November Heat

Tell me how it is NOVEMBER and the weather was 95! Warm enough to pull out the sprinklers and let the kids play. We didn't know we were going to play in the water so Brielle borrowed some clothes from Kasen. Anyway...this WAS last weekend. It has actually cooled down a little bit the past couple days, but I am sure next week it will be 90 again. Irritating. I guess that's all part of living in So Cal, right? "Perfect" weather all year round! ;)

Seaworld

While Jeremy's parents were here, they took us all to Seaworld to celebrate Kasen's birthday. I am ashamed to admit that I have lived here my whole life and never been, so it was a treat to get to go! Kasen loved it and had a total blast! Here are some pictures:

On some of the Bay of Play rides:

Dolphin Show:

Kase and Uncle Cam

The Shamu Show:

Having a popcorn snack while waiting for Shamu

The Penguin Exhibit:

The last ride of the day: Journey to Atlantis

This rollercoaster is all Kasen could talk about for days!!! He loved it! The kid has no fear and I am so grateful for that!

The night before Gramie and Papa went home! :(

We are so lucky that Jeremy's family came to visit us. It was so nice for them to see Kasen in his own element and atmosphere. He was more at home, more himself, and loved having all of them around. We hope you can come visit us every other year Gramie and Papa!! Thanks for coming this year! We love and miss you!

A Special Visit for a Special Party

We woke up the day after Kasen's birthday with a big day ahead of us. We got ready and left to go pick Jeremy's parents and brother up at the airport. Kasen was so excited to see Gramie and Papa, and Uncle Cam. It had almost been a year. Way too long, but what can ya do when we live two states apart? We are just grateful to see them when we can! We went to breakfast that morning at Cocos. Quite tasty.

When we got home, we all finished getting ready for the party! Jerralyn was my camera girl, Jeremy, Lyle and Cameron all helped decorate the living room. My mom helped with the veggies and my dad was at the temple. We all totally pitched in and got it done before everyone got here.


When the kids got here, we blew up their lightsabers for them and let them play with those while we waited for everyone to get there. Once everyone was here, we played a couple games outside (Star Wars related) and then came inside for cake and ice cream.



I made two cakes this year. A basic sheet cake that the kids ate, and lightsaber cake too. The kids wanted to eat it, but I had a hard time after all my work, letting them cut it open. lol lame I know. It was my first time using fondant and I will admit that that I had some help rolling it out from Jeremy because I didn't want to hurt my arms or neck. We just used some of Kasen's action figures from Disneyland to put around the cake and then cut a whole bunch of stars out of fondant. Pretty basic, but I was happy with it and most importantly, Kasen was too!!

After the kids were done eating their cake and ice cream, we went into the living room to open presents. I didn't really get any good pictures because all the other kids were up in his face trying to see what he got. It was cute. They were all so excited too!

This is the only picture I got. After the presents were open! Lots of star wars stuff! YAAY!

Thank you to everyone who came, thank you to everyone for their presents, thank you to everyone who helped me prepare!! Kasen is grateful as well!

Kasen's Birthday!

In the past couple years we have started a few traditions with Kasen for his birthday.

1. He gets to go to sleep in our bed the night before and fall asleep watching a movie

2. While he is sleeping in our bed, we wrap his presents and display them for when he wakes up

3. We decorate his room with streamers and a ton of balloons

4. Take one last picture of him at his current age before he wakes up another year older

5. We carry him into his room in the dark so that he can wake up to his decorated room

6. Take pictures of him playing in his room!

This year backfired a little bit, but not too bad. We put him in our room and decorated and did all we had to do. When we went to carry him into his room, he woke up a little bit, saw the streamers and the conversation went like this:

Kasen: Who put those up there? (referring to the streamers he saw)
Jeremy: What?
Brittany: What are you talking about Kase?
Kasen: Who put those up there? (whispering)
Brittany: I don't know what you are talking about, there is nothing up there, go back to sleep.

WHOOPS!

Well I lied for his benefit and I don't think he remembered the next morning either, so it worked out. We are going to have to figure out a different way to do this tradition next year. Just put a new twist on it or something because he is getting too big to carry and he doesn't sleep through the transfer from our bed to his bed like he used to.

He woke up to....well let me correct that, WE woke up to the sound of balloons flying at us in bed. I grabbed my camera and ran in to take a few pictures of him playing in his room. He loved it. He played in there for about another hour while I went back to sleep!


We made him wait until Daddy got home from work to open all his presents. Which he was totally fine with and I was glad. So my parents and Jeremy and I watched as Kasen opened all his presents. Here are a couple of his favorites:

From mommy and daddy

From mommy and daddy


From Grandma and Grandpa



From Gramie and Papa

After that, my parents left for their date, and Jeremy and I took Kasen to his choice of restaurant for dinner. Where did he choose? Of all the places he could pick??? Where you ask??

HOMETOWN BUFFET

You're kidding me? That's where you want to go? Hometown is like the equivalent of Golden Corral or Chuck O Rama, something like that. Oh well, it was his choice so we went. He loved it.

Afterwards, we went to CEC (Chuck E Cheese) and got some tokens and played for about an hour. We all actually played. Jeremy and I took turns following Kasen and then the other would go off and play, we all had fun that time.

We came home and put him to bed and started making food and dips for his birthday party the next day.

Side note:

Happy Birthday my sweet love! I am SO incredibly blessed to have you in my life. You have changed me in so many ways, and I am forever grateful to you for that. You have made my life a joy. The fact that you are even here today is such a miracle. YOU are MY miracle. I can't imagine my life without you and I am so thankful that I don't have to! You mean the world to me. Thank you for loving me no matter what, unconditionally, and through it all. You are such a smart boy and such an old soul. You understand more than I think anyone gives you credit for. You are so sweet, compassionate and loving. So forgiving, humble and caring. Thank you for coming to me little boy! I love you dearly! Happy 4th Birthday Cheebs!

Love,

Mommy

Train Ride

I have been meaning to take Kasen on the local train called the Sprinter for months now. I mean MONTHS. I just never got around to it, and how mean am I, but I even bribed him with it a couple times and never followed through. So one Saturday we were bored and I told Jeremy in secret what my plans were and he agreed. So we told Kasen we were going on a secret trip and he needed to go get ready. He was so excited and couldn't stop asking questions. We took the Sprinter from Vista to San Marcos. Not too far, but about 4 stops inbetween so really it was just enough. Once we got off the sprinter, we walked about a mile with Kasen in the stroller and went and had lunch at a tasty little mexican joint called La Fe. We ate, walked back to the sprinter and then went home. He LOVED every minute of it. He felt so cool being on the train. Like such a big boy, and the best part was his ticket was FREE.

This first picture was of him realizing where we were going and what we were going to do. He was ecstatic! It was really cute.

Buying tickets.

Patiently waiting for the train.


Here comes the train!

On the train, finally, at last!

2nd half of October in a Nutshell

Sorry I have been MIA for SO incredibly long. Our family has had a lot going on and this has really been the least of my priorities. Things are finally starting to calm down a little bit, and I am trying to make blogging a priority again. So here I am.

We went to Lowes to make a pumpkin with interchangeable faces. Kasen is getting a lot better about doing more of the project himself and nailing all the nails himself too. He really likes to go. Whenever we drive past Lowes he always says "that's lowes! Thats where I work!"

We also went to the Pumpkin Patch (Bates Nut Farm) with my family. Of course the first place we hit up was the bouncy slide. Kasen's favorite. He had a great time going up and down. He was even getting daring and jumping up in the air so that he would bounce down the slide. Crazy kid!

Here are a couple pictures of my family at Bates. It's a tradition to go every year and I am glad we were able to go again this year. Yes, Bailey really did get pecked through the fence. It was funny, and she was ok.

Here we are at the Ward Trunk or Treat. That was a different experience. We will leave it at that. The kids had fun though and I guess thats all that matters.

The pumpkins Jeremy and I carved. I did buzz lightyear (toy story) and jeremy did Mike Wakowski (monsters inc.). I think they turned out fairly well for not being professionals.

This is Kasen in his CREEPY Anakin costume. Thankfully he took the mask off about half way through. We went Trick or Treating through the neighborhood with my parents, Crystal and her family and then Melissa and her family. It was a lot of fun and Kasen soaked up every minute of it!

That was the 2nd half of my month in a nutshell. November to come.