Weekend Top Five: 9/14/08

A wet, sticky weekend. What happened to make this weekend memorable...good or bad?

Let me share...

5. Truck Woes

I called Steve to ask him to stop and pick up some "scoops" chips on the way home to go with the taco salad for dinner. About 30 seconds after I got off the phone, he called back to say that his back window had just EXPLODED. As he was driving down the road, it just shattered. He can't see anything that hit it. So after several calls to window places, the estimate to replace it is more than the truck it worth. So for now, my husband will drive his truck around with a duct taped back window. And at some point this week, Steve will be visiting junk yards trying to find a back window that the neighbor can transfer to his truck. We are such icons of class...

We are thankful that the boys weren't in the truck when it happened.

4. Another adventuresome ride in the car

It seems to me that a few weekends ago, our trip to visit my brother and sister in law had one bullet JUST for the travel there. Well, here is a repeat performance but for different reasons.

Long story short...the next time there are FLOOD WARNINGS for an entire travel journey that we have planned, the better choice would probably be to heed the warnings and not travel the roads. Silly us. As we were driving, we would encounter various degrees of lack of visibility due to down pours of rain. Add on top of it, hydroplaning and you would think that would be the worst of the trip.

WRONG!

As we passed the Michigan border into Indiana, we noticed a slow down ahead... Then, cars turning around in the middle of the highway...then a stream of cars driving BACKWARDS toward us on the shoulder. HMM.... Let's turn on AM 530 to hear traffic conditions...

Oh yeah, the entire highway is shut down due to flooding.

So now comes time to do the same 180 in the middle of the highway that three other lanes of cars are also attempting and join the parade on the shoulder, drive off the nearest entrance ramp, and detour south to a different highway.

Notice the WRONG WAY sign we are about to pass as we travel UP the entrance ramp to get OFF the highway.





Then of course, discover that this highway is a toll road and we left the house with NO CASH! So now, it's stop at an ATM at a truck stop to acquire the $1.25 toll necessary to pass.

On the way home about 6 hours later, we were less surprised to see that the highway was still closed but now we knew the detour route and we were not even slightly phased.

3. Birthday Celebrations

Once we finally got there, the kids had fun even though it poured all day and they were stuck inside. My sister in law puts me to shame every year with the cakes she makes.

My nephew Ronin had his 1st Birthday. They have discovered that he has several allergies so Jenny found a gluten free, egg free, cake recipe and it was quite delicious. How cute is this dragon?











Ronin had NO desire to eat the cake whatsoever, so there will be a lack of chocolate all over the face first birthday pictures in his baby book.













The other guest of honor, my niece Kira, turned three. Her cake was just as impressive and I was glad that I got her a crown and wand to go with theme.










She played the part of the princess so well.


















2. A Costume party?

Noah started the madness coming into the living room wearing this, complete with the very loud roar. Although most of the kids got into it, there were two little daughters of my brother's friends that got so freaked out that they cried until the costumes went away.














Every few minutes, a different child came down wearing something else...

Kira the kitty cat


















Noah in an INFANT lion suit


















You truly can't get the full image here. Odin has a beast nose, knight armor on his arm, and a dragon tail.

















I guess the daddies were jealous and wanted to join in on the fun...

My brother with the mask inside out...


















and my adorable husband with the bunny ears.


















Who says we need to wait until Halloween to dress up and act silly?


And after an eventful Saturday, what do you do on a cold, wet Sunday when everyone is tired, grumpy and worn out?


1. Sunday Family Movie Afternoon

Although the humidity has subsided, it was still very wet and cold all day. Stuck inside again! Noah found a movie that had received from a bloggy friend awhile back that we hadn't watched yet. "Joseph Prince of Dreams". Everyone is so far behind in their sleep from the nine hours total in the car yesterday, that we enjoyed lounging around watching the movie together.

I will be interested to hear if anyone else's top five were affected by the weather this weekend as well. And my thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are returning home after Ike's destruction down south.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa

My Dad's Birthday is Monday.We will actually be celebrating it with him next Friday with what looks like ALL 11 grandchildren present. Should make for some fun pictures. But for the time being, I would like to share some of my favorite pictures of him with my kids through the years (and one of his favorite that he has taken of Noah and his cousin)




Grandpa meets newborn Noah for the first time
















Teaching Baby Noah and Cousin Madison how to drive the boat











Grandpa with Baby Aaron














Teaching Baby Noah about a TV remote












With Noah and Baby Odin











Laughing among the chaos during a birthday party...the little ones are Madison, Noah, and Piper














Pitching a ball to Aaron













Getting Bibleman situated











Playing chalk with Cousin Kira at Noah's party a couple of weeks ago.












A sweet picture of Noah and Madison several years ago that my Dad took on their deck









Happy Birthday, Dad...We love you.

WW#20 Bibleman Birthday

The DVD














The action figures













The cape











The mask




















Playground action













Bibleman needs nourishment



















BibleCAT?

Remember Superman?

I got a lot of traffic from this question about what to do with Superman.

We figured out something to do.

Here's a hint...

A birthday party and a bunch of kids with a large variety in ages lined up nicely...














It might be related to something in this basket...



















Did I hear you say "Target Paractice?"






































Steve got soaked, I stayed dry (hee hee hee)

I think they're all laughing at him















Check out Aaron's form



















After awhile, a free-for-all is just more fun.




Look at that smile on the birthday boy!














And thankfully, poor Superman got left at the park.

More birthday fun to be shared later...

Thursday Thirteen #5 Noah's Turning Six

Noah will be six tomorrow. It is only fitting that the T13 pictures should be his first five birthday celebrations. It is very likely that next week's will be about this years' festivities.

He came into the world at 4:33 AM, 14 days early and thrilling mommy that he was born on the 4th of July. Notice the shirt Daddy is wearing. He had it on to go to the July 3rd fireworks when we were diverted to the hospital instead.














He looked so cute in his red white and blue hat that was knitted for him by hospital volunteers

















He had the usual mess with this first birthday cake



















His 2nd birthday part stayed pretty low key with a kiddie pool and a kiddie slide keeping the kiddies amused for a long time.














And of course waiting for fireworks at night



















Noah's 3rd year was all about Thomas The Tank Engine















And again waiting for fireworks at night.


I have always loved this picture of the boys. I'm not sure why.










Noah's 4th year was all about superheroes, especially the Incredibles. I must say I outdid myself that year. Instead of goody bags, I made super capes and masks for all of the kids.



Noah is the "Nike" boy in the middle










Mr. Incredible even came to the parade that year.














Last year, we finally decided that we had outgrown our yard for the party. The kids were all getting bigger and our group growing larger so we did the party at a local park instead.














I filled water balloons for a toss contest



















And somehow we even ended up with an impromptu story time













And then a relaxing time at the fireworks with Abby and Hannah (and Aaron of course)



















This year will be the first year that we will do his party AFTER the 4th so I have fallen behind in the planning,. I still have three days to figure it out.

Thursday Thirteen #6 Noah's Birthday List

With Noah's birthday only a little more than two weeks away, he has started asking for everything he sees for his birthday. So last week we headed off to Toys R Us and the Family Christian Store (I had to go there for something else) and I handed him the camera. I told him that he could take a picture of whatever he wanted for his birthday and that way I would remember and he wouldn't have to ask anymore.

So an hour and 65 pictures later, an exhausted mommy and buds headed home.

He knows there are certain things we don't play with in our house, and he avoided them all for the most part. So without further ado, 13 highlights of Noah's birthday list.

1. We are big time into Bible Man from the Family Christian Stores. Has anyone else discovered these DVD's? They are so cheesy but very fun and Noah is actually starting to try to quote scripture as a result.














We got the Fisher price catalog a few weeks ago and he saw these two as well as some others. He even slept with the catalog under his pillow for about a week...

2. The one he wants the most














3.















4. At least he picked the skateboards with the protective gear included.



















5. Remember all of the concoctions we've been making? Of course, this has to be on the list.














6. This was a fun one because he actually passed right by it because it "has a gun in it". I told him actually it would be OK because it was more of a launcher and he was so geeked that he could actually put it on his list.















Even though these next two were kind of "babyish", he said he wants them so he can play superheroes in the bath.

7.















8. He wants these so he can play "Larry Boy" in the bath. Another fun DVD set if you haven't discovered them at the Family Christian Stores.














9. Actually, about 20 of the pictures were of the LEGO variety. When did legos get so expensive?















10. Ever since Daisy sent Noah the K'Nex set, he's been all about them, and loves mixing the sets. The pieces are a bit smaller but he can get a lot more creative with the things he makes.















11. I don't even WANT to know what this is.














12. Has anyone else seen the trailer for this movie? It looked really cute but after seeing the trailer, it looks just strange. Nevertheless, Noah is already asking to see it when it comes out. And he LOVES robot type things so I can see the appeal of this.



















13. And lastly, even if you own 3,652 matchbox, hot wheels, etc., it is very important for every list to have variety packs of more. "Oh, but Mom, these are SPEED RACER cars!"














He probably won't get a whole lot on this list. I already got him a lego set and a book with beads that he wanted. We don't really do a big present give-away for their birthdays. Especially since the kid already gets fireworks displays across the country on his birthday. I will probably put this in the back of my mind for Christmas but it was still fun to see what he was thinking.

If anyone out there has a little boy turning six this year, you can pick from these and be assured that it will be a successful present.