Friend Party!!!

Birthdays aren't Birthdays without a PARTY!!!

This is the first year Jaden and Paige have had separate parties!  With their b-days 3 weeks apart from each other (and only 1 year difference) and being so young they still had the same friends!  This year with Jaden in Kindergarten and Paige in Pre-school...

they have their OWN FRIENDS!!!! 

 (some friends still get invited to both their parties---lucky them!!)

Blow-up Water Slide!!  LOTS OF FUN!!!

Party Pics with the Party Guests!!!

**This year Jaden and Paige collected gifts for their birthdays that we could donate to kids in the hospital!  Their cousin, in Michigan, was diagnosed with Leukemia last Sept. and we wanted to help and give back to kids here in Wichita who might be suffering the same as Syd!!  We took 2 HUGE bags full of gifts to the hospital and my 3 kids got to handout the gifts to many of the kids and then the rest of the gifts were left for the staff to hand out!  What an awesome experience it was for my kids!  And, I am SO PROUD of them for giving away their gifts from their friend parties!!!**

Sibling LOVE---there's none like it!!!

Jaden Turns SIX

JULY 14!!  We now have a 6 year old at our house! 

 

The Birthday Boy!!

A baseball theme this year!!

Pure Joy!! 

Intently reading his card!  It's so fun when they can read their own cards!!  Big Boy!

Grandpa and Grandma Roth

This wish should come true---as hard as he blew!!!

Their cousin--Annie! 

Relaxing on his NEW purple pillow!!!

Jaden saw this pillow at Sam's and wanted it so bad!!!  Other gifts he got:  Baseball cards, Royals T-Shirt, baseball card holder, CD, Baseball pitching net, electric scooter, water balloon launcher, soccer shoes, soccer ball, sports bag, bucket of baseballs, ...

Are you noticing a theme....SPORTS!!!!

All the boys want to play is baseball or football. 

Happy Birthday my little ATHLETE!!  We love you so much.  We love your sweet smile and your contagious laugh!  You are the kindest, sweetest, most tender-hearted little boy I know!  You always let your brother/sister choose first or give them the biggest cookie...or whatever!!!  You are kind, considerate, and LOVING!!!!

2nd Grade Field Day!

Field Day means...Fun in the SUN, friends, games, laughter, and the end of school is near!



Friends in 2nd Grade:  Andrew, Braeden, Emma, and Megan

More friends:  Silas, Riley, Jacob, Braeden

Mrs. Whelan's 2nd Grade Class

Games galore!

                       TUG OF WAR between the classes is the highlight of the day!  

 To no fault of Tyler---Mrs. Whelan's class did not win first between the 2nd graders. 

It was a FUN DAY!!!

I am blessed that I get to be at all the school events like this to take pictures,

 interact with my kids' friends, the teachers, the staff, etc.

And, now my baby will be in 3rd grade!!  WOW!!!  That seems crazy!!!

Dance Recital

Paige's first Dance Recital!  Age 4

Make up is ON!  We're ready to go!!

Grandma Balzer took Paige to her dance pictures a few weeks before because Steve and I were on a trip!  SO---Grandma got to put the dance make-up on first!

Which means---mom didn't know how to do it "the way Grandma did it"!

I did it just fine---but Paige thought Grandma should fix it before the recital!!!

Isn't she beautiful! 

Paige LOVE LOVE LOVED her make-up!!!

We had our first talk about how make-up doesn't make us pretty and that God made us all special and God made us just the way he wanted us!  (Yes, Make up does help as you get older!!! HA!  But, I didn't go into this with her!!)

Emily and Annie with Paige!

Speaking of beautiful... Paige has watched her cousins dance for years.

As we were getting her dance make-up on, Paige kept saying, "I look as Pretty as Annie" and "I look just like Emily!"  TOO CUTE!!

The class

On Stage

And, the flowers afterwards!!!! 

We made a big bouquet and put them in Paige's room for the next week!

They boys were proud of Paige and excited to watch her dance!!!

I wonder if Paige will do dance again next year.  There has been talk of cheerleading and gymnastics.  She also wants to try soccer, basketball, and now t-ball!!  WOW!! 

Time will tell....what Paige's "thing" will be!!!

But, for now----she is our beautiful ballerina!!!  You are awesome Paige!

More Disney

Day 2 we went to DOWNTOWN DISNEY and shopped and then swam more at the hotel!

We had to take a picture of Marceline's Confectionery because Steve's Grandma and Grandpa lived in Marceline, MO---home of WALT DISNEY himself!!  We actually attended Walt Disney's 100th year celebration in Marceline and few years ago!!!

There was a Lego Store with H U G E lego "things!" 

Jaden wanted to pose with each character or "thing"---it was quite funny!

**THEN, ON TO CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE**

The first ride of the day was MONSTER'S INC!!

We were in line first so they do a SCREAMING contest.  The kid who wins the screaming contest gets a FREE PASS for his/her family to ride this ride all day and go to the front of the line!  SWEET!

Steve and I knew that one of our  L O U D kids would for sure win this!!!  no troubles!

Well, we did not win!

Tyler, Mr. Analyzer said he screamed the loudest, but the kid who won held it longer....

probably true! 

At California Adventure Park we did several of SHOWS like Disney Junior and Disney Channel Rocks!

This was the day that Steve and I agreed that "Disney was NOT the happiest place on earth" 

 That's all I'll say about that!!

A few days later we decided 1 bad day out of 6 wasn't too bad!  It could have been worse!

We met more Characters!

We Rode some rides...

The swings, Mickey's Fun wheel, California Screamin, TOWER OF TERROR!, Buzz Lightyear, and more

Mickey's FUN WHEEL!
We renamed this....Mickey's Dumb Wheel!
First it was boring....we waited in line for A LONGGG time.  To then go super slow and........ THEN it got interesting!  We got to the top of the ride, starting swaying over the water.....and Jaden was NOT HAPPY!  This is the only ride that any of the kids didn't like or complained about!  Jaden's face says it all.

Tyler's favorite ride----the Roller Coaster---California Screamin.

Steve tried to sneak Jaden on it, and almost got him on, and then they checked his height

 at the very last minute!  BUSTED!!!!

Tyler rode with mom once, dad once, and once by himself!

Thank goodness for those FAST PASSES!

**BACK TO DISNEYLAND**

The highlight for Paige the last day was meeting the princesses and Tinkerbell

and the highlight for the boys was.... getting picked at the Jedi Training!

We waiting for about an hour to be picked for this.  We were there EARLY and on the front row--

but we were told it is completely random. 
You should have heard all the parents (including Steve and I) instructing their kids...

"chant this, stand here, do this, yell loud, etc...."

And then after Jedi Training the boys took the rest of their money and made Light Saber's!  Pretty cool.
And, then they wanted to play Jedi Training in our hotel room.  UMmm....no room for that!!


I have about 400 more pictures that I did not put on my blog.  I will save those for my Disney BOOK I am going to make!  It was FUN!  We survived!  We'll do it again!!!

some cute pics

        A few especially cute pictures from Disney before we detail out the remaining days!

The days we went to Disney we rode the hotel shuttle!  We stood in line by this sign each morning!  There were a few times that the shuttle was so full we had to stand in the middle, like on a Subway, and hold onto the railings or seats around us.  The kids thought this was sort of cool to stand on the bus....not sitting and no carseat!!

Isn't that cute!!  They look so sweet and innocent :)

More sweetness!  Gotta love those buttons!!

Of the pictures I have downloaded thus far---this is my favorite!

I did not do this on purpose...but I love how all the princesses are in the background, blurry!

This is a cute picture of Jaden, but I wish it was Paige like this, with the Princesses in the background.  Regardless, I love the picture!

Did I mention I got a new camera a week before we left.  I did not read one manual or book and used my camera one time before going to Disney.  I told Steve I didn't have time to read a book a figure out my camera so if he was buying it (HE is the one that really wanted the camera) he had to figure it all out and then give me the cliff -notes version.  So, he did!

AND---I LOVE LOVE LOVE my camera now!

I still have A LOT, A LOT, A LOT, to learn about it!!  But, it is cool!!!

 Pure Joy!!!  The rides!!!

I need to crop this picture---but haven't yet!

This particular picture, the kids posed themselves and then yelled for me to take their picture!!Notice Jaden's Tigger---that is the stuffed animal he bought the first day shopping---

he carried it with him most of the rest of the day!!!

and we ended our first day at DisneyLand with some ICE-CREAM!!!