Robby's Birthday

Robby's birthday was over a month ago, but I figured I should go ahead and do a post about it.  I'm okay with the fact that I will never stay on top of this.

Anyway, it was a great celebration.  Robby wanted spaghetti and broccoli for dinner, and he wanted pink cake, pink frosting, and pink ice cream (he likes strawberry flavor).  Luckily he didn't mind white frosting instead- we didn't want to overkill the strawberry thing.  Plus, how do you decorate a boy cake that has pink frosting? 

Right now both boys love the cartoon Phinneas and Ferb so John decorated the cake with those characters, which Robby loved.

 The evening was pretty simple with a few gifts and a few family games.  Perfect.  Robby was especially excited to get this garbage truck- it's so him.

 He also got a movie...let's see what movie was it?  Oh that's right it was Madagascar 3, which came with it's very one rainbow afro.  Dear me?  Do you just love that lisp?

One of Robby's best friends, McKay, has a birthday two days after Robby, so we decided to get together for a little playdate with their other best friend, Maddy.  The kids were thrilled to make individual pizzas and loved playing together. 

I still can't believe it's been four years since this little miracle joined our family.  He is so sweet, sensitive, and lively.  He gets soooo excited about the simplest things, which makes life so much fun.  He is a good cuddler and gives great hugs and kisses.  He loves preschool and has won over the teachers and faculty with his sweetness.  They tell me all the time how sweet he is and is always looking out for and helping others.  We love our Gus!

Halloween

Halloween (yes, that was like 5 weeks ago, but better late than never).  We started with our traditional mummy dogs for dinner.

And then headed out for some trick-or-treating.

 This year we cheated and used our electric scooters, which was pretty much awesome.  John got me two of these for my birthday (that means he got me one for me and he got me one for him).  I suppose the scooters need a blog post of their own sometime because we love 'em that much!

Anyway, we headed out on the scooters because we wanted to visit some friends in our ward who don't have any small children living at home anymore and we simply adore them.  They live a little too far away to walk so we thought we'd swing by on our scooters.  It was a blast cruising through the neighborhood and seeing all of our friends and neighbors out and about.  The boys loved waving to everyone and we enjoyed checking out every one's costumes along the way.  We met up with some friends from church and finished the evening trick-or-treating with them. 

The next day we did our candy science experiment where we sorted the candy in a muffin tin and then watched what happened when we heated them up in the oven.  Tyler thought this was pretty cool, since they were learning about matter in school at that time.  He watched how the candy went from solid to liquid and back to solid when it cooled.  I was just happy with the fact that he wasn't eating all that stuff ;)  And don't worry, we did keep some of the good stuff, but it was nice to get rid of a bulk of the candy.   

Robby did great.  Halloween doesn't scare me like it used to- I mean that in the "I have a type 1 diabetic kid kind of way."  It's a bit of work, but we've certainly learned how to make it a little easier.

Florida trip- part 4

 More beach fun.  But if you're Callie, before you head out to the beach you have to play a little Angry Birds with your Uncle John and change out of your footie jammies.  Seriously, that Callie is the cutest little thing.  She sure knows how to keep us all entertained.

 Aaaaand...back out to the beach to make some BOOTS!  Of course.

More chillaxin.  As parents, this trip was a piece of cake.  They boys were self entertained, and other than puting up the umbrella and digging a hole every morning, we didn't have to do a darn thing!

I'm just adding this random video so you can see how calm and clear the water was one of the days we were there.  I think that made playing in the water really easy for the little ones since they didn't have to worry about getting knocked over by any big waves.  

 It was so nice being with the Ford's.  We were all on the same speed and our schedules lined up pretty well.  Every day we'd come into the condo for lunch and naps.  Yep, even Tyler and Robby.  We've found that when we're on vacations, our boys especially need naps.  They play so hard and it's so nice to have a little down time in the middle of the day.  Here are the kiddos getting into the zone right before naps.  The adults enjoyed the extra kid free time to sit on the balcony and chat, read a book, or take naps too.  My favorite nap time was spent with Chrissy one afternoon.  We tucked everyone in bed and then headed back out to the beach by ourselves.  We sat under an umbrella and talked and then took our rafts out into the ocean.  The waves were calm, but we each held on to the other's raft so that we wouldn't drift apart.  We laughed and talked and then almost fell asleep as we were lulled into a deep relaxation by the waves.  It was heavenly.  And I sure wish our husbands would have taken our pictures from the balcony.  It would have been funny to see two ladies on their rafts out in the middle of the ocean (we drifted pretty far out).

 One afternoon, John decided to rent a sea kayak.  First he and Mike tested it out and then he and Ty went for a quick ride.    

Again, I wish you could see the huge grin on Tyler's face.  

 At night, after it gets dark, we took a flashlight out to the beach to catch crabs.  These little white crabs are everywhere (I know, makes you think twice about taking that romantic walk on the beach after sunset).  Boy did we have fun catching those things.  I think one of the funniest moments of the whole trip was when my two boys were too scared to pick up the crabs at first.  After showing them several times and them making a few attempts, Callie bent right down, scooped one up, and dropped it in the bucket.  I don't think the boys were scared anymore after they saw their little girl cousin do it.   

Here we are letting them go.  Pretty cool.

It was a fabulous trip.  We will definitely be going back to Destin again someday.  I can not say enough about how great that trip was.  

Florida Trip- part 3

Another non-beach activity that we enjoyed was a trip to see and feed the alligators at the Fudpuckers restaurant.  Another hit with my boys.  I mean, you get a stick and rope with meat on it and then you dangle that a few inches above dozens and dozens of gators...what is not appealing about that to a three year old and seven year old boy? (and Callie liked it too, but Callie likes anything fun)  

Florida trip- part2

We did leave the beach on occasion, but only for more adventures.  Destin is a very family friendly place and when we heard about this pirate ship cruise that caters to young kids, we knew it would be a hit, and it definitely was!

Here we are on the top deck enjoying the view.

 After a few blasts from the cannon, we left the harbor and the pirate crew led the kids in several pirate activities, like...

SWORD FIGHTING, and...

 GUN FIGHTING (did I mention my kids LOVED this cruise?), and...

 DECK CLEANING!  Ha!  that's right, after the water gun fight, they told the kids that the pirate crew now had to clean the deck and they brought out a bucket and mops.  Robby was absolutely hilarious.  They cranked up the music and most of the kids danced around and played with their mops, but Robby took his deck cleaning duties very seriously.  You could see the look on his face and he meant business.  I could just see him thinking to himself, "I gotta clean this deck.  Oh, look over there.  It's another wet spot.  Better mop it up...and over there..."  I could not stop laughing as I watched him attack that deck.

 Then, they did some face painting to make the kids look like real pirates.  Oh man, again, could not stop laughing.  A ship full of little kids who looked like little pirates.

 And the best part was, the kids helped pull up a treasure chest from the ocean and each got a couple treasures.

 Pretty much, they nailed it.  This activity was so perfect for my boys and we had a pretty good time watching them (and darn it, why do I not have a picture of little Callie with her beard and mustache?...funniest thing ever).

Florida- part 1

A few weeks ago (mid-September) we went on a vacation to Destin, Florida.  This was our "summer vacation," only we didn't want to deal with summer crowds or summer heat, so we decided to do our summer vacation a few weeks into fall.  Best decision ever.  This was the most perfect vacation.  It was relaxing, exciting, fun, and low key- so easy!  The best part is, we talked my sister Chrissy and her family into flying out to join us.  The condo we stayed in was right on the beach and was perfect for our group.  It was nice, clean, and big enough with a kitchen, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and one big walk in master closet for Callie's pack and play- not to mention the fantastic views from the balcony.  The beach was heavenly.  We'd heard so much good about Destin.  For us, it is driving distance (about 14 hours) and it was so worth it.  The sand is white and the water is clear.  We had a few days of calm winds and water so the boys were able to catch fish, snorkel, and float on rafts and a few days of windy weather with waves for jumping and boogie boarding (even Chrissy who was almost 5 months pregnant did a little boogie boarding- so funny, that girl). 

Here we are on our first day there- after church on Sunday.  Amazing none of those cute kids ended up swimming in their clothes.

And seriously, aren't they the cutest ever?!  

Here are some of our adventures, in no particular order:

Tyler boogie boarding- sure wish you could see the huge grin on his face every time he'd catch a wave.

 And, yes, we made him wear his little brother's life jacket.  I'm not really sure if it would do much good, but it gave us peace of mind every time he'd drift farther and farther down the beach on his boogie board.

Robby pretty much did this the entire vacation.  Digging, digging, digging.  He was in heaven.

Each morning, John would joke that he had two items of business that needed to get done before anything else and they were; 1. put up the umbrella and chairs and 2. Dig a hole for Gus.

John would start the hole and Robby would spend the rest of the day expanding it.

 Then it was on to the next item of business:  bury Tyler.

...and turn him into a beach snowman.

And then we got to turn John into a sea turtle.

 And of course, there was plenty of time for relaxing on the beach and listening to the random conversations between Gus and Callie.  Oh man, that Callie.  She is sooooo, super cute.  She could talk your ear off, and it is so stinkin' funny.  I kind of wanted to take her home with me and keep her.  She is just so much fun- happy, silly, cute, and chatty.

 Seriously, this is exactly what Robby did the entire vacation.