Oakes Update

Last week Brycen and I had our 1st date night!  I let him choose the activities for the evening and we set out for a night on the town.  We started with dinner at Panda Express.  You can see by the expression on his face that he is enjoying every bit of it!

 This was the fortune he got in his cookie.  I couldn't agree more... Brycen is a well behaved, loving, funny, extraordinay boy!  How did I get so lucky?

 After dinner, Brycen requested Pojo's for our next destination.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this place, it's a large arcade/pizza place - where you win lots of tickets to turn in for worthless junk...I mean treasures.  :)  Or in my case, win only a few tickets - because I am TERRIBLE at these games!  Just ask Drew.  This did not seem to phase Brycen on bit.

 After an hour of games and 3 rides on the carousel, we finished off our evening with a treat at Krispy Kreme.  I love this little man so, so much!  We had a great evening together and I look forward to more like this!

As for the other little man in my life - he has been hitting little milestones recently and just like the first two, I love every one of them!  He has started eating rice cereal, peas and carrots - he practically turns into a little puppy begging for food with his mouth hanging open whenever it's around.  He has also started sitting up on his own and tonight he learned how to do raspberries.  Awww... the simple things in life.  If only it stayed this simple.

Ava is doing awesome in school!  I am so proud of her.  She is getting good grades and she is a tremendous help at home!  She is a great big sister to both of her brothers!

The Tooth Fairy has a Customer!

Guess who just lost his first tooth!!  Woohoo! 

As you can see, the adult tooth is already grown in behind it--we've been calling it his shark teeth!  We made this discovery earlier int the week when Jacob came to me all scared and near tears because his tooth was loose and he was afraid that it was rotten and he had to go to the dentist.  I don't know why he's scared of the dentist??  We're working on that one.  Anyhow, fear was soon turned into excitement, and he's been demonstrating his tooth's wiggly-ness every day since.  

Finally while eating lunch today, Jake suddenly turned to my today and said, "Mommy..." and held out his tooth!  He's only 5 years old-- I can hardly believe it!  My baby boy is getting soooo big.

Little Lady

I got this picture on my phone a few weeks ago and its just too funny not to post.

Always a little lady. All that's missing is her pointing her pinky finger.

She's such a girl! I love it!

So, I don't often carry a purse.  I lug around a 40lb. diaper bag and transfer it from home to car to stroller.  That's enough for me most days.  However, lately Brooklynn has been loving the idea of carrying around her own purse!  It's the cutest thing ever, and besides general "girl-dom" I have no idea where she picked this up!  She found a old mini tote bag that Jacob had used for a scavenger hunt, filled it with a few items and was proudly trotting it around the other day.  The best part is what was inside-- a toy "radio," and old cell phone that she loves, and a binky!  Every girl's necessities! (18 month old girls that is!)

Happy Birthday Jett!!!

So I know I'm late, but on the 26th, our big man Jett turned 9 YEARS OLD!!! I can't believe he's getting so big so fast! I love when his birthday lands on a Saturday - we had SO much fun celebrating! As our tradition goes, Daddy took Jett out to lunch - he chose Burgerville (YUM) And then they went to the store to pick out a gift. Jett came home with 2 games - Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots and Operation. So fun! Jett's activity choice for his day was ice skating, so in the afternoon we went with a bunch of family to the ice arena! Jay and I haven't been skating for YEARS but we had SO MUCH FUN! Jett and Tucker were so cute falling all over the place, but they would just get back up and keep going, and loved it - they got better and better though and had a great time! Even Dallas got to try and thought he was the king of the rink as we dragged him along. It was such a fun family activity.  :)  Then in the evening all the family gathered at Nana and Papa's house for pizza, soda, veggies, chips, ice cream, cake and presents. Jett got some great gifts - (thanks everyone!) - and we had a really fun party!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY JETT!

Family Photos

The Rockin' 80's

I love Ava's school!  They always have such fun events and tonight was another example!  It was 80's night. Ava came home after school begging to get all dressed up for 80's night.  I asked her if she even knew what the 80's were and she humbly replied "No".  Then she gave me that sweet smile and the begging continued.  Well, what is a mother from the 80's to do?  

This is what we did...  what do you think, pretty RAD right?

Needless to say - she had a BLAST!

Snow Day!

Today was a SNOW DAY!  No school and lots of snow meant a fun filled afternoon with the kids!  Ava and Brycen could hardly wait to get outside - and Drew was ready to build another colossal snowman!  

I think at this point it was too heavy!

 Success!  We used just about all the snow in the yard!  Are you wondering how we got those heavy snow balls up so high?  Oh yea, and Ava too?  Let me just say, it took a few long 2x4's, Drew's extra strong muscles, and my wimpy muscles.  Then Drew cut out some stairs in the back side of the snowman to make it easier to climb.

I love snow days!

Happy Birthday Mandy!

Happy Birthday Mandy!! We hope your day is a good one!  Love Love Love you!

A Very Zirker Christmas

Matt, Riley and I had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was fun watching Riley opening up her presents and even more fun watching her play with her new toys!

Riley looked so cute in her Christmas dress!

The Sit & Spin was the hit of the day!  Also the toy phone...she loves to multi-task!

Grandma and Grandpa Zirker gave her this princess tent.  She loves bringing her toys inside to play in her own special place!

Merry Christmas everyone! We love you all so much!

A New Tradition??

Happy New Year...really?...  For some reason we felt the need to start a new tradition by repeating last year's New Years Eve in the ER AGAIN!!  Yes folks, the dreaded kidney stone strikes again...a year to the day.  I think I'm starting to see a pattern.  Too much rich food?  Not enough water?  Holiday Season without restraint...please learn from my mistakes!

Went into the ER last year in Boise after a bike ride with Bruce, Tim, and Dave and spent the afternoon in treatment and big pain but was able to make the party that evening albeit somewhat drugged.

Went into the ER this year in Portland at 10:30 PM and had to wait until 3:30AM to see a doctor and get the pain meds flowing.  Note to self: Keep pain meds on hand and avoid the ER on holidays. What a zoo!

I was released at 5:30AM on New Years day and we promptly went to bed, only to be startled awake by a real estate agent showing our home without notice.  Needless to say she was also startled to see me stumbling into the living room barefoot and barely conscious.

Oh well...  Just another day in the life...  all is well...  What a way to start the New Year.

Christmas in Boise

Merry Christmas from the Oakes Family!  This year we spent Christmas with Drew's family in Boise.  All of his brothers and sisters, except Ty traveled from Utah to spend the holiday together.  Our Christmas Eve was full of old traditions in the Oakes family.  We smashed a pinata full of candy, then went out to dinner, drove around town to view the spectacular Christmas lights, and then came home to open our PJ presents under the tree.  I love traditions!  It make the Christmas season more magical for me!

Brycen and Ava each took a swing at it  - then Jaci stepped up and smashed it to pieces!

Christmas pajamas!

Then we headed home to get tucked in bed before Santa came to our house.  And it's a good thing we did because Santa brought Ava and Brycen a BIG surprise!  He left a note under the tree that said his gift was too big to bring inside, so he left it in the backyard.  This left Ava and Brycen a bit puzzled.  It didn't take long for them to get their coats and shoes on and run into the backyard for the best surprise ever!  Note the expressions on their faces!  Ya, I think they like it!

Merry Christmas, love Santa!  Snow or no snow - they were determined to play outside Christmas Day!

 After we finished opening presents and getting ready at home, we headed back to the the Oakes house to continue Christmas with them!  Carter received some official BRONCO gear.  I don't think he was particularly please with the hat.  :)  It was a lovely Christmas day!

For the rest of the week - we played.  Then... an accident!  My poor nephew Hunter, who is about 18 months old fell on the bottom step of the stair and hit his face, knocking out 2 teeth - roots and all!  The poor kid had just barely gotten these two teeth and now he will have a toothless grin until his permanent teeth fill the gap!  Yep, that could be 5-6 years from now.  Poor little guy!  He didn't let it slow him down much though.  This kid goes 100 mph all day - until he finally falls asleep!  Such a cutie though.

Towards the end of the week - all the boys got together with their guns - cleaning and readying themselves for a trip to the desert to shoot.  My new bro-in-law loves guns and was educating everyone on how to properly clean and take care of their firearms.  I must admit, I really liked watching all these macho guys and their guns - it was kinda cool.

Jeffrey, Darrell, Amanda, Derek,  and Drew.

This Christmas was a lot of fun with all the family - but we really missed Ty and Haley and their girls.  Hopefully one day we can all be together again.  A BIG thanks to DeAnna for hosting!  Merry Christmas to those we love and missed this holiday season!

A Rowley Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! We had a great time spent with the Rowley clan and I thought I'd share a few photos of our day.
On Christmas Eve we tried to get the kids to act out the Nativity. They sure looked cute!

Tucker and Brenna - Joseph and Mary

Our 3 Wisemen - Jackson, Landon, and Dallas

Jett as the Angel Gabriel

Shane as the Shepard

Clarissa recovered my carseat!! A total surprise and she did a great job making it girly for my Little Miss!

Before...

After  ;)

Tucker showing two of his favorites - his Darth Vader hoodie and his Darth Maul light saber. He's my star wars kid. In the foreground you can see the leappad 2 the kids got! So fun!

Cute girl showing off her new shirt and soft elephant.

And one of Shadow in our house and a peek at our tree. Merry Christmas!

Santa did great this year and all got what they wanted - they must've been really good! Jett is having tons of fun with his new RC helicopter, Tucker got a Darth Vader "costume" - an awesome hoodie, and Dallas got a motorcycle toy.
A big hit this year was definitely the LeapPad 2-s that Grandma and Grandpa got all the grandkids - they are glued and love playing the games and discovering all the coolness these gadgets have to offer - tons of fun!! Jayson is having fun with the awesome airsoft accessories and other toys from his bros and dad and I'm enjoying all my girly gifts. It was definitely a great Christmas and we all enjoyed the time with family and remembering the true meaning of Christmas!


Love you all and hope your holiday was marvelous and here's to a Happy New Year!