My Happy Birthday

It used to be that I would get to the end of a year and think, "Could life possibly get any more difficult?" and then it would. Now I find myself thinking, "Could life possibly be any happier?" and then it is!

Every birthday Dan surprises me with how thoughtful and generous he is. I am so thankful that he loves me and that I found him.
This year he bought me a lovely blue bathrobe. It's so fuzzy and warm all the kids wanted to keep hugging me just to feel my fuzzy bathrobe. It's just what I wanted for my early morning rendezvous with Donald. It's a cold walk from my room to his and my robe keeps me so warm. Dan also bought me the movie Get Smart. We saw it this summer for our anniversary and I thought it was so funny. I also got a beautiful alexandrite necklace. It matches my engagement ring and Valentines Day earrings so when I have the whole set on I feel like royalty.
Dan made me a delicious breakfast of eggs and donuts. Then he took me out to Wingers for lunch. He made me a fudge marble birthday cake and decorated it with M&Ms and a yummy taco dinner. (I hope it's true that you can't gain weight on your birthday.)
Thank you to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday. I'm blogging to report that it was very happy.
Do I look like I'm 31? I kind of think I look like the Cookie Monster.

Primary Performance

This is one day I wish I could bring a camera into the chapel! It's been 4 years since I've been able to see my kids perform in a primary program.
We missed the year after hurricane Katrina because we had almost no primary and I left Mississippi right before they finally decided to do one, and 2006 and 2007 the kids happened to be with Parker on primary performance Sunday, so I've been looking forward to this all year! Shari was asked to give a talk about looking forward to her Baptism. She did a beautiful job and had the longest part in the program. Rebecca had a part about Alma and how Heavenly Father answered the prayers of Alma and his people when they were in bondage. It was so beautiful because I know she has such a strong testimony of prayer. Adrian's part was about preparing for his mission by being faithful and obedient! I was so excited because most days he says he'd rather play football than go on a mission. It was Adrian's first primary program and he used to never sing, so it was extra special to see him singing along, knowing all the words. Charlie got through his part without making any funny sounds into the microphone or cracking any jokes, but the congregation still managed to laugh a little because he's just so darn cute.
I breathed easier once Charlie moved away from the microphone but little did I know it was just the beginning. They started singing Called to Serve and Charlie had no idea what the words were so he just sang AAHHH as loud as he could. He stayed on rhythm and tune and when they got to the "onward ever onwards" he knew the words so he sang and danced. The funny thing was they had him right next to the stairs leaving the stand so I was scared the whole time he was going to dance his way down the stairs. He didn't know the words to any of the other songs so he continued to wow us with his beautiful AAAHHHs and everyone around us was laughing so hard. Not to mention the fact that he didn't always stop singing when everyone else did. At one point he was so wiggly he knocked his chair down the stairs next to him and soon after that a member of our bishopric had to stop him from hanging off the front of the stand. Then Charlie was invited to sit next to the bishopric and he was bribed with a mint so he sat still for the rest of the program.
Sacrament meeting goes by so fast on Primary Program Sunday.

My next favorite weekend story also has to do with my rowdy boys. On Saturday night the boys were playing rowdy with Dan so he decided to have a "who can hit the lightest" contest. So Charlie hit Dan really light and then Adrian hit Dan even lighter and then Dan shoved them both and knocked them on their backs. They thought it was so hilarious because, apparently that is how boys like to play. We thought at that point they got the joke and would hit harder in the next round. Dan challenged them to another contest of who can hit the lightest and they were both super careful and Dan knocked them off their feet. By then me and Dan were laughing so hard and Adrian yells, "Dad keeps letting us win!!" They wanted to keep playing and loved getting knocked over and everytime they won! I just love boys.

Happy Birthday Shari

Our little Shari turned 8 yesterday! She celebrated in true Shari style. She wanted to bring something to hand out to her class. I was against sweets and candy so she wanted to bring little stretchy sticky plastic bugs and reptiles. They were a huge hit. When I went to pick her up from school I kept seeing frogs and lizards held by kids of all ages. I asked Shari how so many kids got her stretchy animals and she said that after class people thought they were so cool they kept coming up to her and asking her if they could have one and of course, she kept giving them away. She ended up bringing enough home that I was able to bribe everyone to get their jobs and homework done so they could have one too.
For dinner she wanted crock-pot italian chicken, or as we like to call it "Aunt Shari's chicken". For her birthday cake she wanted cinnamon streusel cake with cookie dough ice cream on the side. It was an interesting combination. I loved it because it involved no frosting and I could make it at the last minute because breakfast cake is always better warm. Then she got to play with her presents until bed time. She is a super sweet 8 year old.

Here she is before unwrapping presents.

Shari got a shirt, a peek-a-boo petites doll playset

and some dolls to go with it. Could it be my 7 month old is

almost as big as my 8 year old! He looks so huge.

I think Shari is fascinated by fire. She blew out

her candles so slowly. I don't think anyone ever told

her she has to blow them all out at once.

I wish I knew what her wish was.

This morning we finished off her cake for breakfast. She said the prayer and it was so sweet. She prayed that she would have a good baptism and asked Heavenly Father to help her be a good member of the church. Where did I get this girl? She is such an angel.
For those of you who might be able to make it, we are going to be having her baptism December 6. She's so excited!

Halloween

Halloween finally arrived last night; not nearly fast enough for Charlie. We started the night by having homemade jack 'o lantern pizza.


Everyone got dressed up in their costumes. Rebecca was a bat princess, Shari was a chubby witch, Adrian was a baseball player, and Charlie was a ninja.



Rebecca went trick-or-treating with her friend Mikayla in Stockton. The rest of us went around our neighborhood. It rained a little bit off and on, but everyone had a good time. The kids started out by running from house to house and were so excited to see all the decorations. As the night went on, they slowed down to a walk, and were soon tired of carrying their bags that had too much candy.

For more pictures, you can see the album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SarahDBlodgett/Halloween200802

Could You Forgive Him?

We were planning a fun trip to Boise this weekend. We had the kids all packed and ready to leave Thursday morning. Unfortunately Wednesday night was less than great with my sick baby. He was suddenly awake that entire night crying and coughing. It was so yucky. On top of that his soft spot was swollen again! What is up with that? I sat up most of the night holding him and trying to help him rest.

In the morning I had to wake the kids up for school when they'd been anticipating a day off. I was so sad for them. When I told the girls we weren't going to Boise to visit Grandpa because Donald was sick Rebecca burst into tears. Throughout the morning she was crying off and on and was so sad that Shari eventually started crying too. I managed to get them off to school and take Donald into the Dr. He was diagnosed with the croup and had to have a shot and breathing treatment. He was so crabby all day.

When the kids got home from school we met them on the lawn and Donald gave them all this sweet little smile. I asked them if they could possibly forgive him for messing up our plans for Boise and they said, Of Course! I hope all of our family in Boise can forgive him too. We miss you guys and wish we'd been able to make it there. We hope you have a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkins

Last week in Primary the missionaries gave a lesson during Sharing Time. The primary President asked the kids if they had any questions for the missionaries so Charlie raised his hand and said, "Do you want to come over to my house and see my pumpkins?" They weren't even carved yet but he was so excited to have pumpkins. Since the end of September every time we have been to Walmart Charlie has begged us to buy pumpkins. We finally bought them last weekend and every day this week we've been asked when we would carve them.
Well, the day finally came on Saturday. After our Saturday chores we carved our pumpkins and Charlie wants to play with them constantly. This morning he woke up and came downstairs and they weren't in their usual spot. (Dan and I can't put them on the porch because our street is to busy and we have too many punk kids going up and down our street that would think it was funny to crush them and so crush all of Charlie's happiness, so we put them in the garage.) Needless to say, Charlie looked all over the entire house to include the backyard and finally found them in the garage. He came in laughing and smiling and telling everyone not to worry, the pumpkins are safely in the garage!

I hope you can all enjoy pumpkins as much as Charlie does!

Zweiback Toast

This blog is dedicated to my mom. Zweiback toast reminds me of my mother because she would teach her babies to eat with it. It also reminds me of my baby brothers and sisters because I LOVED watching them eat Zweiback toast. I remember watching Molly suck on her toast when she was a baby and she was so adorable.
Donald is pretty cute too so I couldn't stop taking pictures of him eating his first toast. He loved it!