Rad 80's Party!

I'm wide awake and it's 12:30 a.m. Here's why...Jeremy and I got a little daring and decided to throw a party! And it wasn't just any party...it was an 80's party! Today was the day we all had a chance to relive one very fun decade. We all dressed the part and everything. We had a total of 27 people (all from our ward, so really it was a glorified ward party!), which was great, but man it was hot! It was over 90 today and of course, living in Seattle, we don't have the good old AC. I mean, we get weather like today only a few times a year. Anyways, It was a blast! We decided that pizza was very "80's" so we ordered 10 Domino's pizzas. We also had some snacks and lots of of candy. I bought Pop Rocks, candy necklaces, Reese's Pieces, Ring Pops, and Kit Kats. They were a hit. Our entertainment, other than the usual chit chat was old school NES, Rock Band, Ping Pong, and we left out a Rubik's cube and some playing cards got thrown into the mix. And you can't have an 80's party without 80's music! Good, classic NKOTB, TIffany, Duran Duran and the list goes on...Jer found almost 200 songs to jam to. People are already talking about our next party. We'll see.

Me in my Barbie and the Rockers outfit...that's just what I think of when I look at myself!

Jeremy in his crazy "hair band" get-up.

Me with my best buds, Heidi and Wendy.

Taking a try at Mario!

Jeremy rocking out with the guys on our Wii's Rock Band.

All the girls!

All the boys! They were better at posing than us girls were. What's up with that?

The Feely Crew. Jason, Ben, and Allison. They had some great 80's gear!

Loved the Transformer shirt, Jason. You two looked awesome!

Susan did the prom look! So cool!

BIG Saturday Project

After cutting down all those trees in our backyard, we had a huge mess to clean up. Luckily, we have some great friends down the street that were there to help! It all started with Jeremy offering them some of our wood, once it was chopped. There is just so much, we really had no need for it all. Anyways, they totally wanted it and offered to rent a splitter and help get it cut up. So, today has been the day of sawing, chopping, splitting, and hauling. What a day! They've worked so hard! I was the runner, buying them food and drinks (and taking pictures!). I feel kinda lazy actually. The Feely's have been a great help, doing so much work and taking most of this wood off our hands. Thanks guys! And thanks Jer, for getting our new yard ready! (To see some more of the "tree project" see the Timber and Some Fuzzy Friends post.)

Jer, showing off his skills!

Here's a glimpse of all the wood that still needs cut.

Jason, working hard!

Ben and his Dad working the splitter.

Jeremy took a break and rode Samantha around. At first she was a little timid about it, but ended up having a great time!

They rode from the back yard into the front and back...

The wood is cut, now the hauling begins, or should I say...continues.

Looks a lot better!

Here's just a small portion of the chopped wood. The rest is in another pile and at the Feely's already.

This Week

Not much has been going on lately around the Klein household. We had Samantha's recital and then things got really dull. Parker is getting better at standing all by himself. I would like to have said he's getting better at walking, but no. The kid just won't do it! He'll take maybe one or two steps then kneel down and start crawling. He's just a really good crawler! SO, that's his big thing this week... Then there's poor Samantha. She woke up Wednesday morning around 4:00 a.m. pretty much gasping for air. She was having a really hard time breathing, so I bundled her up and took her outside in the cold air to try to help it. It worked a little, but she still was wheezy and sounding really bad. I ended up taking her to the doctors after a few hours when she got a 103 degree fever. She ended up having croup and was put on some steroids for the inflammation. She's doing better, but still has a horrible cough and breaths kinda heavy. Well, that's the news this week. Tomorrow will be full of Jeremy and his buddy, Ben cutting the trees up in our back yard that we had cut last month. That will be fun...not!

Recital

Today was the big day for Samantha's ballet/tap recital. They actually only did a routine for tap, which I was kinda bummed about, but oh well. Ballet would have been so cute! Tap was so cute too though! Samantha did great! I was a little worried about her freezing up and just standing there, but no. I was relieved. She got out there and did everything just as she should. She was so cute! She was probably most excited about getting to put a little make-up on. She's never had that before, except her play chapsticks and stuff. She was lucky enough to have her cousin, Taylee in her class so that made it all the more fun. They are connected at the hip at their dance classes. So, of course, they stood next to each other for their routine and loved it! It was a lot of fun! The only hard part was that there was a ton of people in a little theater. We had Parker, which made things a little crazier too. That boy will not sit still for anything. Thank goodness we had a grandma, grandpa, two aunts, and an uncle to help out! He got passed around a lot. Mainly by his choice. He climbed all over us. Then, we went to DQ afterwards and he had a MAJOR blowout just as we were leaving. Cleaning him up in a fast food restaurant wasn't easy, but I managed. We left with a naked boy, but at least the day was over! We're still thinking about if we're gonna put her in dance again in the fall. She really liked it, but it's kinda expensive, so we'll see. We were so proud of our little dancer today. She did awesome!

These photos are actually from her dress rehearsal they did on Friday. All the action shots from the recital didn't turn out that great. We weren't allowed to use the flash, so that didn't help.

Here's Sam and her cousin, Taylee holding hands. They hold eachother's hand, even when they don't need to be. They're really cute together! Her friend and classmate at church, Amanda, is in the background.

Part of the line-up of kiddies.

Taylee and Samantha being silly on the ballet bar.

What a cutie!

This is after the recital today. She got some very pretty princess flowers from Grandma Klein. They had sparkles, a butterfly, and a princess wand!

Samantha and Taylee showing off their flowers! Sam's dress and hat are kinda coming apart after sitting in the back behind the curtain for over an hour. I hope they had fun!

Rainy Days

I've been noticing, on other's blogs who aren't from the Seattle area, that they have some great pictures of themselves and kids having fun in the sun. I envy those that are enjoying the warm sunshine! It's been horrible here! We've had nothing but RAIN for the past two weeks! It's been, like, 50 degrees! We even had a pretty significant wind storm the other day! It's June! If you can't tell, I'm pretty frustrated with this whole thing. While others have pictures of their kids in shorts and flip flops, I have this...Sam in a coat, rain boots, and an umbrella! I'm so ready for summer!!!

Hot Cocoa time!

I just wanted to share the fun morning Samantha and I had.  Sam, for some reason, wanted to go to Starbuck's. Every time we pass it, she talks about going there.  She knew you could eat and drink there, but didn't really know what it was.  I guess she figured it was a restaurant that she'd never been to before and wanted to try it out.  So, I explained what it was all about and that we could go sometime to get some hot chocolate.  Boy, she was sooo excited about that and has been talking about it for a couple weeks now.  As I've said before, she's the kind that doesn't forget anything, especially when it's something she's interested in doing.  Anyway, today was the big day.  I finally took her to get her hot chocolate at Starbuck's.   When we got there she asked if we could stay there to drink our cocoa and if we could also get a donut.  Of course, I said we could.  Especially since she's been looking forward to this for a while now.  She chose the big comfy armchairs for us to sit in and we just enjoyed each other's company.  She was smiling the whole time and had a really good time.  I think it was a good chance for us to be alone without Parker.  I worry sometimes that I don't spend enough one on one time with her, so this was great!  I'm sure she'll want to do this again, which is fine by me!

Sibling love (for now!)

I saw a post from my sister-in-law (and wonderful friend!) on her blog about how her two kids are getting along quite well lately. I would have to agree with my children too. I've noticed Samantha is including Parker in her make believe activities and Parker loves to include Sam in his crazy boy wrestling games. Together they've kept themselves occupied and kept me a little more sane. It's great to have them interacting with each other like they are. I hope they keep this up and end up being great friends!

Parker enjoys watching Samantha play her Nintendo DS. Samantha doesn't always enjoy it though.

Parker started this one, finding a box and sitting in it. Samantha had to join in the fun and start making funny noises and being goofy. They just feed off each other!

One of Parker's kissing attacks!

Happy 28th Birthday Jer!

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday! I've been anticipating this day for a few months now, knowing already what I wanted to buy him. I decided this year that I wanted to get him a telescope. He's talked about getting a telescope for as long as I can remember and thought it was about time. Well, this morning our dear little boy managed, somehow, to knock it over! It was on a very sturdy tripod, but somehow...Anyways, both Jeremy and I were pretty upset. It was an expensive one and I couldn't believe it was already banged up. We are just hoping it still works properly. He hasn't had a chance to check it out yet, but we'll see.

The party turned out great though. We planned a little get together with his family. I made tacos and Jer's mom brought the cake. We asked Jeremy what kind of cake he wanted and he requested a Star Wars cake. Sharon is excellent at cake decorating, so that wasn't a problem at all. The Star Wars cake ended up creating a whole theme to our party. Sharon had some Star Wars decorations from some years ago that we used and he got a Star Wars game - Risk. I thought the telescope kinda went along with the theme too. Jess, his little sister, found a great Star Wars card that plays the theme music...it's a really cute card that goes something like this...On the front :A long, long time ago... Inside : You were born. And then the theme music. It was funny. Jeremy also got Mario Kart for the Wii with an extra wheel, from the kids and I. Everyone enjoyed playing that last night as well. It was a great birthday! Jer...you're getting old! Just kidding :)