Saturday, January 24, 2009

Hut Hut Hut Happy B-day Dane-o

For some reason I haven't learned my lesson that less is more! You would think just planning a party @ home would be less stressful but I actually prefer taking them somewhere entertaining despite the expense-esp when we just do friend parties every other year. Nevertheless, 14 boys came to Dane's birthday football camp on the sat. after his b-day & it was pretty crazy for a couple hours o' drills, hot dogs & gatorade!
My sister Britt is oh so creative & made a trading card as an invite, then one for each of the draft hopefuls after they posed with gear:)Thanks again to a few other dads who stayed to man the gauntlet,
field goal kick (not pictured) & football toss, ladder drill,40 yd. dash
& W cone route'Cuz heaven knows I certainly couldn't have pulled it off on my own...The eye black was a great idea until it came time to take the tape off-oops!
Boys will be boys after presents opened & sugar in systems:)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Birthday Boys with Dreams & Wishes

The party started early with shopping for gifts from parents & bros with b-day boy in tow-Next we celebrated early @ Grandpa Gar/Grandma Neecy's on Sun. They were very generous with check toward preschool (more of a gift to mom & dad:)) & another set of some favorite perler beads... You can see one of his wishes came true with Grandpa Gar in the background having just returned from the hospital & recovering from knee replacement.
Aunt Britt made that awesome cake in shape of football with ice cream in between layers.
Then Dane had special privilege of sharing his actual birthday with MLKJr. He was kind enough to spend the am @ his cousin Lindsey's bball traditional game up @ HecEd Pavilion (UW). Then we went home & he got to assemble his cool Bionicles
Meanwhile poor dad had to work until our fun dinner @ The Rock pizza-The main reason b-day boy chose that restaurant is 'cuz they get to play with pizza dough while our actual order is in the works.


















Of course the free suckers and ice cream sundae are bonuses too:) Overall pretty fun to be a 4 y.o.!! He also got to bring cookies to preschool after the holiday:) Notice they're frosted in his fav colors completely above the influence of his die-hard father-He gave the heart to his teacher:) For the record, it's backwards day too:)

This month is such a special one...

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Parker & Uncle Jon (Chris' bro) despite the distance that prevents us from wishing you the best on your big days in person!



















Also my sister Caitlin turned big 21 this year:) We celebrated with a pedicure & Mexican fiesta-

Next came Dane on 1/19 same as Uncle Ben Shaw who would've been big 3-0 this year!!!Cousin Brighton turned 8 on 2/15; Parker boys definitely wish they lived closer to cousins their age...We're looking forward to Uncle Rich's b-day next week; most likely we'll party @ a bball game 'cuz 'tis the season!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Auld Lang Syne

So we weren't too wild & crazy this year, but still had a festive time ringing in the new year...
Of course my boys had no problem staying awake for the fun & games; pictured here partying with Grandpa Gar & Grandma Neecy!We were missing Rach who stayed in Vegas, but enjoyed bonding as Shaw girls-I also invited my friend Krista over to my parent's house so she wouldn't have to celebrate solo 'cuz her family is in process of moving & I will definitely miss her!Certainly not a holiday without good food & our fondue tradition is no exception:)Then we just played Wii & cards until midnight...














As the clock struck twelve, my first kiss o' 2009 was from a couple super heroes:)HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Winter Slip n' Slide

An early b-day present for my sister Cait became a gift to us all when we got to go to the Great Wolf Lodge during Christmas vacation. We passed it outside of Centralia en route to the cabin nearly every summer weekend so that piqued our curiosity; its constuction seriously stopped traffic, which was irritating then but made us excited to check it out as well!

































We changed into swimming attire almost immediately after we checked into our big bear den, which felt kinda weird with snow still outside-The cyclone one that you can see from the outside was scary in the dark; my bro-in-law reassured me when the wildest part was over only to have me almost flip out of the tube on the next turn:) but we obviously lived to tell about it! Even the b-day girl braved the rapids...but only a couple times!:)
















I'm not gonna lie...My sisters almost reported me to CPS 'cuz Cole became hysterical when I encouraged him to try the actual waterslides vs. wading/wave pools. I didn't care if he went straight to the swiftest tube ride; I just wanted him to make progress from our not-so-hot experience @ Wild Waves! He didn't like how the water tipped over randomly but graduated to dumping it on unsuspecting bystanders below! Grandpa was a brave example of how it's done...
















Neither of us like to try new things, so I did want to push him a bit but he had plenty of aunts & even grandpa on his side telling him he didn't have to do anything he didn't want-ugh! Took a break to eat @ later dinner buffet & try arcade in resort then most of the group went back out for more water action. In fact, they played until almost 10P! Here are some pics of Cole & Dane thoroughly enjoying themselves lest you think I scarred my little boys for life by the previously mentioned challenge:

























The next day was more of the same, but Cole was a new man after he tried the mellower slides all by himself (not tube version) & decided he actually liked 'em after all! I told ya so! Of course, Dane followed his lead but can't do anything the easy way & went down backward the first time-oops!















Luke was sporting swim shorts for the first time in his life but wasn't really the life of the party=slept most of the day on a soft cushion made from our coats & towels since we technically had to check out of our rooms.















Grandpa took him for a dip in the afternoon & he really liked it surprisingly 'cuz his mom didn't think it was all that warm:) Look @ my little fish-who would've thought we could have fun in the sun in Dec?