Joe's 40th Birthday

A sweet moment from Joe's "surprise" party. 

More to come :)

Tzurielle & Eliesha's Birthday Party

Cristiana threw a princesses and Knights party at Lakewood Park for the Parrino girls. The toy swords were a big hit.

Born a week apart: Tzurielle turned 3; Eliesha turned 1.

Rocky gets prepped for the "punch piñata"

Stephen's Birthday Party

A Cannoli "cake" for my little 7-yr-old. 

Diamond Armor Steve arrived earlier than expected, so he topped the cake.

Mining for jewels in ice.

Coraling some balloon animals and dodging a creeper.

Homemade masks.

Stephen was super excited about his presents: Lego Minecraft crafting box from Grammy & Gramps, diamond sword from Uncle Jack & Tia Cris, bow and arrow and a ice cave Lego set from Nonna and Papa.

Oliver turns 2

Some things about Ollie at 2:

Ollie-isms:

"Soup-Ollie!" = super Ollie

"I na wan it" = I don't want it

"Aye-ya aye-ya" = I'm trying really hard to do something, won't you take pity on me?

"Faw-fee" = coffee

"Fuffin" = muffin

"Silly Goooose!" (He enunciates this phrase exceptionally well)

"Tars! Tars!" = guitars; ukulele

"I eee-chy. I wan hanoo." = my eczema is itchy, put on my lotion (Renew).

"Rocky! Seeve! Bruh-ders!"

"Dank you-mom!" = universal thank you

"Keem!" = ice cream

Oliver enjoys riding in strollers, toy cars, his car seat etc. He likes pushing around furniture to use as step stools. And flipping the laundry basket to get on our bed.

He likes helping put food on the conveyor belt at Aldi.

He eats a very limited diet: almond milk, bready things, pasta, cheese, pretzels, raisins and crasins, peanuts, peanut butter, corn, bananas, muffins, scrambled eggs and pizza.

Busy Saturday

We celebrated Joshua's birthday at the park. The boys had fun with balloons.

Rockam consciously exercised self-control even though he really wanted to open all Joshua's presents for him.

And it was a beautiful day for being outside-- sunny 70s with a breeze.

I took Oliver and Rockam for a stroller ride afterward. Then Rocky was pooped from all that fresh air.

Evan's birthday party

Ollie didn't want to say cheese.

Rocky turns 4

Stephen turns 6!

We celebrated Stephen's 6-year mark with a Lego Star Wars party yesterday. 

Stephen helped me make wookie cookies the night before. 

His best buddies, Harrison and Evan came to celebrate with him. Party games included light saber (pool noodles & duct tape) duels and Yoda Says.

 Stephen contemplates his wish before blowing out the candles. Some little onlookers can't hold still in anticipation of the cake.

Happy first birthday, Ollie!

What a joy...

To watch my little cutie-snootie

Grow into such a sweet little boy!

On July 5th, Ollie's first birthday passed a little differently than Stephen's and Rockam's did because we were traveling. So, while there were no candles or homemade muffin cupcakes, we did sing happy birthday and Ollie got his first taste of chocolate cake-- which, despite his sedate expression in this picture, was something Oliver ate (and even swallowed) with gusto.

More birthday

This is basically a placeholder until I get my act together

Happy 3, Rockam

Son 2 woke bright and early at 5 am. When I told him happy birthday, he said: "no. I hungry."

He didn't perk up until after his oatmeal. Then joe and I introduced him to his new pet.

Rockam named it "mommy fish."

Outside, everything is coated crystal cold... And just like the week Rocky was born, we've had a week of snow days. 

Stephen turns 5!

Yesterday we celebrated stephen's fifth birthday with a few friends and a robot-themed party. Stephen was embarrassed when everyone sang "Happy Birthday."

On the menu: Pizza, Chocolate cupcakes with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Also, the kids built their own marshmallow and pretzel bots.

Rockam was quick to taste his.

 

 

Next, we played some robot games-- like hunting for 72 miniature robots sprinkled throughout the front lawn.

We also had relay races with "robot feet"...

And robot masks. And grabber claws.... unfortunately, I didn't capture that.

 

 

We also played a game that I created with mix n match robot parts. Here, the kids show off robot creations from the homemade Build-a-Bot game.

Enjoying presents: Grammy and gramps got Stephen a sleeping bag. 

After the party, I asked Stephen how it felt to be five. "It's pretty fun," he said. Stephen also loved his book on sea creatures, Spiderman motorcycle, Boulder & Chase rescue bots, and Rescue bots DVD.

Ollie pretty much slept through the entire party :)