Some more weekend fun!!!

I'm still trying to catch-up from Talmage's birthday weekend. It was full to the brim with friends, family and fun--our 3 favorite things!

 

James and T were able to find the grave of one of our family members, Temperance Knight Garland, that we have been searching for since we moved to Stanford.

 

Me and T--I love capturing a real smile in pictures! He's so sweet.

 

Our dear friends from the courtyard are moving away so we had a goodbye potluck. Naomi for sure thought we wouldn't finish that ice cream cake meant for 42 people, but the 30 of us polished it off quite nicely! 

Papa's birthday is March 8th (Talmage's due date) and he chose to celebrate in Palo Alto with us. We had a yummy dinner, cherry pie and great conversation. 

 GG and the boys reading T's new astronaut book.

 These two masked trouble-makers are so cute, I mean, scary!

Me and the Hubbs.

 

Last week was dine-out for LPCH and so we bought Red Velvet cupcakes from Sprinkles (100% went to the Children's hospital). My love for that hospital is obvious, and my emotions are worn openly...whether I like it or not. I was really touched to see how many people were there buying cupcakes, and one of their employee's came up to me (after hearing me talk about Evie) to tell me how my story touched her. Life is so beautiful sometimes, and goodness so real.

And this is why I don't gamble...

James and I went out on such a fun date on the night of Talmage's birthday party. As if we hadn't had enough crazy games for the day, we decided to walk around the Great Mall in Milpitas and ended up getting a $10 power card at Dave and Busters (basically a grown-up Chuck E Cheese) to play ski ball and basketball. I saw Wheel of Fortune and thought it looked like a fun game--especially since we had been ridiculously unsuccessful at ski ball!  

Turns out I had the magic touch and spun a 200 (the highest spin which was a little sliver on the wheel). I was pressing buttons and had no idea what I was doing when all of a sudden the machine says, "BIG WINNER! 800 POINTS!" and starts shooting out tickets that cover the floor. I was shocked and so excited, and of course got on my hands and knees to pick up my hard-earned loot!!!
 

This is where the "I know I'd be an awful gambler" part comes in. Have you ever won something? It's awesome! Like, I want to do that all night kind of awesome! I'm pretty sure if James hadn't been there with me I might have put another $10 on my power card and lost, I mean, played some more games. I'm a little obsessive like that.

As it was, we cashed out our tickets for Dave and Buster's cups (I have a total cup fetish) and replayed that story and the looks on our faces about 100 times as we finished walking the mall. It was so fun, and we felt so young and cool ;)

 

Thanks Papa and GG for watching the kids!

Bay Area Discovery Museum

You can pretty much count on the 3 Wiggy's being at just about any and every free museum day offered ;) The Bay Area Discovery Museum was this week's destination and it was gorgeous. It's on an old military base and you cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get there and we were in serious love. We talked our good friend's Ash and Remy into coming along as well (and somehow talked them into driving us too...ha!) It was a blast.

 

It's funny how things are SO much cooler when they are not at home. I'm pretty sure we have lots of hoola-hoops and drums at home, but they are definitely not as interesting as these were! Same thing with the train table--the boys were glued to it for so long!!! 

 Water Play.

 This area was so fun--these were HUGE styrofoam-ish building blocks.

 Maybe my new favorite pic of me and my littlest love.

 

 Talmage felt super big in that lookout on the playground. Unfortunately for Ash, Remy followed him up there!

 

This picture makes me smile so big my face hurts. You see that grumpy-pants face on Ever...it was caused by a little tiny bird that Ev thinks got much too close for comfort (but seriously, that bird was no where near him!) I'm afraid Evie has inherited my "love" for animals.

 Captain Talmage, taking the ship-steering super seriously.

 My little Princes.

 

 Outside water play.

 

The boys posing by the Golden Gate Bridge. It really is amazing, and I realized it was the first time my boys got to see it up close. T and I had a long talk about the Brooklyn Bridge and how cool it is as well...I'm trying here!

Ash had heard of this creamery in SF and we decided to go on our way back to Stanford. It's called Bi-rite, and I promise you it'll be the best ice cream you've ever eaten in your life. I promise you!

Another Cars Party!

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Talmage wanted a Cars party again this year (he also had one for his 2nd birthday). He LOVES Cars--the movie, the diecast cars, and pretty much anything that has Lightning McQueen's face on it! We took advantage of our last year at Stanford (with a HUGE backyard) and had a big party with some of his friends. It was a blast for the kids and he felt super special so I was happy. We had 27 kids and over 55 people at the party, so you can understand why some of my favorite party pieces were not documented (like the stoplight fruit and the party favors--"I'm wheelie glad you came!" with a matchbox car)...but we still got some good ones! 

 

My friend in Sacramento is so ridiculously creative and talented and agreed to make Talmage's birthday cake (it was a pull-a-part cupcake cake) and the kids went wild over it! I am not joking when I say it was the best money I spent on this whole birthday party. I was on bedrest for most of the week leading up to his party and the thought of making him a cake (like I had originally planned on doing) was about enough to send me over the edge! Summer saved the day and I am so, so, so happy with how it turned out. Seriously though, how cute is that?!

You should have heard the kids all gasp when the box was uncovered. Talmage got just what he wanted, "a big cake wif Wightning McQueen on it!"

 Blowing out the candles. Four, to be exact!

And then he dug right in! I think he remembered Everett getting to stick his finger in his cake on his first birthday, so T went to work! We handed out cupcakes to everyone and this baby was demolished in no time!

The kids decorated their bikes with streamers and playing cards and then we did races around the courtyard. Most of these kids play outside (and ride their bikes) everyday, but getting to decorate them made it so much more special. Not to mention the stoplight and roadsign that my Dad contributed to the party. Doesn't everyone's Dad have a stoplight in the garage? Oh wait, my Dad's the coolest ever? Yeah, I know!

 The starting/finish line. Also, you can see in the first picture that I brought out the boys' cars mat and some toy cars for the younger kids to play with which was a huge hit.

We played throw the bean bag or ball through the tires and the kids really loved it. It was a great shade-game to play when they were hot and sweaty from racing! Our local car shop let me take the tires for free, and allowed us to return them when we were done--score!

We had lots of family come from Sacramento for the party. We are so grateful for all of their love for our Talmage (and you better believe I put them all to work!) They made my job SO much easier that morning!

Like I said, I didn't really get pics of the food. I had the "Nuts and Bolts" chex mix, veggie straws and trail mix like I showed above. I also had stoplight fruit (Stop for Strawberry, Slow for Mangoes and Go for Green Grapes) and our "Re-fuel Station" was juice boxes and bottled waters (I used large oil boxes as ice chests!)

 The bigger party-animals at the starting line. They were so serious about racing!

I was the crazy cheerleader for all the kids as they came around the corner. Talmage-boy and his shark helmet!

I got a picture of each of the kids standing on the podium, holding the piston cup. We also awarded each kid a medal. I'm going to print out these pictures and include them in the thank you cards.

I won't include all of the pictures of T's friends, but seriously? Little Sophia was too cute not to share!

And sweet Evie, of course! He was excited to take his turn on the stand like the big kids (but he thought sitting on it was a better choice!)

Me and the Aviator as the party wound down. I might just throw a party every week if I thought I could see her pretty face at it!

Overall, it was a successful party. Happy 4th birthday Mr. T. Your Mommy loves you more than you could ever dream possible!

A Birthday Interview

{picture from T's Cars birthday party--more details to come!}

 

Last year I decided to start a tradition of doing birthday interviews for the kids. I'm sure glad I did because I already love looking back at last years answers from 3-year-old T. This years interview was just as entertaining! Word for word answers from Talmage's 4th birthday interview: 

 

What is your favorite...

Color: yellow

Food: bagels and apples and tofu and uhh...chicken nuggets. You like tofu? Yeah, I like tofu too. But I especially like chicken nuggets. {TWO SECONDS LATER}: I don't wike to eat tofu though. I like apples and bananas and I like mac and cheese and bagels. And for dinner can I have macaroni and cheese wif da lightning mcqueen bowl and the francesco spoon?

Game: uh, tag and bean bags and juggling books. yeah, that's all my favorite games
Book: Goodnight Moon
Toy: Cars and my Spiderman mask and Ramone
Treat: uh, I don't know. My favorite treat is pop tarts and uh, doggy treats. Doggy treats? Yep, doggy chocolates from the store. YOU MEAN THE ONE FROM VDAY? Yeah, da ones we got for Valensteins day.
Song: uh, I am a child of God and I love to see the temple and the soccer one, and Elmo loves taking pictures. {He then proceeded to sing me a made-up soccer song)
Thing to learn about: outer space
Animal: giraffes, hippos and lions, zebras and uh, i like tigers
TV show: Cars and I don't like princess shows, I like buzz and Woody and I like the space Mater show, I like the show about spiderman. But you've never seen it. But I really love it. Come onnn. We have to watch it Mom! Had you ever seen Spiderman before? Yes. Did you see the show? Yes. Is it a grown up show? You can see it when you're older. OK.
Thing to wear: My dinosaur shirt, my t-rex shirt and my monster truck shirt
Holiday: Christmas. Why? 'Cause it snows on Christmas. Do you like the snow? Uh-huh. And there's also my favorite holiday is going to New York and going to the snow.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Uh, I want to be a superhero when I grown up. What would your super-power be? To rescue people.
If someone was being mean to your brother, what would you do? I would ask a Mommy or a Daddy. What? What would I do? I would tell a Mommy or a Daddy.
Who is your best friend? Reece. And Frankie and Elena. And Everett.
What is something you want to learn to do this year? Go to school.
What is something that you are really good at? Going to sleep.
If you had a million dollars, what would you buy? A toy. What kind of toy? A space station for my space mission.
If you were an animal, what would you be? I don't want to be an animal. I don't want to. I don't want to be an animal. You don't really have to be an animal, what if we were just pretending to be an animal? Oh, yeah. A giraffe or a spider. I want to be a spider.
What do you want someone to invent? Uh, invent, uh, an airplane.
If you could have a magic power, what would it be? it would be to clean up
How many kids do you want to have when you grow up and get married? Uh, 1,2,3,4,5. 5,6,7,8,9,10. 10. {counting on his fingers}
What kind of house would you like to live in: an igloo, a treehouse, a castle, a cave, or our house? I want to live right there. {pointing out the window to Cedar's old house} At Cedar's house? Yeah, I'm just so sad dey don't wiv here anymore. Im just sad about that. Are they going to come back?
Who is the prettiest girl in the whole world? You are. {yep, that's right! I won this year ;)}
Where do you want to go on your mission? Uh, to Utah.

What's your favorite scripture story? Daniel and the lions den and Goliath

***

Happy Birthday Talmage-boy! I can't wait to visit you and your 10 kids someday at Cedar's house!!!

My friend Talmage

Talmage came only 10 months after we were married--a honeymoon blessing for sure ;) Some of our friends and family must have thought us insane for being so quick to bring another person into the world, but I thank Heavenly Father everyday for the gift of that little boy.

Six short weeks after giving birth to Talmage Scott, James graduated from BYU, I quit my job and we moved to California. Moving, it seems, is our family's main hobby and our boy Talmage is a bonafide expert. He has found a home in 6 different apartments around the world, and has traveled to more places in his first 4 years than I did in my first 20.

I love meeting new people, and living in new places, but let's be honest, moving every 9 months has its disadvantages. The biggest issue with moving all. the. time. is the friend factor--it's hard to build a support system (or weasel your way into a group of friends) in a place you, and they, know you'll only live temporarily. It has the potential to be very lonely, especially when your husband is as busy as mine always seems to be.

When we moved to England, I was worried that I wouldn't make any friends (talk about junior high fears all over again) and that I would be miserably lonely for the duration of the year. But that deep loneliness never came. I quickly learned that I had a friend who adored me almost as much as I adored him. I had a friend that would accompany me to any event, who loved to take long walks while holding my hand, who laughed at my jokes and listened to my stories. This friend followed me around the house, begged me to read him stories and hugged me at just the right moments. He even loved pajama parties and pillow talk. This friend helped us meet new friends, and charmed everyone in sight. And even when he was a punk, at least he was a punk I could claim!

As we moved to New York, Palo Alto and Los Angeles, I had the same experience and I felt the same way--grateful. Talmage has made my life so much sweeter and fuller, and definitely less boring! He came at just the right time, and Heavenly Father sent him perfectly-packaged in a strong little body just for me. Sometimes it's a great and difficult job to be this firecracker's Mom. But being his friend? That's easy.

It's been four years since we moved to England, and I now know what to expect with our next big move back to New York. But Talmage-boy is beyond worried about leaving his home, his friends and his beloved courtyard. He cries every time we talk about it, and no matter how cool Times Square's Lego World is, he's convinced that we are going to be absolutely miserable. The transition is not going to be easy--Stanford has been paradise for our little family--but I know that we will find a home wherever we go. So now I'm trying to teach him, just as he taught me, that he'll always have a friend, he'll always be safe, and that I'll always be there for him. Wish me luck!

And happy birthday wishes to you my little big-boy.