Pretend, but real

*Starting side note.  I have not read anyone's blog for weeks.  Today I had 5 minutes to spare and thought I could get mostly caught up.  No way there are tons.  So anyways I hope to read them all, but may miss out on some good reads in my hustle and bustle.

Jonah’s birthday was celebrated today.  I am going to be running Ragnar on Saturday, the actual day, and Bryan and the boys will already be in Phoenix, so I decided that today was his birthday this year.  This about killed me in the beginning because I am such a lover of birthdays and especially about the actual day.  He will never know the difference and it won’t affect him even if he knew.  So today was his birthday.

Opening presents this morning, which when done he asked me to go and get some more.

Birthday breakfast where he told us all to sing the birthday song from church. (You’ve had a birthday shout hurray!)

Lunch and the park with Daddy and the boys while Mom quickly went to a Relief Society luncheon.  As I left Jonah was directing Brandon and Jacob to sing the real Happy Birthday song to him.

The Lightning McQueen tire cake.  Not one of my best creations, but with the chaos of this week it looks perfect!  And I might add, he looks so dang cute.

A 4 year old birthday party.  Brandon asked me why it was only for an hour.  After it ended he said, “Oh, I see why”. 

I wouldn’t spend the $20 on a real McQueen piñata (and we always have piñatas at our birthday parties) so we improvised and Brandon, Jacob and Luke were human piñatas.  The kids threw balls at them and once hit the boys would throw out the candy.  It worked wonderfully.

So great to have a friend/mother like Ellie who made sure Jonah got as much candy as everyone else.

Fun presents and a fun time for all the kids. 

As Jonah was getting ready for bed he walked past me and said, “Thanks Mom, thanks for helping with my party today”.  Awe soooooooooooo cute!

I feel like a huge burden is off my shoulders now that his birthday is taken care of.  Now on to my 4 trips/events in a row!!!!  If I had more time I would reminisce again on the incredible miracle he is.  I CANNOT believe it has been 4 years.

The Big 12

It was about time for Brandon to turn 12.  I feel like he has been 12 for 2 years at least.  It is nice to have it official.  He had a great day. 

Presents and breakfast.

Going to a neighborhood carnival and celebrating with his birthday twin Emilee.

Getting ready for his party.

(no pic of that)

Playing in his last regular season baseball game.

Attending a court of honor.

(no pic of that either)

And party time!

(Look at how darling this giant cupcake a girl brought him is)

(celebrating that the fire finally lit)

I can’t believe my baby Brandon is 12, but I am excited for this stage of life.  He is my little momma’s boy and very helpful.  He is a great big brother to Jonah and sometimes to Jacob.  Here’s to another great year for him!

Worlds Fair/Graduation

I need to hurry and blog about these events before the day is done and I will be blogging about Brandon’s birthday!

Last week was a great last week of school.  Although I think it is ridiculous how many parties and activities are done at school.  Why not have one party day and be done with school the week before? Anyways I did thoroughly enjoy the 6th grade worlds fair.  I didn’t know what to expect, I just knew they were singing “We Are the World'”.  I told Brandon I would cry when they sang, and sure enough, tears immediately came to my eyes.  They did several dances from countries around the world and sang a few great songs.  I ended up staying for 2 performances because I liked it so much.  Brandon had done Brazil for his country, due to the influence of the Becks.  He did a nice job.

Jonah asked me why I was dressing him the same as Brandon that day.  I said, because you will look cute in matching soccer jerseys!

OK, so 6th grade graduation.  Who came up with that?  I can see recognizing these kids as they leave elementary school, but really all they did was attend school.  It was a nice program.  They had 3 kids give little talks.  My friends daughter and friend of Brandon, Aly Barlow did an amazing job.  She was supposed to talk about what they did that year.  So she (and her Mom) put those events to the William Tell Overture and she sang/talked it.  It was a hit, way more entertaining then anything else.  The kids sang “We Are the World” again, cried, and they sang, signed, and the orchestra played “You Raise Me Up”.  It made it a memorable experience.  Brandon received his “certificate” for completely 6th grade, a certificate for reaching his AR goal each term that year (I thought it was going to be for the whole school career, which he would have earned) and the presidents academic award. 

Some people were crying others taking a bunch of pictures.  Brandon’s request was to leave.

Two nice events, and now the best event of all begins (summer).

Let it begin…..

The birthday season that is!  Happy 38th Birthday to Bryan.  He won’t be happy that I posted his age, but hey he is married to me so he MUST be young.

Excitement all around over a couple of pairs of shorts!

Too bad he had to go to work all day on his birthday.  He said it was just like any other day, but we tried to make it a LITTLE better than that.  The best dinner in the whole world was made by me, thanks to this fantastic recipe http://www.abountifulkitchen.com/2009/05/santa-fe-enchiladas.html (OK I have never linked anything and don’t really know how to).  Delicious chocolate cake, Brandon’s baseball game, finding out Jacob made the all star team……these all helped to making it a special day!

Look at all those cute boys I live with.  Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father.