Friday, July 22, 2011

Tyson and Sariah come to Visit


In July, Tyson and Sariah came to stay with us for a couple weeks. My mom flew out with them, but had to go home after a few days. They stayed by themselves for about 10 days, then my dad flew out to take them home. We had a lot of fun while they were here. Patrick really enjoyed having them around to play, and still asks about them regularly.

I forgot to take pictures of a lot of things, but I do have a few pictures of our trip to the zoo and the fireworks on the 4th of July. Here are some of the other things we did while they were here:

  • Played at the park
  • Went on walks
  • Went swimming at Pirate's Cove
  • Had Patrick's birthday party
  • Went to Cars 2 and Red Robin for Patrick's birthday
  • Visited the Nature and Science Museum and saw the Pirates exhibit
  • Played hide-and-seek and had root beer floats for FHE
We hope Tyson and Sariah can come out every summer and visit us. I know Patrick would be very excited for them to come out again!

















Sunday, July 10, 2011

Patrick's Birthday Party

We had a small party for Patrick's birthday. I didn't want to go all out, but I like Patrick to feel like he has a special day. He was excited to wake up to balloons all over the house. We opened a few presents in the morning. He definitely know how to open presents know. He needed very little help this year.




He is really in to puzzles right now, so he got an alphabet/animals/train puzzle from Grandma Cook. It is 10 ft long after to put it all together.


We got him a set of stacking blocks with the alphabet on them.


He built it all up and then had a blast knocking it over.


He also got a toy set that has letter boards that you fill in the letters to make the word. He is really obsessed with letters right now and is constantly sounding out words, so I knew he would enjoy this toy.




My favorite is when he finds all the letters for "hen" then sounds it out perfectly, "h-e-n," and says, "chicken."



This play tent was his big present from us. It was also the main entertainment for his party. We invited two of his friends to come over and play. We made pizza for everybody and then enjoyed cupcakes.



These cupcakes were really fun to make. I like to make something special for birthdays, so I did an animal theme this year. I make monkey, lion, and elephant cupcakes, and then chocolate-dipped oreos. I got the idea for the cupcakes from a cupcake book I have. I didn't think up the idea all on my own! Reed was really helpful and took the kids to the park so I could have some uninterrupted time to put them together.




Patrick really enjoyed his birthday cupcakes. He talked about them for days. He still mostly just ate the frosting, but he had a good time! When we sang to him, he laughed and covered his face, but loved blowing out the candles, and requested more candles for his other cupcakes.


I think Patrick had a very fun day for his birthday. He played hard and loved all of his presents. I think next year his will be really excited and understand when we start talking about his birthday.





























Tuesday, July 5, 2011

4th of July

Our holiday was really relaxing this year. We had a small get together with some friends in the afternoon and then went to see the fireworks. Reed made some excellent smoked pork, and I made coleslaw and fruit pizza.

This year we stayed in Aurora to watch the fireworks, and we were glad we did. It was really easy to find a place to sit, and the show was great. Patrick really loved the fireworks, but couldn't sit still after a few minutes. Of course it took a long time to get out of the parking lot when we were done, but that is just part of the holiday.

The finale of the fireworks show was the biggest I have ever seen. It wasn't long, but they shot off hundreds of fireworks at the same time! It was the loudest flash and bang I have ever seen at a fireworks show.