You have to throw them parties

January is a busy month for us in the birthday department. Last week we celebrated Shannon and Ellie's birthday - each with their own friend-party.

Shannon chose to invite her friends over for a pizza-ice skating-sleepover-party.

Pizza party



Shannon and her friends



Cheesey-Ellie


Opening some presents.


On the way to the ice-center we noticed an incredible amount of traffic, all heading in the same direction.

"Hmmmmm, wonder where these people are all going?? Wonder if they are having a super-sale at the Dodge dealership?"

Turns out that I should have called ahead of time. There was a hockey game that night (against BYU I think) and a gazillion people were attending.

So we went to plan B.


Roller blading at the Fun Park.


Guess how many hours 11-year old girls can roller blade without getting tired?


3


The next day at Ellie's party:

(This is minute-by-minute account of her party for your enjoyment/use/guideline of what-to-do-or-what-not-to-do.)

1:30 pm Guests arrive

1:31 While waiting for all guests to arrive have children do this:


Draw and color themselves on a long roll of paper.

1:42 Make sure they are all coloring on the PAPER (not the floor, each other, or the couch.)

1:50 They are still coloring?? Offer positive reinforcement,

"Wow! That's so good!! You draw so well!! I LOVE your pink hair!! That looks just like you!!"

1:55 "Time to finish it up everyone! We have games to play! Yeah!! Cause this is a PaR-taY!! Okay?? You have 20 seconds to finish and put the markers away!!"

1:55 "10-9-8-7... Hurry!! Get all the markers put away!! 6-5-4... Oh dear almost out of time!!! 3-2-1! Markers DOWN!"

1:56 Roll up humongous paper roll and put it away (probably never to be seen again).

1:57 Play "Throw the Smile".

2:00 This game is boring.

2:02 Decide to play a new game.

2:04 YEAH! This one is much better!!

2:06 Pause game. Everyone is thirsty.

2:06-2:10 Get cups and drinks for thirsty kids

2:11 Resume game.

2:14 Mental dialog: "I still have 4 other things planned and I am running out of time! We need to get things movin!"

2:15 "Okay we have a winner!!! Time to make crafts!!"

2:15 Kids don't want to make crafts at this time. They want to open PRESENTS.

2:16 "Okay kids! Let's open presents! Yeah!! Whoo-hoo!" (It's important to keep the energy up.)

2:17-2:25 Ellie opens her presents. I run to a fro gathering up wrapping paper, ribbon and tissue, keep track of who gave what and make sure that Ellie says "Thank you".

2:26 "NOW it's time for crafts!! We are making snowmen!!"

2:26 Gather the kids around the kitchen table.

2:27 Instructions are given.

2:28 Everyone needs help AT THE SAME TIME.

2:29 Mental note: Don't make crafts with 5-6 year olds that require them to put small dried beans into a very small sock. They drop 9-10 of them on the floor.

2:38 I am a frantic blur of, "Who needs a scarf? Who needs their sock tied? Who needs more beans? Who is ready for glue? Can someone please help me because I am going crazy?"

I didn't really say that last one. Out loud.

2:50 Only ten minutes before parents arrive!! Crap!! We haven't sung happy birthday yet! We haven't even had cake and ice cream!!

2:51 I multi-task by hot gluing snowmen and lighting the candles and singing happy birthday and YES I burned my fingers several times.

Did I say I lit the candles? I guess Shannon did.

See. I told you I was frantic.

2:52 Shannon dishes out the ice cream and cupcakes, I am a hot-gluing as fast as my poor burnt fingers will allow and Matt is picking up the beans that are all over the floor before Shelby puts them in her mouth. I have no recollection of anything else at this time.

2:56 The first parent arrives to pick up their child.

"NO!!! I'm not done yet! Hurry, gimme your snowman! Where's his eyes?? What color of buttons do you want?? Where's his hat??"

The kid is eating ice cream. She doesn't care.

2:57 My sweet visiting teaching partner arrives to pick up her granddaughter. She doesn't say a word and dives right in to help.

3:06 "Wait!!! Don't leave yet!! I have goodie sacks!! Don't forget your goodie sack!

3:15 I am grateful for parents who were late picking up their kids. I am grateful that I only have 3 more snowmen to finish.

3:20 Last kid is out the door. With Matt and Shannon's help we clean up. It isn't too bad. Cake crumbs, beans and string. Phish, easy.

3:41 Reflecting back, I feel the party went well. We didn't do everything that I had planned. But no one cried, no one said they were bored, nothing got broken, no one got lost or forgotten, everyone liked the cupcakes and...



Ellie was happy.


Sigh. The things we do for our kids.

Fun to do

We are getting ready to celebrate Shannon and Ellie's birthdays this weekend. A package arrived in the mail yesterday for the two b-girls and since we have no restraint or patience in this house we opened it right away.


This is what was inside.

A mid the squeals of delight I had to ask, "What the heck ARE those?"

Response: BENDAROOS!!

Me: What are Bendaroos?

Response: Haven't you ever seen the commercials mom? They are soooooooooo COOL!!!

Apparently I am not up on all the commercials that entice little children to beg things from their parents.

But I have to say, these are pretty dang cool. We played with them for the rest of the night and part of this morning. They are not messy or toxic, no little parts, reusable and kids can be creative. LOVE IT.


Ellie and I built this.


This is a duck. A DUCK! Cute huh? And how talented are Ellie and I that WE MADE HIM.


BENDAROOS

My new favorite thing.

Go out and buy them for your kids today.

In other news we have reached another milestone in Shelby's life. Earlier this week, Shannon was able to get Shelby to walk across the room unassisted. (You all know how much fun it is when a baby takes their first steps, so I don't need to tell you how much cheering and clapping and "yeah-ing" has been going on at our house.) Shelby would still rather crawl than walk, but she is getting better. Tonight we tried to see if she would walk better with shoes on her feet.


Not so much.

She looked like a cat with tape on her paws.


Now lets try taking the shoes off...


Much better!!

Our last night of the year

For New Years Eve we hooked up with our friends and went out to the Barlow's (Sr) in Lewiston. We took our toys and lots of warm clothing to play in the snow.


Getting ready to go outside.

This is the best little hat because she isn't able to yank it off due to the strap. I love Velcro. Thanks Janna for getting such a sweet smile out of her!



Shelby's first time in her snow suit. She didn't quite know what to make of it and just laid there...



The snow ended up being too deep for the wheelers so our friend, Todd brought out the good stuff.

Our Ride for the night.



Matt and Shelby all bundled up.





We drove all over the place and stayed warm and toasty inside the Argo. It was AWESOME.


Besides driving around having fun we were also playing videographers for these two

Todd and Tyler, as they attempted to tube off of a humble looking jump.





Not as easy as it looks folks.

It came and went...

Christmas came and went in under 20 minutes this year (I kept track). At our house, Christmas doesn't start until after 7 am. It's torture really but that's the rule. So at precisely that time I went downstairs to collect the kids (who were already awake of course and excitedly whispering amongst themselves). I made them shut their eyes as we walked through the kitchen "NO PEAKING!!" and sent them down the hall to wait so that I could go check to see if Santa had come.



I turned on the lights and saw that, yes indeed - Santa had come to our house! I almost forgot about the children as I noticed some lovely gifts with MY name on them...



Then I remembered that these people were anxiously awaiting the view as well. Don't you love the sleepy-excited look on their faces?



Searching all the presents for a "To: Christopher" tag on them.



Shanny


Ellie wearing her favorite hat that Grandma gave her and showing off her new things.




Shelby was mostly interested in bows and discarded candy canes.



Christopher models his new riding clothes.




Hat, earrings, scarf, shirt, bracelets, and toe socks.




Ellie is showing Shelby how to work her new toy. It was funny to watch Shelby try and figure this out. The first time she pushed it and it started rolling she didn't know how to control it. It kept going faster and faster and her poor little legs couldn't keep up. NOW she is an expert! She will push it along at her speed, moving to the side of the basket when she wants to stop. Aren't babies smart?



Cute legs honey! I think those are Shannon's slippers though...
(Matt thinks it's unconstitutional for me to post this picture. Says that I need his permission or something. Doesn't he know by now that "If you pose, it WILL be posted"?)



After all the presents were opened Matt and the kids layered up to go outside and play in the new snow.


Matt pulling Christopher and Shannon on the tube.



Matt, Shannon and Ellie just in from playing in the snow. They were soaking wet - head to toe but with smiles on their faces!

Ellie telling how she "hit her brain" while riding on the tube.

Family Christmas

We braved the snow and traffic and went down to see my family for a few days this past weekend. We had our Christmas party and opened lots of presents. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled all of us AGAIN!


The Furniss Family



Just so you know, my camera hates me lately. So ignore all the blurriness, red eyes and general lack-of-light in most of these pics.


Ellie and Madi in their new pj's




My mom's gift to Matt. It says, "My finger may be tiny but I can still wrap my daddy around it." Ain't THAT the truth!!




Me and Shelby. (Notice the football game on in the background? Thus, we did not get a lot of participation out of the menfolk.)




Ellie wearing the hat that Grandma and Grandpa gave her. The smile says it all!




Christopher, looking cool as always.




Shannon in her pj's AND the hoodie she got.



I was able to see some of my good friends on the way down.
Lunch at Macaroni Grill. Yumm, yummm, yummmmmmmmm.

Mishy, Dawn, Carey, Me and Ro. (**EDITED TO ADD: Thanks Michelle for fixing this! It looks TONS better now!!)(Oh, and BTW we were all supposed to pull a funny face for this photo... obviously Carey is the only cool one here. The rest of us are dorks!)



Dawn, Carey and I got together on Sunday night to sing some tunes. We used to sing together every week... I miss that so much!!!!



We drove home Monday in the worst snow storm!! But thanks to Matt (and 4-wheel drive) we made it home safe and sound. The girls jumped right into their snow suits and Matt pulled them on the tubes with the raptor. They had so much fun!! After a dose of hot chocolate, Shannon and Ellie went out again and built this....


Reminds me of a Calvin and Hobbes snowman.