Happy Birthday Gazedo!!!

Hayden has been affectionately nicknamed "Gazedo" because every time I try to text his name to Bill's phone, the predictive text puts his name in as Gazedo. It has stuck. Now I don't even change it in the texts, and we sometimes call him by his texting nickname.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAZEDO!!!!

Our sweet little guy turned four on Sunday. He wanted nothing but "Super Mario" stuff for his birthday. We tried to oblige. He woke up on Sunday morning so excited because the house looked like this for him:



He, of course, had to wear his hat on backwards as he opened presents. He wears that hat all day every day. Silly kid.

He opened some new Super Mario pajamas, and couldn't wait to put them all. So he stripped.

Look how happy he is about having his new pajamas.

He was so excited to open his Mario lunchbox. He even took it to church that day and used it as his scripture bag. Inappropriate? Maybe. But, hey, a kid only turns four once. At least we didn't let him take his pajamas in his bag. He did try to sneak them, but we took them out.

And he got a Super Mario costume. Now he has Mario and Luigi, and is thrilled about it.

Of course, there are always a lot of extra helpers when it is time to open presents.

And now he has a backpack to match the lunchbox. He had to name all of the different characters on the backpack.

What a cutie with his costume, slippers, and lunch box. He was not too happy when we told him he had to take that stuff off to get on his church clothes.

He thought it was fun to take off his hat and say, "Mario time." Such a cute boy.

That afternoon we had lots of family over for cake and ice cream. This gathering was playing "What color are my eyes" with Kate. I think all of them had their eyes poked at least once.:)

Lana was excited to see her Grandma Eccleston.

This is the kind of circus we run around here. Kids all over the place, and plenty of adults that love them to pieces.

If you want to be Kate's best friend, offer her your lap and a story. She loves to be read to.

Hayden giving his grandma a big hug after he opened the gift they brought for him.

Time for cake!!!!!

Hayden loved having everyone sing to him. He was grinning from ear to ear the whole entire time. It was so cute. It made me want to sing the song all over again just to see more of that sweet face.

He did a great job blowing out the candles. No slobber or spit flying.

I also made a chocolate pie just in case Hayden decided he wanted that over cake. He has been on a major chocolate pie kick lately. He wanted cake. But baby Danika sure loved the pie!

Lana loves babies. She was having fun playing with her other sweet cousin, Bailey Jo.

Later that evening, Grandma and Grandpa Jennings stopped by to see Hayden and give him a gift. He loves the Buzz and Woody that he got. He has played with them constantly.

The day ended with Kate sleeping on my dad. She took a nasty spill off of the bar stool earlier in the evening and bonked her head pretty hard. She needed to be snuggled.

It was a great day, and Hayden is still talking about how much fun he had on his birthday. He is such a sweet little guy, and is my little buddy. We love to play Super Mario Bros. together and will have fun figuring out his new Mario Galaxy game, I'm sure. It's all worth it when he sits next to me and snuggles with me while we play.

We love you, Buddy! Happy Birthday!!!

My Rompin' Roughians

My kids have been so silly lately. Want to see what I mean?

Kate thinks she is big stuff. She thinks it is fun to vacuum every single day. She also thinks it's fun to pick out her own outfits every single day. Really, I do try to make her look cute. She just won't have it. Oh well. She looks cute in her own little, messy-face way.


Rylee and Lana love to dress up as rock stars.


And if I do say so, I think they are very cute little rock stars. I remember doing the same sort of thing with my sister when we were younger.

They have fun sitting on each other and playing drums on the bums.

They think it's hilarious to hang on to the railing on the bed and jump. Notice again Kate's non-matching pajamas. :) Some parents get upset when their kids jump on the bed. What do we do? Bill grins at them and I take a picture.

Hayden is also choosing his own wardrobe lately. His favorite thing to wear lately is this outfit. He loves Mario, and tries to wear this Mario shirt every day. It goes so well with his "Cars" pajama pants and the backwards Mickey Mouse hat. Oh, and don't forget the ever-important snow boots. Cute boy!

And a new-found activity tonight. Are you ready for this one? The kids wanted popsicles. I told them it's too cold. How do you solve that problem? You eat popsicles in a nice, warm bath. So that's exactly what they did. But if you look closely, you will see a smiley face on Kate's tummy. Yup. as Rylee got in the bath, I painted a smiley face on her back with her popsicle. So guess what they all did? You got it. A new activity was invented. Popsicle bath painting.

They loved it.