February 2014

February has been a pretty crazy month! Ruby turned 3 on Valentines day. We usually let the birthday girl or boy pick what we do for dinner, either at home or out. I asked Ruby what she wanted for dinner and she said "lettuce and soup". I then asked her, "where do you want that, at home or at a restaurant?" She told me, "A restaurant, a green one." So we went to Sweet Tomatoes.


Then Saturday the 15th Ruby had a party because it was a "big year" for her. She had 7 little friends come over and they all just had pizza and fruit and watched Sophia the First since it was a Sophia party. They also decorated cookies and played.


On the 18th we celebrated Emily's 8th birthday at Texas Roadhouse since the girl LOVES steak. It was fun because they put her on a saddle and sang to her which she enjoyed being the center of attention.


On the 22nd Emily also had a party. That was a busy day for me since I was asked by the Stake Relief Society to head up our Women's Conferenece luncheon of about 150 sisters. The menu I came up with was 3 different kinds of soups, salad, rolls, and a dessert kabob with brownie, strawberries and marshmallows. The soup part wasn't too hard because we had sisters make the soup and bring it, the hard part was shopping for all the food, and assembling the 300 kabobs. After the luncheon I headed home to have Emily's party which was a karaoke party. The kids all had a blast, and Emily was spoiled.

 

 

1 Year Old

Today is Ivy's 1st birthday. Mordecai didn't have school because it was early release day. Emily got out at 12:50 so we grabbed Sonic for lunch. After lunch the kids and I made cupcakes for later and then they played with the Smith kids (member family that has 5 kids and are renting a house 1 house away from us) while Elisa and I chatted and she frosted our cupcakes. For dinner we went to IHOP as a family because kids eat free. All of the kids did exceptionally well for the most part. After dinner we came home so we could have cupcakes and for Ivy to open presents. Still can't believe how fast this past year has gone by.

The Big 5 For Mordecai

Mike and I have decided that we were only going to have big parties for "BIG" years. The big years are 5 because you start kindergarten, 8 because you get baptized, 12 because of mutual, and after that we figure our kids wont want anything to do with us, lol.

So this year we had a party for Mordecai. He has really been into Lego Star Wars so that was the party he chose. I made a Lego cake last night...it didn't turn out the best, but was okay. I was going to make it really rectangular but as I was getting ready to start Mike says, "its for kids, just leave it." So that's what I did.

We woke up this morning to major snow coming down so we decided to postpone the party until Monday, but then we decided to put it back on because we remembered we had a meet and greet for Mordecai's soccer team Monday night. All the families (Grip's, Ashby's, Bowen's, Bugarin's, and Brown's) were able to make it except for the Halatokoua's because of miscommunication.

the party was from 11:00-1:00. We had hot dogs because they are Mordecai's favorite thing, chips, broccoli salad, yogurt, turkey Swiss rolls, and of course cake and ice cream. After lunch the kids did a food craft of making Lego's out of graham crackers and m&m's. Then we did the pinata, which was a Darth Vader mask. Sadly we only got through 2 or 3 kids when it was knocked open, but because we had a bunch of sad kids we put it back up and let everyone have a turn at hitting it. Finally before the party ended we did presents which Mordecai and all his friends loved.

The party ended, but the fun didn't stop. The Grip's and Ashby's hung around and the dads took the kids sledding while the mom's visited and made hot cocoa. Then after they left we hit McDonald's for dinner. It was a fun day, and we are so blessed to have great friends and a wonderful little boy who is growing up way too fast for my liking.

 

4Years

We celebrated Mordecai's 4 year birthday today. I still can't believe he is 4.  He chose to have hot dogs and hamburger for dinner.  Who would have guessed, ha ha. He picked cheesecake for his cake, and then afterwards he opened his present of a new V-Motion game.  Then we headed to Wal-Mart to get his real present, which he loves.  A bike and a helmet.  He loves his helmet so much that he asked to wear it to bed.

Emily's Big Day

My day started off at 6:30 when Ruby woke up.  I was hoping Mike would have offered to get out of bed with her since I did it last Saturday too, but that was a no go. Shortly after Emily, the birthday, girl woke up. Not too long after Mordecai was up so the kids and I headed to King Soopers for some donuts and juice to have for the requested breakfast. When the kids were digging in Mike joined us, about 7:30.

After we cleaned up, did some laundry,  wrapped presents and had lunch we headed off to Jumpin' Jordy's for the kids to play.  Emily and Mordecai really are best friends, so it is nice to go places cause they have each other.

 For dinner Emily really wanted to have a "party table" so she tied all the balloons I blew up to each chair. She also set the table, and kept commenting on how this was like a restaurant except without the music.  We ate steak, broccoli and home made sweet potato fries.  Then we sang happy birthday for the second time, had cupcakes and opened presents.

-Funnies-

As Emily was opening her card from Grandma and Grandpa Bainbridge she noticed that Grandpa signed it, "G-Pa B" but the 'B' looked like a '13' because it wasn't completely attached so she read it "G-Pa 13".  I told her it was a 'B' and she said, "Oh, I guess Grandpa just doesn't know how to write 13's very well."

Also for dinner I made a rather large side of broccoli thinking we would have enough.  I was wrong because we didn't. All three of the kids kept asking for more, and at one point Ruby was actually yelling at Mike because he wasn't giving her any while he dished more up for Mordecai.

New Years Eve 2011

Today has been a good day!  Felicia came in Tuesday night and the kids have loved it.  Thursday night she and Emily had hair appointments, then Friday morning she and I went and got a manicure and a pedicure.  It has just been fun having her here.

This afternoon we met up with the Ashby's and went to the DU basketball game.  Emily was honored at it for being a "Rising Star" in her community.  She was picked from the whole Denver Metro area, along with several other kids from other schools.  The local credit union here paid for up to 15 tickets.  They had a special message to the kids over the Jumbo Tron about how proud they are of them, and the accomplishments they are and will be.  Then during a break in the game they had the kids stand for a standing ovation.  There was certificates for them and a chance for basketball players and cheerleaders to sign them along with a group picture at the end.  We got the certificate, but didn't do the photo or signing since Emily didn't seem to really care and it was late...PLUS on the way down to the game as we were exiting off the freeway it was backed up because there was literally a river flowing down the street.  Apparently a water main broke and there was major redirecting of traffic, so we decided to leave a little early to beat the rush.

We did pizza, a tradition since we have been married, and then headed back here to play games while the kids played.  Sadly I don't have any pictures of the game playing and dinner.

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

Man I missed being with family this year...but we had the next best thing, friends.  We had 18 people for Thanksgiving with the potential of 23, but one family canceled last minute.  Since we had so many Rachel, Mine, and I opted to have it at the church so we would have enough space.  We were there from 12:00p.m.- 6:30 p.m.  All the guys had the kids while the ladies set up and prepared food.  Mike teased us that we were a "small branch" having a party. Ha Ha.  The food was all so yummy and I am convinced that LDS women only know how to make food for large masses because there was a ton of it, which means lots of left overs. The company was awesome, so much in fact that after we cleaned up we all headed back to our place to visit and look at the ads for black Friday.

Some things I am thankful are:

• My Husband who is such a great father, and provider.  He does so much for us and I love him so very much.
• My family.  My kids are my world and I am so grateful that I get to have them, even though I may not be the best of mom at all times.  The definitely teach me and help me to stretch and grow for the better.
• My Mom, Dad, Brothers, and Sisters.  They are such wonderful people and have been great examples to me.
• This Country, and those who fight for it.
• The Gospel.  Without it I would be so lost and unhappy.

Rachel & Tevita Haltokoua

Mine & Tom Ashby

Marsha Bowen, Mine, Rachel, & Me