Happy Birthday Tommy & Katie

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the kids' birthdays this year. Their birthdays are two days apart so until they are old enough to start saying something about it, they share a party. Since Mike works every weekend, I didn't know when we would have a party. Then my sister Kathy called me with a great idea. She and her family would bring my mom to Grand Junction where we could all meet to celebrate the birthdays. This is about halfway between us. Mike's brother Gordy and his mom were also able to come. I was really glad she thought of that because spending their birthdays with family turned out to be more fun than we could have imagined. I told Mike that we would still need to do a friend party when we got back home. He said that would be spoiling the kids to give them two parties. I disagreed. After spending as much time, energy and money on the family party though I decided Mike was right. That was pretty difficult to type. I'm glad I don't have to say things like that very often.

We started the party with a swim at the hotel pool. The kids had a blast and so did we. We invented a thing called "The Monkey on the back Olympics". Mike, Kathy, her son Zack and I each had a small child on our back and then raced the length of the pool. It was a great workout and most of the monkeys enjoyed it too. Yes those are skin stickers all over Katie. She looks a bit like a sailor.

Zack and Jaxson.Then we played some basketball. Here's Gordy, Tommy and Mike. Katie with my mom.I was so glad that Mike's mom and brother could make it too. So were the kids. When Gordy stayed with us a few weeks ago, they really adored him.What are you thinking about Kathy?Here's Stockton getting ready to help Katie with her candles...just in case...reallyTommy didn't need any help.When Stockton saw Katie's tiara, immediately claimed it for his own and didn't want to give it up. So we gave him a turn and even let him blow out some candles. The kids decided to have a little picnic with their cake.I was kind of impressed that during the whole party, the kids never asked about presents. I finally had to ask them if they wanted to go open them just to get them out of the pool. When I asked Katie, her mouth fell open wide like she couldn't believe it. And the excitement just continued when she saw her gifts.Jaxson offered his present opening expertise...just in case...really Thanks for the beautiful princess backpack Kathy.This is the best day ever!Katie paints every day. She loves to color and draw too. We got her this art desk that came with a ton of markers, stamps, crayons and paints. She loves it!Katie got the latest Little Mermaid movie. When we were at the store, she saw it and kept holding it and wouldn't let it go. I was so glad we had already gotten it for her. She was very excited when she opened it and she and Stockton couldn't wait to watch it.
Tommy just chillin' Tommy has wanted the Lego Indiana Jones video game forever. He shook his presents before he opened them and tried to guess what they were. He guessed right on the game. He was very excited. I was so impressed with how quickly he learned to play it. He kept asking me, "mom, are you glad I got this game?". I am.
Well, the family birthday road trip was a great idea, Kathy. We also went to this place called Bananas that has an arcade, laser tag, go karts, etc. It was raining the day we went so we could only do the indoor stuff. Tommy and Mike loved laser tag. Katie likes it too. She's too little to wear the vest so she just runs around. The kids won a bunch of tickets playing games and bought some high quality prizes. One thing we got that really was cool though was a beach ball. We took it to the pool that night and Zack, Mike and three kids who happened to be there played volleyball for three straight hours. Kathy and I took turns playing and watching the little kids. How can something so simple as a ball be so much fun? That was the best 100 ticket investment we ever made.