Q: Where do good times go to die?

A: Deep in the files of our computer. The other day the boys asked if they could go on the computer to see what I put on our blog about Valentine's Day. Sadly, I had tell them that I hadn't written anything (nor had I taken a single picture). They love to read about themselves and I love that what I record means a lot to them. This of course made me wish I was waaaay better about doing this than I have been recently. Even though I have nothing to show from Valentine's Day, it was a great day. The boys enjoyed their awesome special breakfast of Lucky Charms (they begged), some chocolate hearts and through the great efforts of their wonderful father,  a delicious dinner for all of us complete with flaming creme brulee.

Later on that night as I was looking through all of the non-Valentines pictures I do have and I came across so many happy memories from the past several months buried deep in our hard drive that I have never done anything with. I'm glad that I have those pictures, but I'd be even happier if they had a few words to go with them. My mom recently came across a quote that I can't get out of my head: "The most faded ink is better then the best memory." I've got plenty of memories, and tons of pictures, but not as much "ink" as I'd like, so he's a little more "ink" from a few months ago.

At the beginning of November, the Bywaters invited us to be apart of a 5K fund raiser that someone in their ward had put together to help a friend with a serious medical condition.  We were happy to join in and even happier when the day of the event turned out to be one of the most perfect fall days of the year.

The event was very small and casual so when we got there they weren't quite ready to start. The kids took advantage of the extra time to play, and I took advantage of the great light to attempt a group shot of the three of them. They never did quite get it together, but in the end I might prefer them just the way they turned out. 

I also got in on the picture action and had Sam take a picture of me because I thought I looked soooo pregnant. Ha! What I wouldn't give to be that "big" now.

Sam also provided some good entertainment for the kids as the quintessential Dad amusement park ride.

This is what the boys do when they are tired of having their picture taken--like that's going to stop me.

Ruby, trying to copy their antics.

I'm not buying it though, this girl loves to be in front of the camera.

And I know they don't really mind either.

After about 30 minutes they were finally ready to start the race. Like I said, it was a very small and casual event, so they let everyone pick their own numbers.  Reed's number was so him.

Ruby's number choice was pretty predictable as well.

 

Max was mostly just anxious for them to start the race.

And when they finally did, they were off in a flash.

 

Did I mention it was the perfect fall day? It was. Sam would have loved to have actually run the race, but someone was very silly and did not bring a stroller for Ruby so after a few hundred feet she decided that she needed to be carried.

 

Max and Elliot made the cutest little running partners. I couldn't believe how much of it they ran on those little legs.

The course was an out and back, and, even though I only got to jog for a short while, I was still surprised to see Reed heading back the other way before I was even a quarter of the way through. I knew he was determined to run the entire thing, I just didn't know he was planning to stay at top speed the whole time too. When I finally did finish the race Reed walked up to me and asked if I wanted to shake his hand. I did of course, after which he said with a twinkle in his eye, "You just shook the hand of the winner of the race." He was so proud of himself and I was too. When Reed decides to do something, he doesn't give up--and I love that. I was bummed that I had missed his big finish so I told him to reenact crossing the finish line for me.

The race was small, but for Reed the victory was huge.

The big SIX

It may have taken Max a long time to turn five, but six came way too fast.

Max's birthday was on a Sunday this year and I absolutely loved how whenever he talked about his upcoming birthday (which he did a lot) he always included, "Of course, I'm not going to celebrate it on Sunday...I'll wait till Monday." (I think "celebrate" was synonymous with "party" in Max's mind.)

When Max's big Sunday did arrive, we didn't party, but we did celebrate the birth of this boy who adds so much love, sweetness, energy and facial expression to our family.

We were saving the cake for his party so Max requested pumpkin scones with carmel  sauce for his birthday treat...

...with a candle, of course.

Reed and Max are the best of friends and I love it. Ruby adores Max too and wants to do everything he does. He is a loved boy.

Max is one of those "lucky" kids that has a birthday right after Christmas. I try to be on top of things, but usually during the first week of January I am still in "Christmas recovery mode" and  usually behind in gearing up for our next celebration. Thankfully, the boys made my job a lot easier this year by taking it upon themselves to plan and prepare Max's ninja party. I must say I was completely impressed with their planning and execution abilities.

 For more than a week they plotted together pouring over their plans, storing all their details on a red clipboard. I wish I had more pictures of the planning and preparing process because that might have been my favorite part of this whole thing.

I did get a couple pictures of the three of them painting the "pin the headband on the ninja" poster. Reed drew a great little ninja and then added a grid on top so they could make it larger on their poster. The drawing was very cute, but what I was most impressed with was how Reed allowed everyone (including Ruby) to participate in the painting of the ninja. Reed has a tendency to be a little controlling when he has a vision for something, but in this case he was happier to have everyone help than to have it turn out just they way he had planned.

Not a bad finished project for 3 pairs of little hands.

Max's actual party  came a few weeks later when the Bywaters (our favorite go-to party guests) were healthy enough to join us. It  just wouldn't have been a party without them.  Unfortunately, some bad weather delayed their arrival by a couple hours so my little ninjas entertained themselves with all kinds of warrior antics while they waited.

I don't normally allow this kind of behavior, but for the sake of the party theme I turned a blind eye for a moment or two.

 The boys found a little worksheet online that showed you how to come up with your "Ninja Name" by using a special code. It made for great addition to our party headbands. 

I think I can add "making a fierce face" to the list of things I am not good at. This may be hard to believe, but, out of three shots, this was my best. 

Sam on the other hand, seems to excel in this area.

The kids always want to include their baby sister as much as possible. If you can find the "Ninja Name" code online you will know what we are planning on naming our baby girl. :)

I told the kids to do a Zen picture. From the looks of things, no one in our family knows what that means.

And this was our "ninja warrior" picture. Everyone did pretty well with this one, although I think I look a little more like I'm in the middle of doing a cheer. 

After a treacherous drive on snowy roads, the Bywaters finally arrived just in time to enjoy our Chinese buffet. Sometimes I chuckle at the fact that I was a married woman before I was even willing to try Chinese food. I'm glad I haven't raised my children to be as weird as me. They love it. I may have broadened my food horizons a bit, but our rice krispie treat sushi rolls are as close as I will ever get to that stuff.

Game #1 Wii Sword Fighting.

Game #2 Throwing Shurikens. This was probably the boys most impressive handiwork. They made origami shurikens (like Chinese stars) covered each of the edges with velcro and set up a target for them to stick on.

Game #3 Fruit Ninja Pick Up. I was surprised at how good the kids were at using chop sticks--certainly a skill I do not possess. (That might have something to do with the aforementioned refusal to each Chinese food.)

Game #4 A Chinese Calligraphy station taught by Reed, of course.

Game #5 Decorating Ninjabread Mean.

The cake. Add cake decor to that list of things I don't excel at. It's just not my thing. I much prefer the simplicity of cupcakes-- so much so that Sam was impressed that I  even agreed to attempting the cake the boys planned at all. It was supposed to be black, but when what we had didn't work out and another trip to the store wasn't in the cards, it became a brown ninja cake. Thankfully, in typical Max fashion when I asked if brown was OK, he said, "I'm fine with that...I mean, Ninjas do throw Shurikens into wood after all."

I may be biased but I thought the party turned out great. And from the looks of this picture I'd say I'm not the only one who would share that sentiment. 

Happy Birthday Max--my very lovable (and sometimes fierce) ninja boy!