Joint B-day Party for V and C!

Christian had his 3rd birthday a couple weeks ago and Victoria's 5th is in a couple weeks, so we had a combined birthday party for them with the Soderholm side of the family. TJ, Whitney, Teagan, Bobby, Kattia, Robert, Camila, Megan, Geemaw and Papa came. We missed Patrick and Leah though. They get to visit in a couple weeks.

We wanted to have a theme that they both liked and we came up with a camp out theme! They both love camping.

Victoria's color pick was pink and Christian's was green. His favorite color has always been yellow, but now it is changing to "orange and green." We used yellow too though. I like to plan parties and I love themes! It was fun to come up with these camp goodie bags (tricky too though to combined the camp out theme and the colors that they wanted to include- I think red and blue would have been easier)!

It was a super hot and humid day, but we played outside anyway.

Kattia and Geemaw- see the tent in the background?

4 of the 6 cousins with Kattia

So, normally kids like to roast hot dogs, but today it was too hot! Thanks, Danny and Bob, for stepping up and cooking all of our hot dogs!

They are really cute together, eh?

One of the activities was finding three beautiful/ neat things in nature. I love seeing what the children find! Sticks, blades of grass, gumballs, poplar leaves, rocks, etc. It's great that they can find beauty so easily. Then, we met in the tent and had a show and tell.

Teagan and her dad found two different kinds of leaves and, I believe, a stick. She is so cute- look at the tiny pigtails. Unfortunately around this time all of the pics turned out REALLY blurry. I think the lens kept getting fogged up because of the humidity? Not sure, the indoor ones didn't really work out either. So,no pics of our other game, cake and ice cream, or presents. Until someone else sends me some. (Pretty please... hint hint)

The game was called throwing the marshmallow into the fire. It was fun and everyone was a winner! It was throwing mini marshmallows into an indoor fake fire pit.

The cake was a campfire cake made with brownie, walnuts, fudge icing, Twix bars, M&Ms, marshmallows and red cellophane. The kids helped me make and decorate it and it was pretty cool and yummy especially with ice cream.

The presents were awesome! I'll take some pics in the upcoming days. They both got play tents from their grandparents- Cars and princess. They got a big car and Spanish/English computer from Bobby and Kattia's fam. They were given games, puzzles, growing toys, and lots of awesome girl accessories from TJ, Whitney, and Teagan. They are really lucky to have so many generous people who love them on both sides of the family!

Here's a pic of V in a few of the accessories. Camila invited her to spend the night. Although I am not really in favor of slumber parties so young, they were both so excited about the idea, that I couldn't say no. Danny and I had decided that they can spend the night with cousins and grandparents, I just didn't know it would be so soon. So, at almost 5 she is off to her first slumber party with Camila! Christian didn't understand why he couldn't go too and was sad, but he and I had a fun evening together when Danny went to play cards with some of his guy friends. It's a new tradition that they play once or twice a month. We played a little bit together, read some books and then he wanted to go to sleep. He is currently sleeping in his brand new Cars tent! Here's a pic of the sweet buddy.

Christian turned 3 this week!

Christian on his last day as a 2 year old wearing three of his favorite things all at once- a ski mask, his "helmet," and his Thomas Shirt! So silly!

On his birthday he wanted to eat bacon for breakfast, so we did. He told me that a day or two before when I asked, so we were prepared. Then we went to see a movie called Water Horse that was part of the free summer movie series. It was neat because it was about the Loch Ness monster, but was a little scary too. After we picked up Victoria we had McDonald's for lunch- and he even got a Happy Meal with a transformer! Then we went home and played and I worked on the cake. Christian had surprise visitors! He was really happy because his friends Sam and Josh came by with their mom and brought him a present- books! He also got a few special phone calls! That afternoon he went with his Dad to take V to swimming lessons and luckily had a nice nap so that he could be ready to stay up a little late for his party.

That night we had a "DINO-MITE" party! Christian wanted a dinosaur party and it was fun to plan for him. It was a fun party for Christian and his cousins and family on the Marshall side. It went really smoothly so we were glad!

First we ate dinner- dinosaur PBJ's, Dino nuggets, french fries, dinosaur eggs(tomatoes- C's favorite), carrots, and Stegosaurus chips.

Then the kids played in the back yard for a bit- fun on the swing set, in the hammocks, and in the sandbox.

Then, the kids were paleontologists and went on a dinosaur egg hunting expedition. Victoria found the special egg and got a prize. That almost caused Christian a meltdown, but luckily Danny announced that the special birthday boy got to award the prizes to the winners. Good thinking, Dad. It worked. We played a few other games. One was rolling a dinosaur ball and when it came to a child that child was supposed to say a fact about dinosaurs. The things they said were pretty cute! Then we sang a song about "7 dinosaurs went out to play.... mother dinosaur went stomp stomp stomp..."

After the inside playtime we went back out and sang "Happy Birthday" and had cake and ice cream.

We opened presents and then played last. Christian got a lot of nice things- a scooter from grandma and grandpa, Bob the builder tools from Craig, Lorel, and Ella, Diego monkeys from Matt, Janelle, Donovan, Howie, Nina, and Cameron, a stuffed animal dinosaur and a dinosaur book from Scott, Chrissy, Hailey, and Sydney, Thomas the train toys from both G.G's, and a dinosaur tent from Mom, Dad, and Victoria! Very fun things! He has had a lot of fun with them since. Thanks everybody!

I think he loved his dinosaur birthday! That being said, he told me that "on Saturday" he would like a Thomas birthday. Hmmm? Maybe next year;)

Victoria loves to see the Temple and did a great job on her first talk!

Victoria gave her first talk in Primary on Sunday, June 29. She has given a scripture and said the prayer before, but had never given the talk. When asked, she enthusiastically said she would. She was excited and helped decide what she would say. I asked her why she loved to see the temple and she came up with three reasons. When we practiced it she said that she felt the Holy Ghost and knew that it was good.

On the big day, Daddy came to listen and I held her visual aid and helped her remember what to say. She felt a little nervous, but I reminded her about how she had felt the night before when we practiced it and told her that the spirit could help her to feel comfortable and ready to give the talk. She started. This was her talk.

"One of my family's favorite songs is "I Love to See the Temple." This is true for me. I love to see the temple because 1.) it is a special place to go as a family. 2.)My parents and my grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles were sealed in the temple. 3.) I want to get married there too. I know that the temple is a peaceful and holy place. I want to make good choices so that I will be worthy to go there one day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

She did a great job and we were very proud of her!

Family Vacation Part 3- Topping

We went to the river house(my parent's river house) for the last couple days of vacation. It was a pretty day on Tuesday. Christian immediately found some new puzzles that my mom brought there and needed to do them all before he could go outside. He LOVES puzzles and is really good at them too. V noticed everything that was new and different there. She is pretty observant. I wonder if she will be interested in interior design one day. The kids called Danny into the river room and said, "We found a creature!" It was a lizard. They were happy to try to catch it with Danny. It was too fast though. Maybe we'll find it again next time.

When we got outside and got everything set up, both kids went on the waverunner with Danny- one at a time. Danny and Victoria saw an eagle chasing some osprey! It's always cool to see an eagle. They also had fun doing donuts and swerving and getting soaked. I love the waverunner, but I have a need for speed and that and pregnancy don't mix well. I did take V on a slow ride around the creek. It was fun to explore and look at the houses, boats, and animals. V didn't mind posing for a few pictures while Christian and Danny were out exploring the island for a bit. When the went to the river it was as calm as could be, so they could go about 30 mph. That is definitely the fastest Christian has ever gone.

When my parents are there my dad takes us out on the boat, but we didn't take any rides on it this time. The kids had a blast playing on and in it though. I loved the way this picture turned out! It wasn't even posed. The spitting off the side pics weren't quite as cute. And the ones of Christian hanging over the edge were scary. We decided not to add those. Who is down in the cabin? That night we went to Urbanna to ride the trolley, but we didn't see it. Instead, we tried out a little ice cream place that we have never tried. It was good. When is ice cream bad, right? The next day, was really smoky! The wild fires in NC are definitely evident. Christian said it smelled like someone was cooking hot dogs. Yes, on a gigantic fire! Danny took V out to the river to play on the waverunner, but it was too hard to see and not safe. They could only see about 100 feet and didn't want to get hit by a boat, so it was a very quick trip. Victoria and Christian still enjoyed playing outside though. V likes to pick honey suckle. Christian likes to throw sticks and pinecones (or anything else) into the water. They also wanted to play on the boat again.

They both love playing in the pool and I was able to sneak a couple good pics of Christian. I love catching his personality on camera. Check out his tongue. V is always easy to photograph because she doesn't mind posing.

Another really cool thing from that day was that Victoria jumped off the end of the dock and swam almost all the way back to the shore. She was wearing a life jacket, but she is getting better at swimming. She had fun with that and with playing in the water until she got stung by a jelly fish. Good thing my parents had meat tenderizer in the dock shed. That helped a lot. So, after that Danny decided to swim to the island and back. He got about halfway and came back. We wondered what the problem was. He was swimming through tons of jellyfish. He said it felt like he was swimming through spider webs! Gross. Next time I think we'll give the jellyfish repellent a try.

After that we played a little more and ate lunch. Then we packed up and headed back home! It was a great vacation!

Family Vacation Part 2- Williamsburg

Saturday, June 21, was National flip flop day and V and I wore flip flops. Danny and Christian wore their closest to flip flop sandals. We all went to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and had free Jetti Punch smoothies. I had read about the promotion and since I love Tropical Smoothie I planned to make that stop on our vacation! The smoothies were delicious and big- too big for the kids, but when it is free that is OK. They also gave out flip flop fruit snacks, flip flop key chains, and coupons to use another day. Yea! Here is the pic that we took there. (Yes I know that I was way more excited about this than I should have been, but I really love the place and it was a fun event.)

Then we were off to Busch Gardens! Yea! We have the VA fun passes, but gas is expensive so we are limiting our trips there this year. It was our first time this season. We all had a fantastic time. We started the day by watching the 3d pirate movie. Christian loved it, but V refused to watch and cried and cried until Danny had to take her out. A tiny bit embarrassing, but we observed that it wasn't too unusual for the age. Nevertheless, her behavior caused her to lose her privilege of watching the show she had picked- The Emerald Beat (an Irish dancing show). We let the kids ride lots of rides though. We started off in Italy and rode some of the kids rides there. V was taller so she could ride a few new rides! Danny took her since all of those rides had signs that cautioned "expectant mothers". She rode the Battering Ram, Da Vinci's Cradle, and the Flying Machine with Danny. I stayed with Christian and wanted to ride rides so badly. There was a glider ride that I could ride with him if we did the sit up way. I was so desperate to join in the fun that I pleaded, but no.... he wanted to do the lying down way. Luckily the next time he rode it he let me sit with him so we could go "up and down" better! Victoria was so pleased about being able to ride those rides with Danny. She was going to ride a couple other of the 42" rides, but then they said that she wasn't quite tall enough. The person measuring that time was right, we agreed. So we didn't try any more of the 42 inch rides. We'll follow the rules and be safe. By the end of the summer she might be 42 inches though and tall enough to ride a roller coaster(the Big Bad Wolf), Escape from Pompeii, Roman Rapids, and a couple others. Since I can't when I pregnant and Christian will be to small, Danny and V are going to go together in August if she has grown that last half an inch. I digress.

Later that afternoon my sister-in-law, Whitney, called. She and Teagan and her friend Erin were coming to Busch Gardens too, so they met up with us for a couple hours. She was so cool that she brought us lunch/dinner to right outside the park's entrance. So we ate lunch that way. Wasn't that nice! We all watched the Pet Shenanigans show together. It was pretty neat. We were impressed because afterwards even V wanted to meet the stars! She pet the dog no problem! We went to Dragon land and played in the water there. Then Whitney and Erin and Teagan went to meet TJ and to do other stuff. We rode all of the rides in Dragonland (the kids did anyway). Danny took the kids up the giant tree house, across the nets, and down the slides. Then we called it a day and head out. The kids were exhausted, can you tell?

They both transferred on and off the stroller, on and off the tram and into our van asleep!

That night we ate dinner at Danny's parents and then they watched the kids and put them to bed. Danny and I went back to Busch Gardens for a date and watched the show Kinetics. It was really great- acrobats and other circus type performers along with dance and song. We both liked it. We also had fun riding the sky rides together.

Late that night (around 11:00) we met TJ and Whitney at Friendly's for ice cream. I, of course, had a buy one get one free sundae coupon that we used. We had fun with them. We were all in tired silly moods- like slaphappy- it was funny.

The next day we slept in a bit and relaxed at Danny's parents house. They went to morning church, but we went to afternoon. We knew that they needed to get some things ready for girls camp that they were both going to the next day. We put together a dinner in the crock pot for us all though and the kids needed a little slow time. They did have fun picking a few tomatoes from their plants in the garden. We went to TJ and Whitney's ward and sat with them for sacrament meeting. Christian always loves nursery and went in no problem, but told us that the teacher was mean and wouldn't let him play with toys. We wonder if that was the whole story. Victoria was a little shy to go in primary, but we took turns staying in there until she was OK. It didn't take too long. We both made it to part of Sunday School and all of priesthood and RS.

The next day we went to the outlets for a little bit! I love the cheap stuff at the Children's Place there- who can beat 99 cents for clothes. I only got a couple things though because the 99 cent racks were sparse. I got V jeans though and a cute yellow cardigan both for 1.99. We also got V a new backpack- her older one isn't big enough for the kindergarten requirements.We went ahead and got Christian one as well that will work for preschool and elementary school- probably all the way to high school for both. We got them LL Bean ones and they were priced decently at the outlet. That is what I had growing up. They have a lifetime warranty. I have gotten 1 or 2 replacements of mine. Once again- I love being a thrifty shopper.

After the outlets, we spent the rest of the day at Busch Gardens. Sorry, no more pics. We have a lot of BG pics from last year and plan to go again at least once more this summer. We mainly did a lot of the same things as Saturday, but we were able to see Victoria's show pick. It was good. We all like dancing. Danny took the kids on the teacups. We all went on Elephant Run- that was a bit uncomfortable being past 7 months pregnant, but it was fun too. We also took the kids on the Rhine River cruise, the train and sky ride. I could ride those too. Yippee! We were going to go to the river house that night, but we were too tired, so we spent the night at Danny's parents house one more night while they were at Girls camp. We decided to watch a movie, do laundry, and run an errand(just Danny) when the kids went to bed.

Family Vacation Part 1- VA Beach

We decided to have a great vacation this summer without spending a lot of money- and were very successful! We went to VA Beach for a couple days, then to Williamsburg, then to Topping!

The kids had so much fun at the beach playing in the sand and playing in the water. Victoria really seems to love water lately and doesn't mind being knocked down by a wave. Christian loves the water too, but prefers not to get in too deep. He had more fun in the sand. He and I built some pretty great things! Castles with motes, a sea turtle, and a giant outside bathtub. Somehow, don't ask how, we forgot to take the camera onto the beach, except for when we took a walk after dinner. These are a few pics from that evening.

V holding a little crab she found.

making footprints in the wet sand

Next time we go to the beach Grant will be with us! I love that they are so excited to meet our new baby in August!

Lifeguards- Danny and Christian

Danny gave Victoria a pretty shell and she was pretty appreciative! She's always kissy! We love it and hope she won't outgrow it anytime soon.

Christian finishing off his free Taco Bell Fruitista Freeze in true Christian style.

I mention this to add in a few ways we made the vacation cheap.

1. Hotels.com- of course we got a discount on the hotel and found one with continental breakfast!

2. We packed a cooler and a couple bags full of food!

3. I brought my coupons- For dinner on day one we were going to use a 10 dollar gift certificate that I had gotten for free. It was for a little sports bar/ pizza place. But when we got there it was smoky and didn't seem so kid friendly so we gave it to some people who were eating there. We found out that they were regulars and were really excited about the free gift card. So it was fun to spread a little sunshine. Luckily though I had my regular coupons and there was a Taco Bell nearby. I had 4 free fruitista freeze with any purchase coupons. We all had dinner for under 6 dollars since they have a pretty good selection of under $1.00 things. Not too bad.

4. We visited a time share on day 2. I think they are worth it. It lasted under 2 hours, the kids played in a playroom and watched a movie (it was adjacent to the room that Danny and I were in and it had a glass window, so it was safe and more fun for them). For taking that tour and listening to the sales pitch we got 20 dollars for gas, a 20 dollar lunch gift certificate, a 30 dollar dinner gift certificate, a 3 day stay in VA Beach and another 3 day stay that we can pick where. So, more cheap vacations to come! We have done those before and when you go you can even get more free stuff by listening to another sales pitch.

So, for lunch on day two we used our gift certificate and went to a place called Pi pizzeria which turned out to be awesome and free! We just all shared a pizza! It was a modern looking restaurant and I loved the way it was decorated. The kids had fun with the pizza dough that they got to play with while we waited! What a good idea. The pizza was good too!

No pictures from our free dinner that night, but it was also awesome! The certificate had 6 choices on it and some were quite pricey and wouldn't be free, but we found one, Just George's, a more casual (family friendly) sports bar version of Captain Georges the seafood restaurant. So we went and Danny and the kids were thoroughly impressed with all of the TVs- even at our booth and in the bathrooms! The food was great and we enjoyed it!

6. Free entertainment- we found out that there was a free air show at Langley Airforce Base, so we went there too!

There were moon bounces for the kids- V in front of the Candy Land Castle. She was "Queen Frostine"!

Christian didn't have time to pose in front of any of the moon bounces, but he sure had fun inside! Our little boy loves to jump! After our vacation was over- he said that the candy land castle was his favorite part!

Vand C on a train ride at the air show- big smiles!

Cool helicopter pics!

It was an air show, but Toyota racing had a great setup there too. We had fun taking pics in and with some cool cars.

I didn't get any pictures of the true air show that we watched. It was dark already and I didn't think they would turn out. It was a lot cooler than I thought it would be. The first plane had cool lights on it and did tricks and blew smoke trails so we could see the loops that he did. The second plane blew out flames- like a space shuttle. The third one dropped off neat fireworks. The fourth one dropped off sky divers who had fireworks coming off their bodies. It was crazy! The sky divers were dressed as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe. We couldn't really see them though. Each of the flights had cool music that went with it. Afterwards there were fireworks. It was a pretty cool event. We wouldn't mind going again!