Madison Mae is Eight!

The birthday was a good one. She chose cheesecake and I found awesome firecracker style candles. Her dinner request was French toast, hash browns, orange juice and scrambled eggs. I brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to her class along with Ashlyn (who has her own curb appeal in every elementary school classroom). Last night we took her to Chili's for a celebration dinner.

She got the board game Clue (English - Arabic version), Barbie doll and a hair highlighting kit that uses chalk. She's very excited over everything and we played Clue together this afternoon. She's very happy to be eight years old!

Angry Bird Cake Pops

Happy birthday Ben!! Brian was a huge help making this dream a reality. Still not sure how to keep some from falling off the sticks but we are getting better.

We made Angry Bird cake pops for his class treat tomorrow. The head spike is a quartered Oreo cookie, beak a quartered candy melt disc and I bought candy eyes. They look awesome for home made!

We love you Ben!!

Happy Birthday Brian

 

Happy birthday to Mr. Zufelt. We love you!

Practicing Up for the Big Birthday

Here is Jake and his best friend and birthday twin, Anderson. Today we cooked play dough after lunch and they have been very busy making things with their imaginations. The favorite thing of the day seems to be their own birthday cakes with tons of candles. Then we had to sing to Jake then Anderson then Jake then Anderson again and again and again and again. And a few dozen more times. It's been a fun afternoon.

Birthday Pics to Remember

The Young Women sang to me yesterday in celebration of my birthday and crowned me queen for the day. I also got this lovely personal birthday card from our rental car company. An you tell we are really close friends? I only let my dearest beloveds call me "Zufelt Robinson".

It was a pretty good day overall. I took maddie to a bday party for her friends and ducked out during the party. Me and one of my favorite people in Singapore, Kristy, walked to the river walk and she bought me brunch. Actually it was a day of food. Brian had already made me scrambled eggs, bacon and home made hash browns. (Maddie asked me at breakfast if I asked dad to make them because she loved them so much. Cutie.)

We got back to the party as they were wrapping up. I stayed a bit and helped tidy the club house while I caught up with the mom, Jenny Allen, from our neighborhood in Fairfax. Then Ben called and without even asking where I was correctly said, "You said you would leave the party a half hour ago and you are still there." Baffled how he knew I admitted he was right and rushed home.

Then Jennifer brought gorgeous cupcakes and we visited. Finally we took the bikes and headed to West Coast Park for some family fun about 4:30pm. Poor Ben waited patiently the entire day for it. He started the day excited and willing to blow up bike tires and oil chains. Then he had to wait hours and hours and hours for the big reward. He sort of gets that a lot. He is so easy going and not often found complaining over things like that so sometimes he gets overlooked because the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the boy doesn't squeak very often. I sure love him. He is too smart for his own good though.

We rode bikes, played at the huge amazing playground and had dinner at McDonald's. We stayed long enough that we rode back to the car well after dark (sunset is only 7:00 year round). At dinner I asked if he had a good time. He thoughtfully said, "Yeah, but if had left earlier we would have had lots more time on the big playground." I suppose I shouldn't whine. That kind of choice and accountability or cause and effect thinking is what I've been hoping he would catch onto soon. Just not when it puts me in the dog house.

When we got home we had a ridiculously over priced and very delicious ice cream cake with the candle numbers "34" flaming on tip. Jacob was kind enough to lend us the 4 and we stopped to buy a 3 on the way home from the park.

Thanks for all the birthday calls and emails and Facebook messages. I feel loved.

Count Down to April 22nd

Ben is ready for his birthday. We figured out he turns eight in 648 hours and he can hardly wait!

Happy Birthday Brian!!

Because there isn't enough going on in our lives, Brian decided to have a birthday. We (he) decided to reschedule the birthday. It's nothing unprecidented in our home. In fact, it might be unprecidented to celebrate something on the actual date it "should" be celebrated. So he took two seconds today amidst washing dishes to be packed and sorting items into piles to open his cards. This one from my mom made us both laugh. "Hope it's a good day - maybe we should have sent a sympathy card - for all you're going through." Thanks for the spirit lifter today.

Happy Birthday to my best friend. You make everything possible with your can do attitude and your never ending willingness to keep on going. You amaze me. I love you. Now lets get back to work.

Big Boy Gets Bigger

Jakey turned one yesterday. To be honest, we had no time to celebrate his big day so we reserved Sunday for the festivites. He didn't seem to mind at all. He's good natured like that. When we gave him his cake to attack Jacob didn't quite know what to do with all that food and freedom. We chopped off Cliffords head and he ate most the icing or at least smeared it all over his body. Once his hands and face were totally covered he looked like a clown with all that red on his face and he couldn't stop opening and closing his hands. It was like he was confused about all the slippery wet stuff that just stayed on his chubby little fingers. It was funny to watch him open-close-open-close-open-close and just stare at his own hand in awe.

Being bad parents that we are we forgot to get him a present. (We forgot for Maddie's first birthday too. We had to run to Wal-Mart quickly and grab something one hour before Brian left for the airport on a two week business trip because Ben was so upset about it. I remember quite specifically both of us looking for something super cheap since we knew she couldn't care less what she got.) Seriously though, what does a one year old need? We already have too many toys as it is at our house. He only wants to play with the big kid toys anyway so why buy baby ones. Then I remembered that I had just purchased new warm winter pajamas for him the day before. Brian threw them in a gift bag. Presto! He had a present. Ben and Maddie were happy enough as well. When they turn two it's a whole different ball game. They care and they have stuff they love by then so it's fun to buy for them.

Jacob also turned around in his car seat two days early. His first ride was almost a total bomb. I took him out of his crib, spoiling a nap to go pick up Maddie at preschool so he was mad and cranky and screamed a lot. Once he calmed down and I turned around to play peek-a-boo at a stop light he realized he could see me it clicked that something had changed and he loved it. Of course it made him mad that most the time I couldn't play games with him. It's been interesting to compare the three kids. The law says that little people can face forward at 20 lbs AND 1 year. Ben hit 20 lbs at 15 months. Maddie didn't get there until 18 months. Jacob at 9 months blew past that milestone. Consider though that Ben and Maddie both moved from their infant seats to a rear facing chair at 8 and 9 months respectively. Jacob wasn't allowed to move until now. I'm still considering the consequences of my choice to change chairs and turn him around. You see, Jacob is most easily compared to that cheap toy we have all seen from the dollar store. After lots of searching I was able to find it online. He is a water snake. Remember those fun old toys? One quick look at that link and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The knundrum of holding onto Jacob is best described like the problem of holding onto a water snake. The more you try to hold onto it, the more wild and wiggly it gets. Your efforts to control and hold it tightly only serve to make it squirt off into another direction with all the more speed and vigor. There is no negotiating the moster. He's a handful. Thus he has remained in his infant chair where the five point harness holds him securely and safely as I haul things in and out of the house and negotiate diaper bags, sippy cups, grocery sacks, toys, binkies and the like.

Overall Jacob is a black and white sort of a guy. He is one of the most delightful and happy kids I've ever met. Then again he's the loudest most angry and frusterating little person in the world. Last night we sat at tithing settlement with Bishop. He commented how Jacob is always so delightful and friendly and asked if it just gets easier as we go along. We didn't quite know what to say. Jacob has beenthe most difficult and challenging of our three kids. Hands down. It's almost as if crossing the threshold of our front door flips a switch inside the child. He screams all day. It comes and goes. Some days I have to walk out of the house when Brian comes home. He has tested me and my patience in ways I didn't know you could test a person. Still, Jacob has been a delight. I love that he has started to give me wide open mouthed kisses when I pick him up to clean him up after a meal in the high chair. He's covered in nastiness and leans in to lay a wet one on me with all the love and adoration he can muster. Sometimes when he is laying on the changing table he looks up at me and his face fills with complete and total joy at the sight of my face. Me. He loves me. Like really LOVES me and you can see it on his face. Despite the troubles that come with being the favorite parent, it is cool to be the most important person on the planet sometimes. He lunges for me when I walk in the room and someone else is holding him in their arms. He loves to dance. Brian read some study lately that says kids dance because it is the way their bodies express joy. Jacob can be incredibly happy. He is so kind. He loves to follow Ben and Maddie. The three of them run circles around the kitchen and living room and their giggles are infectious. He adores his older siblings and they love him. Jacob has never snuggled and was never willing to relax and sleep in my arms. He is too active and busy to slow down and enjoy being with me in quiet moments. It is exhausting but I think it makes him all the more fun. He is always looking for fun, fun, fun. We love his zest for life. His genuine smile. I love the dimple on his right cheek at random moments, but never when he smiles. Someday we will get a picture of it. Jacob is a wonderful, fun addition to our family. We wouldn't trade him.

Toxic Amounts of Red

I think we may all die tomorrow. Today we injested toxic amounts of red food coloring. Or at the very least we will all pee orange. For Jacob's birthday I made a Clifford the Big Red Dog birthday cake. I used one of those dog shaped plans from Wilton. I can't decide if I'm a fan of those things yet or not. Once you slather on the base coat of frosting, all the details to help you know how to decorate the thing are covered up. Since the entire cake was going to be red, I skipped the tedious star tip method and just dumped two cans of frosting on and smoothed it out. Then I drew back the details with a medium amount of success at making it look like Clifford with a fine icing tip and black frosting. At first it looked pretty pink to me and I wasn't happy with my details. Once I walked away and came back I think it turned out okay. At least for a one year old birthday.

Coloring the icing was an adventure. I knew it would be. I did bright red Elmo for Ben's second birthday cake and used up my little standard sized bottle of red food coloring up completely that time, so I knew I was going to need a lot for this enormous cake. Sure enough. I used two cans of icing and an entire glass bottle of red food coloring (as in the size vanilla flavoring comes in or about three times as much as in those little squeeze bottles). My hands were dyed red. My spatula is pink. My mixing bowl is pink. The high chair tray is pink after he ate it. My counter was pink even after the cleaning was done. Tonight we finally got to eat the cake and I'm sure all that red is going to manifest itself soon enough.

Happy Birthday Maddie Mae, From Your Rotten Mommy

It isn't like I didn't make a cake for Maddie's birthday. It's just that her birthday was on the first day of Joy School. And I taught. And it was a lot of work to get all the supplies ready for the lesson that day and get the entire year organized. And I was still figuring out how to juggle kindergarten bus stop pickups and infant nap time. I made the cake. The day before her birthday in fact. I just didn't get it frosted. Or decorated. I suppose my desire to be a cake decorator has lead to high expectations of myself. I wanted to try a new medium. Fondant. She wanted a princess castle. Perfect match. Maddie's low expectations - Simple design - My zero skills with fondant.

Turns out the box of fondant scared me. It looked at me and stared at me and glared at me and taunted me to open it up and try it. I was scared. I was weak. I didn't open it. In fact it's still sitting on the counter today all the way on November 2. Long past the day I had to throw out the original birthday cake because it was covered in mold in the giant cake Tupperware that had to be decontaminated for bio hazard reasons. Long past the time I made a second cake, frosted it in plain white and shook a plastic container of colored sugar sprinkles across the top and drew a little "3" with black icing. She had been asking me and mentioned twice to other people that she didn't get a cake for her birthday. Yeah, she's old enough I can't fudge stuff anymore.

Five weeks later, she asked at a time I didn't have anything completely pressing that needed attention or the world would end. When she asked me point blank why she didn't get a cake for the third time I dropped everything and said, "Let's make your birthday cake together right now!" The smile stretched from ear to ear and maybe even a little farther. She didn't care that it wasn't her birthday. She didn't care that I was no longer under the delusion of making a gorgeous princess castle sculpted with fondant. She just knew that I loved her enough to make her a cake. She lasted all of thirty seconds in her helping, but we had cake that night. She felt like a million bucks.

Just to set the record straight before I start getting hate mail, we did celebrate her birthday on her birthday. We had a party at preschool that day when I taught. I made cup cakes to her exacting demands on decorations. We sang. She blew out candles and had fun together with 15 people in the house. Brian came home from work early so I we could go to Chuck E. Cheese and live it up. She had a blast and by the time we got back to the house it was all I could do to crawl into bed with the flu. You know you feel bad when you are standing at Chuck E. Cheese and want to lay down on the greasy bench or the filthy carpet if need be and sleep as tears start to slip down your face from the body aches. We went home, opened presents and Brian basically put the kids to bed alone. I couldn't have eaten cake that day anyway. So we did celebrate. I gave it all I had. In the end, she just really, really needed a cake. And a cake she got...five weeks late.

This is one of her favorite presents. She was elated to dress up the next day as Cinderella.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've only been up for 45 minutes. I've already had a bunch of presents.

• got a text from Lauren. Olivia is here! I get to share a birthday with her baby girl. Fun!
• the bathroom scale read the smallest number I've seen in years (like fifteen years). If Brian messed with the button, I don't want to know until tomorrow.
• Maddie greeted me with a smile and is excited for my birthday.
• Ben gave me four shiny pennies from his own money.
• Brian checked his schedule and will be coming home from work by 4 today (so I can get a flu shot).

It should be a great day.

Happy Birthday to my birthday twin, Mali. I guess I almost missed your birthday since it's bedtime in Thailand. Happy B-day to you even if it's unintentionally late.

Birthday Wishes

In an attempt to keep Maddie engaged and talking so I didn't "waste" her nap on the drive home from Ikea shopping in Woodbridge (30 minutes away) I was asking her all sorts of wild and zany questions to keep her from dozing. When I ran out of questions I moved on to singing all the loud and wild songs I could think of. When I suggested we learn the Happy Birthday song so we would be ready to sing to Ben in a few weeks it started a huge excited chattering conversation where no one listened to anyone else. Maddie is planning to have about seven birthday cakes. They will all be decorated differently. We will have a Diego, Dora, teddy bear and many other random things that suited her tastes today. When I asked Ben what he wanted me to make on his cake, he reminded me that he was going to decorate his own cake and he had already informed me of this before. He won't reveal the design of his cake, just said it will be a "really great surprise!" So I'm a little bit sad I won't be able to make another cool cake for him. The best part of our conversation was still to come though. He told me that he would blow out his candles and make a wish. After a few minutes he further informed me that he was going to wish for all of his wishes to always come true. After another long pause, he told me that he knew how to make all his wishes come true. "You just have to do the thing you want." Good call by Ben. You can do just about anything you set your mind too. You just have to try. I hope he always has that kind of internal drive!

Happy Birthday Brian

Happy 32! I love you!

I hope you know how amazing you are. Remember how "We are 'posed to be together."? There is no one else that could be my perfect compliment. Here is a mix of my favorite Brian memories, things you do that I appreciate and my favorite things about you...

1. You are my glow boy and have been since Day #1. That's what I remember about you from the very first moment I saw you. You were opening the door on your parent's Bronco for your girlfriend at their house and I noticed right off your huge smile and your countenance literally glowed from the inside out.
2. They say you should find a guy that treats you like a queen. I had been out with lots of nice guys and thought I knew what that meant. Turns out I had no idea what it meant until I started dating you. No one was so sweet or kind as you are.
3. You have strong hands and are always willing to help massage my neck to get rid of my headaches and tight muscles.
4. No matter how many times they do it, you are always willing to happily pretend you can't find the kids after they run to hide as you open the front door after work. When you find them, you always act scared when they say "Boo!" or roar like a lion...day after day after day after day.
5. You are a finisher. When I loose interest in a project and let other things distract me so I can't return to something, you quietly finish up the detail work like paining the baseboards or changing out the light switch covers or other little things.
6. I randomly find broken things around the house fixed. Toys, stairs, lights, switches, faucets, towel racks, door latches, CD player in the truck (over and over and over) the list goes on and on and on.
7. You tease me in a sweet way. I just wish I could remember if I made the bed or if you did it this morning so you couldn't give me such a hard time. Just in case it was you today, thanks.
8. Computers are your thing and you love to help others out. The pile of CPUs and monitors in the basement may make me nuts sometimes, but it's nothing compared to the junk I hoard. Plus, you're keeping them to fix up and give away to other people. Not so with my piles of junk. Your heart is so selfless.
9. Organization is your middle name. If I didn't live here, our house would be the most organized place in the country. You always have a place for everything and always manage to put everything away. How do you do that? I find that completely amazing and admire you for it.
10. As Maddie would say, "Magic. Magic. Magic." We love your dinner shows. It is fun to know that almost everyone that we invite to dinner will get a show with their meal.
11. You always help me cook when you see me in the kitchen trying to get a meal ready and juggle kids at the same time. When we have company, you always come up with a way to upgrade a meal by making an additional fancy dish that goes above and beyond what I had planned.
12. Smoothie King. Need I say more? You are Ben's best friend when you yell out from the kitchen, "Who wants a smoothie?" I immediately hear the pitter patter of little feet as two excited kids run full speed into the kitchen to help you make a delicious treat.
13. You could keep a secret forever if you had to, especially what you are getting me for my birthday or Christmas. I love the sly, sneaky smile you get when you tease me. It is the cutest smile.
14. A fresh haircut makes you look so sharp.
15. You keep both the car and truck in good repair and up to date on all they need for regular maintenance so they are safe for us.
16. You faithfully fulfill your callings for the church with a good attitude and never a word of complaint.
17. I loved swimming with you in the crystal clear water on Magnetic Island in Australia. It is so fun to share travel adventures with you.
18. Moving for all our internships in college was amazing. I loved that you let me plan week long road trips so we could see the country together. Only four more states to go before we have been to all fifty together. I've loved all forty six with you so far.
19. Staying up until 4:30 in the morning just talking when we were dating was so much fun. Remember when I asked you to do it again with me? I know you thought it was totally stupid, but you tried for me anyway. Then we realized that neither of us could make it and we went to sleep around 2:00. These days if we're up until 2:00 in the morning, we've got crying, vomiting kids. Times have sure changed!
20. You are so full of fun ideas with the kids. I loved the night you suggested having races around the house for Family Home Evening. Ben still remembers doing wheelbarrow races.
21. Daddy dates with the kids. They love knowing they have you all to themselves. You just know how to make individuals feel special and important.
22. Wise advice is always readily available from you. You are so even tempered and level headed.
23. Middle of the night feeding shifts with all our newborns. It makes a world of difference to me. I am so grateful that you can sleep anywhere, especially sitting up in a rocking chair.
24. You never get sick or need anything. You are so strong!
25. Mr. Fix-it could be your middle name. There doesn't seem to be anything beyond your ability to figure out, repair or build from scratch.
26. Teaching comes easy to you and you have helped so many people with your ability to tutor all the really difficult subjects. I remember when I went with you to the Nielsons in Houston to help Bryce with calculus. It had been five or more years since you had even touched a calculus book. You opened the textbook and not only knew how to do the problems, you remembered the names of the theorems!
27. Safety First has always been the way things have been run at our home since our intern days. You wear the right gear for every job.
28. Remember when we spent all day working on the brakes together in my parents garage, went to AutoZone eight times, broke the lug nuts, replaced calipers on both sides and as you tightened the last lug nut on the last tire and the wrench slipped? You got whacked in the face really, really hard but said you were okay. We went inside to clean up a little bit of blood and you passed out in the bathroom and started convulsing. I yelled for my dad to come help because I couldn't support your dead weight and keep your head from slamming into the sharp corner of the cabinet. We got you laid out on the floor and recovered. I finished cleaning up the garage with my dad and we ended up staying the night there. I think it's cute that the scar that you have on your right eye looks like an eyeliner tattoo. I smile every time I see it.
29. You're that cool kind of dad that will take his kids with him anywhere. You always have faith in them that they can and will behave properly and never seem to be overwhelmed by the thought of dragging them out with you to do errands and shopping.
30. Knowing that Christmas is my favorite time of year, you always indulge my love. When you were away on business for most of December in 2005 you bought an advent countdown book for me before you left. Then you called me every other night from Europe to read the story with me since we couldn't be together for the start of holiday season.
31. I love midnight meals with you when I'm pregnant and starving about 11:45 pm as we are both ready to roll over in bed and fall asleep. You always come to the kitchen with me and talk while we cook something incredibly healthy, usually hot dogs.
32. You look amazing in a suit coat. I love when the weather turns cooler and your wardrobe shifts to long sleeve shirts and ties. Everyday when you come home from work I notice how good you look.