Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

9.23.2010

you've had a birthday shout hurray!


This little one is 14 today...Happy Birthday Emily!  

Em is a bright spot in our family.  We love her kindness, laughter, sense of right and wrong, her ability to clean like no other...when she wants to that is - which apparently isn't right now considering the state of her room :)  She is growing into a beautiful young woman.

I was going to include a current picture of her in this post but decided to wait till after school so I could post her picture from Ugly Outfit Day.  Nice, huh?  Celebrating your birthday with an ugly outfit.  Luckily she was game for it and trotted off today in quite the outfit.  

Her friends and sister also helped ease the pain of wearing ugly clothes by writing a board full of birthday wishes on the wipe board at seminary, showering her with cakes, candy, cards and a great bunch of balloons with a basket full of Em's favorite goodies.  How grateful I am for good friends.

We love you Pie!  Hope your day is full of happiness and fun!

9.14.2010

my baby is 9

Although I still call him the baby I know deep down that I no longer have a baby in the house - waaaaaa!  I say this repeatedly but here we go again...my kids are growing up way to fast.  It didn't seem that way some years back but now I can't seem to slow down time no matter what I do.

Today was Luke's 9th birthday.  Happy Birthday Lukey!


Oh how we love this kid.  He makes us smile with all his funny antics, songwriting skills, dance moves, and crazy remarks.  He is a joy to have in our family.  He is loving and kind.  He is sensitive to others feelings.  He is beyond cute!  



Happy Birthday Pookle-pants!

6.08.2010

holding the record for longest birthday post ever



I'm not feeling fully recovered from the festivities of the weekend but if I don't post now it'll never get done.

Does she look like she had fun?  

She did!

Megan's party was Friday night and I think the celebration was everything her 16 year old heart could wish for.

(A big thank you to Shelley for all the great photos of the kids and party set-up)

We celebrated her sweet 16 with sweets...lots of them!  There was not lots of party prep time due to my vertigo and our family trip to Havasupai so nothing was homemade (except for the cupcakes and a friend made those for me (and also mopped my floor) - thanks Leslie!)  I liked going the store bought route it made it all a bit easier.



Reese's Peanut Butter cups (Meg's favorite), taffy, giant pixie stixs, lollipops and Little debbie cakes.  Thanks to Michelle for helping with all the food set-up.






The sugary goodness didn't end with the dessert table...we had a table full of sodas



as well as smores by the fire pit



The hit of the "sweets" though was these two.

No, not the kids although they both are sweet - the wax mustaches and lips.  The kids pulled those of the dessert table almost immediately.  They provided plenty of great photo ops.


Then we went a little red neck and served some canned nacho cheese.  In my defense I made it a bit ritzier by serving it in my chocolate fountain.  You're jealous, I know.  When the teenagers are here we almost always serve this golden, gooey, goodness of yellow cheesiness.  They love it.


We served some other savory snacks...peanuts, pickles, taquitos, veggies (most of which were left at the end of the night)  Those teens are going to pay when they hit 40 and their metabolism slows.  They'll wish they had eaten their veggies instead of the abundance of nacho cheese.

We didn't plan much in the way of activities as we knew the kids would mostly just want to hang out.  We had foosball (thanks for the table Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jill) and air hockey (thanks Smiths)





I had also purchased some fortune teller fish that I remembered playing with when I was younger.  We put them out around the lounge areas and the kids had fun finding out their fortunes.








The night mostly consisted of a lot of hanging out with friends




















as well as some hanging out with family

cousin Dusty with his friend Carson

cousin Tyler with some of his college buddies - they drove all the way from Utah
for Megan's sweet 16...that's what we're telling ourselves anyway :)

We also had a few party crashers








These 3 obviously found a way to get around the strict high school kids only (unless you are a college aged cousin) rule.  

In Mackenzie's defense she was invited by Emily.  

Gorilla boy?  Well, how can you not let in the gorilla that crashes through the back gate and terrorizes all the party guests?  I guess it's one of the perks of having the Chamberlins as neighbors :)  we're glad you stopped by gorilla boy!

And Zane?  We'll excuse his party crashing too since this picture is priceless.  It is so getting blown up for his 16 birthday.

Did you notice a pattern in the above pictures?  Same backdrop?  Hands down, the best part of the night was the photo booth we put up.  I am so planning on doing this for more parties.  The kids at the party took over 2,000 photos (no exaggeration) and now Megan has photo memories that she will treasure.

We rented pipe and drape from a local rental company and set up a 9x9 room in the front room.  3 walls with black curtains and one with striped fabric and some pendants that I made.  I set up my camera on a tripod (thanks Rona) and added a corded shutter release button for the kids to push for pictures.  

For some fun we threw in some chalkboard thought bubbles that a friend cut out (thanks Herk) and that I painted with chalkboard paint and added a handle to the back of.  These were used to write notes to the birthday girl, funny sayings or my favorite...

Kids would be set for a picture and then friends would write comments on the chalkboard without the picture people knowing what they said - they just had to hold the sign and smile for the camera.  There were some funny things said and even funnier photos taken.

I realize that this post is already waaaaay too long and I have no intention of posting all 2,000+ photo booth photos but I have to post some.  You are free to leave now (if you haven't already)





I'm unable to load anymore photos on this post - seems I have hit the limit.  Stay tuned for further photo booth posts - you don't want to miss some great pictures.



6.04.2010

birthday party tonight...

and than hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.


Illness, vacation and a 16th shindig all in a 2 week period is getting to be more than I can handle.  I can't wait for a really good nights sleep.

5.26.2010

should i be concerned?

this child...




yes, the one that has never had a sip of alcohol even though this picture would lead you to believe otherwise



is turning 16 tomorrow



should I be concerned?


Because I may not get to it tomorrow...Happy 16th birthday Megan!  We love you!!

5.07.2010

happy 11th birthday!




Today Nathan is 11.  


He holds a special place in our hearts.


He is fun to be around especially when he laughs (and gets a big grin with little dimples)


He is smart.


He is kind.


He is a good friend to others.


He can be stubborn but reserves his stubbornness for his dad - he tends to do whatever I ask.


He notices things around him - he appreciates the beauty of the earth.  I love this about him.


He eats like a horse.


He is loved by all - especially his family.


Happy Birthday Nathan!

3.07.2010

i'm a fan...


of my husband!

Derek is 40 today.  Wow, 40!  It doesn't seem like that long ago when I met an 18 yr old Derek at an Angels game.  "Time flies when you're having fun" seems to really apply here.

There were no big plans to mark this milestone.  We had dinner with a few friends Friday night and will have Sunday dinner tonight with some family.  It's all very simple but I hope Derek knows that the kids and I love him and wish him the best birthday ever!

Happy birthday old man!  And Derek if you are reading this do NOT publicly say on this blog in a month "happy birthday old lady"  Yes, there is such thing as a double standard and it most definitely applies here - you have been married long enough to know that :)

We love you!  Happy Birthday!

9.23.2009

you've had a birthday, shout hurray!

It's the big one (or one of them anyway).  Emily turns 13 today - she had arrived to teenagerdom.  Happy, Happy Birthday Em!
photos from jay reilly
with 70's tinting by me - cause I'm cool like that
Emily is beautiful inside and out and is a huge part of the make-up of our family.  I love that she is my daughter. 

Let me share some little known (and well known) facts about Emily to honor her today...

1. Her nickname is Pie and within our family is referred to as Pie much more then she is referred to as Emily.  It started as Sweetie Pie, Cutie Pie, etc and eventually landed at Pie because apparently we are all too lazy to add one more word.

2. She is a super star student.  She comes home from school and gets homework done immediately.  I rarely have to remind or check to see if it is done.  She has been on the Superintendent Honor Roll every semester in Middle School.

3. She is a kind, thoughtful person and a good friend.  She is the first to write notes of love and encouragement.  She senses when things aren't right and immediately tries to find a way to help.  When she was younger and I was pregnant with the boys she would hear me throwing up in the bathroom and would often come in and hold my hair back while rubbing my back.  She cares about others!

4. She needs things to be right.  If she thinks someone is doing something wrong or breaking a rule she want it taken care of.  If a situation isn't running smoothly or as planned she takes note and wants to fix it.  This trait is good in many ways but also can be a bit stressful for Em and the others who may be involved.  We all know life doesn't always go as planned and people make mistakes and this is a sometimes hard lesson for Emily but I have been proud of her as I have watched her mature and deal better with these situations

5.
She LOVES children and is an amazing babysitter.  I would trust her to watch any kid, any age. She will be an amazing mom.  I often have parents comment on her as a babysitter.  She has a natural ability to care for kids and is calm under pressure when it comes to babysitting - a crying baby doesn't faze her a bit.  Which leads me to my new Emily fact...

6. She is an expert problem solver.  She amazes me with this since I tend to be a back away from a challenge kind a gal.  She continually finds ways to solve problems.  Where others would give up she'll continue to try and find a solution.  Except maybe with math homework  - it's much easier to ask dad for help there :)

7. When she was younger she was scared of many things but the older she gets the braver she becomes.  She will do things that surprise me - ride big roller coasters, cliff jump in Mexico, try-out to sing a solo a school, etc.  When she was young I never imagined she would do so many things.  I love that she is getting braver and experiencing so many things.

The list could go on and on but I should really get my day started.

We love you Em and wish you the best 13th birthday.  Thank you for being a part of our crazy family!

9.17.2009

is anyone else grossed out by this?

Family tradition dictates that the birthday boy or girl gets to choose what to have for dinner on their birthday.  After Luke's birthday I am seriously considering changing this tradition.

Luke's birthday menu...

mashed potatoes
Kraft macaroni and cheese
chicken noodle soup

I felt so sick after eating this meal.  The potatoes are to die for yummy (recipe here) but the combo of those three things was major starch overload.  Ick, I feel nauseous even typing this.

Here's to hoping his 9 year old palette will be more refined.

9.14.2009

a big birthday


Look at him with all his littleness and curly hair.  Luke is growing up and celebrating his 8th birthday!

To honor him on his special day here are some things to know about Luke...

He LOVES to climb trees.  When asked what his favorite thing was about moving to our new house he said it was the trees to climb.

He loves to play video games - he often has his DS in hand.

He is a great helper/worker when he wants to be - "when" being the key word.  When he is in a helpful mood things get done quickly and right.

He loves Halloween (whose child is this?)  He even requested a Halloween birthday this year so we are celebrating with a party a month after his birthday - is that weird?
He is an explorer.  In fact just a few weeks ago he told me he wasn't going to college because he was going to be an adventurer (we'll see about that)  He loves to climb, explore, collect, etc. He is happiest outside in the dirt with bugs, sticks, shovels and more.
He has a great imagination and loves to play creatively.
He is the family comedian - he is always trying to make us laugh by being the family clown.
Did I mention he is the family clown?!?!

Happy Birthday Luke!  We love you and are so grateful you are part of our family.

5.27.2009

happy birthday

to our cute clothes wearing
music loving

beautiful, kind, funny, smart, spiritual, friendly, trust-worthy, loving daughter
(I could go on but really who wants to keep hearing how wonderful you are?!?!)

Happy 15th Birthday!