Arlo's Super Party

My big boy Arlo turns 4 on April 30th!  Last month I sat down to talk with Arlo about the all important birthday party and what he wanted to do.  This month has been absolutely crazy!  Both Tim and I are in school, Tim has finals coming up soon we have Hawaii, and Arlo's birthday, and trying to get our house finished up and church callings and, and, and!  I feel like life is on a crazy overload and we cannot keep up.  So, while having this conversation with my all too smart 3 year old I was not so subtly trying to convince him that for his birthday party we should go to castles and coasters as a family (something he has wanted to do for a few months now).  Of course since that is what I wanted to do, something with no planning and cleaning involved, that is not what Arlo wanted to do.  Arlo decided that he wanted to have over all his friends and family over for a swimming party.  So, this last weekend we did just that.  It was fun and it was everything Arlo wanted and more.  Here is how it went down.

The night before his party we had Arlo sleep in his brothers room because for his birthday Arlo wanted a superhero room.  So when he woke up this is what he got for his birthday present.

These cute signs say "Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero" and the other is for Cohen, it says "I'm not just a sidekick, I'm also a little brother."

This is his Avenger Comic name.

And what super hero does not need scripture power???

All the pictures are of my boys dressed up as superheros.

I have to admit, it turned out wonderful!!

After nap we had his party.  Complete with presents...

 A Capitan America Shield Cake, the best part is that the cake is the same colors as the frosting!

A pinata filled with candy that Arlo likes (because he still does not like cake).

But Cohen likes cake!  In fact he likes it so much he started to eat the cake that other kids left on their plates.  And when he was done with their cake...

He went straight for the pan.

There was swimming!  It was funny because our pool was up to 82 degrees the weekend before the party, but then we had 4 days of cool weather and rain and our pool dropped in temperature, so the kids swam in 78 degree water.  But they loved it and had a blast!

And of course there was a whole lot of fun!

Thanks everybody who came and helped make this day special!!!!

Toothless

Did I mention that on our Easter weekend hike Cohen fell?  We hiked Dreamy Draw where there were a few teeny hills/rocky areas where I felt a strong motherly urge to hold Cohen's hand tight to make sure he would be ok.  Well, he did not fall on one of those areas.  He fell on the trail that you see in this picture.  He was walking, I went ahead a few feet to look at a sign to see if we could take a shortcut back to the car, when I heard Cohen start to cry.  I looked back and saw that he fell.  I said some encouraging words to get him to stand back up and come to me.  It was taking him some time to get up and he continued to cry pretty hard when I went to him to see what was wrong.  When I got to him, his mouth was covered in blood, I took a look to see where it was coming from and I noticed that his front, right tooth was pretty much shoved as far up and back as it could go without falling out our breaking completely.  I had Tim run him to the dentist right away.  

The dentist took X-rays and told us that there was nothing we could do but wait.  So, we waited and waited.  Today (April 24th) we took Cohen back in to the dentist because it was still loose and causing him pain when he eats and brushes his teeth.  To make a long story short, after another X-ray, it was determined that the tooth was abscessed and needed to come out, right away.  Today, Cohen is 2 years and 5 months and he just lost his front tooth.  I am so sad!!!  I had to live without a front tooth of my own from 2nd grade to 5th grade and it was horrible.  Luckily, Cohen is younger than I was, but I was still so sad (I got tears in my eyes when they told me it had to go.) 

Of course, he did wonderful!  He did not cry and all he got was a shot to numb him.  

Here is the baby tooth.  You can probably see that it was turning brown after the fall.

And here is my happy boy showing off his new smile!  I have to admit that he is still dang cute even without a front tooth!!!!!

Bunnies and Cousins

Here comes a too late Easter Overload!!!

We were so lucky to have Tim's sister and her family down for Easter.  They live in Utah and we usually get to go up there a few times a year, but this year we were not going to be able to.  So Arlo was super excited to get to have his cousins at our house.  This was our Easter Morning, waking up to find the Easter baskets and Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny left for us.

After a morning filled with hunts, presents and candy we dressed up in our Sunday best and went to church to learn about the true reason we celebrate Easter... Our Savior!  I am so grateful that our Savior volunteered His life to come here to this earth and set the example for us then die and more importantly, rise again 3 days later.  I know that it is through his Resurrection that we can live with him again. 

After church we took naps and went to Tim's cousin's house in Avondale for a big family dinner and Easter Egg Hunt!!!

(Here is a picture of Auntie Ann, whom I love, taking pictures!... One day I will make her a photo album of her at all the family events taking pictures!)

The boys bought a new game for the Kinect called Kung Fu High Impact, IT IS AWESOME!!!  The boys and their cousins spent more than a few late nights playing it.

We did not get around to coloring eggs before Easter, so we went ahead and colored them on Monday! No Biggie!!!  The kids had a blast!

A few other things that we fit in while they were down...

Bowling

Hiking,

And the boys made it to a Diamondbacks game!

Overall... it was a wonderful, busy, fun, exciting, exhausting Easter!