Not ONE but TWO Birthday Parties for Bryant!

Well, better late than never in posting about Bryant's birthday parties!

Bryant started out with a birthday celebration at his new school. It was only his second day of school... so we went all out... I figured he could make new friends over PowerRanger Cupcakes, Capri Sun Juices and super cool Party Favors!

Here's Bryant's Grandma (my mom). She helped out at his school party. I was still sick so she gladly volunteered to help. Good thing she was visiting from Portland.

Bryant's no dummy... he knows that he should serve the ladies first! He's all about being a gentleman!

Here's his class. Notice there are only 3 boys in the whole class. According to Bryant, the boy in the blue superman sweatshirt is a "real troublemaker." Now that's probably the pot calling the kettle black!

Bryant's other birthday party... the REAL birthday party was at Pump It Up. We jumped, climbed, slid and bounced our way through Bryant's birthday party. Pump It Up, voted “Boise's Best Place to Have a Birthday Party,” features giant, custom designed, fun-filled, interactive inflatable play structures. At Pump It Up we got to jump into our own private arenas filled with gigantically fun inflatables. They have bounce houses, slides, obstacles courses and more.

It's super expensive... especially since we rented out the whole place for Bryant's birthday... but it is well worth every cent we paid. Especially because the adults had more fun than the kids.

This is the 20ft inflatable slide. The picture doesn't even do it justice. You can see Teri, Kara, Cassy and Shyanne, sliding down the slide.

Now here is where the fun begins!

Us adults were totally obsessed with the inflatable boxing ring. I challenged my sister to a match. Here we are duking it out. I want you to notice the blue head gear falling to the floor. That's mine. Suzi knocked me in the head so hard that it sent my head gear flying!

Here we are again. I can't tell if I'm loosing or winning at this point. In the end I think it was a tie.

Now, Zac thought he was going to be a real stud in the boxing ring. Here he is saying to our brother in law, Austin, "Bring it On"...

Now.... notice Zac's in the corner being beaten down. I don't think he was quite the stud he thought he was going to be. But I love him anyway!

And we really did let the kids box too. Here are Krystel and Riley duking it out. Notice how sweaty Riley is. It's hard hard work.

One of my few pictures of Bryant. He was sitting in the inflatable throne to open his presents.
I have to admit that I was a horrible horrible mother because I was so busy playing that I didn't get hardly any pictures. Hopefully my mother and all my great friends got some good ones.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Is anyone watching the new season of The Bachelor? I love all reality TV... and I especially love it now that we have a DVR and I can record things to watch after Bryant has gone to bed.
However, last night Bryant crawled into bed with me while I was watching The Bachelor. I thought to myself, "Is there anything on this show he shouldn't be watching?" I decided No... especially since all they were doing last night was introducing the bachelorette's to The Bachelor. So, we sat and watched 1 1/2 hours of The Bachelor together. Bryant only said 3-4 things during the whole show... then we went to bed.

But, I should have known with a child like Bryant... things wouldn't get past him without a comment!

(If you watched the show you'll know exactly where this came from... and if you didn't I'll explain it in a moment)

So, this morning when I took Bryant to preschool there was another mother dropping off her child. She was a black woman. Without dropping a beat, Bryant looked at her and said, "Wellll Hellllooo Brown Sugar." Oh My God... I almost dropped dead on the floor. The lady looked at me and started laughing. I quickly explained to her that Bryant had watched The Bachelor with me last night and one of the ladies (who looked like her) told the The Bachelor to call her "Brown Sugar." Once I explained the lady started laughing even harder. And of course Bryant was quite proud of himself!

Just another parenting lesson for me... Remember that even when you don't think kids are watching and/or listening, THEY ARE.

A Perk of Being the Coaches Kid... and meet our new "cousin"

Bryant has found a cool perk of being Zac's kid.... he's been promoted to the water boy of Zac's football team! He thinks he is SO SO SO SO cool. He and his friend, Cade, prance around the football field like they are the coolest people out there. Funny thing is... they probably are.

Here's my fabulous husband coaching last week... I think there was an injury which is why all the players are on their knees.

Here are the water boys! If you look closely you'll see Bryant in the red "12" shirt and his friend, Cade, standing next to him.

The water boys! How cute are they?

A close up of Bryant and Cade.

Now, I have to tell you a funny story... hopefully nobody finds it offensive... but I'm sure I'll hear all about it if they do!

Anyway, Bryant's cousins (Zac's nieces and nephews) are black. Being in Idaho, we don't have that many black people (or any other ethnicity's) living around us. Cade is the first black boy Bryant has EVER seen outside his cousins in Alabama. So, 3 weeks ago Bryant said, "Mom, I want to go see my cousin." I said, "What cousin Bryant?" He said quite exasperated, "You know mom.... MY COUSIN." I had no idea what he was talking about.

Then at the football game later that night he came running up with Cade and said, "See mom... this cousin!" They both smiled at me so proud. I was confused for a minute and then I realized that Bryant thought that Cade was his cousin because he's black. He must think anyone who is black is his cousin. I got quite a chuckle out of it.

Since then, I have tried several times to tell Bryant that Cade is not his cousin... but he doesn't understand. And really... who does it hurt if he thinks Cade is his cousin?

So, for now we have a new "cousin"... well actually two new cousins because Cade has an older brother. And if Boise keeps growing like it is... we might have several new cousins before the year's over!!!

We're obsessed with the Wii!

Have any of you ever played a Wii? Personally, I am not a video game person, but we purchased a Wii for Bryant’s birthday. It is one of the best purchases ever made. The Wii has revolutionized video games as we know them. Rabid people everywhere are now flailing their arms in delight as they use the Wii remote as a tennis racket, baseball bat, golf club, bowling ball or sword.

If you haven’t ever played or seen a Wii it’s hard to understand. But the Wii is a virtual video game. There is a sensor bar that picks up your movements. So, in games like Metroid Prime 3: the player hides behind his couch in the living room waiting for the right moment to strike and jump out. In Wii Bowling, a player takes his or her stance in the bowling lane and virtually throws the bowling ball at the TV screen.

Additionally, what I think is so cool is that we can play the games as A FAMILY. Even Bryant can easily play the games because they don’t require the ability to read or to know how to press a bunch of complicated buttons. I also like the fact that it’s an “active” video game. We’re not sitting on the couch watching a screen… we’re up and moving. We’re actually moving enough that we all had sore legs and forearms the day after we played 10 games of virtual bowling!

Baseball: Bryant pitching and Aunt Su-Su batting

And... she was out! Way to go Bryant!

Boxing:

Give Em' a right hook Bryant!

Here's my mom boxing. I want to note that she REALLY worked up a sweat boxing. It's hard hard work... and quite the work out.

Here Uncle Ostrich (a.k.a. Austin) winning his boxing match.
We invite any of our friends to come over and try out the Wii. Just call! We've already had all our neighbors over to play. It's super fun and like I said, a great family activity.

Happy 6th Anniversary Zac!

Dear Zac,

How do I thank you for the last 6 years? I can't possibly express what you mean to me. With all my heart I adore you. If I could choose any man in this entire world I would choose you all over again. Not because you are what is familiar or comfortable… although you are.
I would choose you because of who you are. You are beyond amazing.

Before we even met in person I knew it would be you and me forever. The night you asked me to marry you there wasn't a moment of hesitation. I was yours 6 years ago. I have been yours ever since and will be forever.

I am crazy in love with you. Sometimes my heart still flutters when I think about you. I can't wait to spend time with you and tell you what's in my heart. I admire and respect you. I love your sense of humor. When I see our future together I see great things. I love that about us.

You are everything I dreamed of in my husband. I couldn’t ask for a better Daddy for Bryant.

Here’s to another great year.

Love,
Jenny

6 years ago we got married in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. This was the view from the Gondola.

This was the church we were married in. It was a beautiful church with an awesome minister. We placed our faith in God... and in a totally uncharacteristic manner for me... I let a stranger plan every detail of our wedding. For once, I wasn't being a control freak! Everything was just perfect and I loved it!

Most of our wedding pictures were PRE digital camera... so I would have to scan them to post here. So, I'm sticking with this one (which I for some reason have scanned into my photo archives already). This is Zac and I with my brother, Travis, and his old girlfriend.

Our wedding reception was at a really cool old German Castle. Since both our families have a German heritage it made sense to play it up. Here's Zac leading the band in a German wedding dance. Doesn't he look cute?

And who could resist marrying a guy with a sense of humor like this? After our wedding night, my husband of less than 12 hours donned a lovely shower cap and decided to pull his pants up past his bellybutton. He walked around the hotel like this... just to rile me up (it worked).

Stop Bugging Me!

Remember in my last post I wrote about how sick I've been. Well, here it is 10 days later and I still am sick. Constant diarrhea and vomiting.
The emergency room took a stool sample and the District Health Department contacted me yesterday... it seems that I have lovely infection of parasites.

How did I get these parasites??? Well, at some time they say I must have eaten something covered with feces. OH MY GOD! That's enough to make me sick on its own!

To make matters worse, the strain of parasites I have are resistant to Chlorine and Bleach. That means anything I have soiled needs to be thrown away... it can't be washed. By washing all I am doing is spreading the parasites around.

By the way, that's a lovely picture of the parasites I have... charming isn't it?

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm meeting with the Health Department on Monday to come up with a treatment plan. Zac and Bryant are also going to need to be included. Diarrhea for Bryant has already started. That means I've probably infected him... and I'm sure Zac's about to follow suit.

On the plus side, I've lost 16 pounds in 10 days! But, please keep me in your prayer... I need them at this point.

A New kind of Sushi

Saturday night we were suppose to have a dinner party at our house but I nended up getting deathly ill and had to cancel it. I was so ill in fact, that I ended up in the ER yesterday needing two bags of IV Fluids in order to feel semi-human again. I also required IV anti ausea and diarrhea medicine too. Not fun :)

Anyway, I was so excited for the dinner party because I had found a recipe for cool "dessert sushi" on another blog I read (*thanks for the ideas Kate*) . I had spent hours making a large plate of them to serve to all our guests... and I think they are so cute. I'm just so bummed that I didn't get to show them off. Oh well, maybe next time.

Can you tell what they are made of?

Look Closely...

Maybe You can Tell with this One...

I also made a few with shaved chocolate in the middle instead of the gummy bears. I bet they would have been yummy too.