A few weeks in the life...

We recently made one of the smartest purchases of our lives - a bouncy house. There is a little boy in this house about to turn 7 years old, and in preparation for his party I looked into renting one - but soon realized we could buy one for about the same price since my sister in law wanted to go in on one together. So that's what we did and haven't regretted it for a single second. It's like a safe trampoline and it wears the kids OUT! Both Elie and Tyler have regressed into taking naps on the days we set it up - that's a regression I'll take any day! :)

Ronny and I recently celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary of the 11th of July. We went down to Cannon Beach for dinner and witnessed another wedding taking place - brought back lots of good memories.

As I mentioned, Cameron is only a few days away from his birthday. He decided he wanted a Mario Party. I'm telling you - my children must be birthday party trendsetters, because they always seem to choose a theme for which there is not a lot out there. After I spend tons of time and effort making a fun party, it seems to only take a few months before that theme is EVERYWHERE! Oh, well - I like the challenge.
I put the finishing touches on the party supplies last night and took this picture. I take pride in the fact that nothing on that table came that way. I made the invitations into "pit passes" and hope his friends enjoy wearing it as much as Cameron does. I covered up candy bars with Mario characters and "Cameron facts", labeled the star trophies, made Yoshi eggs to smash, and made character sticks for the cupcakes.

But, my crowning achievement (yes, I know - I have no life) was my hats. I searched for weeks online to find Mario and Luigi hats - WAY too expensive everywhere. Then I tried to dye painters hats and iron on the M for Mario - all I succeeded in doing was turning Cameron's head pink. (I didn't think parents would appreciate me sending their kids home with discolored heads.) By chance, I happened to go to the Oriental Trading website, typed in Mario - and up came these holiday red and green baseball caps for about a buck each. You might have thought I had won the lottery had you been sitting next to me... (again, I know - no life). Anyway, I used my computer iron on transfer paper to create the M and L and now each child will have an awesome hat - and the girls have gold crowns if they want to be Princess Peach.

And just last night, Tyler decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike with no training wheels, so he did. That's Tyler. He was the same way when potty trained. One day he woke up and said, "Mom, diapers are stupid." That was that - he never wore another diaper, never had an accident. He was 2 1/2. I often think God gave me Tyler since he gave me Cameron first. You'll notice in the video below, though, that his face is dirty. That's also very Tyler. We call him Pigpen - he's just always dirty. Ronny says you can give him a raisin and he makes a mess.