their beds up into bunk beds so we could do a little surprise bedroom makeover.

Here's a few pics of how it turned out.

Surprise #3: We picked all of the kids up (except for Alaina) from school today instead of having them ride home on the bus. When we got home we set up a surprise scavenger hunt for Alaina. With all of the pieces to the hunt put in place....the family waited in her room for her to get home.

She got off the bus and came to the front door to find her first clue to the Hunt which lead her to her 4th surprise. A Letter From Grandpa and Grandma Rose with a ticket to the Lion King in Portland coming up in June. She was stoked and couldn't wait to see where else this journey would take her.

After visiting her play house, the trampoline, her favorite climbing tree in the side yard and another dozen clue locations, she ended up back at the front door to see her final clue leading her into her room.

SURPRISE!! We all yelled as she entered her new and improved "Crib". Chair and all. Room make over, new rug, spic and span clean, new chair, and a loving family excited to show it off.

The rest of the afternoon was spent opening gifts, eating cake, singing happy birthday, giving her birthday spankings, and all the rest of the stuff that goes along with turning 11 years old.

Last but not least.....she has been wishing for a bike since last year. The one she has is way to small and falling apart. Long overdue for an upgrade. Her birthday wish came true with surprise #5.

Now she can keep up with Little Brother Ky on his new wheels.

Happy Birthday Alaina!

Quesadillas

Dan took Kase and Hudson to Taco Bell for lunch today. When going through the drive through he asked the boys, what they wanted for lunch. Kase began describing the kind of "cheese only burrito" that he wanted. He was really talking about a cheese roll up, but Dan didn't know that, so he assumed Kase wanted a cheese quesadilla. Jax wasn't answering so he just ordered them both a quesadilla.

Once the food was purchased Dan started passing out their lunch. He said, "Here you go Kase, here's your quesadilla, and Hudson... a quesadilla for you." Hudson wasn't happy Dan got him a quesadilla for lunch, he wouldn't take it and just kept saying, I don't want a quesadilla."

After insisting that he definitely didn't want the same thing Kase was eating, he said with authority that all he wanted was for Kase to eat his own "KASE-adilla", he would eat his own "HUDSON-adilla", and dad could eat his own "DAD-adilla".

Too Funny!

So to clear this up for everyone, and so you don't have to go through the same confusion when ordering at Taco Bell I have included a picture of what a Hudson-adilla looks like.

Not to be confused with a Kase-adilla:)

Kase's first elementary school performance

We just went to Kase's 1st performance, as an elementary schooler. It was about the Little Red Hen and all of her baby chicks. It was short and sweet, and super cute. Also quite a coincidence that just today a few of their very own baby chicks had hatched in their classroom. All of the kids were really excited to be back at the school during night time hours to check on them.

Kase had a little speaking part in the performance. His lines were, "And sure enough... the little red hen had to make the bread herself." He nailed them of course! :)

Kase passing time

Any guess what our kindergartner enjoys doing as he waits for his older siblings to get home from school?? Can anyone say iphoto booth on my laptop :)

I set up my laptop for him to play on Nick Jr. or Webkinz and then after getting my computer back realize he has been sitting there taking crazy pictures of himself for the last 30 minutes.

This was one of my favorites from today's batch.

Ky's 10th Birthday!

It's my Birthday, it's my Birthday!!!

For Ky's 10th birthday he invited 7 of his favorite friends over to celebrate. They road the bus home after school with him. As they walked through the front door the birthday party was set up and ready to go. (Sign in the yard, banners, cake, and balloons.) After doing the "Happy Birthday" song and getting them all sugared up we did a quick round of gifts before racing off to the movie theater to catch a 4:15pm showing of "How To Train Your Dragon."

Considering there were eight 10 year old boys with me, there wasn't too much chaos, it was actually a fun movie and we had a really fun time!

(Tyler, Drew, Kyle, Alan, Alex, KY, Bryce, and Chance)

Happy birthday bud!

Easter Eggs

On your marks...Get set...GO!

DONE!

Not so sure we can eat 5 dozen eggs as fast as the kids just painted them :)

"Steve Urkel Glasses"

Kayleb left one of his Value Village "finds" at our house last night.

Today Hudson found them and rocked some new looks like it was 1989.

Go Urkel...Go Urkel...

Haliey's Baptism

Our 3rd child was Baptized today. Holy smokes, how time fly's by. She is so big and tall and beautiful. Especially when dressed in a pretty white dress.

Hailey had her Dad Baptize and Confirm her today. She has been preparing for this day for a long, long time now and is excited to join the ranks of her 2 older siblings.

This is a special day for us too. We are so proud of her decision to take this step and know that heavenly Father is well pleased.

We love you sis. Congratulations on your special day, and this special event.

EARINGS!!!!

Ear infections from a week ago are all cleared up and it's time!

Getting two new holes punched in her ears was easier than she thought it would be.

It's official...Hailey is now a girlie girl :)

Congrats!

Hailey's 8th Birthday!

Today was a "no school" Friday so it was the perfect day to celebrate Hailey's 8th Birthday.

She started her day with an early morning "happy birthday song" and surprise candle stuck in her french toast.

Then it was time to leave for a date with mom for the morning. This date had been planned for more than a month and she was super excited. The date was shopping for a new outfit and then... getting her ears pierced (something the girls in our family can choose to do when they turn 8). Part of the fun of this is shopping for and getting to pick out their new earrings. Sad story though... Hailey has had a really bad ear infection all week. She's been on antibiotics for a few days now and is starting to feel better but her ear is still really swollen and very painful when touched. So we were only able to do half of our date today. We bought a few new outfits and picked out earrings and an earring holder but we'll have to come back next week to actually get them pierced.

At noon Hailey and I met Dan, the kids and a few of her friends at Chuck E Cheese for a little lunch birthday party.

Her big surprise this year, from the family, was a new bike, which we wheeled in behind her without her even noticing.

It was funny to see her face when she finally turned around and noticed the bike.

All the kids had a great time and lots of fun with Chuck E today!

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Don't Hold Your Breath!!!

So right before lunch today I got a phone call from the school nurse saying that Hailey had fainted and fallen and cracked her head, and asked if I could come and pick her up.

Seriously?? What in the world??

When I sent her to school she was completely fine, not sick or anything. So I asked tons of questions and was imagining that the rest of my day would be spent in the ER just checking things out to make sure she was okay. I mean, why would a perfectly healthy, energetic kid just fall to the floor, completely unconscious? It really scared me.

When I got to school no one really had answers for me. They said she was fine all morning, didn't seem tired or sick. Her teacher just said that the kids were lined up for lunch and as the line moved forward down the hall Hailey completely veered off in a totally different direction then fell over like a tree to the floor. Another mom in the hall ran over to her and she was completely unconscious. When she came to she couldn't remember what had happened.

It was so random.

I left Hailey with the nurse to go down to her classroom and gather her things so I could take her home. As I was leaving the classroom one of Hailey's friends ran up to me saying,"I know why Hailey fainted." She went on the tell me that while Hailey was waiting in line to go down to the cafeteria they were having a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest and to see who could get their face the reddest. Yikes! Nice contest, huh?

Does that mean Hailey wins?

Hailey and this little girl ended up saying that a lot of the kids are doing this at recess, which lead to a huge 2nd grade class discussion entitled, "Don't Hold Your Breath!"

Pinewood Derby 2010

Go Ky! Go!

Muscle Man!!!

Here's a picture I'll definitely be saving to show all of Hudson's high school girlfriends.

Ryan and Ashley's newest addition

Congrats to Ryan and Ashley. They just had their baby this morning at 1:22am. It's a girl and they named her Capri Nicole Ostler. She was born 8 weeks early weighing in at only 4lbs 15.9oz. Tiny to most, but right on par when compared with their other babies. She will have to be in the NICU for a few weeks but they said she is looking and doing great!

I threw Ashley a little baby shower just a few weeks ago. It seemed really early to be having it because she still had 12 weeks to go.... but we did it then just in case Capri came early, and sure enough, she did :)

Here are a few pics from the shower.