Karsten's 3rd Bday!

As I mentioned in our last post; we had a shared birthday for Karsten and Amy in ND.  After Amy was done celebrating being old - the real fun began!  Karsten got His birthday cookie...

"If I smile big enough I get one too, Right?"

Then Brooklyn wanted one too...

"That would be a yes"

Brody of course wanted one as well...

"Me too, Me too"

And lets not forget the little one who tried blowing out Amy's candle - he needs one too!

"This one's not as fun as yours, Mommy"

Presents were Chaotic (Thanks to Uncle Brady).  He is so charasmatic, that all the kids felt like it was Their party too!  I am not sure which kid was more excited about each present that Karsten opened.  At times, I thought it was Brooklyn!

We call this controlled chaos

"Look at my new shirt everyone"

"Another present for me?"

"I have my own Sully now"

You will see this shirt shortly... as the CO bday is a Monsters U party!

After our big ND vacation (will show those pics in next blog... I promise); we quickly got ready for our big birthday celebration in Colorado!  We got back on Saturday and Sunday was Karsten's bday.  The party had been planned for awhile, the cake ordered, the presents purchased... but - still had to clean the house, cook the meal, etc.  Was a little chaotic in its own sense, but all came together perfectly!

The calm before the storm

We started out the day hanging out and catching up since the boys just went on a whirl wind trip to ND and wanted to share their adventures with Gma and Gpa Cannode.  Of course, there was always a little downtime for the iPad.  I have to laugh that these boys are both playing on an iPad, with another iPad between them (just in case) and a laptop to their left.  Seriously, "Kid Toys" sure have changed since I was three!

"Pay attention, Sawah, this is what you have to touch"

We were thrilled when David brought a long time highschool friend to the party.  We hadn't seen April in over 12 years and were thrilled we could catch up with her!  Other than thinking she got LOTS taller ;-)... it was like nothing has changed.  Still the same, sweet,  charming young woman we remember.

David & April

Oh no! A run away balloon!  What will we do??!?!  Good thing Super Grandma came to the rescue!  I believe she used her Spidy Senses, threw her web into the air, caught that balloon and swung down to safety with the prize.  Ok, ok - I spend too much time with little boys.  Spiderman is Huge in this house right now!  She did do a great job figuring out how to get it though!

And Gma comes to the rescue as usual

Gotta love a good meal.  I asked Karsten what sounded good (giving him a few options) and he chose Pizza Casserole.  An awesome recipe that the kids adore!  It is hard to get them to eat - especially when the item isn't a fruit snack.  This one is a Winner!

Everyone is ready for a fabulous meal

In case you haven't noticed, Karsten loves to eat

Time for more presents?  Seriously, seems like all we do in this house is open presents!  Karsten had a blast opening each and every present and even Kasey got a few from Uncle Jimmy & Aunt Sarah and Gma & Gpa Cannode!  How do you spell "Spoiled"?!?

"I can't believe I get more gifts"

"Yeah, Tow Mater"

Look! I'm a big kid and got New Fun Underwear!

Since we had recently been in the midwest, we might have done some shopping while we were there.  Karsten loves his Vikings jersey, but it is size 24 month and won't last through the football season.  So, we upgraded with a bigger size.  Jennings just joined the Vikings recently from Green Bay.  Needless to say, Sarah (our resident Packer Fan) was less than thrilled...

"What a great jersey!"

Not everyone agrees on the jersey choice

Thank you for the trucks Uncle David

"Check out my new car"

As always, our dear friend, Sandy, made Karsten's cake.  Karsten is Obsessed (and has been for over a year) with Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc (and now from Monsters University).  He all out shreiked Mike Wazowski's name in delight when he saw who was on the cake.  I truly wish I had gotten that one on camera. 

Another amazing cake design by Sandy Tucker

"I just love Mike Wazowski"

After cake time, we decided to get out the Wiggle Worms by trying out some of the new toys out

Uncle Jimmy showing Karsten how to fly his plane

Front Porchin' it

Was a Perfect Day!  We were so glad that Karsten's Godfather, Uncle Jimmy was able to join us.  I just know we will get his Godmother, Auntie Lisa out here someday (hint hint, Lisa!) ;-)  I just love how much Karsten (and Kasey) Love Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Sarah! Truly Blessed with our Friends and Family!



Amy's Bday

Another year older... and to be honest, Amy is just glad she is not yet 35 like her Much Older Husband.  To celebrate we got the Cannodes together (sans David as he was out of town) for a lovely dinner out at Johnny Carinos.  Delicous!

George even picked out a special dessert to help her celebrate.  Tirramisu in a tiny little coffee cup.  So Cute!  The boys just 'Had' to have a taste considering it was topped off with some whipcream.

"Mommy, you use the saucer like this to have tea"

"How can I get Just the Whip Cream?"

 

And what is a birthday without presents?  This year was a special theme - CSU!  Amy has worn a bunch of her current shirts to death and has never had a shirt she could wear to work.  Well; now - Every Friday in the fall with be a CSU Friday in her office!



WHOA! COOL!  what is it?



Kasey lost his attention span on this pic, but Amy is Thrilled!

More CSU! ... And a Bag Head Monster in the corner!

We will be posting our trip to ND in a separate post, but I am stealing some of the shots for this fun birthday celebration.  We celebrated in ND with a shared party for Amy and Karsten (Karsten's bday to follow in a separate post too!).  We had a lovely Kabob dinner with GG, the Woodards and the Mattsons.  Mom was going to whip up a cake, but I told her not to worry.  So, instead I received a cookie with a candle in it.  Perfect!

Don't you dare blow out Mommy's candle

I love Presents!  Got some really cute stuff for both work and play time!  Plus, bonus - it all fit in my cram packed suitcase on the way home.  Anything bigger would not have made it! :-)

More Clothes!

YEAH for Birthdays!!!

Obviously, this next one is not during the big bday celebration - it is actually just after church recently, but thought I would include it to show off my new outfit! Can you say "Sassy!"  LOVE!

 

Summer Sunshine

Where do you put all those random summer memories?  Well; all together in one Smushed-up blog of course! 

Amy has long been invited to family gatherings at Jon Osmond's house.  His parents throw a summer party and a Christmas party each year.  This year Jon's mom, Connie, went all out.  The food was amazing as per usual, but this time... she bought a pool along with pool toys!  As the only two kids present that day, Kasey and Karsten Loved "Their Pool". 

"Can you believe this just for us"



Connie and Amy

We have also been talking about meeting up with our former neighbors on the lake; however, our boat gets rather filled up with our family alone.  They have been playing with a Jet Ski this past summer, which allowed us to ask them to meet up for a swim!


Amy and Sandy (former neighbor and maker of all of the kids birthday cakes)

The boys enjoying lunch (Kasey, Karsten and James)

"Can we get one, Mommy & Daddy?"

 And seriously, what is summer without CORN, POPSICLES and WATERMELON!

"I really like corn.."

"Me Too!  Like ... A LOT!"

"...Almost as much as popsicles."



The smile says it all

Karsten has been helping out Gma and Gpa with their chores each day, but boy.. this past weekend was a Hot One!  He even had to borrow Grandpa George's hat!

I'm just like Gpa!

Recently, we took the boys to Barnes and Nobles.  Kasey wanted to pick out a book that fit him.  He kept picking out books with Lots of words (he doesn't have the patience to read all of them right now; we stick to shorter stories).  At any rate; he kept picking out books that he would not normally let us read to him.  I kept telling him he needed to find one his size.  So, he quickly found another book... placed it on his feet and asked me "Mommy, Is this one my size?  Is this tall enough for me?"  Yup, literally sized it up like he was trying on a new shirt.  LOVE!

Dr. Who (Adult fiction) looks like a perfect fit to me

One night recently, I was going through our bed time rituals.  We read a story (they each get to pick one), say prayers, and then read Kasey's adoption poem.  It dawned on me.  We get to appreciate these cute moments, but have never captured it.  Although I can't capture each and every night - thought a quick pic would do the trick.  The pick below is a great one cause it shows their favorite book of the summer.  It has No Words, but it does ask to you to find different items in the book.  We have expanded this from the eight stated items on the side to many, many more.  In fact, the kids started a new game using this book.  Karsten says "When I lift my foot up like this, you find .. um... Nemo".  They have also tried inserting somersaults, spins, etc; which defeats the point of settling down for bed time; therefore, we have stipulated a "must sit on your butt" rule while playing this game.

Our sweet little angels

I just LOVE nigh-nigh time.  Especially listening to their prayers.  After we say "Dear Lord, God Bless..."; they fill in the blanks with who they want to pray for "Brooklyn, Auntie 'Lisa, Uncle David, Papa, Grandpa, etc.."  My favorite is when they throw in there the oddest things.  Lets see, lately we have prayed for corn, dinosaurs, dolphins, Africa... you get the picture.

Adoption BBQ

As you have seen in our blogs, we have our adoption events quarterly.  This particular event was a bit different as Kasey and Karsten's friends were not in attendance (scheduling conflicts, sickness, etc).  As such, we spent much less time watching the kids play with each other and more time playing with them ourselves! That was a Win in My Book! 

The summer BBQ is always great.  Yummy food, a bouncy castle and games.  This year, the kids decided Golf sounded fun!  I was impressed how much they liked it!  Must be some coaching from Grandpa Cannode and Papa Mattson on that one.  Wonder when Gpa and Papa will take these boys out for their first nine ;-)  Until then, Mini-Golf is Perfect!