Bursitis

Ben put his elbow on the table and noticed that it was a little tender. He looked at it and this is what he saw:

He checked the other elbow to see if they both looked more like a knee than an elbow and it looked like this:

That's what a normal elbow is supposed to look like! I was horribly grossed out by the whole thing. He went to the doctor and they said it's just bursitis. Apparently he puts too much pressure on his elbow. Since none of you actually get to sleep with him, you might not know this, but he reads before he goes to bed. Usually, he puts all his weight on one elbow while he's reading. Sometimes he falls asleep like that and will lie there for hours! No wonder it's so messed up! It's doing much better already. Thank goodness for doctors.

World Cup, here we come!

Tyler has played T-ball and baseball through the Vancouver Parks & Recreation organization for the last 2 years. He has had fun, but all that standing around is kind of boring. So, Ben had the brilliant idea to sign him up for soccer this year. OH MY GOSH. I love watching him play soccer! It's so much better than baseball! He has a huge smile on his face the whole time. I love how sweaty he is at the end of a game too. I think it's cute. :-) I got a few good action shots of his game yesterday that I had to post here. (They don't really keep score in this league, but we did and they actually won this game!! The last two games we lost, but they still had fun.)

Random side note: Tyler's team is called The Red Beagles. Why? Because their shirts are red and the coach has a little beagle puppy that she brings with her to practices and games. She is the team mascot. The puppy's name is Twilight. I know, it's hilarious. I think it's awesome.

Nicole turns 5

Nicole's birthday was last week. I can't believe she's only 5 years old. Is that weird? I feel like she acts so much older than that. Of course, I'm glad she's only 5 because the teenage years scare me to death.

Nicole wanted to have boys and girls at her birthday, so we decided to go with a gender neutral birthday theme -- crazy hats. I went to Goodwill and bought a bunch of random hats and the kids had a blast. They played with toys, played a couple of hat games, ran around screaming (and breaking things, unfortunate news for my curio), made their own crazy hats, and ate pizza and cookies. Nicole didn't want cake this year -- she wanted cookies. Not just any cookies, Daddy's chocolate chip cookies with coconut. For her, she wanted a stack of cookies with a pattern of ice cream and pink frosting in between the layers. I couldn't make this stuff up, people.

Personally, I think it looks like something from a Dr. Seuss book, but she thought it was great. Did she eat it? Nope. But that's okay, that much sugar isn't good for anyone.
Here's a few more random pictures from her party:

 Nicole's crazy hat extended to her face.

 Back row: Haley, Nicole, Conner, Megan. Front row: Carter, Kaytie, Tyler, Tori.

I love this little girl more than I can say.

I can't believe my little girl has turned from this...

to this!

She is funny, talented, smart as a whip, sweet, gorgeous, loving, a little mischievous, and as girly as they come. I love you, Colie-bear. Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Snuggle Buddy

*** Note to those who think that I may be playing favorites in this post, well it was Nicole's birthday, not the other two. Tyler and 'she who shall not be named' (trust me, you wouldn't like her when she's angry) will get a post in April. So go pound sand. ***

I am scared to death of girls. More specifically I am terrified of my girls. Having no sisters (unless you count Jim. Har!) growing up, I didn't realize how crazy girls can be and I also didn't realize that you can't treat them the same way as you can boys.

I guess it's no secret that I sort of like my oldest daughter. A lot. I tell people all of the time that little girl lights up my world. I can't help but smile whenever I see her. I think her sole goal is to make me (and Kristi) laugh. She is the sneakiest, cutest, funniest, brilliant (who knew?) aggravating child in the world. And I love her to death for it. She lies to us all the time (she has been getting a lot better at telling the truth actually, so that's a bonus) and usually for no apparent reason. The problem is, she'll lie to us, or not pay attention to us, or do something else to get in trouble, and then she gives you this look, furrows her brow, says she's sorry and then starts making faces at you until you laugh. And you will laugh. There is no way around it.

She decided long ago that she and I are snuggle buddies, best friends, and that she is going to marry me when she grows up. She calls me little boy because I call her little girl. She sneaks into our bed at night just so she can snuggle up to me and sleep better. She tells me all of the time how much she loves me and how much I make her laugh, and how we'll always be best friends.

My little girl is now 5 years old. I am not sure how that happened, and I am not sure how am I am going to deal with her in 5, 10 and 15 years. Just know that she is a daddy's girl, and if you ever mess with her, well, you get to deal with me (and I am sure her grandpas and uncles would also like to step in). I haven't figured out what happens when she messes with me though.....

I guess we have come a long way from the infant child that wouldn't smile for anything, and wanted nothing to do with snuggling anyone or anything. The girl, while she is definitely playing this world according to her own rules, loves to get close to those the cares about and can be an absolute sweetheart.

Happy birthday snuggle buddy. Hey little girl, let's eat some cookie dough, snuggle on the couch tonight, and watch Wall-E so I can hear you laugh that infectious, hilarious laugh of yours. It is truly one of the greatest joys in life, seeing your kids in that moment when all is right in their world. I think it's because it makes me realize that they (along with my hot wife) are my world, even though I probably don't show them nearly enough how much they mean to me.

Enchanted Forest

I loved Enchanted Forest as a kid. It was our version of Disneyland. We had never taken our kids (Ben claims that I had never told him about Enchanted Forest -- yeah right) so we went on our way back from Wildlife Safari. It was exactly as I remembered it. Here's a few pictures from our day:

Wildlife Safari

We don't do a lot of family vacations in the summer. Why? I don't know. Probably because we have a 2-year-old that's insane and she makes everything 100x harder. But, we decided to go down to Roseburg, Oregon and go to the Wildlife Safari before school started. It was awesome! Well, I thought so at least. A lot of the animals just roam around and aren't in cages. The carnivores are (thankfully) but pretty much everything else just walks around like it's no big deal. Here's a bunch of pictures from the trip:

I definitely feel a little too close to this rhino. There was nothing between me and him but an open window.

We stared each other down. In the end, We drove away slowly and I felt much safer being a little farther from that ginormous horn.

The kids stood up through the sunroof and checked out all the animals. Nicole kept climbing down and when we asked her why, she replied, "Because I don't like when the bugs splat on my face!" It was hilarious!
Of course, being on the inside of the car was a little more uncomfortable:

Nicole wanted her picture taken with this buffalo. Of all the animals to choose, she wanted the buffalo.

This emu got close enough to our car that we actually had to roll up the windows. Poor Tori was scared half to death. It was a little freaky, but kinda fun too.

Monkeys are always fun to watch. Always.

In the end, I thought it was great. We saw lions, tigers, bears, giraffes, cheetas, cougars, zebras, and a bunch of other really cool animals. I thought it was worth the drive and I think Ben liked it too. The kids? Well, they were more excited about staying at a hotel than anything else. Next time, maybe we'll just drive to the nearest Holiday Inn and get a room for the night. The view from our room was pretty.