Leapin' Lizards

I am now the mom to a double-digeter!  Anthony (kinda) turned 10 on Friday.  You see when you have a birthday on Leap Day, you only kinda get birthdays since your birthday only comes every four years!
How the heck did THIS

Anthony as newborn as it comes 2/29 7:49am

 Become THIS

Anthony on his firstish birthday

Become HIM

5ft, 3.5 in, 108 pounds, size 30x30 MEN's pants, size 11 MEN'S shoe, He's my 10 year old!

I baked cupcakes on Thursday night for him to share with his class at lunch on Friday.

Simple, yet true: 2 1/2 or 10?

City schools had a half day.  I did my typical crossing guarding, volunteer work at Sheffield, and back to crossing guard.  Then I went to pick up my little love, my sweet nephew Tristan, so we could have him for the afternoon and evening.


When the kids got out of school at 2, mom picked them up since she was near their school anyways.  She brought them home and I took Anthony for his birthday lunch out to eat.It was supposed to be a meet up at McDonald's where I'd eat a sweet tea and they could get whatever, but they fell through.  So I decided I like real food.  Ok, I already knew I liked real food and so we ended up at Anthony's current favorite, Texas Road House.  (Sorry Red Lobster, athough he loves your maple glazed chicken he hates cheese so Texas roadhouse's rolls beat out your biscuit.  And like every smart eater--- who ever has the best unlimited free and tasty bread wins his vote as "favorite").  Ant man got grilled chicken and fries, to no one's surprise.  Jayna decided she only wanted ice cream.  OK we can go that route- rolls and ice cream w/ chocolate syrup for a $1.38 total!  I of course got the country veggie plate-- sweet tater, salad, green beans and mashed taters.  Tristan happily shared rolls, taters and beans with me.

Happy with their lunch

Happy Birthday with a cherry on top

After that we headed home, where Anthony ran through the back yard to get his buddy Alonza.  About 4:30 Will came over and the partying began--- too many video games, balloons, nerf wars, trampoline fun.  At 7 we invited Grandma Pam to join us for cake, ice cream and pizza.  Did I mention in a previous post that we are so excited to have her local again so she can come over without worrying about gas money or driving home in the dark etc.  Aunt Brandy came to reclaim Tristan about 9pm.  The partying continued as I left for third shift "fun" at the answering shift with my work buddy, Jayna.  Marko said the kids were still up when he went to bed at 4ish.  Most of this was really just a typical weekend in our home, since we almost always have at least one extra and often 2 extra kids for the weekend.  But this is also Ant's preferred way to spend the evening, so perfect birthday sleepover.

I got home from work at 9amish.  The boys were up shortly after that.  The normal fun continued.  At 2 They got ready for Ant's bday gift from Grandma and Poppy.  They went to the big theater to see Son of God.  They seemed to like it-- although perhaps some children fell asleep at times.

The kids returned about 6pm.  Jayna headed to Grandma and Poppy's to (be spoiled?) have a sleepover.  The boys continued their sleepover.  We added in glow in the dark goodies-- glow sticks, glow in the dark balloons and flash lights... which meant no pictures were taken since lights were off and cameras shouldn't interfere with laughter and behaving during those non-media/electronic moments.  Because I am an amazing host.... they had rewarmed pizza with chips, bananas and clementines for supper.  I am an amazing chef.  Back to work at 11.  I gave Marko orders to put them to bed near midnight.


I got off at 8:40, picked up Joyce and the girls for church.  Rushed home got three boys up and ready for church, out the door, in the van and headed to church in 10 minutes!!  Impressive :-)  At church it was my volunteer week at Sunday School for Kids Central.  Then for the church hour, it was Parent week in Anthony's class, so I went to Route 45 with the boys.  After church, back to the partying and added a third "kid", RJ--- complete with silly string hide and seek and then silly string attack!

The fun continued until about 8pm!  Then it was time for alllll the extras to go home and me to catch a good night's sleep after a weekend of 3rd shifting it!.... And of course a Monday snowday snuck in there the next morning.  Oh brother, short sleeves and outdoor play one day and snow the next.

** A full video of pictures is in it's own blog post, because it wouldn't allow me to add it here.  It's just 4ish minutes, So Click Here!