Alana's Birthday

I promise, this is the last birthday post for a while. Our kids had way too many birthday parties.

Alana turned two this weekend, although she keeps insisting that she turned four. Everyone who asks her how old she is, she proudly says Four!

Aunt Julie came to visit for the weekend, which made the kids happy. The weather was pretty yucky, so we went to Kids Castle on saturday. They have a huge play area with ball pits, and slides, and tunnels everywhere. They also have a gymnastics area with big trampolines, bars, and the tumbling floor to play on. The kids had a blast! We took turns chasing them through the tunnels, which was hard on the adults knees, but worth it.

Alana loved hanging on the bars. I was surprised how well she could hang on to such a big bar.

Kale did an awesome job on the zipline. He had never been willing to try on one before. He hung on all the way to the end, and then didn't want to let go!

They got to jump into the foam pit that the gymnasts vault into. They thought that was great, although they had a hard time getting out!

Alana loved the ball pit. Her pigtails didn't survive them nearly as well.

Birthday Party

We had a joint birthday party for Kale and Alana on Saturday. They had all of their favorite friends over to celebrate. We had 11 kids over, (including our own). It was pretty chaotic, but a lot of fun for the kids. I don't know why I bothered cleaning up before the party.

We played pin the tail on the donkey, but the kids were more interested in running around playing, so we took it outside and did the pinata. Very funny to watch them take turns hitting the pinata, although somewhat scary to keep track of everyone when the bat is swinging. I learned that the truck pinata was not the best choice, because it was very hard to break. One of the olders kids hit it open a little, and finally just pulled in open. It worked.

After the pinata, we let the kids run in the yard and play. (of course eating candy all the while) Ten kids trying to share the slide was pretty funny. They did a good job though.

Then it was inside for cake. Kale and Alana were both so excited to pick out the costco cake last week, and of course they didn't really eat it. Kale ate a little bit of the frosting, and Alana had maybe two bites of cake. They just wanted to play with their friends.

Kaleb was so grumpy when everyone left. It was hilarious. He wanted everyone to stay and play. He even did very well sharing his new toys with everyone. I'm not sure he believes me that his birthday is all over for this year, since he has had 5 parties of some sort. Next year we definately need to scale things down!

After Alana's birthday on Saturday, we will be all done with the birthday's for a good while. That will be a welcome relief!

More Birthday

We spent Saturday at Grandpa's house for the annual apple cider press. The kids had a blast running all over the place, and eating a lot of apples.

After we got home that night, we had a combined birthday party for all the October birthdays. Alana has been asking for a princess dress from the store for months. We got her one and she refused to wear it. I finally convinced her to try it on, and this is the result I got. Hmm. Maybe she isnt' as ready for dress-up as she thought. (the dress is going back to the store).

Kaleb got to celebrate his birthday again at preschool. He got to wear a crown all day, and be a special helper. They had a special snack for everyone. He also got to pick out a new book as a gift. Kale is now thinking that everyday is his birthday.

Today we had a pajama day. It has been so busy lately, and we have all been fighting colds. So today we played at home in our pj's all day. It was pretty nice, although the kids were restless by afternoon.

Kaleb's Birthday

Kaleb turned four on Wednesday! It is so hard to believe that he is already four. We spent the day playing at home. (he stayed home from preschool with a cold). We went out to dinner with Grammy before going to church. Kaleb got a free piece of pie that he ate all by himself.

After dinner we went to church. Kaleb shared cupcakes with his class, and got up on stage in front of all the kids while they sang happy birthday. He loved it! I thought he would be shy, but he was very excited.

Thursday night we had dinner at home. Kaleb had a big chocolate chip cookie instead of cake. then he was so excited by his toys, he didn't want a cookie until it was bedtime and too late. He was very in to opening his presents this year. I'm not even sure he noticed what the present was, he just moved on to the next one.

Alana fully enjoyed her cookie.

Jaylee slept through most of the party. This is the way she usually sleeps, with her two middle fingers in her mouth.