Happy Birthday to my little friend!

On Friday, it was Ethan's 7th birthday. Many of you remember when I use to nanny two little boys...Ethan & Aidan. I watched Ethan when he was 3 months old until he was about 4 yrs old, since then I have usually watched them a couple times a year and I see them at least every other month. Anyway, Ethan still likes me and he has now started to call me on the phone and talk to me. (I love it!) A week before his birthday, he called me up and invited me to his birthday party and told me all about how much fun it was going to be (because it was a Super hero theme and they were renting a Spiderman jumper...) When I told him that I would for sure be at his party (and reassured him that it was written on the calendar and I would not forget) he let out a big "YES!! I'm so excited, I can't wait for you to come!!" I talked to Becky on the phone after that and she told me that when they asked Ethan who he wanted to invite, the first person that he said was "Sara! can we invite Sara?" It totally made my day!!

Friday was a very busy day for us. My Great Uncle Paul Ward passed away, and his funeral was that morning, so Curtis and I attended that. I had a doctor's appointment after lunch, then helped Curtis get ready for his camp out with the scouts, and then went to Ethan's party. The party was thankfully inside the church bldg (it had been raining late morning and early afternoon) and there were kids everywhere. (I think there were about 17 kids...) I had fun watching them play games and go crazy in the jumper. After cake and ice cream, the kids went home and I stayed to help clean up and also play in the jumper with the boys. Since Curtis was gone camping, I ended up staying in Kuna for a while after the party. I helped Ethan do some science experiments (he's been into learning a lot about science and wanting to do his own experiments, so his parents gave him his first science kit and boy was he excited!). I don't have pictures of the "mad scientist" at work...his Mom took those pics...but it was fun watching him learning and having fun. After that, Becky and I went and got dinner and then went Easter shopping for her family. We were both pretty tired from the long day, but we still managed to have some fun shopping and laughing at each other while we were trying to remember everything that we needed to get. I didn't get home until after 11 pm, (and was EXTREMELY tired) but it was such a good day! Here are some fun pictures from the party:

The Birthday Boy!
Getting instruction on the race game that they were having

I let Ethan take some pictures with our camera.

He took this one himself of us...I think it turned out pretty good!

I got him a sound card...It had Spiderman on it and when you opened the card it said "Happy Birthday Super Hero!" given the theme of the party, I thought it would be great. Here he is listening to the card (his Dad put the card up to the microphone so everyone could hear it)

He thought it was the coolest card ever!

After all the kids left, Becky and I got in the jumper with the boys. It was fun, even though I couldn't walk very well for a few minutes afterwards (I got dizzy inside there...but it was worth it)

A nice picture of Ethan, Aidan and I. I love my little boys!!!!

A visit from my cousin

Last weekend we had a fun visit from my cousin Caleb and his wife Audra and their kids. They live in Northern Idaho (Craigmont) and were coming down to attend the Temple and needed a place to stay and someone to watch the kids. I was excited about their visit because Curtis was camping with the scouts, so this meant that I didn't have to be home alone for the night. On Saturday, Caleb, Audra and I went to the Temple. My Mom and sisters watched Jewel (2 1/2 yrs old) and Gideon (7 months old). I'm so glad that I was able to attend a Temple session with Caleb & Audra. It made me realize that I don't go to the Temple nearly as much as I should. I live about 15 min. away from the Boise Temple and they live about 5-6 hrs away. I'm very grateful for the example they are to me about the importance of Temple attendance.

Just like most trips with Caleb's family down here in the Treasure Valley there were errands to run for his parents. Caleb brought stuff down for Grandma and Grandpa Ward and a few other family friends that live here. They also needed to get some stuff from other friends down here and bring it back with them. Because of this, they ended up staying Saturday night too. It was a lot of fun. Jewel has lots of energy and entertained us a lot. We borrowed some toys from Curtis' parents for Jewel to play with (no kids at our house=no toys either....). Thanks Chuck and Judie for letting us borrow the toys, they were well used!! Parley also made it over to our house to visit with Caleb, so it was fun to see him too. All in all it was a good weekend filled with lots of fun with familly!

Jewel wanted to put my coat on and go outside.

My coat is just as big as her, but she sure looks cute in it!!
Parley and Caleb chatting

Jewel loved Curtis' hats!

Gideon has the cutest smile, but every time I tried to take a picture it went away.

She LOVED playing with the Jack-in-the-box. She figured it out pretty fast and it still usually made her jump. Every once in a while she would stop and give Jack a hug, and then put him back in the box and started the music again.

Gideon loved the slinky....and loved jumping.

It was a great work out for me.