whobody went green?

Here are the pictures from St. Patrick's Day! (also Keaton's birthday, of course)

First...our green breakfast...complete with green milk!

(which, by the way, my kids didn't even flip out about.....thats a first!)

Keaton with his birthday green pancakes!

And Lola is not so sure about the green scrambled eggs....

After breakfast we headed to church, and then left church a little early to go to the parade in Elkader!  It was freezing, but the kids still had a blast....

Oh...look at that cute little button nose!!!

and Lola eating some of the candy!

(the candy sack was seriously FULL!) 

They had a great time...and the parade is always a very generous one with GOOD candy (even chocolate!)

They had so much fun at the parade (as usual)!  Happy late St. Patrick's Day!

whobody had a birthday party?

So.... Keaton turned 8...and it turns out we did LOTS of fun things for his birthday, 

as I shared about in the last post, we took Keaton and 3 friends to a UNI game. 

(That was actually at the beginning of March.)

Keaton's birthday was on a Sunday, so the night before his birthday we decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Jumpin' Janes.  We had never been there before, and the kids were so excited to go! 

Jumpin' Janes is pretty much a huge shed with a bunch of blow up bouncy houses and obstacle courses.   (genius money maker) It was really a great way for the kids to burn off LOTS of extra energy.  Things were pretty crazy here....but the kids had a blast. 

I never felt like MY kids were unsafe, because they weren't doing unsafe things...but my anxiety was out of control watching OTHER kids who were walking on the edges and climbing where they weren't supposed to be!!! YIKES. 

The kids had a b.l.a.s.t. 

They really did. Even Cruz loved it. 

He didn't really go ON anything, but just walked around in the middle yelling and waving his arms. He just loved being somewhere other than our house....an being able to walk pretty much wherever he wanted to!

It actually worked out great for us...

I was worried that there weren't 

enough of "us" (jason and I) to watch "them" (the kids)...

but our system was perfect. 

 I told the kids that they HAD to stick together and all move from thing to thing as a team....and they actually listened.....so one of the adults followed Cruz while the other one followed the kids.  It was actually fun! 

 We will definitely go back again...

as I said before, a GREAT way for them to run off some energy!

Then on his actual birthday (on Sunday) we had a small birthday party with family.  

He looks a little hesitant with his smile here because he is VERY timid around fire...

always extremely worried that it is going to get out of hand....

Our lego themed cupcakes....of course, made by Keaton and me.... (and then wrecked by Nash an hour before the party) and then made again....

Cruz even got in on the chocolate cupcake action....love it!

Keaton really had a great birthday weekend!!!

whobody took their friends to a game?

I know Keaton's birthday was actually a few weeks ago....but I am a little behind on my blog. :)  For this being the 'slowed down' time of year, we have sure been busy.

Keaton turned 8...and has REALLY grown up over the past year. He is becoming a little man before my eyes.  I cannot tell you how OLD he is seeming to be...and has all of a sudden become in this last 12 months. Suddenly we have a tall kid who is coordinated, and really getting into sports.  He loves to play, watch and talk about baseball and basketball.  His strength has improved so much in the last year too! It is really fun to see him grow up *but unbelievable too.  Sadly, it is hard to even remember him Nash's age....or Cruz's for that matter.

Keaton is still as sweet and kind and caring as he has always been. He is very tender hearted (sometimes to a fault....) and wears his heart on his sleeve. He is an excellent big brother and truly watches out for Lola at school...and tries to keep Nash in line at home...and is really becoming Cruz's best buddy....playing with him all the time and teaching him new tricks.  He even lowered the basketball hoop in his room so Cruz could make baskets.

I am going to share the pictures from Keaton's birthday "party" with his friends.  Instead of having friends over to our house....we went on a little adventure with them!  We took Keaton and 3 of his friends to the last UNI Panther's home basketball game in Cedar Falls.  Before the game, we ate at Applebee's and I cannot even TELL you how well behaved the kids were! Keaton was the only one who even got squirrelly...and I think that was just because he was so happy. The boys were all extremely polite and calm and happy the whole trip. 

(Jason and I decided that this trip was much easier than one with our 4 kids....)

We opened the presents before our food came....he got lots of great gifts.

I do think his favorite gift was the one that included CASH!!! 

He thought that $2 was pretty cool!

(oh, to be eight again...)

The boys all ate an excellent meal and then I had the waitress bring them dessert...and slyly handed her the candles to put in Keaton's.  (She was extremely cooperative!)

We then headed to the game. It was so much fun!  The boys enjoyed walking around and taking in all the sights!  (This birthday party was MUCH easier than one at home....right down to the ordered dessert at the restaurant!)

The boys all really got INTO the game and had so much fun.  

After the game, they got to join the other kids running around down on the court! 

They played tag (or something like that) 

and had a wonderful time.  We then loaded up in the car and drove everyone back home.  They talked the whole way home...and I think we finally had everyone dropped off by midnight! Yikes, that was late, but totally worth it.

I think he had an excellent time, and was very proud to share his love of the Panthers with his friends.  This birthday party was a lot easier than our usual ones for me too....no food to make, no house to clean, no cake to bake, no games to plan......We will have to keep this one in mind for next year....(as long as they are offering $5 tickets again....) 

 I love to see Keaton with his friends! 

He IS growing up way too fast though....

whobody needs a new shirt?

okay.

i didn't take him out in public in this shirt.

BUT for our afternoon home (during nap time)

i put cruz in that same shirt that he wore last year.

(when i grabbed it from the 'holiday shirts' box, i truly thought i was grabbing the one nash wore last year....but when i got upstairs and realized my mistake...well, i put it on him anyway.)

he is SO funny.

and this is the 

BEST!!!!

(look at him last year!!!)

amazing what a year can DO!

whobody interviewed the birthday boy?

and now for a quick interview with Keaton, the birthday boy:

1. My favorite food is....spaghetti.

2. My favorite sport is....basketball, baseball & soccer.

3. My favorite color is....blue.

4. My favorite thing to do outside is....play basketball & catch with dad.

5. My favorite song is...Country Girl Shake it for Me & 

I'm Elmo and I Know it.

6. When I grow up I want to be...a petting zoo farmer.

7. The coolest person on earth is...God & Jesus.

8. If I could go anywhere in the world I would go...to Africa & Disney World.

9. My favorite treat is...oreos, Milky Ways, brownies & cake .

10. A food I really don't like is... lunchmeat.

11. My best friends are... Lola, Nash, Cruz, Mom, Dad, Lily, Caden, William, Kylar, Aurelia, Elliott, Colton, Joshua, Carter, Mrs. Reichard.

12. Three words to describe me are...smart, happy, nice.

13. My favorite book is.....Magic Treehouse Books.

14. Before I fall asleep I think about...school.

15. I love to learn about...math.

16. My favorite thing to do with Nash is....play crazy.

17. My favorite thing to do with Lola is...play Subway Surf.

18. My favorite thing to do with Cruz is...play with him and be funny.

19. Something that makes me happy is...P.E. recess, Jumping Jane's, Disney World & time tests.

20. The best thing about being eight years old is...I am two years older than Lola.

whobody took some random pics?

So...when I am going through the pictures from my camera, if there are any that I love and want to share on my blog, I put them in a folder titled "blog". (genius, right?)

I have this random collection of pictures, that I just haven't been able to group together, or let them stand alone.... so, here they are. Random pictures of our everyday life.

First, Nash putting on a rock star show with Lola's microphone that she got for Christmas.

(Nash has since broken the stand for this.)

The kids LOVE to spend time playing with Trios. They all gravitate towards building the things on the instructions sheets rather than build their own thing...

I am tempted to hide all of those instructions.

Lola has really become an EXCELLENT reader. Some of the most precious times are when one kid is reading to another.... (also, in general, this is a very quiet time.)

This is Cruz after he 'played with markers'.... 

actually, Nash claimed that Cruz did this to himself, 

but I think that Nash actually did it because he kept on telling me that 

Cruz has a mustache!

I know I have posted pictures of this before...but even as I sit here and type this up....

Cruz is playing in that cupboard.

Lola loves to be nurturing...here she is feeding Cora a bottle!

On that same day...Here are the older 2 playing with Cora. After Cora spent the day here, Cruz would always get that boppy out and sit in it like that, and then get a blanket and fuss around until I laid it out for him to sit and play on!!!

Of course, Cruz & Nash playing with the exersaucer.

Lola LOVES to spend her time doing crafts...

she would color the whole day away if she could 

(and cut and glue)

And this is how Keaton's room normally looks. 

This rug from Ikea is one of the best things ever!

Everyone coloring...

Helping Cruz out (when he really didn't need help.)

Doing homework!

This was SO funny.  

This was a Saturday morning and for some reason, all 4 kids decided to hang out in the hallway.  They probably played there for 20 minutes...just chatting, climbing all over each other and giggling. I LOVE times like that. 

(Sometimes, however, they seem very few & far between.)

There you have it...now my "blog" folder is cleaned up.... 

onto the big 8th birthday this weekend!!!