Jax is SIX!

It may seem like we just celebrated Lola's birthday a few weeks ago... and that is because we did. Jax and Lola's birthdays are six days apart. Six DAYS people. That means unless this momma strategically plans birthday parties, I don't even get a solid weeks rest between events.

Last year we celebrated Jax's birthday two days after I came home from the hospital with Lola. I waddled my freshly hacked up post c-section self into the kitchen and made a pretty fantastic five layer rainbow cake COVERED in sprinkles (thank you post c-section pain meds!). I forced Nolan to blow up 50 balloons to cover the floor in Jax's room so that when he woke up he knew it was a special day. I don't know what I was thinking. Except maybe that I didn't want to him to think for one second that his sister coming home from the hospital outweighed the importance of his 5th birthday. 

This year I lucked out. My brother and sister in law were coming for a visit at the end of March, so I managed to convince Jax that if we waited to have his party until the end of the month he could invite his cousins. Thankfully he was on board for that. That gave me three weeks to switch from pretty pink chic little girl party mode to loud crazy Star Wars party mode. I admit, I could have done better. I cut a lot of corner were I could have pulled off some really cute ideas. The cake was... not my best work. Frankly, I was too exhausted to care by the end of it. The important part is Jax and all of his buddies had a blast!

Here is what I came up with-

Sorry for the blurry shot!

We went easy with the food this year in anticipation for 20 six year olds! This momma just wasn't up for cooking THAT much food. Instead we went with pizza, a veggie platter, chips and dip, juice boxes, water bottles, cheese sticks, and fruit snacks. 

My cake was... um... 

Well let's just say that thanks to a rush trip to Walmart for some Star Wars toys it ended up looking remotely cute. Definitely NOT my best work though. Thankfully Jax didn't seem to mind!

Adorable goody box printables thanks to BaBaBuffBaby 

Light Saber popsicle cozies 

I also included glow in the dark stars, suckers, Star Wars stickers, and bouncy balls.

Upon arrival all of the kids got to put on a Jedi tunic and grab a light saber. 

The girls even got amazing Pricess Leia headbands thanks to my sister.

You all have to understand one thing- when I planned this party the weather was (and had been for quite some time) sunny and warm. Naturally the weekend of the party it poured rain, which left me with lot of little boys, armed with light sabers, cooped up in my house.

We opted to push all of the furniture to the side and let the boys run wild. What are birthday parties for, right?

Every little boy needs a Millennium Falcon pinata right?

Happy Birthday little dude!!!

Kids. They really do say the darndest things...

I feel as though we have rounded a corner (fingers crossed). For so many years Nolan and I have endured dinner after dinner, together, as a family, at the same table. "Endured" may sound a little harsh, unless you also happen to be a parent of three kids under six, the oldest of the two being boys. Eating dinner tends to be, well, less than pleasant in our house. There is constant yelling (followed by "please don't yell at the table, we're right here, we can hear you just fine"), constant fart and poop jokes (followed by "please don't talk like that at the table") constant getting up and down running across the house to fetch a toy (followed by "please don't get down without being excused. Please sit in your chair don't stand. No toys at the table during dinner.") and so on and so on. Never mind the fact that kids are impossibly picky and hard to please. Unless it's bacon or bread, they don't like it and will certainly describe every aspect of what they don't like and why. A conversation with your spouse? Forget it. A conversation with your kids that doesn't involve nagging or reprimanding? Not happening.

That is until this week. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but so far every day this week (granted, it's only Tuesday) the boys have come to the table, sat down, pleasantly cleaned their plates, and had actual conversations with us. Nolan and I were even able to talk- with EACH OTHER! Has all of our hard work and determination paid off?

Last night during dinner, Jax began talking about his future wife (he's been fixated on this lately), and how one day when he's big he wants to get married. Then he matter of factly stated "and I'm going to tell my wife- 'I want you to grow 1000 babies!'" followed by a maniacal cackle.
How can you not laugh when your child says something like that?!

Lord help his future wife...

Shoe Prints

Today was Jax's 6th birthday and it was a normal morning getting ready for school, eat breakfast and open presents :)
We got in the car and drove to school. It was not raining, but it had rained the night before so the ground was still wet. When we got to school I helped him put his jacket on then his angry bird back pack on, then off we went to his class. As we were walking I saw a blue piece of paper on the ground and I told Jax, "look someone loss a piece of paper."
He said "yeah," then he stepped on it and we kept going. We talked about what he dreamed about and if he was excited to have a party at school today for his birthday? I opened the door to his class and gave him a hug and kiss, then off I went back to the car.
As I was walking back I came across the the blue paper on the ground with his little wet shoe print on it. Then I saw both mine and his as they were leading to the blue paper.
I started thinking about how much I love him and how big he's getting and I don't know where I would be without him or Maddox or Lola.
Tracy and I are truly blessed and love them all very much.

Nolan

Lola Turns... ONE!

Okay, I've been getting some flack for not blogging since... well, September.
My bad.
I'll get to it, I promise. I know there were some important moments in there... you know, Christmas, Halloween, etc. What I will probably have to do is back date a few entries and just pretend like I never missed them at all. That would be okay, right? ;)
I thought I had better at least post the pictures of Lola's first birthday before Jax turns six on Thursday. That's right, I'm that lucky mom that has kids who's birthdays are a week apart. I'm still recovering from the last birthday party and I'm already behind on planning the next one!

I have given up on trying to accurately articulate the way I feel about Lola turning one. She's ONE. Aside from the usual "how did this happen so fast?!" feelings, I find myself experiencing something new- my last first. She's my last baby, my last first birthday. And as that first birthday comes and goes, so too do the baby years. Honestly I don't know how I feel about that. A little sad... a little proud. Somehow despite all of the odds, we have this gorgeous amazing little girl, that has made us fall more in love with her every single day since she arrived. The day Lola was born was both miraculous and terrifying. I don't know if I will ever be able to get through one of my kids birthdays without being flooded by the memories of NAIT. Jax will be six on Thursday, and I still cannot think about the details of his birth without crying. I'm not sure if any of those emotions will ever just fade away, and in a way I don't want them to. Those memories give me perspective, and they remind me of how insanely blessed we are.

Anyway, on to the details of Lola's party :)
I didn't exactly intend on having a theme, but somehow along the way it morphed into a "Whatever Lola Wants" party. For the five of you that have never heard the famous song from "Damn Yankees" (a famous Broadway musical), let me introduce it to you :)

Let me make something perfectly clear. We did not name Lola after the girl in this song. We didn't name her after anyone. We just like the name. So for anyone who might somehow take offense to this.... it's just a song.

I may have gone a smidge overboard. I had napkins monogrammed and printed with "whatever Lola wants." My amazing sister made some fantastic banners with her fancy cutting machine. A made a torn fabric backdrop and sewed my own striped table cloth. For weeks I scoured Goodwill for beautiful retro glass serving dishes that complimented each other. We had fruit salsa and cinnamon and sugar pita chips. Bagel sandwiches, tortellini and asparagus salad, chips and dip, Izzy's Sodas, and of course cake :) For the kiddos we had PB&J's, cheese sticks, juice boxes, and fruit snacks. Favors were red velvet sugar cookies and candy. I couldn't be happier with how everything turned out, and am so blessed to have so many good friends and family who can come out and celebrate with us!

 

Lola getting IVIG in the NICU on her first day of life.

Lola at one year old!

"OHMGOSH!!!!! DOLLLLLLIIIIEEEES!!!!!!"

"MORE dollies!!"

Kids- They really do say the darndest things!

Maddox- "Hey mommy, you know what I love?"
Me- "What's that bud?"
Maddox- "Rescue bots. Know what else I love? Lightning Mcqueen."
Me- "I know you do buddy, the're pretty fun aren't they?"
Maddox- "Yeah. And you know what else I love? Snacks. And my toys, and my sissy, and Brother, and my cars, and this house, and the dog, and the rug, and music..."
Me- "Wow, that's a lot of things you love."
Maddox- "Yeah. I love a lot of things."  (long pause)  "Know what else I love Mommy?"
Me- "What's that?"
Maddox- "Boobies."

Weekend in Pictures

This has been a fairly (to quote Barney) "legendary" weekend. Put aside the fact that our Friday kicked off with a vomiting five year old, and the weekend went rather well (for a weekend with three kids and a horse sized puppy that is).

Late afternoon Friday it started to snow in Redding, and it kept snowing all through the night until we ended up with this-

We're lucky if it snows once a year in Redding, it's even more rare that the snow actually sticks to the ground. I couldn't have asked for more for our little city boys' first winter in Redding. Saturday we took a walk through the neighborhood, built a snowman, hung some more Christmas lights, and had a snowball fight.

Our tribute to San Francisco :)

I assure you, Jax is in this picture... I'm pretty sure he ducked behind the snowman for the shot. Lola was napping.

On Sunday we braved the cold and headed up to Mt. Lassen to hunt a Christmas tree. 

We have spent a lot of time missing the bay area lately, but I will say it will never hold a candle to this-

It's been years since we have cut down a tree in the woods. After all, there aren't really "woods" in the bay... it was definitely a first for the kids. As much as we tried to prepare them for the 18 degree weather, I don't think we succeeded. They soldiered through a lot of hiking, but after a few small falls in the snow, they were over it. It all culminated with Maddox needing to pee, and not being able to get his pants down fast enough with his gloves on. Picture me, sprinting through the snow, ripping my gloves off, only to pull his pants down mid pee. So now not only was he cold, but he was covered in his own urine, and a good 1/4 mile from the car. Ahh parenthood. The kids ended up spending the rest of the trip in the car, pants-less (heater on of course), while Nolan and I alternated trekking through the woods looking for a tree. 

Here is the difference between childless couples, and couples with young kids:

Childless couple- "Let's go cut a Christmas tree today."

"Okay, when do you want to leave?"

"How about now?"

"Okay!"

And they leave.

Couple with young children- "Let's go cut down a Christmas tree today!"

"Okay, when do you want to leave."

"It's 9:30, if we start getting everyone ready now we should be able to leave in an hour."

"Okay."

Three hours later they leave.

Childless Couple- "Let's hike around until we find the tree we like best, no need to rush!"

"Yes, let's just enjoy the day together."

Couple with Young Children- "we're on borrowed time here, let's just pick one and get out, we've been here for four hours! One kid peed on himself, one is soaked, and they're all hungry."

"Good idea, I'll get them in the car, you go find one. Just mark a trail to it in the snow and I'll come back with the saw while you feed the baby."

And so on and so forth. The tree we ended up with is beautiful unique. It is bald in the middle and splits into a sort of wishbone effect at the top. Quite lovely really... 

We made it out of the woods just as the sun was going down.  All in all it was a pretty amazing weekend, and I'm sure we made some amazing memories. 

"Hey Maddox, remember the time you peed all over yourself in the woods?" 

I think everyone was pretty thoroughly exhausted by the end of the trip.

As a side note, if you've never seen this video, it's pretty hilarious. I don't think I could do a better job of describing parenthood...