St Patricks Day

Elektra had her 3 year well check up appointment the other day.  It took awhile because the DR's office required that her Tri Care insurance contact them to let them know that they could care for her. What a PITA it turned out to be.  But between Leonard, Michelle and I going round and round, we finally got it all figured out, and she was able to be seen.  

We waited over an HOUR for her to be seen.  I was listening to other parents while in the waiting room, and it seemed as most of them were unhappy with the continually LONG wait times.
  Also, the waiting room had nothing for children. NOTHING!  I don't know if its just Florida dr's or what, but the several we have been to, do not provide toys or books for children to keep them occupied.
 Its very frustrating. 

Our Dr in AZ had the entire waiting room child friendly and the back rooms.
Pretty paintings on the wall, lots of toys and books.
That way if you did have to wait, the children weren't so bored!
And rarely did we have to wait long.
http://www.gdpeds.com/home/
 Once they took us back we waited another 20 minutes.  In a childs world, that might as well be an eternity.  So, I got out my pens and we colored on the paper that covers the table. Elektra blows me away with her abilities! I would draw a heart, then she would draw a heart. I drew a flower, she drew a flower. Her small motor skills are so developed! Basically, if you show her how to do something, she will try and do it, and most of the time, she does it wonderfully!

Anyway, other than the long wait, her appt went well, and the DR feels that she is on target with everything. She is in the 51% for her height, and 5% for her weight.  Which is just fine. She is a petite little girl, but very healthy. (all my kids were always in the low percentile for weight and height.)

We had a wonderful St Patricks Day.  I put a 3lb Corned Beef in the crockpot with lots of veggies.

Although next year I need to double the size of the beef.  It was devoured!

Then we had a GREEN themed night. Pretty much the rest of dinner was GREEN.

Mike made him and I a GREEN beer. The kids had GREEN sprite.

I made a salad with only GREEN things like GREEN grapes, cucumber, GREEN onions, GREEN tomatoes and GREEN apples. We made the applesauce GREEN.

  For dessert we made GREEN vanilla milkshakes and chocolate chip cookies with GREEN frosting.

We had so much GREEN food dyes that I'm sure our insides are permanetly GREEN.

I knew the kids liked Corned Beef, but I had no idea how much. Zachary had 3 helpings!

We had leftovers of the veggies, but none of the Corned Beef.

On Friday Frank and Dave came over for the long awaited birthday dinner. 

Every time they were to come over, something else came up. Or down. Like the big rain storm last week. 

We had a wonderful evening! We had a nice dinner of lasagna and then they all played Wii.

Bro got Caleb some Jet plane lights.  Caleb as you know LOVES jets!

Christina got a box with a moon and a star.  We just gave bro some cash.

Caleb loved his lights so much he couldn't wait to hang them up.

So Mike strung them across their room.

Very cool present! Caleb wants them on every night. They are now his night light.

Happy 18th Birthday to Christina!

Happy 18th Birthday Christina!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! I can't believe its been 18 years already!  Time goes by fast when your having fun!

Christina's friend Katelyn surprised her at school with all these balloons and a bunch of mini cupcakes.

We all decorated the backyard for her party. She had a Mardi Gras style party. So we hung lights and lots of Mardi Gras decorations. Thank goodness the rain stopped, but the only problem was that it was super windy.  The decorations kept blowing away so we had to use lots and lots of tape.

The kids helped decorate as well. They were almost as excited for the party as Christina!

She had about 25 people show up, and they had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and made smores.

Zachary was too shy to go out there, but not Caleb or Elektra.

They kept going out and roasting marshmallows and bringing them back in.

Heres a bunch of pics of her and her friends.

Since she had so much going on Saturday we waited to celebrate her birthday as a family the next day. 

 I made her a white layer cake with tons of Sprinkles. (Thats what she wanted!)

Make a wish!

Then she opened up all her presents. Her friend Shannon and of course Ben was over.

She got a lot of cool things!

She had a great party and a great day!  I am so proud of her! 

Cecilia and John had this posted in their New Mexico paper.

Happy Happy 18th Birthday Sweetie!!

Its been so windy here the last few days.  The kids took advantage of it and flew kites.

We detailed the Durango over the weekend. Caleb loves to help, so he asked if he could vacuum.

He did a great job and got in all the corners.

The other day I made Taquitos.  The kids LOVED them so much! So I put the recipe on my other blog:

http://www.myfamilysfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/

Then Elektra used the salsa, sour cream and guacamole to 'paint'.

Food is fun to paint with!

Christina and her friends went to a Taylor Swift concert. They were in the second row!

Whooo! What a busy and fun week!

AAARRRGGGG Calebs 6th Birthday!

Happy 6th Birthday Caleb!!!!!!

On Caleb's Birthday, Mike, Elektra and I went to Caleb's school for lunch and brought him Cupcakes to share with his classmates. I made Xtra Big ones! Chocolate and Vanilla so the kids had a choice. Caleb of course chose Chocolate and Zachary had Vanilla. Elektra had Chocolate also, although she loves either!

We also stopped at BK and got them nuggets and burgers, a treat they normally do not get at a school lunch.

As soon as the kids got home from school Caleb opened up his presents.

A rocket ship that has two rockets to let off in the cul-de-sac.

A remote control "Bumblebee" Car.

And a few other little goodies, like a Spiderman bowl, plate and cup and Spiderman Yo-Yo.

Then we went to Universal Studios and rode a few of Calebs favorite rides, like Jaws.

But I didn't get any pictures for some reason!

After that we all changed into Pirate clothes and went to a Pirate Dinner Adventure. It was a ton of fun! 
 We said AAAARRRRGGGG all night long.
Before the show/dinner started they had appetizers and a preshow and dancing.

The kids and I joined it, and had lots of fun!  AAAARRRRGGG fun!!

There's Christina's and my behinds dancing away around the kids. AAARRRRGGG butts!

Since it was Calebs birthday (and we paid extra) we got pirate hats and special attention.

AAARRRGGG xtra money!

Mommy and Daddy with Caleb. AAARRGGG proud parents!

Caleb got to go on stage and participate in the show. He got to ride in a boat and shoot at the bad pirates. AAAARRRRGGGG YAY Caleb!!!!

Elektra even got to participate although she was a little bit uncertain about some of the firework parts. AAAARRRGGGG kinda scary but fun!

Christina had fun going up and flirting with the pirates. AAARRRGGGoohhllaalaaa.

Too bad I cant tell you which kid is which, but they all got to go up to the ship and declare MUTINY! AAARRRGGGG! Go Orange Pirates!!!

Our pirate didn't win, but we came in 3rd out of 6.AAARRRGGGooopps. 

 Oh well, it was lots of fun!

We are the Pirate Family.  AAARRRGGG family!!

We slay Bad Pirates.  AAAARRRGGG

Elektra and her Pirate helmet were exhausted at the end of the night. AAaaarrg.....ZZZZZ

On Wed Mike took the boys to Universal Studios. It was too cold for me, so us girls stayed home.

They watched a magic show and were able to go on 9 rides since it was so cold that nobody else was there.

Christina and Ben.  He is a staple now around our  house.

Happy Birthday to Caleb! I'm so glad you had a wonderfully fun birthday doing everything that you chose to do! We all had a ton of fun being Pirates for a night.  AAARRRGGG.