Birthday Palooza

 Something about February brings out the birthdays every year. We started off with our favorite: Miss Stella!! It's great to be 8. Since we couldn't make the pool party (because of another birthday party) we came down Super Bowl Sunday to watch Clark's old favorite team (who is now his hated rival) defeat the 49ers. And of course, celebrate the birthday girl. We busted out Grandma Sue's sports tablecloth and tucked into delicious food, an Usher half time show, and tense moments where poor Clark just stared at the TV, willing the 49ers to do something. 

The conflicting birthday the day before was for Ezra! He invited half the ward it seemed to D-Bats for some batting cage and dodgeball fun. It was a lot of energy and screaming kids. Clark and Char both took a turn in the cage and did really well with Justin's training. 

After a panicked scream when Charlotte saw balloons on the table, one of the kids did the most genious thing: let the balloon go. It went wizzing around like a fart and she burst out laughing. Then she got her own balloon and tried to blow it up. So I guess as long as the balloons stay deflated she is fine with them existing in the world.

The most fun (and eye opening) was the dodgeball arena. Clark looks quite studly strutting around all self assured before he whips a ball at the opposing team. Charlotte just had fun feeding him balls. And I opted to stay out of the grown up invitational which was a good choice after seeing how seriously the growups took it (AKA a few kids got beemed in the face). 

The next Saturday was....you guess it, more birthday! This time for Vivianne - Charlotte's bestie at school. It was at Nerds Laser Tag and I brought Timmy and Clark along just to keep them busy but the birthday party quickly adopted them as honorary members. 

Yeah, Timmy is apparently into chess. Who knew?

Char enjoyed one game of laser tag and then just wanted to play arcade games with the boys. 

I won't be sorry to be out of this stage of life but they sure are cute and we are so happy they have fun friends.

And now....

 .....some funny things our kids have been doing:

1. One afternoon we heard Charlotte trying to spell her name and she kept muttering "Charlotte Murray Gailan". Umm....huh? Yeah, so apparently our baby has spent her entire life thinking her middle name is "Murray" instead of "Marie". Apparently, Mom needs to enunciate. 

2. Clark made up a song in the shower one day that was quite catchy. The basic gist is "Green is light, green is light, green is so light." Show stopper. 

3. During Christmas the kids really got into some classics, including Santa Baby. Every time it came on Charlotte would just burst out laughing. I asked her why and she said it was so funny because she loved the little baby santa. Bwahahaha! Yes, apparently she thought the song was about an adorable baby santa giving presents. 

4. Our house has been inundated by Backstreet boys and N'Sync. Dana played Clark a song one afternoon and then we showed him the Brooklyn 99 "I want it that way" video and that was the beginning of the end. We regularly find them dancing and howling in Clark's room to boy band music now. And Charlotte will do a little "Wooo" at the end of the I want it that way. 

5. Charlotte spent a whole afternoon calling Groundhogs day "Beaver Day" and we both chuckled a little whenever she did it but sure didn't stop her. 

6. They have bonded over the Switch. They will regularly play soccer, bowling, and even minecraft together on the big TV. It usually devolves into crying after half and hour but it's pretty sweet to see them get along. 

7. Charlotte is very into drawing videos lately and has made some progress in her art. I especially like her "Pand" and the chicken. We get colored princesses dropped off at our door regularly. 

8. And finally, football has been a big theme this month with the whole family rooting for the Ravens. Last Sunday, an epic rivalry matchup between the Ravens and the Chiefs was made even funnier by the fact that we have both those halloween costumes. So of course I made them dress up. Sadly for Clark, his Ravens had an off day and the refs didn't help out with some bogus costs. Poor dude won't get to see his Ravens in the Super Bowl. Guess we're cheering for the 49ers now.