Bradley's Mickey Mouse Party

Bradley has some fascination with Mickey Mouse. He will only watch "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and recently was introduced to Disneyland by Byron. Now Bradley can't quit talking about when we go to Disneyland in the fall. So I decided to have a "Mickey Mouse" Party for him. I found a really cute Mickey Mouse cake online that I tried to copy and Camille made some awesome "Mickey Mouse" ears out of balloons for each of the children to wear. We also played a little getting to know Bradley game.

The hardest part about making the cake was getting the black frosting. I kept adding more and more dye to the frosting until it became as dark as I wanted. My hands turned a dark purple from all of the dye and the cute mouths after eating the cake also turned purple.

We had a great time and Bradley got some pretty awesome gifts. Thanks for all the family who came to help make this day so special for Bradley.

Bradley's cool cake.

Camille making the Mickey Mouse ears balloons for the cousins.
Getting sang to and blowing out the candles.
The cousins all enjoying their cake and ice-cream.

Bradley turns "3"

Bradley is such an integral part of our family. He is constantly saying things to make us laugh. He is such an amazing talker that he constantly is amazing us with what comes out of that mouth of his - and sometimes not so good of things. He is such a happy little guy - full of smiles!

Some of Bradley's favorite things to do are play games on the computer, ride his bike outside, play with his siblings, stay as close as he can to his mom all day long, eat hot dogs, corn dogs, pizza, hot chocolate, play with play dough, sing songs, go on walks, take naps (he will actually run and get into bed himself when it is nap time), visit with family, play with Cadan & Eli, go to nursery, read books, take baths, blow bubbles, play with his Geo trax, play with cars, and the list could go on. He still won't watch TV for more than 5 minutes at a time, so he is literally my little sidekick all day long. Bradley also has little snacks all day long and rarely eats meals when we eat as a family - this drives me crazy! He knows all of his letters and quite a few of the sounds. Bradley loves motorcycles and has to point them out wherever we go. He calls me "Tricia" quite often to see what reaction he can get from me as he laughs. His favorite songs are "Jesus Wants Me for Sunbeam" and "The Eensy Weensy Spider."

Bradley is very independent and insists on doing things himself - this is why we went to church recently without any underwear and why his pants are usually on backwards. He usually ends up in Byron & I's bedroom during the night. We never had a child come in our room until now. When I wake up and notice him next to me in bed, I usually give him the option of going back to his bedroom or sleeping on the floor. He usually ends up on the floor the rest of the night. This is driving me crazy and I hope he will get over this soon. Bradley has also had problems with separation anxiety. It took him a long time until he would go to nursery alone. We finally figured out if Camille took him he went right in, so now he seems to do well. He also used to get upset when Byron & I left, but will now run out and give us a hug and kiss and quickly run back inside.

He was waiting patiently for a long time for his birthday. A few days before his birthday he received a card from his Grandpa & Grandma Adamson. Byron told Bradley this card was for him to open on his birthday. He carried it around and let everybody know that this was his. He almost didn't want to put it down.

On March 10th - we sang him "Happy Birthday" in the morning and he got a scooter from Byron & I. Then he was able to open up his long awaited card. He was so cute upon opening it. He got a really cool card and some money to spend from my parents. He almost wouldn't let me put the check away in a safe stop without a little fight.

We were going to celebrate his birthday with family on the Friday. Since that is a long time for a little 3 year old to wait for a cake, I bought some really cool cupcakes for him to enjoy.

Bradley was able to talk to both of his Grandma's on his birthday and was so excited when he found out the phone was for him. I guess he hasn't had too many calls in his life :). I got some really cute pictures of Bradley talking to my mom during dinner. His eyes just light up - he was so excited.
Bradley with his new scooter.

Bradley opening his card from Grandpa & Grandma Adamson.

We went to Wal-Mart and he was able to get a toy with his birthday money. He was so excited to open it up. We had fun making some cool stuff.

The many faces of Bradley - he has such a fun personality including being a little tease. He cracks me up constantly with is funny faces.

Bradley playing with his new toys.

Our fun creation.

Bradley eating his cook cupcake.

Bradley talking with Grandma Adamson on the phone.

Bradley we love you so much and are so glad you are in our family.

Crazy weather!!!

One day we were outside doing yard work and the next had about 7 inches of snow. The weather this spring has been really crazy. I am so ready for it to make up its mind and to stop getting cold. The bike above was played with the previous day and looked like this on Friday morning - crazy, crazy, crazy weather!!!

On March 5th, the kids had no school. We had woken up to about 7 inches of snow. The kids were so excited to spend the day outside playing in it. They were great to shovel the walks and then had fun playing in the backyard making a snowman.

We decided to go sledding and invited Cooper & Cameron to come with us. Everybody had such a great time. The sun was so bright I had a hard time seeing with the reflection off of the snow. It was so warm also - most of the kids ended up taking off their layers one at a time. The snow was melting as fast as it had come. By the time we left, there was quite a bit of grass showing through.

The kids had fun making some jumps and loved going down again and again. Luckily Jeff & Emily had enough sleds for each kid to have one - this was so nice - no fighting!

Tanner and Parker's snowman.
Cameron, Tanner, Camille & Cooper creating an awesome train.

Camille

Cameron, Camille, Bradley & Cooper

Tanner, Camille & Bradley going down together. Next to them is Parker.

Parker getting some air on this jump.

Carter enjoying himself.

The whole gang - they didn't want to stop all of the fun for this picture.

Dr. Seuss Program

Carter & Parker participated with all of the 1st graders in a Dr. Seuss Program. They sang some really cute songs along with some fun skits. They had all made a hat and wore a necktie. They were also able to wear their pajamas which made it doubly fun. They performed for the school during the day, so they wore their pajamas to school. They thought this was the coolest thing to be able to wake up and wear the same thing to school. Carter & Parker did such a great job and Byron & I enjoyed watching them sing their hearts out.
Parker with his cute costume on. Below are Carter & Parker when we were leaving.

Tanner goes to Clear Creek - 3/2-3/3

Every 5th grader has the opportunity to attend Clear Creek in the winter. This is an overnight activity up in the mountains where the boys go one day and the girls go the other day. They are able to do some awesome activities while there. Tanner had such a great time. As soon as he returned I asked him how his trip was - here are his responses:

My favorite part was cross country skiing. I fell a while bunch of times. It is a pain to get up. (This was his first time every skiing.)

There was 3 feet of snow. It actually snowed during the night - we woke up to a little bit.

Some of the activities we had were snowshoeing, cross country skiing, boondoggle, math games, night hike, morning hike (about 2 miles). On the morning hike we made snow caves. I made a huge one with Jared Curtis. We could both fit inside it was so big. There was a huge hill we slid down with my snow pants - it was fun!

The food was pretty good.

We slept in a cabin. It was pretty big. There were about 20 boys who slept in my cabin. We woke up around 6 a.m.

We watched the moving, "Cool Runnings."

David Wilcox went along with the boys and he took some awesome pictures of Tanner while he was skiing.

Here is Tanner upon arriving home. He looked so cute in his snow pants, luggage and heavy boots. He was worn out but had such an awesome time!

Somebody turns 11!!!

These kids just grow up way too fast. I can't believe I have a 13 year old let alone an 11 year old now. Tanner is such a great kid. He is self-motivated, fun to play with, kind, very athletic, funny, a friend to all, loves math and reading, tells the best jokes and the list could go on.

Recently Tanner wrote a paper at school about his favorite time of year. I loved reading it because I learned so much about him. Here are a few things he listed: "My favorite thing about fall is when you rake up all the leaves and then jump in them. I like to get the days off school. I like family reunions and to get to see family that I rarely see. When I go to reunions I play football a lot or just play sports. What I like least about reunions is when everyone just talks and there is nothing to do. The things I hate most about the winter is it is boring. Everyday we always watch t.v. or play video games. The only fun thing about winter is sledding and having snowball fights. I also don't like not going outside. When you stay inside it feels like you are trapped and you want to get out. I also hate when we go shopping and go to the mall - all you ever do is walk around. I also hate when everyone in my family is mad and cranky - I just hate it. I hate doing chores because, well I just hate it - I don't know why. I hate when there is nothing to do." So there is my sweet Tanner in a nutshell. As you can tell from what he said, Tanner loves to stay active and hates not having something to do at all times.

This year for birthdays, we are forgoing a friend party and the birthday child gets to have dinner at a nice restaurant with Byron & I instead. The kids actually look forward to this where they get to eat at somewhere they wouldn't normally get to go. Tanner's birthday fell on a Thursday. We were going to have a family party on the following Sunday and then the next day take Tanner out to eat at Rodizio Grill (yes he has expensive tastes thanks to an uncle that told him about it:). So he was able to celebrate his birthday for 3 days - lucky boy!

TANNER'S BIRTHDAY - We woke up on his birthday and were able to get in singing to him along with opening his presents from Byron & I before the kids headed to school. I took Tanner out of school for lunch and went to one of his favorite places to eat, "Panda Express." Tanner was very excited because he didn't know I can coming. I love those one on one times with each child.

After school Byron took Tanner to Boondocks to have a couple of hours of fun together. Tanner had fun doing the slick track and spending time with his dad. He came home with a fake camera that squirts water and a fun bird that "squawks" when you push a button. Tanner had a great time teasing his siblings and mom with the camera.

Funny story- Tanner took this camera to school without me knowing. He played this trick on one of his friends at school. The part that squirts can be twisted around to squirt either the person with the camera or the person across from the camera. So Tanner gets his friend wet and his friend takes the camera away from Tanner to squirt Tanner. Tanner secretly turned the squirting part around and this poor boy got squirted twice.

Tanner is with his cinnamon roll and candle on his birthday.
Panda Express - yum!
Carter came home that morning with a bad cough so he joined in our fun. Here Carter & Bradley are enjoying the lunch they were sharing.
Tanner with his fake camera & bird.

FAMILY PARTY - Tanner's family party was on Sunday. He has been into skateboards lately, so I decided to make one for his cake. It was quite a process, but I was impressed with how it turned out.

Each month we have a get-together with the Becks where we have a potluck dinner and lesson. We were in charge of it in February and so we had Tanner's birthday party at the same time. Thankfully Tanner was fine with this since we weren't able to play any games for lack of time. He did get some amazing gifts, though, and enjoyed the cake and ice-cream.

Tanner's skateboard cake

RODIZIO GRILL - Monday was the day Tanner had been waiting for to go out with Byron & I. None of us had ever been, so this was a fun experience for us all. The food was delicious. We started out with the salad bar then were able to eat all of the food we wanted as the waiters brought it out. Tanner was really good to try most of the things, but he turned down the chicken hearts - along with Byron & I. Tanner is a pretty big eater. It was fun to see him actually get full where he couldn't eat anything else.

Some waiters came and sang "Happy Birthday" to Tanner in Portuguese while playing hand instruments - pretty impressive! They also gave Tanner some yummy pie with a candle in it.

We had so much fun, even though we ate way too much!

Tanner & Byron after arriving and getting our salads.
Tanner & I
Tanner getting some meat from one of the servers who walks around.
Tanner being sung to.
Tanner's yummy pie that he was able to find a little more room in his stomach for:).

We love you Tanner and are so glad you are a part of our family!