Pioneer Day

I woke up feeling very defeated. Not sure what was going on, but I was just not in a good mood. Eric was trying to think of things to make me happier, but he was also tired and I just didn't know what I wanted.

We didn't have any plans because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the baby. Because all of kids have been born early, I didn't want to take any chances and make any real set plans. Eric's Dad had mentioned the Bees Games weeks earlier, but I didn't want him spending the money if we weren't going to be able to be there, so we decided we'd play it by ear. We never heard from Eric's Dad again, so he probably wasn't up to going anyway.

We finally decided to play a game of Legendary with Tanis. It's odd, but it's a game I really enjoy - though Tanis has a way of beating Mom and Dad almost every stinkin' time. This day was no exception, he beat us by probably about 10 points. I was behind Eric by I think, 3.

It was then that we thought we should let the kids swim. Ailey had fallen asleep and Nate, as stated previously, has a thing against the water - so it was just the 3 older kids. They have so much fun together and it was fun to sit and watch them, while talking to Eric. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon.

...She has NO FEAR, just dives on in...

Eric then went to buy some fireworks. He knew it would make me happy. So while he was gone, I straightened the house again. When Eric got home, he took some time to play one of his video games for about an hour. 

When it started to get just before dark, we took the kids out to start our night. Eric had bought a box of Pop-It's for each of the kids. They all had so much fun and Ailey was just hilarious to watch.

After the Pop-It's it wasn't quite dark enough for real fireworks, so Eric sent up the Parachutes. All 3 or 4 that he bought landed on peoples roofs. That was laughs enough almost for the night. When it finally got a bit darker, we started the fireworks. The kids were CRAZY, but enjoyed the show. We had an option of going to the next street over for a neighborhood firework show, but truth be told - I was feeling very anti-social. (It's been happening a lot)

...Our resident pyro...

Our next door neighbors also opted not to go to the neighborhood thing and had bought just a couple fireworks, so they were out doing theirs. When they had finished they brought over a whole bag of random ice cream treats (his Dad works for an ice cream company or something). The kids were in HEAVEN. We visited with the neighbors for a few minutes, then they decided to call it a night. We had just a few more fireworks to finish, so we did that.

When all the fireworks were done, we still had sparklers to play with. The kids all decided they were magic wands and we heard lots of magic words thanks to Tanis' new video game.

...This was how Ailey decided she wanted to spend Sparkler time...

The kids then ran right inside and Eric and I sat outside for a few minutes just watching the few fireworks we could see from the neighborhood thing and some that a guy down the street was doing. We decided we should probably go inside and see what the kids were up to.

We then decided to play Saboteur. Eric had recently bought it, but we hadn't had a chance to play it. I had only played it once before and the kids had never played it. After explaining it to the older kids, we got started. Some of the kids didn't quite get it the 1st round, but they had it figured out by the next round. At the end of the game, I was the winner. I was pleased with that.

It was then bedtime. I was thankful to have had a quiet day with just our family and even more thankful for a patient husband who does what he can to keep me happy (even if that means heading into 'town' 2 times in one day)!

What Happens Next...

Uncharted Territory

We have now traveled into uncharted territory, though I suppose we've constantly been travelling through uncharted territory.

On July 22, Tanis turned 13. How in the world did that many years fly by?

He was given the choice of having a family party or a friend party and had a hard time deciding. He finally settled on a friend party and then the ball was suddenly back in my court.

I wasn't sure when to do his party. I was worried about the baby coming early and then I KNEW I didn't want to have a party after the baby was here, so I was left with really only one option. The Friday before his birthday. Plus, I just wanted to get it over with so it was one less thing to worry about.

We let Tanis invite 4 friends and he knew exactly who he was inviting. Because we had just got home from camping the Sunday before and I was so slow, we didn't get invites out until Wednesday, so I was quite surprised that there was only 1 friend that didn't make it.

...Seriously, some of the best boys in the neighborhood...

We started off the night by just letting the boys play some video games. After about an hour we decided it was time for gifts. The only reason we cared when we did the gifts was because we had one we wanted to give Tanis that the boys could play that night. Tanis has some really nice friends and was somewhat spoiled.

...From A.W...

...MAGIC Cards...

...From T.B...

...A MarioKart Lego Kit Thing...

...A box of M&M's...

...He also returned a video game he had borrowed, which made me laugh...

...Santa came early (actually it was the only wrapping paper I had)...

After the boys played the new game for about a half hour (come on, we all knew they could immediately after opening it), we did cake and ice cream. Tanis wanted a 'summer fun' type theme, so my plan was to just to draw suns on the cookies and cupcakes. They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but I think they worked for the most part.

...Love the photo bomb!...

We then let the boys play for the rest of the night, as long as they wanted - while we watched some shows and then got everyone in bed. I don't know what time the boys ended up asleep, but most of them were awake by 9, when I got up the next morning. I also found Eric playing the new video game with the boys when I woke up. Around 10, we sent all the boys home and cleaned up after the party, which Tanis said he really enjoyed.

On Tanis' actual birthday, we had an easy going morning/afternoon. I felt bad that we didn't do anything major, but he did get a party a few days before and that wore me out more than I thought it would. During the day Tanis kept talking about going out to dinner. He is the king of indecision (gets it from me) and could not decide where he wanted to go.

When Eric got home, he was ready to go. He was tired and just wanted to get food and get home to relax. Tanis really wanted to go to Burger King, but I wanted to make sure he knew he could do something a little more formal if he chose. He went back to indecision and Eric pretty much told him he had till we got to the car to make a decision. So, he set his heart on Burger King. The only real reason, I think, is because they have one of those fancy drink machines where you have tons of choices.

I was a bit frustrated with his choice, because I wasn't in the mood for a burger - but I made the most of it and actually tried a salad that I ended up really enjoying. The kids all had fun at Burger King and Eric was nicer than I was going to be and got them all kids meals, except the birthday boy, who is now a teen and doesn't have to have a kid meal anymore.

...Ignore her hair. She had fallen asleep prior to leaving and wasn't about to let me do her hair without a fight and I wasn't in the mood for a fight...

After we were done eating, I gave Tanis his other gift. Eric had accidentally taken it to work with him (it was still in his work bag from the weekend), so I didn't get a chance to give it to him or wrap it ahead of time. I just left it in the store bag and stuffed it into my purse. Tanis didn't know what I was doing when I handed him my purse, until I told him to look inside of it. Then he was thrilled. His Dad chose extremely well for this kid.

We then got .50 ice cream cones before leaving and I had almost 3. I had mine and then had to fix Nate and Ailey's....my tummy wasn't very happy afterwards, but the ice cream was good.

When we got home, Eric had to reset up all of our gaming systems so Tanis could play his new game. Our old X-Box's cd drive had died months earlier, so the kids had been stuck playing downloaded games. It also meant they couldn't play any Kinect games. Well, Eric decided he wanted an X-Box for his games and it wasn't fair to me to not have a way to play the few games I had either, so he found a good deal on a used X-Box for us. We had kept it in our room and brought it out occasionally, but we really didn't want the kids using it.

I'm not sure why Eric decided to let the kids start using 'our' X-Box permanently, but he did and so he spent the night behind the TV readjusting cables and I got to vacuum behind it and cleaning up that way. When all was said and done, Eric and I were exhausted and we just watched Tanis play his new game for a bit. We then called it a night and hoped our kid enjoyed his birthday.

What Happens Next...