Birthday Boy week

So, this was a very busy week for me. Monday was Austin's 2nd b-day. Debbie has inspired me, so I will give him a tribute.
Austin is the happiest little kid I know. He is full of love and will hug and go to almost anyone. He is full of energy and enthusiasm. He is interested in everything and I am amazed everyday at what he knows and notices. (He will point to animals and tell me their names and I will think "Did I teach him that?") This week he pulled out all this stuff out of the dishwasher and put it where he thought it should go. He also set the table all by himself this week. I call him "My Sunshine" because he always brightens my day.As you can see, we got Austin an aquadoodle. This way, when he writes on the walls, they just get wet!! YEAH. All the kids have been loving this:)

So, since everyone had the day off Monday for President's Day, we all went to Big Al's and played some of their arcade games. Isabelle and Robert had tons of fun with the air hockey.
Can you tell by the look on Robert's face that he totally wasted Isabelle? Well, he did.
Bella and I did some fun "Dance, Dance revolution."The boys did this fun Rollercoaster game.
That night we had some opened a couple presents and had some cake. Robert and Austy got cool presents from the Hutchies! Robert was so excited to get this cool lego boat.On Wednesday was Robert's 7th birthday. He was so excited he came in and woke us up that morning. We gave him a present before school- this cool Batman backpack! No more of mom's old college backpack for him!So, here is my tribute to Robert. I am so proud of Robert for so many reasons. He is a very sensitive boy. He is close to the spirit and really listens and responds when we read scriptures to him. He puts his hand on his heart when he is feeling the spirit and is willing to stand up for his beliefs when they are challenged at school. He has worked so hard in school and in his therapy. At the beginning of the school year he struggle with small and large motor abilities and now is doing excellent at both! He wears me out when we do exercises together now! He is moving up in his reading levels so quickly now too. He can be so sweet to Bella and Austin and is so good at showing love. We are so lucky to have him in our family.

We went to "Thomas Live" that night. It was a little loud, but I think all the kids enjoyed it. (It was Austy's big present).I had one day's break, then it was Robert's friend birthday party on Friday. We went with a pirate theme this year. I made him a treasure chest cake. (He begged us for one at the boy scout fundraiser, but I told him I would make him one instead).We got Robert this fun pirate costume for his birthday.Austin got to be Captain Hook.These are all the kids that came.I made a map and the kids got to go find treasure at all of the locations on the map. The kids were so excited and it was so fun! One of the treasures was a pirate craft we got to make. I think everyone had a lot of fun!

On Saturday we went down to Mima and Papa's because they had a fun "project" present for Robert's birthday. Papa gave Robert a hammer and he got to try out hitting nails and work on his own treasure box that Mima and Papa made!Then both Isabelle and Robert painted it. What a fun birthday!

Oh, also, Thursday was my 9th anniversary with Rob. We celebrated it in January, so we didn't do much on the day. But, Rob did make a cd with our wedding video on it and I made a nice candlelight dinner.

I am so grateful that I married Rob. I feel like we are so good for each other. Where I am weak, he is strong, and vice versa. He builds me up. He helps me grow, helps me to be a better person. Thank you for 9 wonderful years together, they have gone by so fast!

Valentine dates and the bathroom explosion.

So, we started a tradition last year (if you can call 2 years a tradition) of taking the kids out for a date (mother son, daddy/daughter) the week before Valentines. Last year Rob took Isabelle to this cute dance for fathers and daughters. We planned on going this year but found out too late we needed to register. Isabelle was so sad! But, we still dolled her up like a princess and Rob took her out to the movie "Coraline" (they both liked it) then out to coldstone for dessert.
Robert wanted to dress up too, since Isabelle was dressing up as a princess. So, he got in his Hulk costume for our date. He wanted to go to Chuck-e-Cheese for our date. I wasn't looking forward to Chuck-e-Cheese at first, but he was SO happy! We ordered some pizza, did some games. We rocked the skee ball. When we ran out of tokens we got doughnuts on the way home, then watched a movie and snuggled. It was so great just to feel so much closer to the kids and know that they can feel our love because they had special time with us. They have been begging to go on dates with us ever since.Rob did a fun FHE this week about the Sabbath Day. He added all sorts of strange things to ice cream (salsa, salt and pepper, mustard, etc) to illustrate the point that that even though all those things are good, they are all good at the same time! He did a great job. Then we got to have "Good Sundays" together afterwards.
Isabelle had a Valentine's party at her preschool. I thought she looked so adorable that day. She had loads of fun at the party and opening up all of her Valentines. I was proud of her for filling out all of the Valentines she made for her friends! It was a lot of hard work for her, but I think she is getting way better at writing her name and writing letters!
No, she didn't take the doll to class.(This is when the class was about to open their Valentines. They each had one of those cute packets with all of their Valentines in them.)

As for the actual Valentine's day, it started out really well. I woke up extra early because I had to leave early to decorate for the Valentine's dance. I gave each of the kids a little box of chocolates and a sucker with lips at the end.
Austin was actually the first one up. (Besides Daddy, I wouldn't let Daddy in at first though). He was excited and went straight for the candy.Bella came in next and was way excited about all of Valentines until she saw that I got a bigger box of chocolates than she did. What her box said was definitely fitting for the day.Robert's reaction was the best. When he saw what he got and the fact that I was making pink, heart shaped pancakes, he said "This is the best Valentines ever and you are the best parents in the world!!"Here's a pic of the pancakes.
Rob really did a lot for me for Valentines this year. I felt bad that I didn't do more for him. I made him a huge heart for a card, gave him a dark chocolate Valentine's box and breakfast.
But, as you can see, he went over the top! He ordered the negatives from our wedding, rented a machine to digitize the photos, and put them all on CD so we can have them forever! He also got me a dozen roses, a box of chocolates, a sweet card, and a funny necklace that says "I love Rob". I did think the necklace was cheesy at first, but I LOVED wearing it for Valentines. It was perfect! Just like my hubby :)

We were planning on going to the Bi Stake Valentine's dance in Camas that night, and about an hour before we were suppose to leave one of the pipes broke on the toilet and flooded our bathroom!! Rob got soaking wet and was not happy!!! Luckily our neighbors, our heros (the Rosendales), came running to our rescue and saved the day! They helped us find where to turn off our water and figure out what to do, even helped us clean up. They are the best!! We didn't end up fixing the toilet that night, or else we wouldn't have made it to the dance. For now it is just off limits until we can get the part! Luckily we have other bathrooms!
Thankfully, we were still able to make it to our Valentine's Date. We met up with some friends at "Beaches" restaurant on the waterfront in Vancouver.
Then we danced the night away at the Camas HS. Rob and I had forgotten how much we like to boogie! We had a blast! It has been a long time since we have been to a dance and we had a great time. We even got to meet up with our friends, the Bjorns, there.

Now, if this blog wasn't long enough, I had a couple other things I wanted to throw in.
Normally, I really don't feel like I am a very creative person and hate coming up with stuff, so I was really proud of the next couple things I did. For Robert's 7th birthday we are going to have a pirate party, so I made these invitations for everyone.I burnt the edges and tried to make it look like a map. At the party we really will search for pirate treasure.
My mom sent us some really cool Valentines that she had made herself, and she inspired me. I have a bunch of scrapbook paper that I will never use for scrapbooking, I cannot torture myself that way. So I thought I would use some to make cards for a couple of birthdays in the family coming up. I thought it turned out cute (don't mind the wet spot, Isabelle gleeked on it right as I was taking the pic!).

Rob's birthday and Vegas

So, I need to catch up a little. Rob had his birthday on the 21st of January. Over Christmas he had folded up an add with a monitor on it that he wanted, so I was sly and stuck it in my pocket. He even asked for it later and I played dumb. When we got back to WA I got him the monitor. When he opened it (first thing in the morning on his b-day) he was so excited! He said, "Wow, I really feel loved, you have done a great job with my birthday." Mission accomplished! What more could I ask for than a happy hubby?!I actually also made him a heart shaped plankitchen for breakfast.Robert picked out silly string to give to him.The Hutchies stopped by later and gave Rob....I know, the tension is mounting, BYU stuff! How do they know us so well!
Also, sometimes when we are going to bed we do this "bedtime express". We actually had all three kids on at first, but Isabelle got too scared.Then, starting monday the next week, Rob and I went off to Vegas! Nan was nice enough to watch the kids while we were gone.:) This was to celebrate our 9th anniversary. The time has gone by so fast! It was so nice just to have 3 full days just to ourselves, no interruptions! It really helped us to feel so much closer together and so much more in love:)

The first day we walked the strip from like 7 am until midnight. Ouch, were we tired after that day!
Here are some pics we took. I think some of the coolest stuff we saw was in the Venician. Like this living garden. The people moved and had water coming out of their hands and heads.We also ran into this Ent girl there.We also got gelatos by the canal.
We also went to a show of Wayne Brady (from "Whose line is it anyways")He was very energetic, did fun improv and has a great voice. It was very fun, but a little pricey for us. After that first day, I was sick of how expensive things are in Las Vegas now, we couldn't even find a drinking fountain in the Casinos!

The second day we had a time share presentation in the morning. It was only an hour and we got free breakfast and practically free hotel stay. Here is our room.We stayed at a Hilton on the strip, but not a Casino (nice!). The only bad thing was that it was between Circus Circus and the Stratusphere and so we had to do A LOT of walking. But, we were up for it:).

After that, I was up for more free stuff, so we went to ANOTHER time share presentation. It took sooooooo long! But, we got free rides up to the top of the Stratusphere, a buffet dinner, and a show with a bunch of impersonators that ranged from Elvis, to Michael Jackson and Christina Aguilera. It was alright, but they had showgirls!! Yuck! Michael Jackson's dancing was awesome:) This is us at the show.
And we got a pic with Elvis:)

That night we also went on a couple rides on the Stratusphere. Rob has been wanting to go on these rides since we went through Vegas on our Honeymoon, but we hadn't been able to for wind or some other reason. So, we had to go this time. We went on the big shot...We also went on a ride up there that took you off the edge called the X-scream. Isn't Rob crazy?! Aren't I a nice wife for going with him?! I was super scared! Way worse than the Big shot.The last day we mainly shopped for Chinkypins (souveniers for the kids in French speak).
It was a much needed medicine for our relationship, yeah for fun!

When we got back the kids were so happy and excited:) Rob got back two days after me. He stayed down there to do some business. When he got back all the kids wanted to have their picture taken with him.Can you tell Belly has been eating?Even me!
Oh, also, Belly had a fun field trip to the library with her preschool class.This is her best effort at head, shoulders, knees and toes. Notice, where most people's hands are... Austin had some fun there too.

She also started up a dance class this week. She is so excited! She even has some friends from the ward in her class.Sorry for the length. What can I say, I love pictures! See you next week!