Happy Birthday!

To my incredibly talented sister - KIMBRE!  

Hope you had a great day - Love you!

I Blog because. . .

“The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family’s positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.”

-Bruce Feiler, The Family Stories That Bind Us, NY Times-

And to remember...

"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."

-Annette Funicello-

(I totally stole this from my friend Jaime Lea's blog.  But it rings true and I wanted to share and preserve it!)

Brycen's Birthday Pics

Happy Birthday Jayson and Dallas!

We started on the 15th with Jayson's 32nd birthday! We went to a yummy pizza place for dinner called The Rock with Mom and Dad, Kim and Karen, Josh and Jasmine, and Shane. It was so good and we really enjoyed the company. The next day was Dallas's big day turning 4 years old! We played a lot and he got to go out to lunch with Daddy and buy a cool toy. That evening we met at the Rowley's for dessert and presents. Dallas got lot's of cool monster trucks, my little ponies and a new bike and helmet!  He is such an awesome rider and loves his new bike!

Happy Birthday to a couple of cool dudes! I love you guys!

 

Jacobisms - Who's the Boss?

Last week as I was picking up Jacob from Grandma Day, and Dawn leaned over and whispered this little Jacobism she had had with him at dinner that day.  Apparently, Braden was done eating or off playing, when Jacob cupped his hand around his mouth and leaned over to tell Grandma:

"Sometimes Braden yells at me that I'm not the boss.  But really, I am.  Mommy and me, we know just what to say!"

Hahahahaha!  . . .wonder where he gets that from!  (Somehow I remember feeling just the same when Ashley and I butted heads.  Does the phrase "I don't have too!"  Ring any bells?)

Super E!

This is how you might find Ethan on any given day (including the missing pants--skinny kid!)  He regularly brings this cape and these goggles to me--whether to join his brothers on their superhero adventures, or to just fly around the house on his own, it's all good.  Such a cutie-pie!

E Speaks! The Evolution of "yes"

Ethan is coming out with new words every day lately.  I LOVE IT!!  It's so cute and so fun to hear him putting together his own little sentences and repeating everything he hears.  Recently Jason was joking around and said "Hubba-hubba!" and right off the bat Ethan repeats in his tiny baby voice "hubba! hubba!"  I'm laughing now just thinking about it!  Anyway, over the last few months he has used so many funny variations the word "yes," I thought I would list them in a somewhat chronological order.

1. A
2. Da
3. Ya! (still used when it's an excited answer!)
4. Yass
5. Dep (meaning "yep")
6. Yes
7. Uh-huh (used mostly when he's sleepy)

I Know the Presidents! - Continued. . .

So, in previous posts I've talked about how much I love Jacob's little preschool and the fact that he comes home learning Spanish every day.  However, I have discovered a tiny drawback to having bilingual teachers-- I definitely would NOT trade them though!

Dad: So what did you learn in school today Jacob?  Some more presidents?

Jacob: Yes!  I know Johnson, and they guy who was gonna shoot a bear but didn't because it was too cute-

Mom: That was Teddy Roosevelt.  They named the teddy bear after him.

Jacob: Ya!  And I know Booosh.  Actually there are two Booshes, one was older and the other one was his son!

(Jason and I had to stifle our laughter!)  "Boosh" = President Bush . . . with a spanish accent!  ADORABLE!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Happy 32nd Birthday Matt!!  

Love you!

Happy Birthday to you...

My big boy is 4 years old! 

Brycen started off his day by waking up early to open presents and eat his special cereal he received the day before from his Nana & Papa.  Lately this kid loves spiderman, transformers, and dinosaurs - all of which made an appearance in one form or another for this birthday.  But don't be fooled - Brycen can still be spotted running around the house with a polly-pocket and a barbie.  

This year Brycen wanted transformer toys - specifically Bumblebee.  But then he also wanted board games, and spiderman...  he probably pointed to every toy he saw at the store whenever we passed by.  But these were the favorites.  Drew and I decided he needed a few items for camping this summer too.  We plan to get out and get dirty this summer so this kid needed a chair and a sleeping bag.

After breakfast, we loaded the family into the car and headed to the YMCA for some fun in the pool.  This "Y" has a huge pool area with a kiddy pool area, hot tub, lap pools and the all important water slide!  What a blast - and quite affordable too!

This is where the dinosaurs made their appearance.  He decorated his cake with help form Daddy.  Pretty cool huh?

 This is one happy birthday boy!  A big thank you to everyone for all of the birthday wishes.  We love you Brycen!

GUESS....

....who got a little tooth?!

 Charlotte got her first tooth! It finally poked up yesterday on the bottom left side. She'll be 5 months old next week and I can't believe how fast she's growing up! We sure love this little darlin'!!!

And here are some pics from last month -  just cause she's cute!

Soccer Girl

This spring we signed Ava up for PAL Soccer and tonight was her first game.  It was SO cute to watch her run up and down the field with very little understanding of what to do - other than run, kick if you can and smile big!  She had a blast.  It didn't matter that the she missed the ball, or that the score was 9 to 3.  She was just happy to be there, with her friends, playing soccer.  I'm glad she doesn't naturally have a competitive spirit - she just wants to play and have fun.  Although I must admit, I really wanted her to get in the action and be aggressive - just a little.  I was surprised at how into-the-game I was getting.  I am so proud of her and we are all looking forward to the next game!

Another Milestone

Carter cut his 1st tooth today - and for the first time, we have a kid cutting teeth and NO fever!  Ava and Brycen always spiked fevers when they got there teeth, but Carter is doing great.  He was a little fussy yesterday - but nothing in comparison to the other two.  Yay for milestones!

What a cutie!

A Zirker Easter Weekend

We had quite an eventful Easter weekend this year!  Matt's brother, Kevin, and his family moved here from Colorado.  He got a job with a landscaping company in Spokane and they are hoping to get a house in Post Falls soon!  They arrived Friday afternoon as well as Matt's parents who came up from Moscow to welcome them.

Riley was so happy to have some cousins around!  The girls loved playing with her and reading her stories.

On Saturday everyone went to the storage unit to help unload a house load of stuff!  The piano was last and we all held our breath as the men gingerly took it down.

After the heavy lifting was done, Grammy surprised the kids with an Easter egg hunt!  It was Riley's first but it didn't take her long to catch on and join in the fun!

After lunch we dyed Easter eggs!  Between Riley, Kevin and Lisa's kids, and Lacey and Seth's kids, we dyed 72 eggs!  Needless to say, we've been having a lot of egg salad sandwiches and deviled eggs.  My fridge smelled horrible.

On Easter we all dressed in our Sunday best and went to church together.  Riley enjoyed her Easter basket and I must say she looked quite cute in her Easter dress.

The Easter Bunny Came a Day Late...

So for Easter Sunday, we dressed the kids up cute, enjoyed a wonderful Sabbath, and had dinner at Jason's grandparents' house with all of the MacKay family.   Ahhhh.... it was nice!

  However. . . that was it.  No eggs, no Easter bunny, no candy, no baskets, nothing!  Needless to say, it snuck up on me being in March this year, and I totally dropped the ball (hoping nobody would notice!)  Of course. . . Jacob noticed!

My favorite part of this story is that I wasn't the only one!  Whew!  I was in the primary room talking with my primary president and good friend, Remi Richards, when she confessed that she hadn't done anything for her girls either!  So, we hatched a plan!  Monday morning she brought her girls, some eggs, and newly discounted Easter candy.  We sent the kids upstairs to play, stuffed and color-coded the eggs (so everyone would get some), and set up the hunt in my backyard.  Pure kid fun!  It was just the right amount of the secular side of Easter for me!  Who knows, maybe I'll do it this way next year too!