Alex turns 10!!!

 Wow! Alex turned 10 years old! I can't believe we've survived this long. This year was the first that he wanted to have friends over for his birthday, so it was kind of a big deal. We handed out invites the last day of school and then took reminders over this last week. Alex looved seeing all his friends again!! Here go lots of pictures with not too many words. (I hope!)

                These were the goodie bags, which were really fun to put together!

They had fun stuff like sticky lizards and pop candy and snaps and Pop Rocks and water yo-yos. They reminded me of GrabBags from toy shows when we were little, which made me like them!

Alex was so happy when his friends started coming!

 A little picture of the world's coolest cake!! Alex loves Nightmare Before Christmas, so James and Nicole Cook and her sister Jannie helped us (for like 3 hours!) to make this totally awesome cake! The tombstones and pumpkins are rice crispies and the tombstones have the names of the kids at the party on them!

We told the kids we would be doing fun science, so to wear clothes they could get dirty in. We started out with making dry ice bubbles in a bowl. When you make a soap bubble on the top, then it fills bigger and bigger with the gases until it pops and the gases come pouring out. Cool.

We did more bubbles with the vacuum hose and blew up and balloons and watched them pop from the gas.

Holding soapy dry ice bubbles. When they pop, smoke comes out.

Then we did the classic Diet Coke and Mentos explosions with our awesome Geyser Tube, that screws onto the 2-liter of pop and then you load up your Mentos. There is a pin on a string that when you pull releases all the Mentos and it explodes out the top. We got in 5 groups, because that was how many things of pop we had, and then counted down from 10 and they pulled the string. It was---- AWESOME!

The kids enjoyed the challenge of getting as soaked as possible! They thought it was sooo cool.

 Then we let all the kids do sparklers and then did some fun eyeball and fountain fireworks.

Cake Time!!

Their faces when they saw the cake.

Alex loved the cake, and afterwards lovingly washed each of the figurines and has them in a Superman lunch tote he got that he can carry around.

 Presents! We started out with the thing he has been asking for nearly a month now. (Since he found it hidden under my bed.) A full body skeleton costume.

The mother hens getting him dressed! 

 He had to wear it while opening other presents. His friends are all sooo sweet and totally get that, of course, Alex would wear his costume now.

He got really awesome presents like- sidewalk chalk and car, Angry Birds coloring book and 3-d puzzle, Superman lunchbox, Angry birds backpack (from us), Legos and $20!

 Okay, that was a little too hot.

The complete ensemble. Notice the backpack, into which went most of the presents.

 Then Grandma and Grandpa Campbell, who had very kindly taken Emme and Irelyn during the party, brought them back and gave Alex a huge flashlight and an Angry Birds game that he has been wanting. (The best part was that we told them Alex liked Angry Birds, but when they went to the store they couldn't remember what we had said. They almost left the store without anything because they thought we said "Crazy Cats" and they couldn't find any of that. Luckily, they saw this and remembered what it was!

The kids had cake and ice cream inside where it was cool. They all thought it was cool to have their names on the gravestones and fought over who got to take them home.

One of my favorite moments at the party, was when Alex took most all the kids downstairs, so he could play the piano for them. I came down the stairs and they were all gathered around Alex watching him play. It was soooo cute. I tried to get a picture, but it barely turned out.  You can barely see them here. As we were coming up the stairs, one of the kids who had missed it asked, "You play the piano, Alex?" and one of the other kids said, "Yeah! And he's really good!" They wanted him to play more for them later, but he said he was done. That's Alex for you.

 It was such a fun birthday and I wish you could meet all these sweet, kind kids. When I did reading with them in class, I always loved being around them and left feeling so happy from them. They are each so kind and really very motherly towards Alex. They probably help him too much, fought over who got to sit next to him and mostly just let him be himself, without feeling uncomfortable about it. Oh, how grateful I am for them!

They were all excited about their Goodie Bags and all said they had a lot of fun. I heard a few, "That was the coolest party ever!"s, which was satisfying!

By the end, Alex was totally worn out and just wanted to play with his toys. He loved having his friends over and is talking about "2013, July 28." I told him we can just have them over to play and he seemed happy about that.

 I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has always put the right teachers, Primary leaders and teachers, and friends in Alex's life at the right time to help him. He has grown so much and is such a joy- most of the time! He is turning into a real little person, but is still Alex through and through. And wonderfully, that's a good thing! We love him so much!! Happy Birthday, Alex!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to Haley (today) and Meggie (tomorrow)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  Meggie was always such a good big sister. She let me go everywhere with her, (maybe because she was too shy to go by herself!) and all of my happy childhood memories involve her. Making mud pies in the dirt driveway, building Barbie homes out of books that took so long to build we never played with them then. Choreographing dances to David Bowie and Sting songs, playing restaurant where the only 2 menu items were bread or sugar milk. (I always ordered sugar milk.)

   I will always remember Megan telling me in a happy voice, "Once you get cleaning it is really fun!" I was rather skeptical. I remember her piling up all of Mommy's papers into neat stacks, which never made Mommy as happy as it should have.. hehe...As teenagers, we would keep Seth up too late on Mommy and Doc's date night singing to him and playing games. Then we would rush to put him in bed when we heard the car in the garage! We shared clothes, friends and interests, but most of all laughs. We were what made each of us like to be at home a lot. She was kind to me and I always felt worried when I was little that one day she would realize she was way too good for me and not want to be friends anymore. Lucky for me she never has realized that!

  Haley was the little sister that we loved to spoil. I remember feeling threatened when she was on her way, that she would be tiny and cute and charming everyone would love her. Meggie and I tried to remember funny jokes to tell her when she was born and Megan asked how long her eyes would be closed after she was born. (We had been around baby kitties too much!) When she was born it was the first time I experienced what it was to love someone you had just met. She was so little and perfect, and Megan and I had instantly found the person to pour out all our maternal/ doll instincts into. We saved babysitting money to buy her clothes and necklaces, fantasized about how we would dress her if we had lots of money and all the things we would do with her. She was very accomodating and dutifully charming, but what made it the most fun was how grateful she was for everything we did for her. She would be sooo happy and excited about the LipSmacker necklace that we got her that it was more fun for us than for her. She cried a lot and then talked a lot. She was bouncy and imaginative and flexible! We bounced her on our feet, threw her in the air and practiced swing dance moves with her. We watched her grow and marveled that she never went through an awkward stage. I was jealous and proud of her accomplishments and admirers.

   She was everything we had been afraid she would be- and no one loved her for it more than Megan and I did. Because she was also kind and tender-hearted, generous to others and thoughtful of their feelings. She was humble and sweet and a genuinely happy person. 
  Brothers are wonderful, but they kind of move in a different sphere than us. Sisters are like wonderful best friends that are stuck with you no matter what!
  Now that we are grown, we call each other when we are having a bad day. Or a good day. Or to see how the other one's day is going. (Thank goodness for free long distance!) We each are different and unique, but shockingly similiar. 
  I am sooo grateful for my two wonderful sisters! You two are the best friends I have in life (and Danny, too!) and it makes me happy to think of all the fun things we have to look forward to doing together. Life would be so different without you. Thank you for being so kind to me and for being who you each are. I love you. -
                             Your Little/ Big Sister Mel, Melaleuca fireworks, Meldoo, Mewinders, etc.