party at the park...now in color!

We invited some friends to the park to celebrate Cliffton's birthday. They played at the playground in the beginning and we had some games (boys vs. girls) like a ball toss and a scavenger hunt. I was a bit nervous with Violet playing on the fake cliff but she did good and my friend's husband was willing to watch the kids on the playground for a while. The kids also wrapped 2 of them up in the streamers I had brought. We didn't end up with a pavillion so we borrowed some chairs from church and had a blanket out. Richard and Biondis made some very good hot dogs and hamburgers and we also had some apples and cookies and chips and soda. And of course, a mickey mouse birthday cake!

It seemed like the kids all played well together and I'm proud to say the girls kicked some major butt in the games! Richard did face painting at the end as Cliffie was opening presents. I believe Cliffie had a great day. It was tough on us, but we had fun too. I think that having parties is pretty stressful. But you enjoy time with friends its just hard to have that 'time' when all of kids (besides your own) need/want you! Most of the people were from church who knew each other well. They are some of the kindest people I know. We have some pictures but as I said, it was tough on me so I didn't get to play photographer near as much as I would have liked.

Cliffton's 4th Birthday May 10 2011 with pictures!

We had a nice lunch at Old Country Buffet, a favorite of Cliffton's since he can pick out all of his food right away and his soda/icee/whatever. We all like it. Cliffton has been wanting to go there for a few months now and back around New Years, Richard told Cliffton we couldn't go anytime soon but he could go there for his birthday. Some of the servers brought out a chocolate cake with sprinkles and a candle for him and we all sang to Cliffton. Then we took Daddy to the Aviation museum where we let the kiddos play in the super awesome toy room. Richard thought it was pretty cool too. Next we played at Eisenhower Park which is HUGE. The whole thing is some 930 acres which includes several kinds of sports facilities, a golf course and of course, playgrounds. They had a lotta fun.
Coming home, Violet fell fast asleep and we had a late dinner and then sang to Cliffton over his Mickey Mouse cake while Grandma and Papa (Stacey) watched over webcam. Opening presents was fun as we all kept asking Cliffton, "so, what do you think this is?" with almost every present. He especially liked the light up mickey mouse spinner toy from his grandparents. With a little coaxing from Richard, Cliffton decided the pretend camping set from us was pretty neat too. We took the kids tent and some of the toys (lantern, canteen, toy stove, etc.) with us to the park 2 days later and Cliffton was so excited to share the tent and his toys with other kids. It was a little crazy but not bad. He is such a sweetie.

Cliffiton's creative combinations

Some of Cliffton's favorite things right now include 3 movies and one series: Wizard of Oz, Return to Oz, Tangled and the He-Man 1980s cartoons. Well, he has combined He-Man and Wizard of Oz by saying, in a Skeletor voice, "the wicked witch of the west will be mine!" with the signature Skeletor evil cackle at the end. (Skeletor will sometimes say "Eternia will be mine"). Violet and Cliffie both LOVE Tangled and Cliffton will often say "I'm the bad guy" (Grothel, or whatever that witch lady's name is, said that) and he'll yell at me and say "you're never leaving this tower, EVER!"

my cuties

I just wanted to say that Cliffton is always sitting up front in primary with me and the primary presidency in primary. He has had a hard time coming in there and really wants to be by me. He doesn't seem scared of anyone or anything really. He's just determined he'll be by me, not the other kids. Well, yesterday I got him to sit by the other kids because Violet was having a hard day in nursery and so she came in with us. I had her sit with the kids and told Cliffie how Violet was sad and he could help her by sitting with her. They did good. He is a good big brother to Violet.

Easter

Saturday night before Easter, we colored eggs with the kids. They really liked it! Cliffton and Richard used the little wrap around things that stick to the eggs after you dip them in hot water. Cliffie thought that was pretty amazing. Violet and I liked the dye and the stickers. After Church and food on Easter, Cliffton and Violet looked for plastic eggs and our colored eggs. Violet had just started to fall asleep so she was quite grumpy about being told it was easter egg hunting time. Once she found her first egg though, then she had fun. We coached them on most, but they found some on their own. They each had a little basket with goodies too and they are so nice to share treats with their mama! We had a different pair of missionaries over that day and we had my first roast beef (I'm always nervous cooking up huge chunks of meat) and eggs, of course, and homemade mashed potatoes and some other stuff that I can't remember. Let's blame pregnancy. I taught the primary kids a little about Jesus and being resurrected that day. I remember I hadn't planned well that day and so I wasn't very well prepared. Not cool. I made sure that didn't happen yesterday again in primary. It still wasn't perfect but better. I like being the sharing time teacher. Its a neat calling. I really like when the kids want to help out and read scriptures, or hold pictures, etc.

Richard's birthday, Wed. April 27

After picking up Richard from school, we drove to a mini golf and 'taught' Cliffie how to putt a golf ball. :) This was Cliffton and Violet's first mini golf experience. Violet stayed in her stroller with her blankie for most of it (she had been napping when we got there) and it was cloudy and chilly. But since the kiddos and I had got sunburned the day before it felt great. (I took them to a park about 2 miles from our home and then we stayed almost 2 hours. We were outside for nearly 4 hours w/0 sunscreen. Oops. The first warm day of the year and we get a sunburn!)

If I remember right, Richard, Cliffton and I all received a hole in one on different courses. When we let Violet play too, she wanted to hit everyone's ball. I had started some pizza dough before we went to get Richard so it was quite puffy when we got back home. We had homemade pizza, carrots and salad, kool aid and a double chocolate layer cake with chocolatey blueberry frosting. Violet tried to blow out Richard's candles. :) He received Tron from us for his present.

Oh, a few days later, we tallied the score - Richard 46, Janelle 48 :( Cliffie was somewhere around 88 I think. :)

Spring break

Playing at parks, playing at Toys R Us and the theaters, going to the cemetary (where we did find some family names - I remember 2 Lydias, one was a Stacey and one was a Turner; but I don't think we brought any new info. to family history), family sleepovers in the family room on the air mattress, and a sing along at the library made up a lot of our spring break. Cliffton didn't care to get involved much at the sing along and Violet wanted to climb up the steps to the stage which we were explicitly told NOT to do. :) I think they really liked London Bridge. It was the first time they'd ever played/sung it. And of course, "if you're happy and you know it", and, "the wheels on the bus. "

Oh yes, and our first drive into the city (minus the kiddos). That was um, fun. We got to the temple on the 21st of April after being in the car for some 2 hours but could only stay a very short while. I was able to do some temple work for Stacey relatives (awesome!) but Richard could not because there weren't enough people working at the moment. It was good simply to be there for a short while. He talked with a man who was serving a mission there with his wife and this man had gone through law school and was telling Richard about some of his experiences. We then watched the kids of the Liza family whose eldest daughter, Alida, had watched our 2 kids and her brother and sister while we went to the temple. Alida is a great babysitter and she was able to go to the temple with her parents that night. Stefano and Gianella had fun at our house and Stefano let Cliffie play some games with him on his wii.

Violet's birthday

Violet, like Cliffie, LOVES to blow out candles, and we invited a set of missionaries over for sunday dinner on her second birthday (4/17/2011). (One of the missionaries recognized Darrell and Loretta when we did skype video chat later on - that was cool.) It was really sweet to see her get so excited as we got out the candles. She was trying to blow them out before the birthday song even started. Sorry no pictures. I forgot to take some that day, which of course kills me but it was bit of a stressful day in my defense, and then I killed our camera a few days later. :( Big time.

But, Violet enjoyed her presents from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Megan - a bracelet and hippo purse (that matches a shorts and T outfit), sunglasses, a dress and headband and sandals. Truth be told, she got quite upset when we tried to get one of the outfits on her but she loves the accessories. Before she even finished unwrapping her hippo purse, she gave it a kiss and then gave it a hug. :) So precious! I love that lil' lady. Her 'cake' was a cupcake set in a little waffle bowl with a microwaved marshmellow, hot fudge, cool whip and cherry and sprinkles. We all enjoyed our cupcake sundaes. I think we had ice cream too. We've been making a lot of homemade ice cream lately - blueberry!

Our gift to Violet was taking the birthday girl and Cliffie to see Rango in theaters. We had a good time and I gave in and got a soda for Cliffton during the movie. Holy cow! $4.75! That's a costco meal for 2. Grrrrr. Anyways, we went to Toys R Us that day as the rest of Violet's present/spring break fun and we enjoyed letting them play for awhile and bought a big gallon of bubbles in a pink container. Oh Violet loves bubbles, yes siree.