Tyler's 9!!!

My sweet first born is NINE!!!!!!  Holy Moly!!!

Tyler is growing up to be such an awesome boy!  He is a jokester!  He loves his brother and sister!  He gave himself the nickname "bubby" with Paige!  It's precious!  He loves basketball and football!  And my most proud moment I think to date is when his teacher told us this year at Parent Teacher conferences that he is

 "the popular kid in the class, like a high school quarter-back.  Everyone likes him"

BUT---what makes me proud is when she EXPLAINED this statement.

She explained how Tyler is nice to EVERYONE and sees no difference in anyone!

Tyler be-friended a girl in the class who apparently did not have a lot of friends!  Each Friday the "student of the week" gets to move their desk wherever he/she wants.  Last Friday, this girl CHOOSE to move her desk by Tyler, saying he was "nice to her!"

SO PROUD!!!

I don't care if he's "popular" with the true meaning of the word.  But, I do LOVE that he is popular because he is nice to everyone....which in turn means everyone LIKES HIM!!!

love that sweet boy!

As the kids get older, it's harder to think of "themes" for their birthdays!  But, we're not ready just yet to not have them!!  So, I took Tyler to Party City to see if that would spark any ideas!!  ROCK STAR!  The kids got Band Hero for Christmas and we've been "Rocking out" with that!!!  So we thought a ROCK STAR party would be fun!!

Tyler thought I was a totally cool mom when I let him buy this wig to wear for the party!

I figured we'd get a lot of use out of this $15 wig!!!!

Aunt Barb had her own ROCK STAR sunglasses!!

I didn't make the cake---but I did make the Cake Balls---and they were YUMMY!

In hindsight...we don't need both cake balls AND a cake!! 

Gifts:  Tyler asked for MONEY from most people--to save for a NEW IPod 4.

(however, since his b-day he has maybe decided to spend his money on a new BIKE!!!)

So, he got gifts from Gma and Gpa Roth and mom and dad and

MONEY from everyone else!

Aunt Amanda and Uncle David put $5 in each balloon and he got to pop the balloon to get the money out!  THAT WAS COOL!!! (I'll be stealing this idea for someone for sure!!)

Since it was a ROCK STAR party---we all played BAND HERO! 

And, Tyler handed out trophies to the "winners" (the kids)

And, we can't forget Little MISS ROCK STAR!

She was doing "tricks" on the chair for everyone!!  That was her "stage"!

Happy Birthday Tyler BOY!!!

We love you lots and forever and ever!!!

Never quit being the SWEET boy you are!

More Baseketball!

Jaden spent JANUARY on the BASKETBALL COURT too!

Jaden is Super DEFENSE Boy!!!

Too bad this picture isn't in focus---it would be an awesome poster!

He jumps--steals the ball--and goes down court!

We're going to say he SCORES!!! (we don't remember!) 

Precious moment!!

Jaden is AWESOME on DEFENSE!  He hustles and can stay with his man!  Steve often has him guarding the other teams best man!  Jaden is intense and serious!  When he scores or makes a steal, he will always look over to see if me and then rest of the crowd saw!!  But, he RARELY will crack a smile!  Jaden has several games with 6 points, like Tyler.  If he is feeling confident and DOES SHOOT--he'll score!  He just doesn't always feel confident on offense!

Jaden's 1st grade team was un-defeated in FUNBall!  Then, Steve took his team to the YMCA to play in the 2/3rd grade league for some "competition", but with 2 games left in that league--they are STILL undefeated!  A "close" game for this team is to win by 10 points!

And, just as this season is coming to an end....

The boys have decided they are going to play SPRING basketball.

So, more games in April, May, and June!!!

BUT---no baseball this summer!  We are excited to have a "Free" summer!

January!

January can be summed up in ONE WORD...... BASKETBALL!

Steve coached both boys teams! 

Basketball took up 2-3 nights a week for 3 months!  WE LOVE IT!

But, it is busy!

Intense....

Even with my new "fancy" camera---I am finding the boys are starting to move

TOO FAST for me to get good pictures!

Grab that ball!!

I'm Open---pass to me!!!

3rd Grade--

Dad says Tyler is aggressive on OFFENSE! He gets the ball and goes to the BASKET!  Tyler scored a lot of points this year, which is fun for him!  His highest points for a game was 10!  He also had many games with 6 or 8 points!

  But, he's great on Defense as well!

Tyler works hard and wants to be good!  He has really started playing basketball a lot in the backyard (on the nice days!)  But, that's pretty normal---when we're in football season, they want to play football outside, when they're in basketball season--they want to play basketball outside!

The latest "Talk" is that Steve (and the boys) want to build a 1/2 court basketball court on the side of the house!  Steve has it all planned!  It will take up our side yard, a tree has to come out, but....we will be "cool"!  HA!  We'll see how soon we can get this!

Christmas gifts!

A few WEEKS before Christmas, Paige decided she wanted a GUITAR!  I sort of ignored it.  But, once she came up with it--and said it---she didn't quit asking about it and talking about it!

So--good thing Grandma Balzer doesn't shop early!

She got her guitar...

And, played it ALL afternoon and night!

Enlisting her cousins to SING while she played!!!

At one point, Grandpa let Paige sit ON the kitchen counter, ON a stool, so she could be

on the "stage" singing and playing!  REALLY!???

All the boy cousins got K-State pillow pets from Uncle David and Aunt Amanda!

Jaden's face explains it....they love them!

A Pogo stick---this is a funny story!

Uncle Jim bought the boys an O L D Pogo stick a few months ago...I mean like a 1950's squeaky, old pogo stick!  The boys and the neighbors LOVE IT!!!!

2 different families in the neighborhood have since gotten Pogo Sticks--so Jaden got a NEWER, hopefully not squeaky....Pogo Stick!!!

We are BLESSED!!!  We are SPOILED LOVED a lot!! 

 We are THANKFUL!!

Santa

It's tradition that we always go to Druber's in Newton to see "THE REAL SANTA"--- I mean he does know the kids' names, the parents' names, and certain things about us that he could only know if he was THE REAL SANTA.....not one of the "helper" Santa's that are around town!

Who knows what Santa was telling these big boys---but it must have been FUNNY!

Tyler-almost 9    Jeremy--almost 11

Jaden is growing his hair out right now (not in the picture), but this picture makes we want him to CUT HIS HAIR!!!  It's so cute short and spiked!

Jaden-6    Sydney-7

Jaden is sort of "stuck in the middle" of the cousins.  He wants to play with the "big boys", but yet he also wants to play with the "little kids" (which happen to be girls!) 

So, he kind of goes back and forth. 

Girl Cousins!

Syd--7   Paige-5   Taylor-5

She is so intently listening! 

What did they ask Santa for??

Hmmm.....good question!  We didn't see Santa til Christmas Eve. 

 They just made a list this year and didn't specifically ASK Santa for anything. 

We didn't really talk about Santa much this year! 

Jaden did ask for DRUMS and we did tell him we would not get him drums so he'd have to ask Santa!!! 

AND GUESS WHAT-----

Santa brought Jaden DRUMS!  Well sort of.....

Santa brought all the kids BAND HERO!!!

Drums for Jaden, Guitar for Tyler, and a microphone for Paige!

HOW SMART!!  And how FUN!!!!

Paige was less than thrilled at first!  The microphone wasn't so cool because she couldn't read the lyrics on the TV---so how could she sing!!!?  But, have no fear...give her a few days to learn the songs and she was SUPER EXCITED about her microphone!!!

Santa had no idea the WHOLE family would like Band Hero so much!

I think every night after Christmas, til the kids went back to school we played it!

Mom and Dad were having "sing-offs"--and mom always wins!!!

Thanks Santa!  Thanks Jaden for wanting drums this year!!!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Steve was off work on his birthday!!  YEA!!!  That meant he got to go

 ROLLER SKATING with me and the kids....for his birthday!

Roller Skating is the kids' new FUN thing to do!  (This was only our 2nd time--but they

 LOVE IT!)  The boys are asking for Roller blades for Christmas---which means we'll be coming back after Christmas too (if they get them!!!)

This was the first time Paige used "Big girl" skates (instead of the kind that go over your shoes!)  She spent A LOT of time on the floor!  Her bottom was LITERALLY sore after 3 hours of skating!  AND---she got a hold in the knee her new pink leggings.  I'd say she fell a lot if she got a HOLE in her pants!!! 

She's HOT and SWEATY!!!

She has probably NEVER been physically active for 3 hours straight....in her life!

 It was lunch with Santa and skating....

this is why we went!!!

AND---we almost didn't even SEE Santa!  He was on his way out the door and I literally stopped him and asked him to come back for one more picture....

and then we had to wait for Paige get out of the bathroom!!!

I was able to get some GREAT pictures of the BIRTHDAY BOY!!!!

Happy Birthday Steve!!!!

**In case you were worried---Steve did get a proper birthday celebration!  Steve's parents took us all to the K State basketball game and a weekend in KC for Steve (and his sister's ) birthdays!  This is the 2nd year for this FUN trip!  It's a great birthday present---Steve loves it!

And, next year.....He'll be 40!!!!!!