Six Years Old

Isaac has been planning his birthday for months and counting down the days until he's not 5 1/2 anymore. So, on his birthday we picked up a few of his half-day kindergarten friends after school and had a fun adventure! First, we came back to our house and the six boys played until Isaac's heart-shaped pizza was done baking (thanks, Papa Murphy). They ate and were silly and opened presents and then it was time to go...

...to Bounce U! Luckily for us they were having a buy one get one free Valentine's Day special bounce session that fit perfectly into our plans.

Oh my goodness they had so much fun! They slid down the bouncy slide at least 25 times.

There were soft bumper cars,

air cannons to shoot squishy balls,

bouncy basketball,

the spider web climbing tower (Isaac made it to the top 3 times!),

and an oversize boxing glove arena!

Bounce U even had Valentine's (ahem, "birthday") cookies and lemonade for us. We were so glad Isaac's friends Lui, Michael, Luke, Noah, and Isaac H. could come.

Isaac was the "Big Kid on Campus" that day!

But the fun did not end. Oh, no. Isaac wanted to go to Cici's Pizza for dinner with his family.

Pizza for lunch, and all-you-can-eat pizza for dinner. Happy Isaac.

Then home for cherry-chocolate birthday cake and ice cream. Six candles!

Isaac had opened most of his presents earlier in the day. He especially loved the lego Cars kit from Nana and Papa, the handmade quilt from Granny Paula and Grandpa Tom, and the Pokedex from his cousin Cameron. The one thing he had asked for from us was an Arizona Cardinals pillow pet, and here it is:

 Happy Birthday dear Isaac!

Valentine Super Bowl

Jacob's fourth-grade class had a Valentine box decorating contest. Jacob came up with the idea to build a Super Bowl stadium box, with a field, goalposts, and endzones that represented each of the Super Bowl teams from this year. There was a slot cut in each endzone and the kids voted for their favorite team by putting their Valentine in either the Giants or the Patriots. The box turned out so well. And when the voting was complete, he was one of the winners of a four-way tie for first place. What a great idea, Jacob!

Driver's License

Spencer finally got his driver's license! He's still a little nervous, especially at night, but I guess I'd rather he be nervous and cautious than confident and reckless. Way to go, Spencer!

SubZero

Since I've been off sugar for a month now, the FHE treats haven't been up my usual standards because I don't want to be tempted. Last Monday night, Jeremy decided the boys needed a real treat and took us all to SubZero ice cream.

They had so much fun picking their flavors and mix-ins.

But the real appeal of SubZero is when they use liquid nitrogen to freeze your creation right in front of your eyes! The boys were just fascinated.

They came up with some pretty awesome combinations and couldn't wait to try them.

Everyone loved their ice cream. I, however, had talked the employees into making me a sugar-free version. It ended up tasting like frozen milk with strawberries in it (because that's what it was). Not my best dessert ever but I guess at least I didn't feel left out.

YUMMMMY.

Color Run

 A sister in my ward invited me to run a 5K with her and as soon as I saw the "gimmick" I was IN!! The Color Run is a 5K where you start out wearing white but at each kilometer you are blasted with a different color until at the end you become a whole rainbow of color. I promptly invited my best buddy Wendi to join me. My family was at the Pinewood Derby that day, so her sweet husband and children came to cheer us on and be the official photographers to document our silliness.

The "before" picture:

There were over 6,000 participants. With so many bodies it was hard to run at all. Finally, after dodging and weaving our way through the crowd we broke free of the pack and were able to keep a somewhat decent pace.

The first color station: YELLOW!

Then GREEN!

PURPLE!

And finally, PINK!

At the finish line, each runner received a packet of their own color.

If you look closely at the center of this photo, you'll see Wendi and I at the end of the race.

After the race, we all gathered together and counted down to zero. Then it was CHAOS! Everyone threw their color packet into the air and it was an explosion of color everywhere. So. Much. Fun.

The "after" picture:

It was awesome to get home and shower, but I had green toes (of all things) for DAYS!

100th Day

The 100th Day of School Celebration is anticipated and counted down from the first day of Kindergarten. Isaac just couldn't wait for it to get here and finally it did! All the kids brought 100 items; Isaac collected soda pop tabs for months with help from Granny Paula and our neighbor Carol. He is excited to donate all of them to the Ronald McDonald House. Each student also filled in the blank: I would really like to have 100_______. Isaac said "footballs." Is he Jacob's brother or what?

Derby Time

Jacob is always so excited for the Pinewood Derby. Every year, he knows exactly what he wants his car to look like and Jeremy helps bring his imagination to life.

Jacob knew the exact shape of his car, the shade of electric blue paint he wanted, and which stickers would look best.

He worked so hard to make it look just right.

Finally, the day of the race arrived. There were 17 other boys participating and it was a tough competition.

Jacob wasn't one of the top finishers but he had a blast racing his car anyway. I'm so proud of him. Good job, Jacob!