Halloween Party in Central Park

Chase invited his friends from his class to join us for a Halloween Party in the Park

"Costumes and Cupcakes!"

This is us heading to the park to set up!  What an adventure!  At first I felt a little awkward pushing this huge cart full of halloween decorations and cupcakes but after the first few blocks we all started waving:)  Luckily the 50 cupcakes I made survived the bumps along the way.  

Costumes  and... 

Cupcakes!

Playing Games

Pumpkin Punching Balloons

Eating Cupcakes

And Scary Faces

We had a wonderful time getting to know some of the kids in Chase's class.  Chase had a blast and told me over and over again how much he "loved" his Halloween Party!  That made everything worth it!  Even packing it all up again to walk home!  

Time to Document!

  I am thrilled to announce that we have started another school year and we are off to a good start!

Saturday before school started we had our annual(2nd year running) back to school party with our friends.  

Egans, Wassermans, and the Toones

The morning of the first day of school.

Chase and Jackson ready to go!

Picture with the little brothers

Mater pretending like his is going to be sad

Heading to catch the M104(public bus)

Jackson's eyes teared up for a few minutes but luckily the little brother of one of Chase's friends is in his class.  They became instant friends.

Chase loved his first day of kindergarten and nothing has changed.  He loves school!

The end of a GOOD day!

My two favorite things...

Caleb and Chocolate!  

 

 I seriously can't get enough of this little guy and I most definitely cannot get enough chocolate!  I almost get them mixed up sometimes because I just want to eat him up!  He will be 6 months tomorrow!  Can you believe it!? He is getting so old and so big way too fast.  I just want time to stand still just for a bit because I love this age! 

• He started rolling over last week! Which is good and bad.  He loves to grab his toes which makes him topple over.  He then flips to his stomach and gets mad.  He does not like being on his stomach. The other thing is that he has been rolling off the blanket, off the rug, and into the kitchen.  He lays there on the hard wood floor like, "what just happened, something changed."  Kind of funny!
• He has started eating solids.  I have only introduced bananas and sweet potatoes and he loves the bananas but is not sure about the sweet potatoes.  With my other boys I always started with veggies because the doctors always told me that they would be less picky but this time I just ignored all great advice and started with sweet and delicious!  Hope he will still eat the veggies:)
• He loves loves loves when little Chase reads to him.  It actually works out really nice.  Chase can get his daily reading in which keeps Caleb quiet while I make dinner! 
  
    We ALL love and adore Caleb!

 

Happy Fathers Day!

Next to Christmas and the 4th of July...I love Mother's Day and Father's Day!!!  Who ever thought to take a day just to honor Mothers and Fathers was brilliant!  After all, with every other job in the world you get days off but the role of a parent is around the clock, none stop, rock 'em sock 'em!!!

This picture was taken this morning just after breakfast!

(I am sad I didn't take this picture with our regular camera)

Happy Fathers Day!

Today was close to one of my favorite kids books

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!

As usual once things calm down and you have a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven, you realize that it really wasn't that bad.  But for a few hours there It felt like it was one of those days when things just don't go the way you had in mind.

I woke up at 6:00 this morning excited and ready to RUN!  I was pretty excited to see what time I could pull off after all the running I have been doing the past few weeks.  Chase and my boys were coming to cheer me on and I had our bag of chocolate chips waiting in the cupboard for our post race celebration!  I thought for sure it was going to be a great day!

I headed out the door!  The race began!  After my first few steps I could tell that the race was not going to go as planned.  My legs felt stiff and heavy and I had 6 miles to go.  Not good, but the good news was that I knew the boys would be at the mile marker so I was excited about that!  I ran by, gave them high fives and they cheered me on!  That was fun!  When I ran the Boston I was in so much pain that when I ran by them it wasn't the fun experience that I had hoped for so it was exciting to me to get to enjoy the moment!

Well, my legs never got into a rhythm and although I was frustrated I was ok with just keeping a steady pace. I knew that If I could just keep it till mile 5 I would see my family again and be able to kick it that last mile.  It got me through mile 3-4 but when I got to mile 5 and I didn't see the boys I thought something might be wrong.  Then I thought that maybe Chase changed his mind and went to the finish line.  When they were not at the finish line I got a little worried but headed straight to the spot that he said he would meet me after the race.  He wasn't there.  I ran over to 87th where he said he was originally going to be and I knew something was wrong.  But I didn't have my cell phone so I though I better just stay put where he told me to meet him.

45 minutes later a friend from our ward came and met me at the cafe near the finish line with Chase on the phone.  I got on the phone and Chase told me that they were in the emergency room with Jackson and that he broke his arm.   He was climbing a tree as they were waiting for me to come around by mile 5,  he had climbed so high that when Chase looked over he couldn't see him because he was up in  all the leaves.  Chase told him to get down and then the branch broke. Terrible, Horrible, No Good!

I bombed my race and Jackson is in the hospital with a broken arm.  I was a little discouraged!  But...good news, I recovered,  Jackson is home and well, and lessons have been learned!!!  And we have this awesome picture to look back on and laugh about!  So, on those days that remind you of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad, Day...remember that there are always lessons to be learned and a memory to look back on!

What a stud!  I love this little guy!  

The Campout!

And the update is that they had a wonderful time

Jayden feeling pretty cool getting to be with the big kids

Wish these guys could be friends forever

They are so cute together and have so much fun

Happy Campers!

Mr. Seriously Awesome

I still have so much to post about after our wonderful trip to Utah but I just quickly have to put up these few pictures.  Chase is a stud!  I don't know of too many Dads that would voluntarily take their three kids and two of their friends camping ALL BY HIMSELF!  I kept asking him all day, "Are you sure you want to do this?"  And telling him "Why don't you just leave Jayden."  He has a hard time leaving Jayden out and just couldn't do it.

They have had quite the day together!  It started this morning when Chase took the boys to go help clean the church with Danny and his girls, Katelyn and Madison!

Then after that we all headed to their baseball game!  We were excited because today they played against each other.  It was fun to watch them play and Chase and Jackson loved it!

After the game they all rode home with Danny in their van, Chase dropped him off, and then brought all the kids back to our apartment to load up the stuff and head out!  This is a picture of them in the elevator.  The door closed before I could lecture them about staying close together, not wondering off, listen to Dad, drive carefully, and everything else that goes through your head as you send 5 kids off to camp with Dad!  Hope they make it and I hope they have fun!  So far all I have heard is that Jayden pooped his pants.  Hope to get an update soon.

Jayden turns 3!

Jayden Grant Palmer

March 26th

Happy Birthday!

 What a stud!  I could go on and on about Jayden! He has such a unique personality.  He will make you laugh, cry, and smile all in one day!  We love him so much!  I am excited to get the chance to stop and think about the past three years with him.  He is so much fun!

Jayden is our man child!  He is like an adult in a little boys body!  He is the first to give you a hug but also the first to put you in your place.  He frequently tells me to "smile Mom", "be happy",  "you look cute" and then gives me a big giant hug.  Then suddenly I will turn around and he will have his arms folded, his eyebrow furrowed, and his teeth grinding together.  I will ask him what is wrong and without saying anything he points at me.  Whoa!  What did I do?  His favorite line these days is "Your wrong Mom, I'm right!"  If He wasn't so cute when he did it I would be a little concerned.  But he knows how to butter me up and we have become incredibly good friends!

Jayden has very distinct passions.  He loves what he loves, and...if he doesn't like it, he does not entertain it.  He still absolutely loves his trains,  cars, and balls of all sorts.  But, at the end of the day "Pudgy" his dog is still his favorite.  

I am glad I have one more year with Jayden before he starts school.  It will be so fun to do a preschool for him and his friends, go on city adventures together, and kick it around the house.  He is at a fun age!

Although, as much as I try to win him over, Chase is still his favorite.  They are pals!  That is the best way to describe it.  If Jayden could he would want to shadow Chase all day.  Their personalities blend perfectly.  Chase calls Jayden Mater.  Too bad his favorite hat is Lightning Mcqueen because he really does remind us of Mater the tow truck!

We Love You little Mr. Jayder Mater!

Also goes by "Jay" - Grandpa

"J.J."- Little Chase

"Jayden Costco" -Seth

With his personality we will see what other nicknames he picks up over the years!

EASTER party

Wow, it has been so long since we have been able to spend Easter with family!  It was so fun, delightful, beautiful, and everything else!  We began the celebration with our families annual Easter Party!  This Easter party has been going on ever since I can remember.  We have done the same thing for years and even though we are older;  some with kids, in college, or completely caught up in the high school years...there are a few things that never get old, Mom's holiday parties!  They bring us together connecting old memories with the present!

                            

Getting ready for the relay races

Jayden and Liza girl were the first bunnies to race across the yard!

Jackson desperately trying to keep his feet together

Chase and Crozier taking the bunny ears very seriously

Grandma Bunny Cheering everyone on!

The bubble blowing contest

Katie going at it

The 3 winners!

Decorating seriously colorful sugar cookies.  If you like yellow frosting you are in LUCK!

Everyone lining up for the egg hunt!