April Birthday's....

We get to celebrate 2 birthday's in April.  Evan's and Addisons.  Evan turned 10 this year and Addie turned 6.  Hard to believe I have 2 kids in the double digits, sigh.  This year we didn't do a "friend party"...we alternate years on that.  So we spent a low-key weekend opening gifts and going to Chuck-A-Rama for dinner (kids choice).  Evan surprises me because I always fear he will be bitter about sharing a birthday with Addison but every time I suggest we do something separate for him, he gets upset and says he wants to share the day with Addie.  Here are a few facts about each of them and then pictures to follow:

My BFF Shannon and her kids came to the park for Evan and Addison bday.  We love them like family :)

Evan:  He still loves Sharks and dreams of becoming a Marine Biologist one day.  Really, he is an animal lover all the way around and that has not changed from day one.  Even though he is 10, he is still like a little boy in some ways and I love that about him.  Ian has always seemed a few years older for his age but Evan prefers to act his age :)  He loves stuffed animals, he loves anything that someone gives him and will keep it forever - even a rock - in other words....Pack Rat!  He enjoys playing outside, even with the little kids.  He is so good with the younger kids in our apartment.  He loves attention from mom.  He has a humongous appetite right now.  He is in the 4th grade and struggles with doing his homework.  He would much rather be outside playing.  We love him and his sense of humor!

Addison:  She still remains the house Diva.  But, she is starting to learn that sometimes she doesn't get what she wants.  She is losing teeth now and not looking like my little baby girl anymore.  She loves clothes and shoes and makeup...I often find her playing in mine.  She loves to sing and dance and play outside.  She is a little monkey, climbing anything she can.  She has thick callouses all over her palms from the monkey bars at school!  She is really into Barbies right now.  She begs me for fake nails all the time - which I don't understand since I never wear them!!  She definitely keeps us on our toes.  She is the messiest one in the house.  The front room is usually full of all her stuff and she hates putting it all away, lol.  She has been in Kindergarten this year and loves every minute of it!  I never have to beg her to go to school.  She loves her family and we love her!


I took Addie with me to get a mani/pedi for her birthday she was soooo excited until we got there.  The people that own this salon are Cambodian I think and they were all talking very fast and loud in their language.  She was wide eyed and got even more freaked out when they pulled out the massive cheese grater and started scrubbing my feet. Haha!  But, she finally relaxed and enjoyed every minute of it!  Especially by the time they got to her hands.

These are some example of their artwork.  Both of these kids are really artistic and LOVE drawing, painting and coloring!  I am always amazed at  their work...it was never something I was very good at.
This is Evans copy of the famous Salvador Dali painting.  He really likes Dali's work.

This is Evan's watercolor of the desert.

This is Addison's chameleon!  So cute.

She just lost her first front tooth.

We waited a week for warmer weather and had a BBQ at the park with my brothers and family for their birthdays.

Here is my nephew Soren :)

Nathan, being silly.

 Uncle Jeff

 Aunt Alisa with baby Jude

My other nephew, Jude...sweet baby.

Ian, being silly...runs in the family apparently.

 Pretty birthday girl Addison....

Evan's 9th Birthday Party....

I told the kids a few years ago that we weren't going to continue having a 'friend party' every year. It gets super expensive and out of hand trying to keep up with all the new party idea's that other people are pumping out. This year was Evan's turn to have a big friend party and he chose to have it at Classic Fun Center on Saturday afternoon. We used to roller skate at this place when I was in Junior High a looooong time ago! Now it still has the roller rink but it also has bouncy house/slides, a jungle gym playground, laser tag, and a bunch of other stuff. Their party package is amazing and even though Im not doing an official plug for them, if you live in the Salt Lake Valley, you should consider it for your child. They took care of everything down to the matches to light the candles. We had our own personal party host and all we had to do was show up with a cake and presents....Oh yeah, and with the kids! Here are some of the "kids" trying their feet at skating. I was happy that Jeff and Nicola took to the rink. Must have been a "couples skate" song....

For those that were too young to skate, this place allows scooters on the rink! Addie and Soren took advantage of this and other than having to make them turn around and stop scooting against the traffic, they were pro's....

Evan invited 4 friends and his cousin Soren.

We were there for 3 hours...but it felt like 6. The kids played so hard they were sweating and red faced every time they surfaced for a drink. We just sat there and chilled while the kids played their hearts out. In fact we had to practically drag them back to the table for pizza... check out how red Evan's face is!

At the end of the party the birthday child gets to spin the prize wheel. Its a big wheel with a lot of different prizes you can get from the counter.

He also got to stand in the cash tube and try to grab as many tickets (for prizes) as he could.

As I was looking for Evan so we could get things progressing out the door I saw him coming toward me crying really hard. As I got closer, I saw his head....OUCH!! Apparently he and another kid made contact with each others heads in the bouncy house.

I guess we should feel lucky that #1 it was the only injury that occurred in this injury prone environment and #2 that it happened at the end of the party instead of the beginning. For a while he didnt even want to spin the wheel... he just wanted to go home but after he calmed down he wanted to spin it and guess what?? His spin landed on the only money slot on the whole wheel. He won $10! I asked the attendant if that happens very often and he just shook his head and said "rarely...I cant even remember the last time". I guess Evan caught a break for taking such a blow to the head.

Here are a couple of boys we picked up...Uncle Nate and his sweet baby boy Jude. Look at those eyes. Such a cutie :) It was a super fun party...but I am partied out for a couple of years!! Two parties back to back was insanity...thankfully Denver was here to help out!

Addison's 5th Birthday Party....

Two of our kids celebrate birthdays within 3 days of each other. Up until now this hasn't been an issue because Addison was too young to care much whether or not she had her own party so we usually just lumped her's in with Evan's. This year however, she was planning her "own" party months in advance. Friday night we had her first official 'friend party'. She invited 7 girls from her pre-school and her cousin Soren. We held the party at the community center here in our apartment complex.It was a Hello Kitty themed party and Addison was dead set on having cupcakes. My time is so limited these days that I opted to get cupcakes from Sam's Club rather than make my own....this was really hard for me to do but what a life saver it was!!

For activities at her party we had craft tables set up and on one table we decorated t-shirts

with paint and glitter...it was messy but they all turned out so cute.

At another table we had beads and colored elastic string to make necklaces or bracelets and Evan helped the boys, and eventually some of the girls, make magic wands. Addie was thrilled and played the part of birthday girl perfectly.

Soren was the only boy there but he had fun too. Im not sure he knew what to do with all those girls running around and screaming. But, he sure knew what to do with his cupcake which seemed to disappear in one bite :)

Here are some pictures of her and her cute friends.

Here are some pictures of the fun presents she received.

Here she is on the present Denver and I gave her. He flew into town Thursday night for the birthdays and thank heavens. I dont think I could have survived without his help!

I think the party turned out to be a great success...I know she was happy and that is really all that matters!!

Mr. Evan Denver...

Well, we didnt plan it but we have two birthdays in the same week between Evan and Addison. On the 15th, our tax baby turned 9! Im never shocked when Evan ages because he is so close in age to Ian that I have just gone through the shock with him...I dont know if that is a good or a bad thing but either way it seems like Evan has been 9 since last year. Here is a little about our 9.4 pound bundle of joy...

1. He is quiet and unassuming and very kind. His teachers always comment on this every year.

2. He makes friends with everyone. He loves everyone and wants to be their friends. He includes the underdogs...the kids that no one else will play with and this is what I love most about him.

3. I always mention that he is an animal lover... this has not changed. He wants to be a Marine Biologist when he grows up.

4. He is really into Sharks right now...he struggles between loving and hating them for eating seals.

5. He loves to be loved....such a sweet kid.

6. He is a soccer nut. Loves the game and still loves to play the Goalie.

For his birthday, his teacher asked us to come to his class and share in his birthday celebration with them. The students arent allowed to bring in any type of food and so his teacher goes to great lengths to make them feel extra special on that day. We were asked to tell the class a little about what makes Evan special in our home.

I cried of course and embarrassed him and Denver embarrassed him by telling the class he was cool. You gotta love being parents and embarrassing your kids! Happy Birthday Evan!!

Miss Addison Jayne....

Our little 6.4 pound preemie turned 5 on the 12th!! It is so hard for me to believe that I no longer have any "babies" at home anymore. I am stunned that she is starting Kindergarten this year since I could have sworn she was born just yesterday.Well there is so much to say about this funny, sweet girl of ours.

1. She loves anything 'girlie'. This has not changed since she was 2.

2. She love music, singing, and dancing...she is always moving either her body or her mouth...sometimes both.

3. She loves school and her friends...she just cant wait to have sleepovers.

4. She loves herself...seriously. Pull out a camera or a mirror and you'll see what I mean :)

5. Even though she was 5 weeks premature, she is taller than all of her friends at pre-school.

6. She adores her brothers...most of the time ;)

7. We think, of course, that she is the most beautiful girl in the world and we tell her any chance we get.

Addison is such a light in our family. You cant help but smile when you watch her play. She is a smarty pants too: counts to 29; writes both names very neatly; is beginning to read words; draws beautiful, detailed rainbows and flowers. She takes dance with Miss Julie and loves it. We cant wait for her recital in June. She cannot wait to start Kindergarten and go to school with Evan. She acts like it is her lifelong dream come true. What would we do without her.... Happy Birthday Addie!

10 Years Ago....

I gave birth to my first baby...Ian Kenneth Shannon.

It was not an uneventful birth. After my water broke early, the contractions stopped and 19.5 hours later I was finally ready to push. Unfortunately, due to an epidural that never completely "took", I was forced to push without much pain medication.... it took 2.5 hours of pushing to finally hold him in my arms. 2.5 hours of pushing, puking on the nurse, and tearing....a lot. Lets not forget the fact that the doctor had to twist him a full 3 times to get his gigantor shoulders out. "Here is your future football player" the doctor said... all 9 pounds 13 ounces of him. Well, guess what Doc.... Football player he is not. What I got though, was the most lovable, squeezable, kissable, teddy bear of a son that a mother could ever hope for (and he would probably be mortified that I wrote that :) I cannot believe it has been 10 years already. It feels like it was just a couple of years ago..... Words can't express how much I love this kid so I wont bother trying. I am so proud of him....my little Alex P. Keaton :)



We promised him a big birthday party for his entrance into the "double digits". He has been very excited to hit this milestone...much more so than I have - that is for sure. So we invited his entire school class since they have all been together since Kindergarten. I figured half might show up.... out of 24 kids, we had 18 come to the party! It was a smashing success. I rented out the bowling alley at the University of Utah for 2 hours and let the kids go for it. Self contained entertainment....it was awesome, and loud, and crazy but totally worth it. Ian was on cloud 9. Denver was in town for a visit too so that made it even better for him. Also, my mom was in town helping my brother with his boys since Alisa had been out of town on business....it was fun to have her at the party as well.

Here is Addie striking a pose for the camera since she wasn't doing much "striking" on the bowling lanes!

And here is Ian methodically explaining the scientific facts about bowling and how to properly pick up the ball and throw it down the lane.....

Here is my nephew Soren, "secretly" assisting his big cousin in the gift opening department ;)

If you know me, then you know I love to make my kids' birthday cake from scratch each year. This year however, Ian was kind enough to allow me to purchase his cake from Sams Club #1. because I would have had to bake 3 cakes to feed all the guests..... and #2. between my school and our weekly chaos, I would have never had time to do so. It killed me to do it but I have to admit it was such a huge relief!!! By the way, I have to say that for store bought cake, this was pretty dang good...and I am picky.

He got a lot of really fun gifts and his friends were all so cute...they were huddled so close to him while he was opening the gifts that I thought they might literally smother him. It was Awesome....he had such a great time :)