Mia's 7th Birthday Party - Part I

In keeping with the theme of Mia's current obsession with Star Wars, Momma decided it would be appropriate to plan a series of birthday parties to mark this momentous occasion.  So this past weekend we had a few dozen kids over for a block party complete with a snow cone truck and a Lego Star Wars cake!  Next weekend we're renting out the jumpy place for her class mates.  I give Momma grief for her excess, but it's so fun to watch her delight in making things so special for the kids.  Plus, it truly is amazing that Mia is already turning 7...  Times goes so quickly!  The other evening we spent time together looking through her blog.  She didn't even know she had one!  So we went all the way back to the very first post in China, and it was so fun to see her reaction to all of her baby photos.  I think it was timely as she shared with her teacher recently, during recess, that she has a sad story of her birth...  It was quite unexpected to hear that, and prompted some very deep and interesting conversations regarding her early childhood and adoption.  No matter the reality, all adopted children formulate their own story in their head, which rarely matches reality at that age.  Mia is an unbelievably special child and we're thankful for every day and every year that we all get together!

Party Animals!

For Mia's birthday party we literally had party animals!  The kids love to go to the Paradise Valley mall and rent time on these moving zoo animals. So, Momma decided we should bring the mall to us, and talked the woman into selling her three of them!  So after Daddy trekked them home, we had riding zoo animals for the party...  The twins were overjoyed!

New Playhouse!!

For several years Daddy has been promising to build a playhouse! Well, as time flies by, Daddy has finally accepted that some things simply need to be delegated or they aren't going to happen...  So we had a builder come down from Flagstaff and build the kids their very own home.  It's 2 stories with dual lofts, a deck with the tree running through it, lights, air conditioning, a hoist for Brandon and Aubrey's very own flower box.  And of course big sister Mia to oversee the whole affair.  The kids are absolute obsessed, and we haven't seen them much since it's completion!  I'm pretty sure this birthday present was a hit!

Construction Queen!

Mia was utterly obsessed with the construction of her new playhouse!  The guys worked for about 8 hours building it on Friday, and she never left their side...  She wanted to know how they were leveling it, how their tools worked, and if she could help.  They even worked into the night time, and she still wouldn't leave their side!  That is one curious little girl...

Vail Ski Trip!

Last week we took the kids on a family ski trip to Vail.  It was amazingly beautiful and we got almost 3 feet of snow in 2 days!!  The ski conditions were amazing.  As expected, Mia did amazing!  This was her third year, so she's really got things dialed in.  She not only can hang with some light black diamond runs, but loves leading Mommy & Daddy off into the woods on alpine trails, and hitting small jumps.  The girl is crazy!  She would do half day lessons to improve her skills, and then ski with Mommy & Daddy in the afternoons. I kid you not that in the middle of the night she would come wake us up and ask if she could go skiing now...  Obsessed!  So nice to have a family vacation with just us and the kids.  Great memories!

Ski Bunnies!!

Here the Twins were, all geared up and ready for their first day of skiing!  They looked like cute, chubby little weeble wobbles in their full regalia... As we guessed, Aubs did fantastic.  She learned to pizza stop and was able to stop on her own by the end of the trip.  As we also guessed, Big Boy took the lazy route and whined until his instructor let him go take naps and flirt with the other instructors...  The kid is an unbelievable Momma's Boy, and just plain lazy!  He sure takes after his Daddy...

Nap Time at the Slopes!

The Twins had full day private lessons while we skied.  At lunch time on the first day, while eating lunch, we were discussing what the twins might be doing.  Were they enjoying their day?  Honest to God, after about 15 minutes we noticed that they were sound asleep at the table next to us!!  Rough life these kids have...

Snow Angels!

We took a day off from skiing with the intent of snow mobiling and sledding.  Unfortunately, it snowed so much that they shut down those activities for the day...  The kids didn't seem to mind. We took the gondola to the top of the mountain, made snow angels and played in the blizzard!  It was so much fun for the kids to experience the weather and snow.

Xmas Morning!

Momma bought hats that each of the kids had to wear in order to be able to open gifts!  It was pretty silly...  As usual, Meat Head wore his most of the day to ham it up a bit!  Note the unbelievably cute Santa jammies he wore!!  So sweet.

Xmas Chaos!

The kids had an absolute blast with all of he gifts and chaos.  They are at a perfect age, as they are old enough to appreciate everything going on, but young enough to believe in everything Xmas entails.  We have made a tradition of having Santa send them each an email on Xmas eve.  We found a website that sends a video of Santa at the North Pole.  It's unbelievably real, and includes Santa entering their name and picture into the machine which determines if they've been naughty or nice.  To see the looks on each of their faces as they nervously awaited the results was priceless!  They literally shrieked when the needle pegged on 'nice'!!!  Just for fun I included Marshall, our puppy, and Santa found him to be naughty...  The kids were devastated.  Oops!  Another amazing holiday.

Meat Head!

I've gotten grief for calling my son Meat Head, so I figured I'd include this picture as an explanation...  The kid is just plain thick!  We're thinking Ohio State offensive lineman.  For all his size and boyishness, he sure is one sweet, good natured little boy. 

Nap Time with Dark Vader!

After a long morning of opening gifts, Bubba decided it was time for a nap.  He insisted that his favorite gift, a life size Dark Vader (as he calls it...), nap with him!  He's a goof.

Girlie Time!

While Big Boy napped, the girls took a Xmas spin around the house on Mia's new spark trike.  As she flies down the street, she pulls up on the handle at her left side and leaves a trail of sparks behind her...  Very cool, like her!