Ezra's 4th Birthday Party!

So, I have said before that I tend to make a big deal of birthdays. I can't help myself, nor do I want to. I LOVE birthdays. My mom started it and I am happy to carry on the 'overboard birthday celebration tradition' with my kids. (especially when they love birthdays and get as excited about them as Ezra does.)

We had a party for Ezra on Saturday, July 21st. It was going to be a water party in the backyard and I had been researching fun games and ideas for about a month. Well, it rained. And it was cold. So we had the party inside instead. I scurried around the day before trying to find some cool indoor games. Thankfully some of the games I had planned could be brought inside.

His party was Avenger's theme by request.

We started out making super hero masks. Some of them turned out way too cute to be made by kids. I loved seeing all the different creative ideas. I didn't take any pictures in the beginning because I was busy and not thinking about it. Thankfully a friend of mine offered to take pictures for me after lunch and I am sooo appreciative!!

Here's the Iron Man Balloon Pop:

I made a laser thingy with a push pin on it and taped it to a glove so the kids could be like iron man. Each balloon was filled with candy. It was so funny to see how the boys were wild and rough and some of the girls were so careful and slow about popping their balloon.
I am proud to say that this was all my idea and I thought it was the most fun game we played. Maybe I'm prideful?

Here's the Hulk Smash:

This idea was something I found online, but I altered to be Avenger's style. The kids punched through the hole and got their goodie bags. Originally Ezra was going to be on the other side handing them the goody bags after they punched the hole, but for times' sake we just handed it to them when they were done.

The table looks like a mess now, but we had Captain (America) Crunch, chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, jello fruit thingy, chips, fruit and veggies. Plus tons of not so inside/white carpet friendly drinks, but thankfully NO spills! I was amazed.

We played Captain America Freeze (since he was frozen). It was a stretch and I thought my water idea was way better for Captain America, but we made it work and the kids had fun dancing and freezing. (You have to notice little Rachel in the pink tutu bathing suit. She insisted that we play water games and didn't want to leave until she got wet. At least she got wet in the rain walking out to her car. I think I will try to have a water party sometime before the summer is over so I can use my ideas and make Rachel happy!)

Pin the Mask on the Hulk:

I think next time I play this I will tie one hand behind their back so they can't feel their way around. It's way funnier to see where they put it the first time they walk over to it without feeling it yet.

I got a fantastic deal on this cake because: 1. My husband works at Wal-Mart so we get a discount and 2. Someone didn't come pick up this cake and it is waaayy cooler (and expensive) than the one I ordered, so they gave it to me for the same price of the cake I ordered! I was soo excited. It didn't even bother me that the 4 and Ezra's name were all smudged from having to change the name. It is bigger and came with cooler toy toppers that are practically glued to Ezra now.

My camera died before we could get pictures of him opening presents, but he got some really awesome presents. He insisted that we take every single one out of it's package soon after his friends left and he has been playing with them ever since.

It was really so great to have so many good friends come and celebrate with our little man. Ezra was so happy that all his friends came just for him. Thank you to everyone who came and made this a special party for him and for all the help from the mom's while my head was spinning a little!

Happy 4th Birthday Ez Bez! We love you mucho and hope it's many many years before you turn 5...

Ezra is 4

Ezra turned 4 on July17th. He was counting down the days the whole week before. It has become tradition in our family to wake up to a room full of balloons the morning of your birthday. We also got him a train/lego table and a cars poster and had it all set up in his room for when he woke up. He was so excited when he came in my room to wake me up and tell me about it.

I made him colored pancakes that morning (also a tradition with the kids) and then we all got ready and headed to Six Flags for the day to celebrate our birthday boy!

Here's a little update on our new 4 year old:

He's the sweetest boy ever and only seems to get sweeter.
He's always telling me I'm beautiful and how much he loves me.
He loves video games and gets excited when we let him play.
He's really into the Avengers though he's never seen the movies.
His favorite movie is still Cars 2 and each time he watches it is like the first time to him.
He has a very awkward nervous/pity laugh and it makes me smile every time I hear it.
We took a major break from learning to read (it stressed me out) but he has slowly started to teach himself.
He loves sword fighting and getting beat up (especially by daddy).
He gets terrible bloody noses about every 1-2 weeks and usually in the middle of the night.
As sweet as he is, 4 years old has made him a little bit more sassy from time to time which makes me so sad.
He is still afraid of the wind.
He loves to dress up and can become any character instantly.
He loves playing outside and especially splashing water on people not expecting it (mostly mommy and Makai).
He still lets me snuggle him and loves when I lay my head on his chest.
He talks with his hands a lot.
He moves his eyebrows up and down while he tells you something that he's excited about.
He runs everywhere and always has.
He's my early riser.
He likes to use big words like obedient, dehydrated, and catastrophe. Though it usually ends up sounding like ta-astrophe or something similar to that.
He loves to be told stories. I started making up stories about a boy named Magic Z, but I have since been fired and daddy has been hired and crowned the best story teller. It's an extra special night if daddy gets home before bedtime.
He still naps. Some days he asks to skip nap and then will tell me around 5 or so that he really shouldn't skip nap because he's so tired.
He says "of course" in front of most responses (occasionally followed by "not").
He gets so excited when he sees I'm doing laundry because that means he can wear his Superman jammies.

He's such a joy to have in our family and I couldn't imagine my days without him.

Pictures of his party coming soon!

James' 30th Birthday!

It's soo weird that James is now 30! It just feels like that makes us much older than we feel. Thankfully he has over 4 years on me, so I can tease him. His birthday was July 2nd. He had to work, like he does every day :( I crawled out of bed while he was getting ready for work (a major sacrifice for this sleep-loving lady). I really don't think I've made breakfast for him in like 3 months since he got this promotion because it's just too early for me. But I did on his birthday!

He took one look at his eggs and said, "Gross." Then he quickly mixed them out of the '30' shape. He said it looked like a pile of turds. Awesome. At least he appreciated the poster and video I took of Ezra singing happy birthday and left on his phone that morning.

Then we went to work to meet him for lunch. I was hoping to go someplace nicer than Five Guys or McDonald's, but he had court for work, so we waited until he was available and by then he didn't have much time for lunch :( We opted for Quizno's.

Then he went back to work and the boys and I stayed behind and decorated his car:

You can't see the paint in any of the pictures I took, but this side says, "Caution, old man driving." There are 30 post-it kisses and a big happy birthday sign on his steering wheel.

Then we waited an waited and waited for him to come home from work so we could have a little party. He came home about an hour and a half later than we thought he would, so Makai didn't quite make it to the party.

There are 30 balloons each attached to one thing I love about him. He seemed to enjoy this part. We also had some decorations including light-up balloons because Mr. Tressler is slightly obsessed with LED and light up thingys. Ezra and I hid in the dark and yelled surprise when he came in, which of course Ezra loved.

His "cake". It's key lime pie because the local store had to throw out their cakes due to a power outage and this is the next best thing for James.

Then I gave him his present. I searched all day for a fish tank because he has wanted one since before we got married and even has a "secret" stash in his drawer for one. However, I never did find out and when I told him about it he told me we're just going to use that money for our family vacation in September. So I gave him my back-up gift that he has been in need of: A new pillow. He wasn't too excited about it and each morning while I'm making the bed I notice his new pillow on the floor and his old lumpy pillow in its' place.

Even though the day wasn't as successful as I had hoped, I tried at least and I think he appreciates my efforts. We did end up taking him to dinner the next time he got a day off and we went to Six Flags and called it part of his birthday too :)

Here's proof that he will always be young at heart:

This is at six flags in the big ball room. James had way more fun than the kids. I had to tell him we were ready to go about 3 times before he finally came with us. haha. 

While he can be very serious, he doesn't ever take himself too seriously.
 And yes, James, to answer your question, of course I'd still love you if you looked like this!

Love that "old" man of mine!

4th of July

Our 4th of July started out hopeful with daddy off work for the day, but he was sadly and abruptly called into work right when he woke up, even though he had worked all day and night the day before and didn't get home until 5 that morning :(

So sad, but we tried to not let it get us down. We went to a children's celebration at the mall where we were able to listen to a live children's musician and the kids got their faces painted!

Makai's had already smeared quite a bit by the time we made it out of the mall and to the car where my camera was, but he's still the cutest Tiger I've ever seen.

Ezra requested a pirate and LOVED it. People kept commenting on it and he said,  "Mom, everyone just loves my face! Can you believe it?" He was so sad when it faded and when we finally washed it off.

After naps we had a barbeque thanks to my Father-in-law and then the kids and I headed to the parade. It wasn't nearly as cool as Rexburg's small town parade, and it was sooo hot, but the kids loved it just the same.

Post nap and sweat smudge. I finally wiped it off while waiting for  our political parade, I mean 4th of July parade..

Ezra is such a great brother

Then we went to the fireworks. I sat behind a larger sort of head and couldn't even move around to see much, but the kids loved it and it hardly took us any time to get out of there, so that was a major plus!

The 4th of July is such a fun holiday!

One Big Update

Well, it's been awhile. We got kind of busy, so my blog suffered. I'm going to try to play a lazy version on catch up. The last post was about us being sick. That lasted for quite awhile. Poor little Makai even had to do breathing treatments. It was the cutest, saddest little thing.

He hated having it strapped on

once we realized he would hold it and keep it on his mouth, he was much happier to do the treatments

While we were all trying to recover from whatever sickness we had, the boys and I took a trip to New Hampshire to visit my family for a week. Flying with two toddlers in not fun especially because I always get such miserable motion sickness. However, there was about 5 minutes when my boys were angels and I found them like this:

I was tearing up seeing them snuggling like this.

 Ezra and Makai loved spending time with their cousins Tyler and Lily. 

Lily and Ezra riding the jeep. 

Makai LOVED this thing. I loved watching him ride away and crash into things. He didn't seem to get that you push the button AND steer :0) 

Tyler and Makai. He was so good about holding on to him.

I let Lily paint my nails :)

Then my mom, the boys and I travelled to Utah to spend some time with my sister and two nephews while her husband has been away at Basic Training for the Army. We surprised her which was received well, but really isn't a nice thing to do to someone. Thankfully she's just my sis, so it didn't matter. We had fun letting all our boys run around screaming and playing. It was really nice to see her and hopefully distract her for a little bit.

Chase, Ezra, Kyler, Makai

ring around the rosie before our photo shoot

Chase and Ezra at the airport saying good-bye

We got home the day before Father's Day, which James actually had off some how. (He has been working sooo much and as long as 26 hour days. No less than 15 hours days and goes in on almost all his days off :( We miss him.) We made him a "World's Best Dad" shirt with little hand prints and all. I love the traditional Father's Day gifts. Maybe next year we'll make him one of those horribly embarrassing ties. We also gave him a "handy-man-for-dummies" sort of book because that seemed like a traditional gift too and... well, he may need it.

Then I had a week to get ready for girls' camp. I am in the Young Women presidency at church and was also given the calling of Camp Director, so there was much to be done. I was terrified to leave my boys for a whole week. I had never left them. I was away from Ezra one night when I had Makai and it was so emotional for me, so I was really nervous. I may have cried while driving to meet their babysitter the day I left. I cried buckling them in their seats. I cried again kissing them good-bye. Then I really cried when they drove away waving. I called them the first night and just lost it. I'm a baby when it comes to my babies. I got better the rest of the week because it got busier and I didn't have much time to feel homesick. Plus I knew they were in good hands. 

Girls camp was an adventure. It's certainly a sacrifice to be there, but it was enjoyable too. I may have let loose a little on the last day and there is a possibility I won't be invited back to camp ever again :) JK. Though the girls really will never see me the same, I'm sure. It rained on us the last two nights and we honestly believe that lightning struck ground just outside our tents. It was really terrifying, but we all survived it!

Now we're home doing birthdays and summery things, so stay tuned for more updates.

Sickie Sickies

I cursed myself. I recently had the thought, "Gee, my kids haven't been sick in awhile. Not even just a little cold." Literally the next week Ezra got sick and we've passed it amongst us since. I know I'm awful, but there is something so tender about little sickies. They snuggle, they sit still, they look so pathetic that you can't help but do anything and everything for them. When Ezra was sick, so was I so we lounged on the couch watching TV all day together while Makai ran free and caused trouble. Ezra got over his fairly quickly. I'm still fighting something and now Makai has it. 

We went to a preschool celebration for Ezra and Makai just cried and clung to me. Ezra's teacher said, "Oh my goodness, I have never seen that boy even the slightest bit sad." My thought was, "He wants his mommy over all these toys. As sad as it is, I'll take what I can get."

I took him to church today (I just kept him with me) because I had some things I needed to take care of. I sat down in the beginning of my last meeting and said, "I'll leave in about fifteen minutes." Makai threw up on me right after I said that. I then said, "Nevermind, I guess I'm leaving now." He went straight to bed and barely woke up for dinner. In my family you get just about whatever you want when you're sick, so Makai ate bananas, a little bit of cantaloupe and had soda. (my favorite memory of my mom taking care of me while sick is the soda I always got to have, so don't judge me :)

The worst part is when they get fevers and they shake or especially when they're moaning. It breaks my heart. I gave him a bath tonight after dinner and he refused to sit. He just stood there clinging to the side of the tub screaming and shaking. I finally convinced him to sit down and he slowly wobbled and shook the whole way down. It was so sad.

Sometimes I long for slower days when Makai just sits still and snuggles with me or doesn't make a mess for 30 minutes. Then I have a day like today and take it all back. 

I miss this little boy:

I had a couple horrible dreams last night about losing these beautiful boys, or not being the one protecting them or me leaving them for some reason. I hate those dreams that wake you up in a panic and in tears. I hate the feelings that linger and the fact that you sometimes just can't get that dream out of your head. And now as I think of those dreams I am thinking about how I snapped at Ezra today for bouncing on me or how maybe I put Makai down too quickly instead of snuggling him more. I love my bundles and I hope I do enough that they always know that.

Mother/Son Date Knight

Last week the boys and I took a date to Chick-fil-a for their Mother/Son Date Knight. I actually like Chick-fil-a. It's fantastic as far as fast food places go. They are always having activities, it's yummy and they're closed on Sundays. My friend Kelsey, author of modern.healthy.mom, is likely gagging at me saying that. Sorry :) It could be worse.

They had Medieval Times sponsor the event for us. It was very well decorated and there were many medieval characters wandering around through dinner. They even took a pic of us when we came in and had it printed before we left. I'll have to scan it because it was a really cute pic of the boys :) 

We sat down, had a server, were given crowns, Knight shields to design and bunch of conversation questions for moms to ask their boys. It was great. They even gave us a plate with a chocolate covered strawberry, chocolate drizzled marshmallow and grapes.

Makai quickly snagged that chocolate covered strawberry. 

Ezra grabbed the marshmallow. He was beyond excited to be a Knight!

Then Makai snagged the marshmallow from Ezra too.

They had a jester make balloon swords for everyone. Makai went a little wild and popped his right away, which made Ezra cry because that's what we do when Makai goes wild.

Ezra still has his a week later.

These were some of the performers walking around entertaining us during our meal.

It was a wonderful event. Any business that supports the family makes my happy list. Ezra still talks about that cow. Makai would not stop giving him high fives and waving to him. I think the cow took a minute to breathe before we left and it made Makai so sad that he couldn't say good-bye. So silly.

Little Makie

No, I haven't squeezed him to death or taken real bites out of his arms or cheeks yet.

He's still causing trouble and getting away with it every day. Darn those heart-melting grins and giggles. 

Today Makai and I had a little date while Ezra was in preschool. Normally we just play at home because I feel guilty going any where fun without Ezra, but it was beautiful today, so we went to the beach. We took our shoes off, walked in the sand and threw sticks in the water. He was completely soaked by the end of our date, but had such a blast. I loved watching him explore all on his own without the example of Ezra to mimic. It was so cute seeing how independent he became and what things interested him. We stayed until he decided he was done and started walking back to the car. We came home, rinsed our feet in the bath and I tried to work out. He wouldn't stop hugging me and jumping on me, so it was hard to work out, but so worth the loves. I think that was his way of thanking me for our date :)

He's talking a lot more and has just started putting a couple of words together. Usually it's, "No, naw-ee (naughty), go." He likes to scold Ezra a lot. He tells me stories and requires some kind of response or interjection. There are still a couple sounds that I can't figure out what words they are supposed to be, but for the most part he's easy to understand.

He still loves animals. His favorite right now is a horse.

He has started hitting which is such a challenge because "time out" hardly fazes him and he usually goes right back to hitting after a time out. He is good about giving hugs and saying "saw-ee". And Ezra has yet to hit him back which makes me so proud.

He loves to be outside. He could explore outside all day long. 

He still loves his "bee-bee" (binky). I haven't tried to take it away yet. I think it's going to be awhile. He doesn't just have one binky at night, he usually has to have at least two. If I don't give him two, he somehow finds one. We are always losing them and he is always finding them. I think he hides them.

He sits so still on daddy's lap and adores him and spending time with him.

He loves to spill water. He dumps water on the floor at least once a day. You'd think we'd learn our lesson and not leave water where he can get it, but it's kind of impossible with a 3 year old who drinks out of big boy cups and a trusting mom who thinks that he will really just drink it this time. At least it's water.

He is becoming picky about what jammies he wears and makes a point to protest if I pick the wrong ones.

He loves to sing. His favorite songs are action songs, especially "bringing home a baby bumblebee", "Popcorn Popping" and "itsy bitsy spider". 

He's a good eater. You cannot leave food anywhere in his reach without him finding it. You can't eat food without him mooching (even if he just had dinner). He just doesn't stop eating if it's available. 

He is still very expressive and is becoming quite a grunter/squawker. He makes the saddest little face when he's in trouble or doesn't get his way and it makes us laugh every time. He knows he's cute. He'll usually put his head on the table, close his eyes and rest there for about 15 seconds. Then he'll lift his head smiling and expect us to be smiling too. We always are. 

He likes to brush his teeth, but doesn't always like when mommy takes over or starts it for him.

He hates holding my hand in public. He refuses to hold my hand across the road which results in him being carried and attempting suicide out of my arms.

He would run until he crashed if there was someone to chase or someone chasing him. He and Ezra run in circles around a pole in the basement. It's becoming part of their bedtime routine. I honestly pick him up mid run and put him to bed. He just doesn't stop moving.

He enjoys playing with cars and is constantly saying, "beep beep".

He knows most of his body parts and loves his eyes and belly button the most.

He's still learning animal noises, but is good at: dog, cat, horse, lion and duck.

He says his own little prayers. He folds his arms, mumbles a bunch of noises, unfolds his arms and says, "ay ay"(amen).

We love this little squish so much. He keeps me busy and greatly contributes to my hair turning white, but he is just too cute to get mad at. It's bad news, but they're only little and adorable for a limited amount of time, so I can't help myself.

The Bitter Side of Blogs/Facebook

Sometimes it's hard not to compare yourselves to other families. At least it's hard for me. Though I have talked to too many people to pretend I'm alone here. Some families have more money, nice houses, grown-up jobs, cuter, amazingly talented kids, are craftier, more fun and overall better, right?

 I recently deleted Facebook. There are several reasons why I did, but the one I will share is that it simply does not feel good to be caught up in what other people are doing sometimes. I reactivated it recently and part of me wishes I hadn't. Too many sad stories or overly fluffy stories. Too many preachy stories and excessively braggy stories. The minute you have something worth sharing, someone else has something that trumps it and there goes the excitement.

Sometimes I feel like right when I start improving or doing something that I am proud of, I notice the world of other people I know or used to know who have been there and done that. I hate that these feelings are as real as they are sometimes. But I know we all have moments of coveting, so I am wondering how we can overcome it and just be happy with where we are in these jealous moments? I feel like shutting out the world and just living in a bubble with my family because it's safe here and we're exceptional here. Out there? Yikes.

We force our kids to walk, or get potty trained or read early because there is obviously a race out there and gosh darn it my kid will make the world proud. Once I found myself telling a story about something Ezra had said and the audience didn't seem to appreciate how adorable it was like I did, sooo, I added to it. And then he said, "badeep badeep that's all folks". Then the laughs. It kind of ruined it for me, however. I vowed to make Ezra's stories true to Ezra because I love Ezra's stories raw. You can rest assured my recorded Ezra stories are unedited. They are special and beautiful to me and that's enough. That's also a reason I hid my "mommy blog". My moments don't mean something to everyone or even anyone, but to me, they bring tears, they are real and miraculous and moments of light, wonder and amazement. That's where I find the strength to overcome coveting; I hear a simple prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the Holy Ghost who helps us to be happy or I see a hug and hear a small voice whisper "saw-ee" or I catch my husband glance over and smile my way during church and I am able to breath and think, "Okay. We're not skinny, rich, always happy or incredibly good at anything, but we're doing our best and we still have reasons to smile."

I think as women and probably especially those of us who stay at home often wish there was something we could contribute to the world. Like a talent or a special story or an above average, front of the line family.

Sometimes we just are the way we are and that's all there is to it. And in my bubble, that's okay. It's just tough to feel the pressure of what everyone else seems to think your family should or shouldn't be doing and where when and how. I feel proud of my little family in the slowly progressing life we live. And even through our boring day to day and our trying minutes, we are The Tressler Family and there is Someone very important up there who thinks we're doing just fine. I'll take it.

Innocence

Today Ezra was begging me to take him back to Great Wolf Lodge. He said, "If God wants us to, we can go to Great Wolf Lodge again." Then he proceeded asking me if God wanted us to go.

Then tonight before bath he asked me if he had spots. I thought about our family night lesson the other night about keeping the Sabbath day holy so we can remain "unspotted from the world". I then understood what he meant and couldn't help but laugh.

I love the simple understanding he has for things that are sometimes over his head. This is what "they" mean with they talk about being innocent like a child. I love his innocence.