Dad's Birthday Cake

Today we baked Dad a birthday cake! Since we didn't have time to bake one on his actual birthday we did it today. Jon was off from school so after dropping off Nicholas at his school we went to Kowalski's to get a few things. When we got home he fed Marisa her solids while I started baking the cake! He was SUCH a good helper today. We waited to decorate the cake until Nicholas came home from school. Here is the finished product! They had fun putting on the red frosting themselves!


The finished Birthday Cake!


A closeup!


The boys & their Dad right before we sang Happy Birthday!

Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday to Mike!

Mike's 36th Birthday

Yesterday was Mike's 36th birthday! When he got home from work we gave Dad his birthday presents. The kids got him a gift card to Gander Mountain for $100 and I got him a new outfit from Macy's. We were going to go out to dinner as a family, but Lola said that she could stay and watch Marisa. We invited them to come along but they said they had eaten a big lunch. Our plan was to eat at Noodles and Company because they are SO fast, but since Marisa was not with us Mike decided to go the American Burger Emporium. It is located here in Woodbury in the same area as Noodles and Company. Mike and I have been there twice before and they have excellent burgers! Jon has never been there and Nicholas was with us the two time we went before. It was a good dinner and relaxing. Below are a couple pictures of us at the burger joint.


The Birthday Boy and Nicholas


Me and Jon

After we ate we ran a few errands. Mike wanted to stop at Dick's Sporting Goods because he wanted to buy a new Softball Glove. He will be playing this Summer for Paul's 30 and over team on Thursday nights. It should be a fun and busy Summer with him playing Softball, Jon playing Baseball and Nicholas is playing T-Ball too! We can't wait! After that we ran to Cub because Marisa was WAY low on food. We got home and Nicholas went to bed and Jon did his homework and than he went to bed...Thanks Lolo and Lola for watching Marisa! Happy Birthday Mike! We love you!

Nicholas

Apparently Nicholas has been taking my point and shoot camera and taking pictures. We had gone out to dinner last night for Mike's 36th birthday and I brought it along so I could take a couple pictures. When I looked through the pictures that were already on it, these are some of the pictures I found. I just started laughing! He figured it all out by himself on how to take pictures of himself! Too funny!










He is such a Ham!

Playdate With The Gulyash Family

This morning we meet with an old friend and her kids from my old MOMs Club Group in Maplewood. I was part of this group while we lived in Oakdale. It had been over a year since we had seen them! Way too long if you ask me! Since the kids all had off from school we met up at the Maplewood Community Center to go swimming in the pool. The boys were excited to go swimming even though they had their swimming lessons the day before. When I had asked them if they remembered who Cindy, Bret, Josie and Lance were they couldn't remember. I told them that they would remember when we saw them. We meet at 9:30am and probably swam for an hour or hour and a half. Than Lance and Marisa were getting cold. The water felt warm at first but than it was cold later on. Of course the older ones were fine. When it was time to go we decided to go out to lunch too. We drove to the near by Burger King so we could have lunch and the older kids could play some more. We didn't get home until 2pm! It was a great morning of fun for the boys! Poor Marisa didn't take a very long nap. She feel asleep on the way to BK and even slept for a little bit while the kids were playing. I didn't get that many great picks because I was in the water most of the time with Marisa. I did manage to get a few. Enjoy! Thanks Cindy for a fun morning!


Nicholas playing with a diving toy.


He noticed me taking pictures and started to ham it up!


Jon playing with the water toys.


Cindy's youngest, Lance.


Josie and Lance. Josie is Jon's age.


Bret (9 years). He tried to hide and not let me take a picture of him!


Josie loved playing with Marisa.

Marisa is 8 Months Old Today

Today is Marisa's 8 Month Birthday! I can't believe she is already 8 Months old! What can I tell you....I don't think I have given an update on her in awhile. She sits up on her own very well now. Has been for awhile. She has been feeding herself finger foods for a few weeks now. She LOVES when I put Puffs in front of her on her tray. She makes a great face. I am going to have to try to take a picture of it next time! She is not crawling yet...She would rather stand with Mommy or someone holding her hands. I try to get her to do it but she gets so frustrated! I will have to work on it with her. She is still a good sleeper. Sleeps for 11 or 12 hours a night. She loves playing with her brothers and is getting very vocal! Below are some pictures I took of her while she was eating puffs. Enjoy! Happy Birthday Marisa!


I love the look on her face in this one.


She only has 2 teeth so far!





Love this smile!

Noah's 8th Birthday Party

Noah D had his 8th Birthday Party at the Groveland Community Center Gym. There was lots of activities for the kids to do and the Dehne family brought Wiffle Ball. That was a big hit! The first game the kids played against each other and they had so much fun! Than we had lunch! Davanni's Pizza! Yummy! After lunch we played another game of Wiffle Ball and it was kids vs. adults. Another fun game! Than we had some cake and Noah got to open up his presents! I can't believe he is 8 already!


Nicholas at bat


Jon at bat


The big clan! Noah invited all of his boy classmates from school.


TJ (The oldest cousin! He is 12 already!) and Marisa


The Birthday Boy and his sister Gen


Lolo and Lola wanted in on the picture!


Noah and his cake. Yes that is an EAGLES cake!


Make a wish! Oh yeah, the Vikes lost! He must of wished for the Eagles to win!


Poor Noah! We were handing out cake to all the kids and Noah was the last one to get a piece of cake! Poor Birthday Boy!

New Years Eve 2008

For New Years this year we celebrated at the Bielenberg Sports Complex in Woodbury. The City Of Woodbury's Park and Rec Center throws a New Years Eve Celebration every year for the kids at the Sports Complex. We attended it last year and the boys had a lot of fun. Its nice for the kids because they get to run around in the dome or jump in/on the big jumpers. They also have mini golf, skating and Bingo. It starts at 6pm and goes until 9pm. They have a DJ that played music all night and does a countdown at 8:45pm. They also have door prizes and we actually won 2! A free kids meal to Champs and a free burger at American Burger! Both YUMMY places to eat! All the cousins were suppose to come with us this year, but Anthony ended up getting sick with a fever, diarrhea, and vomiting so the Cardenas ended up staying home. But the Ramos family and the Dehne family came with us. Daddy stayed home with Marisa and Lorenzo because Marisa was still not 100% so the Ramos' decided to leave Lorenzo too since Daddy was staying home. When we got there the kids all ran for the dome and played in there for a long time. Than they decided they wanted to ice skate. I rented the boys ice skates and thank goodness the guy said I didn't need skates because I knew I had to hold up Nicholas and if I was on skates we both would have been falling the whole time! We went around, well actually not even a full length of the skating rink and he was all done. He had fallen once and that was it! Poor kid! Jon did really good on his own. Both him and Nicholas want to take skating lessons. I will have to see how much it is and maybe we can sign them up. After they were done skating we went back into the dome to play some soccer (we learned last year that people brought their own footballs and soccer balls to play with). So this year I made sure I brought our own as well. Before the countdown, the DJ played the Cha Cha Shuffle (I think that is the name of the song) so Jon and I danced to it. Jon is such a good dancer but he wouldn't show you if you asked!

After all the fun we went back to our house for the actual countdown to New Years. Uncle Paul, Dad, Noah and Jon had a Nerf gun fight. That was probably the highlight of the night. They had so much fun shooting each other! Once the countdown was done, everyone packed up to go home and go to bed. Most of everyone made it til midnight except for Nicholas and of course the two babies. After Midnight Jon crashed but the two Ramos girls were wide eyed and bushy tailed! It was a fun night for all. Enjoy the pics!


Gen, Bella, Nick and Jon waiting in line to go on one of the jumpers.


Bella is such a cutie!


Gen and Maria hanging out.


The Caterpillar Jumper - One of the favorites!


Jon and Nick waiting in line.


Noah and Matt played a lot of catch with the football.


Jon on his own skating. He did SO good! I don't think he fell once!


Noah D skating around.


The fighting begins!


Noah on a mission to get Uncle Paul!


Jon trying to dodge one of the bullets!


Uncle Paul went the other way to get them by surprise!


The boys trying to hide!


Auntie Tesa hanging out on the couch watching the gun fight!