Birthdays and friends

Oh, hey girl. 

Meet Aiko's favorite friends.  Little Katy is 9 months and Jaidyn just turned 1

Probably the best toys ever!  Baby ball pit.

The Husband's Birthday.

I feel that birthdays are meant to be more bragging about the person days.  No, I'm not going to be too sappy, I'm just going to write some awesome facts about my ever so awesome husband. So here we go.

 

 The husband is an excellent dad and husband.  He is incredibly selfless.  He always puts everyone else first.  He can work in almost any condition with a variety of distractions, such as my pregnant self, his favorite little baby and his dog.

 

He loves his "floor" time.  If you know him well enough, you know if there is carpet somewhere, he's usually laying on it.  I feel this comes from his childhood.  He grew up with a swamp cooler, which was the coolest in the hallways under the cooler.  Now, he loves it because his favorite dog and child spend most of their time there as well.  Recently, Aiko has been into wrestling and headbutting him.  She loves hanging out with her dad.  These last few weeks have been "dadddddddd" weeks.  She hears the door open and rushes to go meet him.  She just adores him. As does his Kona.  As you can see, once again, he places himself just for the kona's benefit.

I think, well, more know, that the husband has a very calming effect on most everyone.  He definitely brings more peace when he enters the room.  Dogs just love him, his nieces and nephews love him, people seem to just be drawn to my introverted husband.  He's not one to react quickly.  Always calm.  My family has yet to hear him "yell."

Oh, how that baby loves her dad.  

 

I think we'll keep him for a while more.

Aiko is one, plus a little letter.

Such a happy picture.  I really do love it. 

So, I tell the husband to put her in an adorable outfit, because it's her birthday right?  So instead...he puts her in this stained onesie, tights with little ballerina feet, plaid pants, complete with a giant sweat band we got the other week.  (That's why her hair looks so awesome)  I ask him what he was thinking and he replies, "It's all red and white!"  Ah, yes.  It's true.  Oh, this husband of mine.  Aiko looked like someone out of the show Dodgeball.  I think it does it just to see me freak out. Luckily, grandparents pulled through and purchased her an adorable outfit.

I've had all these months to plan and think about what to do for her birthday...in the end, I did the bare minimum.  I even had these scrapbooking pieces for her little toppers. 

Yeah for cupcakes!

It's like she never had sugar...well, she's never had that much before...ever. 

 Auntie Hannah and Aiko will probably forever share their birthdays...since it is only 4 days apart.  I just now realized how dangerous it looks with ALL those candles right next to my baby.

To my #ohniceandchubbybaby,

Some mom's may say this is a sad day, not for me, for some reason I find it ever so exciting to watch you grow and learn new things everyday!  I've been waiting and waiting for a little person to pull things off my shelves and make messes.  You are such an independent, little busy-body.  I love listening to you babble and say "Mama."  One of my favorite things about you is how excited you get when your dad gets home!  You seem to make all those around you happy.  It's so fun to laugh with you!  Forgive your mama when you see all the "un-cute" photos I take of you.  Your brown eyes will always melt hearts.

Love you Ai-ooo!

Mama. 

Photos by Grandpa Hesley. 

birthday bowling

here, the kona is distraught she wasn't able to participate in the following activity. 

baby's first time bowling!  she was pretty good, even with all the crazy music and lights 

she did manage to take a short 5 minute nap, until someone dropped a bowling ball on the ground. 

on of the birthday boys.  he's pretty happy, he had like 6 strikes in a game...even if he does "bowl" illegally.  he uses some crazy curve ball...it's hard to explain 

here's another for you grandpa!

so cousin kim found this ksl deal where you paid $25.95 for 2 hours of bowling, shoe rental for 6 people, 16" pizza and a pitcher of pop.  it was a steal of a deal.  we had 19 people, plenty of pizza (even if it wasn't the best) and tons of fun!  so glad she found that deal!

one of the other birthday boys.

big-little-brother-jan

the kids are dancing here when someone knocked down pins.

baby loved being passed around!  she had her eyes wide open staring at everything. 

the kids loved the bowling!  some of them even broke a hundred somehow.

you can barely see it...but the husband's score is 186. boy, was he proud of himself that night. 

the other birthday boy is in the white, cousin steve

here, all the boys are "speed bowling" or something. they tried to see who could bowl the fastest speed, who could curve the ball the most, ya know, because you can't just bowl regular.  it was super fun getting together with the rest of the fam!

favorite quote that night from the husband. "honey, can you record me bowling, i want to see what i look like."  meaning, he needed to analyze his technique.  love my nerd!

for my birthday precious

notice the time in the middle.

3 freaking AM ?!  are you kidding me?  what is he doing at that time?  playing a computer GAME! 

notice how his response was something to make it seem okay.  i told him he was on duty IF that baby woke up (which she doesn't, but she's going through a growth spurt so who knows what her little body wants) so apparently, since she never woke up, he didn't have to go to bed.

 so help me, i love my nerd, but really. to top off his nerdliness he responds 

"It's my birthday precious"

yes, we are that nerdy together. 

so here we are later this morning, now around 10 AM.  he's out cold, the baby is squirming.

and he'll be out for a while. because after all, it is his birthday precious. 

happy birthday lovey. 

He's really 30 now.

 

Happy Birthday Husband!

 Remember how I blogged about him basically being thirty? 

Only, now it's finally happened?

Except, maybe it was just the activity, but yesterday, he was totally acting like a 10 year old. 

I bought a bunch of Groupon's for a Trampoline Arena.

It had Giant Foam Pits, Trampolines on the walls, dodge ball and basketball.  I bet there we 20 trampolines.

So COOL! 

We invited his friends and cousin.  

It was funny how all the boys said "they were really excited to go."

I'll have to post the videos later...but Derek basically bounced around with a slight grin on his face the whole time.

Late Birthday Shopping and perhaps the longest story of shoes ever.

My dad came into town last weekend.

He offered money for Derek and my birthdays...sounds good to me right?

Then he proceeds to put the parameters of the amount, it should be spent while he was in town and that it should be electronic, and preferably an iPad, or a TV, Nook, Kindle, Apple Something....

basically all the things on Derek's want list.  I'd suggested a pair of black boots, which was quickly kicked off the list.

Luckily, after much debate, and a couple days, we went shopping...at the stores I like.

And Derek decided on saving his money for a iPhone 5 update...which also created much debate.

You guys, I had so much trouble...I <3 to shop...but under pressure

is pretty tough.

We went to DownEast Outfitters, because they have all these name brand clothes for much cheaper than I could and would ever purchase them otherwise.  For some reason they also have a furniture section...also name brand items for marked down. Which luckily, they had a couple couches so Derek and my dad could get comfortable.  I told them it could be a while. . . 

1.5 Hours later and potty run later.

I finally had found the 3 items, some lovely Jackie Dresses and a wool sweater.  I have issues with summer clothing. . . they are my least favorite. I <3 to layer and in the summer you cannot layer. Ugh.

My total did not make it to my dads parameters...and usually he does not like shopping but he said we would have to go somewhere else to finish out my tab.

We then proceeded to go to a place with many shoes. Which I happen to <3.  For the next 30 minutes I wandered every row, every clearance rack...and still nothing. 

Pressure makes it tough.

and then, I found them. 

It was like a shining light.

Ever see the sparkly eyes on Japanamation? 

Harmony had them. 

I have not been this excited about shoes in many moons...one should probably not love shoes like this...let me tell you...I <3 them. they were even Big Buddha brand...sparkly eyes, buddha...hapa not to be confused with happy girl, it was a perfect fit.

BUT, 

I still hadn't made it to my birthday amount limit...luckily, I had been eyeballing another pair...which did not create quite as large sparkle eyes, but nonetheless, I was complete.

Thanks Daddy!

 heart you.  FC