HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY CHLOE!!!

I'm about 9 days late posting this! Chloe turned 7 on June 2nd!! She had a super fun day (and i had an extremely busy day). First, she and Caleb had swimming lessons at noon. Then we went by the dollar store to get party favor bag stuff (I wasn't going to do them, but decided very last minute that we should)! Then home to get ready for the party! She wanted a water party with lots of water games! Here's the friend party....

Lots of kids....lots of fun!

Playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey!

Playing "Water, Water, Wet". Same as Duck, Duck, Goose only you use a sponge full of water and tap everyone and say water and when you say wet you squeeze the sponge on that person's head. The kids all loved it!

We had the slip and slides out and they used them for a few minutes but it started to rain and a lot of the kids got wimpy and cold....not Chloe though!! Luckily I had a back-up activity just in case, so they used glitter paint and made foam bookmarks!

The friend party cake! The writing isn't very good because I couldn't find my smaller tip....I found it right after I finished. Oh well!
Obviously a Beach Ball and the brown around the bottom is "sand" (white sugar colored with brown coloring)!

The party was a success and we had a fun time! Thanks to Jeff's mom for coming over and helping me keep everything going!

Jeff was out of town that day and was flying in from DC that night. I made her favorite, tacos, and we had Jeff's fam over for dinner. Then I had to go to a Young Women activity at church and Jeff's brother had a baseball game, so Chloe and Caleb went to the game and I took Claire with me. We got home about 8:30 and then we had to wait for Jeff to get home to do the second round of cake and presents. His flight departed on time but landed an hour late (of course!) so it was a late night. He got home around 10:45!

When Jeff got there, he knocked on the door and had this there for Chloe! Her old bike was getting really small. This one's a little big but once she grows a little, it will be perfect! She LOVES it! She can ride it but just has a hard time starting and stopping by herself.
Opening presents!!!

The second cake! I just threw this one together so it's nothing special!

I'm tired again just thinking about that day!

I love my kids!

My cute kids made me breakfast in bed this morning. I got out of the shower and they yelled up the stairs, "Don't come down, we're making you breakfast in bed!" I was a little nervous because Jeff was already gone and it was just Chloe and Caleb down there alone. So I waited upstairs with Claire and then the brought be my breakfast on a little tray.....a very lightly toasted piece of toast, a glass of milk, and a bowl of Life cereal with milk and Chocolate Chips in it. They were all excited telling me, "We put chocolate chips in your cereal." They're so funny, they just came up with it on their own! I love when they get along and do nice things like that!


And Claire finally took some steps tonight. Jeff let go of her hand and she took a couple steps and when we all started clapping, she stopped and looked around and started clapping too. Then she walked the rest of the way to Jeff. It was pretty cute. She only did it one more time after that...then she would just sit down and clap and look around to make sure everyone else was clapping too! She had taken a couple steps before but only as she was about to fall into the couch, or me. Tonight she actually stopped and had her balance, then started again! About time...she's almost 15 1/2 months old (which is exactly when Chloe started walking)!

so tired....

She was so tired, but I wanted her to eat before she took a nap so she'd sleep longer! Didn't work too well!

The rest of May...

Wow...I'm WAY behind! Jeff keeps reminding me to update the blog, so here I go!!

CHLOE'S FIELD TRIP TO THANKSGIVING POINT FARM COUNTRY AND DISCOVERY PARK...

The peacocks had their feathers all up...it was really cool

Chloe and her friend Brenna

WE PLANTED A GARDEN...

Jeff wanted it documented that HE roto-tilled the dirt! It was really hard dirt so it wasn't an easy job! Good job Jeff!!! Our garden is growing great. We've had a few casualties but most of the things we planted are thriving!

CHLOE'S SOCCER SEASON....

Chloe had a great time playing soccer again. She's getting a lot more aggressive and loves to play goalie too!

MOTHER'S DAY....

I had a great Mother's day! Jeff and the kids surprised me with a yummy breakfast consisting of over-easy eggs and chocolate chip pancakes with strawberry jam and strawberry syrup (like you make strawberry milk with) and cool whip on top. I think we didn't have strawberries so they improvised...it was defnitely very sweet!

Chloe said that part of my present was that she got all dressed up in my clothes and shoes.

CALEB CAN RIDE HIS BIKE WITHOUT TRAINING WHEELS.....

He picked it up immediately. He could have done it a lot earlier, he just never wanted to. Now he is great at it!

CLAIRE....

Claire is getting bigger and cuter all the time. She likes to get into the cupboards (the ones I don't have locks on yet). She's not walking yet, but if you hold her hand she'll walk with you forever...she loves it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA.....

The kids helped decorate Grandma's cake and did a fabulous job!

CHLOE'S FIRST GRADE PROGRAM....

So crazy that first grade is already over for Chloe. She'll be in 2nd grade and Caleb will start Kindergarten...am I really that old?

Her program was really fun. Her favorite song was, "Dirt made my lunch"...it was a fun one! I loved hearing them sing "God Bless the USA." So neat to hear their little voices singing it!

Chloe with her teacher, Mrs. Carlson...who she just loved!

Chloe and Grandma

The whole fam after the program

FATHERS AND SONS OUTING......

Jeff and Caleb had a great time at the activity! Caleb was so excited about it when he got home. Chloe, Claire and I stayed home and painted our toe nails, did hair and watched High School Musical 3 - Senior Year (can't forget the senior year part...Chloe's watching me type this)!

MEMORIAL DAY.....

At the gravesite of one of Jeff's mom's grandma (I think...correct me if I'm wrong)

For Memorial Day we went with Jeff's parents and brother up to Idaho. We stopped in Portage, Utah on the way to see this grave site and a house that one of his ancestors lived in. Then we went up to Uncle Randy's house and the kids had a blast. We also went to the cemetary in McCammon where Jeff's grandma and aunt are buried. It was a really fun trip!!!

Uncle Randy took the kids for a ride on his big tractor...they thought it was pretty cool!

Claire loved the dandelions

Claire, Jeff and Great Grandpa (Jeff's grandpa)



The kids had SO much fun riding QTPie, one of Uncle Randy's horses. They rode her around for a LONG time and didn't want to stop!!

The kids letting the horse get a drink.

Claire's first time on a horse!

Checking out some of Uncle Randy's cows

Caleb...again!

I know I keep posting things Caleb has said, but I want to remember...and he says things constantly that are funny. I promise more variety soon, but for now...


Caleb (at dinner) - "Hey guys. I know what it feels like to die!"

Jeff - "Oh, really? How do you know that?"

Caleb - "Because I had a dream and I died in it."

Jeff - "Oh, was it a sad dream?"

Caleb - "No, because then I got resurrected."

Lost Vegas

In case you're wondering where Las Vegas got its name from, Caleb has it all figured out....

Caleb:
"Lost" Vegas is called "Lost" Vegas because lots of people aren't there, some people are there only lots of people don't know where it is because it's kind of far away. And it's kind of lost, huh?

Why I'll miss Caleb when he starts Kindergarten...

In the car on the way to Costco, random and totally out of the blue...

Caleb: Mommy, since you're in charge of me and your kind of like my captain, can I just call you Captain?

Me: Um, sure Caleb

Caleb: OK, thanks Captain.

He says and thinks the funniest things!

A couple weeks ago we met Jeff for lunch at the Thanksgiving Point Deli. We got a number to put on our table for our food. Caleb kept asking questions (like he always does) about the number and why we had to put in on the table. So, just now I'm sitting at the computer and Caleb just walked up and handed me a number 12 on a folded paper. I said, "What's that for?" and he said, "It's for you to get cereal in your hand."

Then he left the number with me, ran to the kitchen and came back with a handful of Cocoa Puffs for me. He's a funny kid!

Lately I've been finding myself telling the kids constantly, "Let's do things to make eachother happy, not sad." So I thought of an idea. We made a happy family jar and I bought some dried black beans. I let them put a bean in the jar when they do something that contributes to a happy family...and if they do something that makes people sad, they might have to take one out. When the jar is full we're going to go to Coldstone or somewhere they like! Hopefully it works.

So far Caleb is really excited about it. He has been making decorations for the jar and made a sign and put it on the wall that says, "Be nice, we have a happy family jar," so that people that come over "know that we have a happy family jar and they have to be nice."

Claire's first haircut

When I was out in California, it was brought to my attention by my cousin Lindsay that Claire had a mullet! I hadn't really noticed before she said that, but then I started realizing....she's right! So finally on Saturday I cut her hair! It was interesting cutting a 14 month old's hair...she was moving constantly, trying to see what I was doing, and her hair grows like Jeff's in the back on the bottom....it grows kind of sideways. Anyway, here are some after picutres...it looks way better now!

Happy now Lindsay?? :)

I'm so bummed because I had taken some before pictures and for some reason ALL except for a couple pictures I took on Saturday (and everything I had on there still that I had taken earler...luckily I had already put them on the computer) are deleted off my memory card.

Oh and she's gotten two back molars in the last week. Both on the left side...one on the bottom, one on the top.

We got a new baby girl niece/cousin today!!

Reese Nida Dubenko

7 pounds 12 ounces, 20 1/2 inches

born today at 7:46 am

Congratulations Tim, Allyson, Avery and Mason!

I wish I could be there to snuggle her!!