Ben's 7th Birthday - Ninja style!

Yesterday we celebrated Ben's 7th Birthday

So, for starters, let me explain how we do birthdays - 

Every year each kid gets a special birthday, and they get to be kings and queen for a day, basically.  They get to choose meals, activities, treat, and get presents.  But there are a few special years when they get to have a friend birthday party - at 7, 11, 15 and 17.  We picked years that aren't outwardly special or recognized in other ways.  (for instance, our kids are baptized and age 8, 10 is double digits, 12 is becoming a Young Woman or Young Man, 14 is attending boy/girl dances, 16 is going on group dates, etc...)

So, this year was extra-special for Ben - his first friend party ever!

Also, no surprise, but this kid picked a NINJA theme.  So fun!

These are the invitations I made on picmonkey, that Ben handed out to a few fun friends.

We started the party with the kids all getting a ninja headband (I tore some pieces of red fabric in lengths for all the guests, and Ben's golden ninja headband I made ahead of time).  We looked up their ninja names (see this pin here) and wrote them on the headbands.  Then they were all set for ninja training!  Ben played "Sensei Says" - he was the leader and taught them all his very awesomest ninja moves.  They also played "Follow the Sensei" and "Sensei May I."  (self explanatory, right?)

After that they used the ninja skills they'd all practice to attack a bunch of  red and golden balloon we strung up that had ninja masks taped to them.  Fun stuff!  They loved it, and those balloons didn't last too long!

Then they used their ninja skills in hand to pinata combat.  After many turns through the line, Ben finally cracked through that pinata, and  candy came pouring down.  They stuffed their candy into little cellophane bags with ninja eyes drawn on them.  Then they hung out for awhile comparing and sorting and trading their candy, of course!

They ran and played for awhile and then we did cupcake and presents.  I totally didn't take many pictures of the whole thing, but I hope you can see details here and there.  (plus I left out all the pictures with friends in it - you know, internet stuff. )

Here's the golden ninj-apple juice the kids drank.  Cute!

 Anyway, we had a great time.  Because it was all around hard to schedule, we didn't hand out the invitations until Thursday, and it was such a busy weekend around town that I wasn't sure we'd get anyone there.  BUT.  We have great friends.  Everyone came except one of Ben's friends. Phew for that!

Also, these are the cupcakes I made, more or less.

It was fun, and he sure loved it.  He kept exclaiming, "BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!"

tomorrow is a new day

I started to love Emerson when I was in highschool.  I had a notebook that I filled with my favorite thoughts, quotes, poems, and essays.  And Emerson (and Thoreau - gotta love those transcendental thinkers) filled up much of that notebook.  He put into words some of my life-long loves, and confirmed so strongly my faith in the divine origin of the individual - that we are all unique, that we all have beauty and power within us, that we all have talents and gift worth nurturing, that we are spiritual children of Heavenly Parents.

There is such sense and purpose in Emersons' words.  I feel that he and other similar thinkers paved the way, during that special Enlightenment period, for the world to accept and welcome the gospel of Jesus Christ back to the earth in it's entirety - for the gospel to be restored.  He was so close, so right in so many ways, that he was almost prophetic.

After a day like yesterday, I was comforted to read this <<< quote.  (thank goodness for pinterest and inspiration boards and pretty lettering and all that mush.)  Today is a new day.  And I will not be tied down by yesterday, by it's chaos and worries and failures.  I will build a great day out of these hours that lay ahead.  I will be better, and do better.

And that thinking?  The opportunity to move on and change and learn and grow?  It's all available to me, to you, because of the Atonement.  It's a gift freely given, that brings me great joy, and heals my sorrows, if I let it.  I am so grateful.

So, enough with yesterday's nonsense.  It is past, it is gone.  Today is beautiful if I let it be, and will surely bring with it plenty of new nonsense.

rainy day

We've had a lot of rainy days recently.  The clouds keep building, the lightning crashes, and the water pours down, soaking everything around.  Our area is bright green, our yard is lush, our garden grows right in front of our eyes.

The kids love to stick their heads and hands in the gutter water.  They love to let it all soak into them, until the booms shake and rattle them, and they come running inside, excited and scared.

When I was growing up, I only wanted a few things in a home.  I desperately wanted green grass and trees, a two or more story house, and to live in a neighborhood.  We've got two out of three here, and I think all the time how grateful I am for it all.

I love our home!

Mission : Impossible - Glow in the Dark Party

Remember back when school let out in August and I planned to have a little kick-off-the-summer glow-in-the-dark party for the kids?  And it never happened because I got a little sick?  Well, FINALLY the glowing stars aligned and we had ourselves our party.  

It was worth the wait.

So.  Much.  Fun.

We are lucky enough to have a huge stash of some really legit glow sticks from my brother-in-law.  We love to break them out here and there for extra fun, mostly in the summer.  So, Sunday night, after what had been a pretty cruddy day, actually, we all came together on the front lawn, just enjoying dusk, and each other.  It was so good, and so welcome.

Soon, one of the kids had the idea to bring out the glow sticks.  Everyone ran around playing with them, and of course, true to my nature, it didn't take me very long before I wanted to take pictures.  It took me a few minutes to figure out my settings, but once I did, we were in business. (Also, the dog we were sitting may or may not have been attached to a glow stick for a while, too.  Cuteness.)

Everyone had so much fun experimenting and then checking out the results, and then coming up with new ideas to try to make a cool image.  They totally got more complicated as the night went on.

Here's what settings I used - I set my top settings to no flash, and then made sure my camera was on MF - manual focus.  (I have an older Canon Rebel.)  Once you get your shot set up, push that button and hold still until you hear the shutter open back up.  Or better yet, use a tripod, if you're the fancy type.  Me?  I really know nothing about photography except that I love to play at it, so if you have any great suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

 Pretty soon we were onto numbers and words.  Yay 2013!  You'd think it was New Year's or something, huh?  By the way, I love that little clever exclamation point down there.  Tyler's hand made a great dark space between the line and dot.  Smart man, that one.

SAM!  Sam did his S, Tyler did the A, and Madelin the M.  We were all strangely thrilled when we got these figured out well enough to read them.  It took some serious communication and teamwork - a good little family exercise, I suppose!

Then Ben!  Ben and James made the underlines.  Cute kids were endlessly patient and helpful.
There were moments of frustration trying to figure it all out for some, but not those guys!  Oh, and little tip, if you are the glow stick letter maker, make you letter backwards.

By this time, everyone was ready to bed.  We eeked out one last name, and then it was time for the kids to head to their sleeping bags in the tent in the backyard.  Maybe I'll remember to write more about that later.

Such a truly fun night.  I hope it's seared as well in those kids memories as the glowing lights are in these photos!



Check out our big summer Mission : Impossible plans here.  And some of the activities I've posted about are collected here.

July 4th

It's was a pretty perfect day, this Independence Day.  I loved it from beginning to late late end!

These kinds of days confirm to me over and over that life is better with family.  And we sure are blessed to have large families - we get lots of visitors heading our way, especially in the summer.

This week, we have Tyler's sister Jamie, and her husband Branden and their three adorable kids.  The took a break from the intense heat of the desert to join us for a few days of fun and our kind of 'country' living.


We started the morning with waffles and whipped cream and berries, and bacon, and juice and stuff.  We got the kids ready for the day and dropped our two older boys off for their first ever float ride in our parade.  They got decked out as Revolutionary War soldiers, all in blue and white, on a float with a fort and cannon on it.  So cool!  They loved throwing candy - it cracked me up when they passed us because Ben was taking it all so seriously.  Kids are awesome!

After the parade we came home and ate lunch and played and napped, and a great storm rolled it.  The kids played in the sprinkler between showers, and ran around eating their big bags of candy.  Part of me wants to get them to put those treats away, for goodness sake, but part of me just wants it all gone and over with, so it's not around the house for days, you know?

We cooked some brats and dogs on a wood fire outside, cracked open a watermelon, cooked some corn on the cob, and ate 'till we were all so full.  We enjoyed the rain from the porch and the yard, and then bundled everyone up for fireworks.

We found the best spot this year - quiet, only a few other families, lots of space to throw down a blanket and some chairs.  And the show was amazing!  Every year we are just so impressed about what kind of show this tiny town manages to throw.  The joke is, every year, we are just sure THIS is the finale and i'ts going to be over, and that's said 2,3, or 5 times well before the finale ever comes.  It's long, it's intense, it's wondrous and sparkly and awe inspiring, and we all just laughed in delight the whole way through.

As we were driving home, after 10 pm, James said, "This was a pretty awesome big day."  Then, "I'm happy."

Me, too.  We were all so happy.


I hope you had a Happy 4th, too!

a beautiful day

Today was kind of pretty much almost exactly the quintessential summer day.  Sprinklers, friends, popsicles, music, dancing, a long afternoon, even a game of truth or dare out on the lawn.

Hot.  So hot.  It'll make my Tucson friends laugh through their tears when I say it was 95ish, and just as hot inside as out.

I decided midday to throw dinner in the crockpot and avoid heating up the house any more than I had to.  About an hour later I found out I needed to do the prep cooking tonight for Tyler's big work camping trip.  So, there went that plan!

Mr. DJ Lewis, spinning the records new school.

I love these faces.

Best part of this picture?  James dancing like a foo' back there.  He didn't want to miss a beat.

This looks TOTALLY posed but I assure you it isn't.  They were running around like this, and Madelin happened to glance over at me as i took the picture.  Love hoe that big sister is barely tolerating touching her little brother.  Sibling love!

They have some great moves, these kids.  Wild, I tell you!

Ben's mad ninja face - like the ninja on his shirt.  Adorable.

And James' mad ninja face.  Hilarious. And so dirty.

Lawns are made for cartwheels and backbends and walkovers, no?  Yes.

 Here's my life right this moment :

hearing : a chorus of chirping crickets
seeing : blonde curls on a tired little boy's head
smelling : smokey ribs cooking
feeling : the ceiling fan breeze barely cooling off my too hot skin
thinking : about my life, in which one role blurs into another
dreaming : of a life with Tyler home every single weekend

these are the days to remember

A Sunday evening bike ride with my 6 favorite humans - Tyler, Madelin, Sam, Ben, and James in front, and me, pulling Lewis in the trailer, behind.

Although, it turns out that taking non-blurry pictures at dusk while bike-riding is not a talent I have.

 Cute little buddy checking out dad pumping up tires.

I love living here.  Beautiful, yes?

The entire day was a blessed one, I think.  From the early morning, our family just fit together in harmony.  Before church, during what is usual busyness with a touch of chaos, we fit in some relaxing book reading and games and time together.  Everyone sped through getting ready, and what usually takes us 2 hours to accomplish was done in 45 minutes, and good thing because an hour before church we looked at the clock and realized it was what I tend to call 'crunch time' already, and we were behind.

Church was lovely - we enjoyed engaging and faith-promoting talks in sacrament meeting with minimal distraction from the kids, I had a great time singing with my class of one during singing time, and then our class time lasted only half an hour, which is plenty when there's only one student!

We headed home and had some traditional after-church chips and cheese, let the kids run around a bit outside, Tyler took a nap, and I watched an inspiring broadcast online and made dinner.  Tyler played a game with Sam, and the other boys wrote to their missionary cousin.  After we ate, Tyler took the kids for a little 'driving lesson' on the dirt roads, I did the dishes, and then we all went for a bike ride as the sun set.  We came home and I read to and put the little ones to sleep, and Tyler played a game with Madelin and Sam.

After the older kids were tucked happily in, Tyler and I spent some time together.  I love that man!  He's pretty much endless fun.

Doesn't that sound like a pretty great day?  I hope that when I'm old and gray, that these are the days that stick in my mind.  I hope even more strongly that when my children are grown and are parenting their own children, that these are the days they'll remember.