Quincy Special Week

Father's Day and Quincy's birthday usually fall in the same week. That means it's a one stop party around here for Daddy.

We made our daddy a waffle for breakfast and then headed to our old, old ward to hear a missionary farewell. So good to see everyone. Then we hit our regular ward too. Father's day isn't as celebrated as Mother's day in our new ward. We only had sacrament on Mother's day. Super nice! Daddy collected cookies from both wards. Then after church we made daddy use his new grill to cook us some yummy steaks. 

Quincy likes lots of fuss on his birthday so I tried to give him what he wanted. Not really. He is a minimalist. Maybe one of these birthdays I will throw him a surprise birthday just so he can't fight me on anything. 

Quincy wanted to go out to lunch and last minute he picked Cheesecake Factory. Win-win for everyone! The kids all wanted to go there for their birthdays too. We told the waiter that it was his birthday and they brought him the smallest scoop of ice cream I have ever seen (I guess they want you to buy the $9 cheesecake). They did sing to him and gave him lots of fuss. 

After, we headed home to gear up for our next activity. Bowling! It turned out to be cosmic bowling and Hawaii night at Sunset Station. We haven't taken the kids bowling for a long time and we had a blast singing along with the good music. The ladies next to us really got decked out in Hawaii gear and ended up giving it to Lucy when they were done. I wasn't nice to the birthday boy since I took back the bowling crown. 

We sure love our Daddy! 

Jensen is a Big 6 Year Old!

This happy kid turned six last month. He spent the day by going to school. I sent birthday Oreos in his backpack to share with his classmates. His teachers had said they didn't want anything messy which I totally understand. Right when he got on the bus I could hear him tell the bus driver that it was his birthday. Oh how things change when you get older. I am pretty sure most of us just keep that information to ourselves on that day. 

When he got home he had two crowns from his teachers. They take great care of him. We let him open his presents right away. He is all basketball right now so he got jerseys, basketball guys, headband, and even NBA Jam from us. But his cousins sent him a Mario game for the Wii and I think that was the winner. He is addicted and so is his daddy!

We kept asking Jensen what he wanted to do for his birthday. If you know Jensen he is a creature of habit. We went to Chuck E. Cheese last year for his birthday so he wanted to do it again.  We didn't want to disappoint him so we headed to Chuck E's. Quincy had an old roommate from BYU visiting that week so we asked them to come along. We had hung out with them earlier that week and our kids got along perfectly. They have a boy Jensen's age, a girl just a little bit older than Lucy, and then a 2 year old.

Here are the boys trying to beat the records on the hoop game. They spent all night and most of our coins on this game. Parker and Jensen are both into hoops as much as their daddies.

While the boys were shooting, Kambri and Lucy kept busy by going to the photo booth and many other games.

Quincy and Dave Snedaker

The Snedakers and the Walkers

Jensen had a great day and ended it by eating birthday cake. We can't believe that he is six already!

They Say It's Your Birthday LUCY!

 

Lucy turned 4 earlier this month. When we would ask her what she wanted for her birthday she would say everything. She was ready for her big day so we let her open her present before breakfast. Daddy played the Beatles song "They Say It's Your Birthday" as she came downstairs since this is one of her favorite songs. She gave us a little dance of course.

 

Since Lucy was vague on what she wanted she got lots of clothes and new boots, a mermaid doll, new paints and art activities, and a gumball machine. She seemed pretty happy with her present except the clothes. Maybe next time she will be more specific.

 

 

 

 

Since she had preschool on her actual birthday I thought we better bring cupcakes to her classmates. We had a little extra time before school started so we snapped some pictures.

 

 

 

 

Later that night we took Lucy to dinner at Red Robin. She is making this her birthday tradition. I think she loves that they sing to her and she gets ice cream at the end of her dinner.

 

 

 

 

After dinner we met the Kanets at the pumpkin patch. I thought I would have energy to throw Lucy a real birthday party but when it came down to it, my energy level wasn't up for it. So we gave Lucy the option of going to the pumpkin patch or Chuck E. Cheese. She picked the pumpkin patch and it turned out to be a great night. So after a quick change of clothes the kids were ready for the pumpkin patch. They got to ride on rides and bounce on many bounce houses. Luckily, there was a really nice guy working and he just let the kids go and go without making us give up our pricey tickets. Instead we got to save those for the kiddy rides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucy, Reagan, Mason, Jensen and Ellie as the farm animals.

Thanks for coming and spending the night with Lucy on her birthday.

 

 

The following weekend some of my family came down on their fall break. Mom and Dad are taking over our old house as a 2nd home and were bringing down furniture. Matt and his family drove down my parents and their Uhaul of stuff. It was fun having family stay with us in our new house and not be on top of each other. We put Matt to work again fixing little things around the house. He truly is keeping up the title as Brother of the Year.

 

On Sunday, we finally had Lucy's birthday cake with the cousins. She got to open presents once again and was happy to have her birthday spread out over a week.

 

 

Our big 4 year old! 

 

Jensen turns FIVE!

 

Jensen turned the big FIVE last month. He was asking for months when it was going to be "my birth-day". It's funny how he says it though. He has been asking because he was playing in my closet one day and found one of his birthday presents. That is what started the daily asking of when his birthday was coming. I think that was in February and he didn't forget what he saw that day in my closet.

 

So on his birthday we knew we better not wait all day to let him open that gift. He was so excited to finally get to play with his Mater Toons Monster Trucks. It was worth the wait I guess. Lucy was a nice sister and gave him Colossus from Cars 2 which he has wanted every time we go to Target.

 

 

 

Jensen went to preschool and brought chocolate cupcakes to share. He had been telling the teachers for weeks that he was going to bring them so I didn't want to make a fibber out of him. He came home with a crown on his head and a huge smile. You could tell he had a great day at school.

 

We debated what we should do for Jensen's birthday. That afternoon we decided to go to Chuck E. Cheese's. We were so glad the Kanets could join us for the celebration on such short notice. The place was a little busy but we still had fun.

 

 

 

Jensen with Baby Mason (as the kids like to call him). Jensen is trying to get him to love cars as much as he does. He really wants a little brother to play with.

 

 

Lucy calls Reagan her best friend. They really do play well together.

 

 

 

 

Quincy was encouraging Jensen to play this game. Jensen actually did pretty well. Future baller?

 

 

Quincy took some of Jensen's coins to show him how to do it. Jensen wanted to help him out.

 

 

We smuggled in a chocolate cake and sang to Jensen. When we asked him what cake he wanted he would always says a chocolate cake with a dump truck on it since that is what he had last year. We switched it up this year and put Max from Cars 2 on it. I am glad we cut his piece first before we sang because when he blew out the candles he spit on his piece.  

 

 

 

 

We came home and let him open the last of his presents. More cars of course. Wonder if he will out grow his cars. Hopefully not too soon since he has a whole drawer full.

 

 

We sure love this FIVE year old!