Poor Tanner

Last night we decided to go out to eat at Olive Garden, which the boys have been begging to go to, even choosing it over Hananoki! We didn't get there till about 6:15, of course, the busiest time of a Friday night! But it was a beautiful evening, so we stood outside and waited for the buzzer to sound. While waiting, a guy comes out of the restaurant and says, "I am sorry... they ran out of food...I ate it all!" And walks away laughing. Poor Tanner, remember he has been begging for Olive Garden, runs behind the outside bench and starts to cry! He is so upset! He didn't realize the guy was only joking. This didn't last long, but sure was funny for a moment, we comforted Tanner and told him the guy was just joking, but for a minute Tanner sure wasn't happy!

Tapanga's Birthday Party

July 25
A few weeks before this date, I had gotten the idea to have a joint birthday with the Richards family for a couple of reasons. One of which, Tapanga and the Richards boys share the same birthday. Another reason is that we have the same friends, so why not have a joint birthday and help everyone out. The final reason was that with our schedule and the Richards schedule we wouldn't have been able to have a party any other time together. So, even though it was early we celebrated Levi and Landon's 5th birthday, Leila's 3rd birthday, and Tapanga's 2nd birthday together!

As for the location, why not have it at one of the daycares? The kids would have plenty to play on and with, I would also set up the slip and slide and water ring for the kids to play in also.

Tapanga, sporting her Birthday Girl shirt, is happy about her party day.

Tapanga drinking the water rather than playing in it.

Mrs. Joy made the kids some snow cones, which they really enjoyed!

Thomas, JT and Cindy (Lauras mom) spent time inside making balloon animals for the kids.Which gave me the idea for the balloon makers to make enough swords for every kid to participate in a sword fight...congratulations to Bianca, the last remaining player!

Afterwards, it is cake time. One benefit of a joint party sharing duties and thanks to Laura she made cupcake/cakes for the kids. Here is Tapangas Dora cake.

Here are all the kids with their special cakes.

We sang to each kid individually.

Mommy and her birthday girl!

Yes, even I enjoyed some of the cake!Pinata time! We ended up with two pinatas, the first one was a Transformer one, which the pull strings did not work!

So it was time to hit it!

CANDY!!!

Second pinata...thanks to Lauras mom.

Present time...

She looks so happy....

I love this face...such surprise!

I really enjoyed having the joint birthday for the kids, I think it worked out well. Thank you Laura for the cakes and sharing in the party with me! Happy Birthday to Levi, Landon, Leila and my baby girl Tapanga!

Dancing Fools!

I had seen an advertisement for a dance camp with The Dance Force, but one of the best things about the dance camp was that boys were FREE! So, I asked the boys and they said they wanted to do it, I knew Tanner would like to do it because he has always enjoyed dancing around. I didn't know how Tyler would do, but didn't want to not include him.

On Friday, the kids did a program for the parents. Here Tanner is dancing to one of the songs...you can see Tyler off to the right side also. Tyler dancing.

At the end of the program the boys received their certificates for completing the dance camp.

I think overall the boys really enjoyed the camp. There were busy all day and learned lots of new things. I would consider letting them take more dance classes if the studio wasn't so far away! When asked though, if they wanted to continue dance classes or play soccer...they both replied soccer! So we are going to put on the cleats and try out soccer next!!!

I have attached a video of one of the dances...Tyler is near the back and Tanner the front.

Deck Building

One of the things Thomas really wanted was a large deck on the back of the house. Jeremy said it would cost about $500 to have someone else build the deck, so to save the money we decided to build it ourselves! It turned out to be a lot harder than anyone expected!!!

The first step was to drill about 24 holes into the brick. These holes took almost all day to drill and we thought it would be a lot easier! Mike went out and bought a new hammer drill to help make it a little easier. The guys took turns drilling, but they were worn out by the end of the day. Then, the drills would get so hot, they had to dip the drill bit into water to cool it down!

In the end we got a very beautiful deck that we love and that was made with love! The guys did a great job!

Family Fun Day

The mall recently was sponsoring a family fun day. Inside they had a couple inflatables set up for the kids to jump on and then they had games and other activities with prizes and such. So, I convinced Thomas to go with the kids and I and check it out....especially since it was all FREE!

Here the kids are fishing for prizes.

Tanner made a beautiful bookmark at one of the coloring stations.

A lady dressed as a clown was making balloon animals...Tapanga wasn't so sure about her, but she liked the doggy. The first one actually popped so we had to go back and get another, because she through an absolute fit!

Tanners sword.

Tyler's sword.

After going to the mall, we decided to take the kids to the park, because the weather was so nice. I hadn't been to Airport Park so we took the kids there....where they had a big sand pit, which the kids loved the most!

Tapanga wanted to use the digging machines.

Tyler didn't quite fit on it.

Lets fly away!

I can do it...climb, climb, climb!

Pretty girl!