Spoiled Little Birthday Boy

Only seven years old and Corbin got 4+ days of celebrating his birthday . . .

Day One (Thursday before his Sunday birthday):  Super Date with Grandma Sharee - First for some traditional birthday shopping, then dinner with Grandpa (who took a break from work), after that it was off to the movies to see Alice in Wonderland, then back to Grandma's to play his new card game.  What a lucky boy!

Day Two (Friday):  Mom came for lunch to join him at the birthday table at school.  All the April birthdays get to go a half hour early to lunch and then get an extra long recess.  Mom brought Wendy's (don't even get me started on school lunches) and then I got to stay and take pictures at recess (because that's what other moms do).  Also, it makes you very popular in first grade to have your mom with you at recess.  I'm assuming that won't last forever, so I just stayed and enjoyed it.  I was there for almost an hour and a half! 

Later that afternoon, we brought birthday treats for his class.  He got to sit up front and they got to ask him 7 questions (what is your favorite color, etc).  I was surprised to hear that his favorite food is Thai food and his favorite thing to do is to play with his little brother.  I love it!

Day Three (Saturday):  Uncle Matt and Grandpa Dave arrived late Friday just to help us celebrate Corbin's birthday.  They were a great help getting ready for the crazy day.  You can check out the other post to read all about his "Space" birthday party with his friends.  Corbin is just like his mother, I think he had as much fun planning and anticipating the party as he did at the party.  We had a fun date one night going and picking out all the decorations, cups, napkins, etc.  And he wanted to know all about the games we were going to play, what we were going to do when people got there, etc.  It was fun to have a partner in crime for this little gig.
After the party, Grandpa & Uncle Matt treated us to lunch at Bajio's. Yum.  Must be a Maxwell thing, but we all love Mexican.

Then everyone except me and Colton went off to see How to Train your Dragon in 3D.  We don't go to the movie very often, so twice in one week for Corbin was a real treat.

That night we grilled up a yummy Salmon dinner and opened presents from Grandma Jill & Grandpa Dave and some that Aunt Megan had sent.  Colton got to open his early so he wouldn't feel left out.  Although he still thought they were all for him.

(Corbin's new clothes)

(The clothes that were actually for him.)

(Cody's present that Corbin loved.)

(loving their new webkins, which Corbin said he would "help" Colton with) 

Snuggling up with Grandpa in his new beach towel

Day Four (his actual birthDAY):  Woke up to our tradition of streamers on his bedroom door and a wrapped box of his favorite cereal (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), a real treat since we don't normally buy "sugar" cereals.  They sang to him at church and gave him a little present.  Then after church the real fun began...

Birthday at Grandma Sharee's with the Jensen Fam:

Riding the zipline

Playing with cousins

Playing in the sand

more presents

birthday "cupcakes"

He also came home from school a couple days later to a new bike.

Definitely spoiled.

Off In Space

In case you can't read the invite, it was Corbin's awesome 7th birthday party.  He wanted a space theme, on which he recently did a project at school.  So here's the skinny on what went down . . .

The best part of the party I really couldn't capture with pictures.  We completely covered our front room with black plastic and painted it with glow in the dark paint.  Add a black light and you have one COOL room. The kids loved it!

Decorating flying saucers.  Space stickers, markers, and a little glow paint made them look really sweet in the blackout room.

How far will it fly contest.  They actually flew pretty well~

Pin the planet.  Each kid had a different planet with their name on it and they had to try and match it to the correct one while blind folded.  It was a little tricky after a few kids had stuck their planet in random places...

Planet Pop!  For some reason my camera got on a weird setting and all my pictures of this were blurry, but it was absolutely hilarious!  The kids had to try and pop the planet with their bum only.  Once they did, they were surprised to find a glow-in-dark alien, which of course, they immediately took into the dark room to check it out.

PASS the planet.  It's a race ~ pass it over the head, then next person passes it under the legs.  Corbin said this was his favorite activity.

And of course, presents.

Thanks for all the presents! Corbin is lucky to have such great friends.

Cake Pop Planets.

We were so lucky to have Uncle Matt and Grandpa Dave come all the way from Denver for Corbin's birthday.  I'm sure they had fun at the party too.

 

The HAPPY birthday boy.  Love you, Corbin!

My Eldest

Corbin at 7 years old . . .

Loves to read.  Every morning he wakes up before 7am and hides in his closet with a pile of books, until he knows it's safe to come out.  He and Russ have been reading the Percy Jackson series.  They read the first book before seeing the movie in the theater.  Now they are on book 3, and Corbin loves reading while Russ is at work and then telling him he has to catch up.  Other books he loves include: Magic Tree House (I think he is on #28),

Loves to play pretend.  Suprisingly, him and Cody play quite well.  They like to play "Daddy and baby", "Daddy and sharky",  restaurant, and various warrior/ninja type games.

Loves lots of other quiet activities - coloring, doing workbooks, making cards and writing notes to people.

Still loves legos and any other building toys.  He likes to build according to directions, but has also found that he likes playing with the toys as much now as he does building them.  Our guest room has been dubbed "the Lego room" for the last couple years, because it was his only place to hide from his brothers, but now Cody is into it too, and I think the Legos have taken over the whole house.

Loves all things science.  Recently at school he was asked to do a presentation on whatever he wanted and he chose The Solar System.  Coincidently, I had a book I had been saving for his birthday on just that, so we read all about it and he and Russ made an awesome solar system mobile.  He painted each styrofoam ball to look just like the pictures of each planet in the book.  It was very well done.  He picked a couple facts from his book about each planet and we made notecards for his presentation.  He did so awesome, I was so proud of him!  He loves reading books or watching any and all shows about anything related to science.  He also had a "space party" for his birthday.

Loves working out with his dad.  They do these insanity workout videos and both Corbin and Cody get really into it.  It makes me smile.  Corbin is also very proud of all the laps he runs at school.  I think he can run farther than I can!

Loves to swim.  He has always loved this, but especially lately.  Since swim lessons last month, he has advanced from the level of just playing around in the water to diving under, holding his breath, and starting to do real strokes.

Loves collecting rocks.  He picks them up anywhere and everywhere.  I think he gets this from his Dad.  He also likes to give them away as special gifts.  He loved looking for them on our recent trip to Eastern Utah.  We have gone to the Gem & Mineral show the last couple of years and he loves learning about what they allare and where they come from.  He has some pretty enviable ones in his collection!

What I love about him:
He is very thoughtful.  He often tells me I look nice or he likes my hair.  He compliments his brothers when they accomplish something new or difficult.  Recently, my mother-in-law had surgery on her shoulder, and every time we see her he asks her how it is doing and how she is coming along on her excercises.

He is very helpful.  He is always doing things to help me with his brothers - bringing me things, getting Colton out of bed, getting them snacks and drinks, helping them with their toys or other activities, watching them while I take a shower, etc.  He also does well with chores around the house.  When he makes up his mind to get it done - he just does it.

When he sings.  He has a great voice and learns the words to songs easily.  I think he wil have great musical talent, just like his uncles.  He likes the music that I like and we have had some fun dance parties right in our living room.  He also like dad to crank up the techno when its time to clean the house.

He is a great story teller (not in the same way that I was a storyteller when I was a kid).  He will often repeat a book word for word that he heard at school.  He remembers things well and I love it when he tells me about all the things he has read or heard.

He loves to learn.  Besides reading about anything and everything, he listens intently when I tell him about places I have been, things I have seen or something I heard on the news.  He always asks questions and wants to know more.  He wants to know what big words mean and tries to use them.  He loves going to museums and reading all the diplays.  He likes reading pamphlets and any other educational literature he can get his hands on.  Oh, and I'm pretty sure he has a photgraphic memory.  He is a very good learner.

Our goodnight hugs and kisses routine, which includes skunk kisses.


What his dad says:  He is sweet and kind.  Loving.  He is never just thinking about himself.  Pays attention to what is going on with everyone, and really cares about them.

I just love this boy and I am so glad he is in our family!  Happy 7th birthday Corbin!

Equation for the perfect vacation

Dirt + Dinosaurs + Swimming = 3 happy little Jensen boys

Spring Break 2010 - Price, UT

Anyone outside of Utah is saying where in the world is "Price, Utah" and anyone in Utah is saying why in the heck would you go to Price for vacation.  So let me just tell you (and yes, we had an awesome time).  One, it is a very short drive (hour and a half).  Two, it was cheap and we had no problem booking a motel just a couple days before.  And three, we really just wanted to go play in the desert.  So here's how our awesome vacation became such.

Day one:  We left around naptime so everyone could sleep on the way.  Unfortunately for me, the driver, the was a serious snowstorm as we went over Soldier Summit (and I was thinking, "this is going to be a very cold day of hiking tomorrow).  But we made it.  Our first stop was the CEU Prehistoric Museum.  It had all kinds of stuff about the native peoples of Utah and then of course, lots of stuff about dinosaurs.  It was just the right size for my boys' attention span and we were just about the only ones there, so they could run around and look at whatever they wanted. 

They also had this whole hands-on kids area, which once again was quite nice as we were the only ones there.

Then we went and checked into our sweet hotel. All that was required was indoor swimming pool and free breakfast, but we lucked out and it was actually clean with fairly large rooms.  After a yummy mexican dinner, we spent the rest of the night playing in the pool and the hot tub - all. by. our. selves.   Yes, it was perfect.

The next day we headed out for our adventure in Nine Mile Canyon, which is actually more like 40 or 50 miles, so if you go - be aware.  Luckily we picked up a handy pamphlet at the museum so we were prepared and we already on the look out for all the cool sites.  And we were not disappointed, it was the perfect playground for three four adventurous boys.  (And I had a little fun too.)   We did lots of . . .

HIKING:

(click on the picture collage to see it better)

CLIMBING:

and finding cool caves and places to hide:

But what we really went there to see was this:

And they were everywhere!  Supposedly the writings in this canyon spanned thousands of years.  It was really fun to stop at different sites and to spot them along the road as we drove.  The boys had fun trying to figure out what they were or what they meant.  Corbin loved reading the pamphlet and telling us what to look for and where everything was.  It was a REALLY fun day!

That night we had to cool off in the pool again, and believe it or not, little old Price, UT has a huge wave pool that's open year round!  Too bad we got there right after they had shut the waves off for the night.  But it was still fun and there was hardly anyone there - more fun for us!

The next day, after eating our free breakfast, we packed up and went to check out this cool park before venturing on.  It was worth it!  It was really fun.  Definitely the best little playground we've been to.

The Dino-Mine Adventure Park:

On our way home we decided to check out "Historic Helper" since we'd driven by the town at least a hundred times over the years on our way to and from Denver.  It was quaint.  We went to a yummy, inexpensive little restaurant called Balance Rock Cafe, which was also a combination art gallery and antique shop.  It got it's name from this little oddity we had seen in Nine Mile Canyon:

After that, we ventured through the Helper Mining and Railroad Museum.  Corbin really liked it and wanted to read about everything, the other boys acted like you would expect little boys to in a museum - like wild indians.  There was quite a few cool things and we did learn alot.  And it was free (but we donated a little) so that's always worth it.

Outside they had all this old mining equipment.  We thought that was fun.  Unfortunately we didn't see the sign that said "Stay off the equipment" until we were leaving. oops.

So despite the looks I get when I tell people we went to Price for Spring Break, we had an awesome time and I would highly recommend it. 

Turns out I'm not going crazy

Not totally anyway.  So remember this post, where I showed you our super fun way to dye eggs and then came up short with a total lack of pictures to show off our beautiful handywork?  Although, I could have sworn I took some.  Well, as I went to post about our Spring Break trip today, I realized there are MORE pictures missing.  Ahhh!  And these ones I KNOW I took.  Either my camera is acting up, something is wrong with my memory card or someone is pushing buttons on my camera.  Whatever it is, it is SO frustrating!

But luckily I do have some pictures from our fun little trip that I will post soon.  Here's a glimpse . . .

Poor Cody

 

It's all my fault.  They get it from me.  And unfortunately there is absolutely nothing I can do to change it.  Late Saturday night, before Easter morn, Cody woke up having trouble breathing.  I did the hot steamy bathroom and tucked him back in.  By 1am, it was a full blown asthma attack.  I set up the breathing treatment in my room and things seemed a little better.  Two hours later, I realized things were not better.  I tried the inhaler and the steam room and he was able to sleep again.  By 4:30 and after the second breathing treatment I running through the scenarios in my mind of who I could call so I could take him to the ER, or would he make it til 8 when Russ got home?  He fell back asleep in my bed and I lay there with my hand on his chest for the next hour and a half making sure he was still breathing. 

At 6:30 the boys woke up excited about the Easter Bunny.  I convinced them to snuggle in my bed for a little bit longer and then we read some books (we were hoping to wait til Russ got home to go down and check out our goodies).  But despite the fact that Cody was still sucking air through a mini coffee straw, they were excited, there was no more containing them.

By the time Daddy got home, we had discovered the baskets and collected lots of eggs.  And despite not feeling well - at all - Cody was excited and happy.  Poor little guy, he just kept laying down by his basket "to rest".  And he didn't put up a fight when Daddy took him off to the doctor.

Corbin, Colton and I had our CinnaBunnies cereal for breakfast and enjoyed the Yoohoos from the Easter Bunny, but we sure did miss our Cody-bug. :(

Luckily, Daddy convinced the ER doc that Cody did not need to be admitted and that we would keep a close eye on him, and they made it home in time to go have some Easter fun with the cousins at Grandma's house.

The little kids found lots of eggs and presents to fill up their baskets, while the big kids had to work a little harder for theirs.

Grandma made a scavenger hunt with clues that led all over the house including the garage and "the room that smells like a fart".  Corbin LOVED it.  He loves a challenge and the fact that they got an egg in each room was a plus. 

So despite the stressful, sleepless night, it turned out to be a good day.  Time with family is always time well spent.  And I love my precious little boys.  I am so lucky to have them.