Nolan's Party

So, here are a few pictures from the chaos (12 kids) that was Nolan's birthday party - we decided to take advantage of our large yard, the warm weather & children's general love of anything involving water & had a back yard water party! Good times...

Count 'em! Not one, but two crazy sprinklers!

An obstacle course, complete with inner tubes...

Over 150 water balloons!

Nolan's boat cake (he picked it himself... "I'm having a water party, so a boat would be good.")

He got spoiled with many thoughtful & wonderful gifts! Thanks everyone!

I don't know - but it looks like he may have had a good time.

Afterwards we asked him if he had a good time - "Yeah, pretty good."

Sigh, I guess that's better than No, it was terrible...

Yep...

He's

Happy Birthday Nolie Bug!

We love you forever!

I'm Totally Making Some!

Are these not adorable?!?

http://enchantresses3.blogspot.com/2009/06/hang-loose-tutorial-i-mean-very-loose.html

Thanks Jamey for sharing!

Which One?

My amazing Mamasan (aka mother-in-law, I love her too much to call her something with such a negative conotation... so she's Mamasan...) is a doer. She read my blog about bumper pads and called within a few days saying she had purchased this pattern...

Today she went in search of fabric (since she lives in Cali - surf/beach stuff is a little more readily available). Then my wonderful Papasan (yes, that would be aka father-in-law...see previous reasoning for name) took, and e-mailed, pictures of the ones they found and thought I might like.

Have I ever mentioned how I SCORED in the thoughtful & loving in-law department? (Love you Mamasan & Papasan!!!)

Anyway...
These are my 2 favorites, but I can't decide which one.

#1

#2

Cody's room is Behr paint Sonata (530E-3)...

HELP!!!

Long Saturday

Well, today was busy, but I feel very productive...

Bought a stroller/carseat (not one we had previously considered... but tried out for the heck of it & really liked... then found a pattern I can live with - especially since the whole shebang was marked down to $80 - SCORE!)

Got Matt a new dresser (his clothes are getting too big for the one he has... so we're going to pass it on to Cody - this was really a two-fer Matt & Cody both needed dressers - done!)

Ran some birthday (Nolan's) related errands - ordered a cake, picked up some stuff for the party, and got him a present (secretly of course!)

Enjoyed a nice meal on the patio of a pretty good mexican restaraunt - complete with heavenly breeze.

Long day - Great day!

Things I Love About Having Boys #6

I know it's been a while since I did one of these, but we had a great one last night...

We've been having some pretty crazy weather here lately (thunder, lightning, hail, rain...) and last night was no exception. Matt had Scouts last night, and Phil had to work late, so I had both boys... As we were driving home (in a relatively tame sprinkle following some pretty crazy rain & hail) the boys were behind me having a very in depth conversation about which superheros could survive out in the storm. I'm pretty sure you'd never catch a girl wondering about that!

And if you're wondering...

Yep!

Storm

Iceman

All of the Fantastic 4

Superman

Nope!

Batman

Spiderman

Boys are AWESOME!

What do you think???

I think I... I mean Cody needs this shirt...

or maybe this one...

Baby Stuff

I am up way too late cruising online for stuff for Cody...

First strollers/travel systems - I like these... (they all have issues)


Pros -
Carseats are #1 rated in safety & love the colors

Cons -
We haven't seen ot tried out either of these (both Chicco) & they are the most expensive


Pros -
Least expensive, the stroller only weighs 19lbs & I really like the colors

Cons -
Haven't tried this particular Graco to see how easy it is to fold down & customer ratings said that the adjustability on the stroller seat back is poor


Pros -
We did try a similar stroller out and it was our favorite of the ones we tried & this carseat (Graco) also earns high marks in safety

Cons -
I'm not totally sold on the colors - I like the carseat, but the stroller has an awful lot of that bright blue...

However, this is probably the one we'll end up with.

Second - bumper pads... can't find any I like, so I'm seriously thinking of sewing my own (is that crazy?) I've decided that I want to do surf stuff in Cody's room (I know given where we live - 3 days from anywhere you could possibly surf - this might seem a little odd, but it's what I really want!). Anyhow, I've been cruising hawaiian fabric places & these are my favorites... (in order of my favorites & unfortunately also highest to lowest price...)

(these 2 are a tie...)


Any thoughts/opinions?

Basketball Camp

This week Matt got to attend a basketball camp at one of the local High Schools (the one, barring any boundary changes, he will attend when the time comes...). He had a lot of fun!

Yesterday was the last day & they had competitions for camp champion in each grade level 3-5 in four different drills. He made the finals for freethrowing & won! He was/is so excited & we are so proud of him!

I really loved the camp too. My main goals for him attending were
1. For him to have fun (check)
2. For him to get a little structured bball time (check)
3. For him to get to interact with some of the high school players (check)
4. For it to be a good experience (check).
I loved how much fun the head coach & all the high school players helping seemed to enjoy putting on the camp -

Final verdict 2 thumbs up from Team Armadillo for Team Titan! And HOORAY for Matt!

Waiting for his turn to shoot... I could tell he was nervous by the way he balled up his fists.

I love the "please go in!" posture.


Getting his trophy from the head coach.

I cannot handle the cute look of accomplishment & happiness on his face in this one!

Matt & the Head Coach.

Local celebrity (to all the awestruck kids) this young man will be playing for one of the major local universities that has a pretty great basketball program. And, yes, he can dunk.

A close up of the trophy.