Happy Birthday to Jake!

While we usually tend to go a bit overboard for birthday parties in the Dudley household, we reigned it in this year. With three kids' birthdays to celebrate each year amongst constant kid activities, throwing parties has become a little more difficult! I didn't want his 3rd birthday to go unrecognized, but our schedule simply wouldn't allow for a blow-out - HOWEVER, we did manage to squeeze in a little party Monday night in between all the chaos. He had a great time!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!

The Cake:

Happy Boy!

The big breath before the blow:

Chaos! :-)

Watching the 'hampster' cruise around:

THANK YOU ALL!!

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday I turned another year older. THIRTY FIVE! Yikes. That's big! I made a point of reminding Ben what a "big" birthday this was, and when he took the kids shopping for three hours on my behalf, I have to admit - I had some expectations.

Of course the kids were all excited about my birthday finally arriving - they'd been crossing out the days on their calendar every night (how cute!). So when they came marching out with something behind their back yesterday morning with Dad in tow, I was genuinely curious as to what it might be. *Drumroll* With an uncertain look on his face, Will handed over an unwrapped electric toothbrush. Huh? I looked at Ben for clarification. "It's a gag" he said. Will chimed in, "Mom, I said it as a joke but then Dad said we should really get it". I of course acted thrilled with the toothbrush and thanked the kids for the gift and cards while sending mental darts at Ben... HILARIOUS.

I had learned earlier in the week that the kids had a grandiose plan of taking me out to dinner and buying me a cake, but it quickly became clear yesterday that their plan had not been formalized. I reassured the kids that we'd either buy or make a cake, and that maybe we could go out for lunch since school had been canceled. That sounded good to them. After cleaning up our messy playroom and discussing ideas on how to better utilize the space, we ended up going out for lunch at a new restaurant I suggested. The food was really good, and the whole experience actually turned out to be fun (sometimes with three kids, dinner out can be the opposite of fun). With a moderately improved mood, we then headed to the store in search of items to retro-fit our playroom into a play/exercise room... and a cake.

On the way home, Charlie listed off all the reasons why he loves me - so sweet. And when we got home, Will presented me with a birthday picture he'd been working on all week - awwwww. Ben brought the treadmill in and put together a stand for the new TV, Will and Jake inflated my exercise ball and Charlie completed a segment from my new workout video - 10 Minute Butt & Legs. After that, we all headed upstairs for cake, and everyone sang their hearts out while we watched the candles burn and spark. We finished off the day by getting in our PJ's and watching an episode of Spongebob on our new little TV in the dark.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

Happy Belated to Charlie

Charlie's birthday came and went last week!  While we did devote the entire day to his celebration, I am just now getting around to posting about it!  We had a GREAT DAY.  It's hard to believe he is seven years old.  Time flies.

Our morning started out bright and early (like 7:00 am) with baking his cake. Charlie requests the same one EVERY year... chocolate with white frosting. Normally, he likes to have chocolate covered strawberries on top, but since I forgot (bad mom!) we went with sprinkles.

For lunch, we went to Osaka - a Japanese Hibachi place.  We were going to go for dinner, but Charlie just couldn't wait that long.  In fact, he wondered if they served breakfast!  Ha!  I wasn't sure if he would actually like the food, but he was very intrigued at the prospect of catching flying bits of egg in his mouth... so that's where we went.  HE LOVED IT!  All the kids did!  Our chef was awesome, and gave Charlie about ten tries to catch the food  - and after egg bounced off his forehead, hair and hit him in the eye - he finally did it!  

Look at Jakey eating his soup like a big boy!  HILARIOUS!

 

We finished up the day with a FIESTA - complete with margaritas (sparkling juice for the kids) and themed music piped throughout the house - it was fun!  We feasted on chips, dip, salsa and of course TACOS!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!

What a weekend.

I'm actually relieved Memorial Day weekend is coming to a close today.  Can I just say this... WHEW!  As I sit here with a freshly poured glass of chardonnay and reflect over the past week, I have to giggle.  *sidenote* I wrote most of this last night - so I am most certainly NOT having a glass of wine at 9:30 am!!!! :-)

Okay, where to start.  As you may recall, we had a big party for our son's 9th birthday on Saturday (which was SUPPOSED to be a housewarming party at the new house... but nevermind that) -anyway, we invited a lot of people, which of course meant lots of preparation. All was going well until Ben somehow got his weekends mixed up and booked himself on a business trip from Tuesday until Friday (remember - party on Saturday).  YUP.    I will say he felt really bad about it, but that just didn't make it any better.  I spent most of the week fretting and freaking about how I was going to get all the shopping, cleaning, cooking and prepping done by myself while taking care of three kids at the same time.  With a lot of insanely organized lists and a little help from a babysitter, I somehow did it!  Yay!  And aside from the hour of rain we had during the middle of the party, everything somehow went great.  However, even with all the carefully prepared food, cakes and festive atmosphere, the biggest hit of this party was.... drumroll........ *loud cymbal crashing*  THE CAPRICE.    What is the "Caprice" you might ask?

Here's your first glance:

The 'Caprice' happens to be an old bomb of a car that Ben bought from a coworker several years ago for a hundred bucks.  This guy was driving this beast of a vehicle 50 miles each way to commute to work.  One day he woke up and realized this was an inefficient commuter (actually I think his wife did) and decided he needed to unload it.  Really?  Considering it came with a full tank of gas, at that price Ben just couldn't pass it up.  Now I know what you're thinking - why would Ben want or need this car?  And this is when I'd remind you of how we have a lot of 'stuff' that I just can't explain.... this is one of those things. 

One of my first memories of riding in the Caprice is when we all loaded up (including Ben's parents) for a simple drive down the road.  We happened to mention to Ben's mother that the owner of a very large phone book company had a 'castle-like' house with a moat (yes a moat) just down the way about a mile from our house.  Ben's mom (who is in real estate) was dying of curiosity, and against my LOUD objections... we drove over to check it out.  Needless to say, that was also the last time I rode in the Caprice on a public road - since it DIED in the mansion's driveway!!!!  

After it was decided the Caprice was not fit for reliable transportation, the only logical progression was to turn it into an amusement machine.  Ben and his buddies on several occasions have had a lot of laughs and fun driving this thing Dukes of Hazard style all over our property.  Even I have to admit that whipping donuts and beating this car is pretty damn hilarious (and fun!) LOL.  

Two years ago at Charlie's 5th birthday party, someone had the bright idea to break out the Caprice.  Yes, mid-day at a family afternoon gathering.  I wasn't so sure.  I must note, Ben has a huge family with a lot of super fun people (and no, they're not taxidermists, junk-yard dealers or monster truck drivers) who are game for anything  - so of course they all thought it was a great idea.  After the first ride.... A LEGEND WAS BORN.   Ben found some old ridiculous ski goggles which quickly became the required driving attire, and everyone took their turn at being Bo Duke for a few minutes.   (note the goggles)

This year, all everyone could talk about while gearing up for our party was the 'Caprice'.  Those who couldn't make it, sent notes of regret about missing Will's birthday.... AND THE CAPRICE. People even voiced concerns about having proper riding terrain when we move to our new place!  (Don't worry folks, we've got plenty of room.)  Once again, the Caprice didn't disappoint. Big belly laughs from along the fence-line and terrified yet exhilarated screams from inside the car were heard for a good hour.  One of the many memorable moments was when Ben's (physical therapist) cousin worked his way from cautious circle-driver to experienced donut-making machine while his (pediatric nurse practitioner) wife stood cheering on the sidelines, highly impressed with his duke-like maneuvering abilities.  Did he get airborn?  Oh wait, I think that was Chris...

Here's a pic of me exiting the passenger side of the vehicle.  While it is very Hazard county-esque, I'm mostly doing it because the door is stuck shut.

This morning after bringing Jacob down to our room at 6am, trying to get him to go back to sleep with us (right), Ben was trying to decifer another string of his babbling.  He got all the words figured out except for one.  Jacob kept saying 'Peace'  while Ben guessed, 'please' 'police' 'piece'... duh, wasn't it obvious Dad???  'CAPRICE'!!!  Ben asked Jacob, "Caprice"?  Jacob's answer 'UH HUH' with a big nod.  Oh boy!