CJ's Special Birthday

 CJ had a full day on his big 8th Birthday!  The day started with breakfast in bed!  Not early enough however!! Laura thought that he would enjoy sleeping in a little on his birthday..oh no.  1/2 way through her shower, Laura hears a loud, knock, knock, knock on the bathroom door...and yells "YES??"  CJ props the door open and asks, "Where is my breakfast?"  Laura reassured him that she would get right on it as soon as she got out of the shower!  (Now..it is like 6:15 am mind you...in case you were wondering how "late" Laura was letting him sleep!)  For breakfast, CJ requested homemade wheat toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and juice.  As is normal with CJ... he ate hardly any of it!  I guess he was saving up for lunch. (CJ has never been a very good breakfast eater, even as a little baby.)  Since it was spirit week at school, the lucky birthday boy got to wear his PJ's to school!  Then, as a treat he brought donuts to his school mates, but they got put in the classroom until after lunch!  The teacher waits until just before time to go home to sugar up the kids -smart lady!  Nana and Papa flew in and took CJ out to lunch.  He could pick wherever he wanted to go. He picked Olive Garden.  (Both Preston and Becky were disappointed that they couldn't go too!)  CJ likes the salad, but he LOVES the breadsticks and alfredo dipping sauce.  I think Nana and Papa said they lost count somewhere around 14.  Then they brought out a big birthday brownie, sang to him, and then CJ finished off the brownie. On the way back to school, Nana and Papa said that CJ was looking a little green in the back seat!  CJ said that he was planning on going back to school and just hand out donuts, but he wasn't going to eat one - SAD! 

As the day progessed, more people arrived ...Grandma and Papa Ward, Leslie and Trevor & the kids. (Becky was supposed to come late Friday night, but surprised us Wednesday afternoon instead!!!).  For dinner, CJ picked confederate bean soup, his favorite.  This year CJ picked a "store bought" cake instead of one of Laura's masterpieces. (Laura was a little bummed...she likes creating the kid's cakes!)  His cake of choice was a marble cake, with strawberry filling, topped with whipped frosting.  He also requested that it have 8 lego star wars figures on top - 8 of them, since it is his 8th birthday of course!   Happy Birthday CJ!  We love you!

George

Look who came to our house to visit!  George Washington!  The kids were supposed to pick someone from history they wanted to dress up as...Preston chose George Washington.  He put together the out fit all by himself.  Mom, however,  helped him with the hair!  When Laura went to take pictures of him, she said, "look over here Preston"  and he would move his head but keep his eyes partly closed.. so she would repeat again, "Preston, look over here...and OPEN YOUR EYES."  To this, Preston said, "No Mom... look at George Washington..he eyes are like this...." and he would squint.  So, when Laura thought Preston was not listening or not wanting to cooperate for a picture...oh no Preston knew what he was doing and he was being the perfect George Washington all the way down to the squinty eyes....always in character...what a man!

The Ward Four

 

Grinning Ear to Ear

Detric is such a fun baby.  At 3 weeks old, he was rolling over.  At first we thought it was just a fluke, but then he did it several times on several different days but then nothing since...so fluke or not we have been really careful with him on beds, couches, etc.!  Detric's smiles however have NOT gone away...he is such a happy, smiley baby.  If you talk to him, he lights up and smiles these huge grins at are incredible.  It is hard to get through the grocery store because any lady who talks to him is thrilled because she got him to smile!  It is such a pleasure to have such a happy little man!  If you have to wake up early in the morning and take care of a little man...boy it sure makes it easy when he is grinning at you from ear to ear and just happy to see you!

THE Shark Reef

Yes, Vegas is known as SIN City, and believe me - there is plenty of "SIN" to be seen...but in the midst of it all there, there are a few gems.  One thing on our Vegas "bucket list" was to go and see Mandalay Bay's shark reef.  So we took a Saturday in February, and off we went!  It was really expensive, but it was really neat too!  The kids enjoyed seeing all the different sharks, fish, and touching sting rays.  Laura loved the jelly fish.  She could stand all day mesmorized - if you have never seen a live jelly fish live before- believe me, it was COOL!  Wow. 

We thought we had made it down to the strip unscathed by filth, however, on the way out - we noticed the interesting and offensive "ART".  On the side of the wall in the hallway leading in and out of the shark reef.  They have a whole row of  cement decorative "statues" of women's breasts protruding out of the wall.  At first, we didn't notice what it was, but when we did - Clay and Laura looked at each other and said, Look straight ahead and keep walking - we felt sick... it got even worse when  Preston, our curious one, who always feels the need to put his hands on everything ...found the interesting "ART" on the wall.  As he passed by - he started touching ..when Clay and Laura saw what was happening...they quickly STOPPED him, and picked up the pace to GET OUT!  Luckily, he didn't know what it was..thank goodness.  Wow...so Good family trip to the Shark Reef...just watch out for the "ART!"

Some call it a Swaddle..We call it a Miracle!

 Some people call it a swaddle...we call it a miracle!  With our 4th kid, we finally found the most amazing contraption EVER!  The velco swaddler!  We could never swaddle a baby like those amazing nurses at the hospital and we never had a baby sleep very well at night either....until now!  It seems the two go hand in hand!  Detric is a great sleeper and we swaddle him at night!  Waalaa... it is Laura's little key to sanity!  Sleep!  With 3 older kids and a baby..sleep is the most important thing these days!  Wow...wish we had this with the other kids, better late than ever!   (PS...when he sleeps, Detric's arms and hands are velcroed inside all snug...they were just released in several of the pictures!)