The Paulsen Journal

Monday, January 5, 2015

Happy Birthday Thing 1 and Thing 2

Both my kids have end-of-the-year birthdays. Lucy's is November 13 and Simon's is December 2. Since we're on a birthday party rotation, it was Lucy's turn to have a party this year.

Lucy selected a "Fancy Nancy" birthday party with several 3/4 year old girls. Her main request at the party: dance to the song "Everything is Awesome" from the Lego Movie, which we did at least seven times.

The girls got their fancy on with a table full of accessories complete with photo shoot...

Decorated the table and played fancy games like "Make the Donkey Fancy"....

Had a fancy lunch...

And ended with presents and fancy cupcakes...

I've never felt so fancy in my whole life. Lucy had a GREAT time.

The family party was a much quieter event. I was able to volunteer at preschool that day and spent the day playing games with this little stinker. We enjoyed taco soup (her choice) and all-natural chocolate cupcakes (which she loved!).

Simon didn't have a birthday this year but we wanted to celebrate with something special so we told him he could pick one friend and go do something fun. He chose his BFF Izzy from school and decided to go to lunch at Noodles and Co and then paint pottery. No stress and a lot of fun. Plus all three kids were completely satisfied.

Because he didn't have a party, he got to have a fancy cake for his family birthday party. He, of course, chose Batman which worked out well since my mom gave me the pan she'd used for my brother when he was a little boy. He also chose Batman cookies to take to school, which took longer to make than the cake.

This time is going by so fast. I can't believe I have a seven-year-old and a four-year-old. I'm not ready for them to grow up so fast but I'm enjoying each stage and love seeing what wonderful people they are becoming.

Happy Birthday kiddos!!

Thursday, January 1, 2015

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Like Halloween, Christmas seems to span the entire month. The kids are gifted out (in my opinion anyway), Pandora made a fortune on all the ads I had to listen to, and my Kitchen aid is begging for a vacation. It's always sad to see Christmas end, but I love new beginnings and getting life back to normal.

Both the kids had great Christmas parties (which I didn't get pictures of somehow). Simon's consisted of food and two crafts. Lucy and I got to go help out which is always fun. I love seeing Simon's school and getting to know his classmates.

Lucy's party consisted of cookies, singing, and more cookies. This party was clearly designed for 3/4-year-olds.

This year we invited friends over for cookie decorating. It was basically awesome. Everybody brought decorations and the kids went to town frosting and sprinkling for about half an hour. It was a quick, fun way to get together and kick off Christmas break.

My parents came for Christmas Eve/Christmas again this year and as a treat brought my Grandma Martin from Evanston. I don't know if the kids realize how blessed they are to have such fabulous grandparents on both sides. Jacob and I know we are blessed for it.

Each year, the kids get to ask Santa for one gift. Lucy asked Santa for a doctor's kit with a stuffed Lambie and Simon asked for a "gross" science kit. We also get each of them one present. Simon and I are reading the Harry Potter series together so we got him a Firebolt (Harry Potter broom), a Harry Potter tie and Harry Potter glasses. He looked like this for the entire day. And the next day. And the next...

As a special surprise for Lucy, Jacob made her a toy box. This is the first thing Jacob has made for the kids. He let me pick out the paint and stencils which was a lot of fun. Lucy loves her new toy box.

Each year we have a party at our home on New Year's Eve. We invite our friends and their kids and play games and eat from about 6-10. It's a great way for those of us with kids to still have fun on New Year's Eve. This year, we had 47 people in our house. It was a great time with minimal casualties.

Today we celebrated New Year's day with our last trip to the aquarium. My fabulous sister got us a membership to the Aquarium for Christmas last year and it expired today. Because we're members, we got in half an hour earlier than opening today. This was fabulous as we were the only people there. We didn't see another person until the last exhibit.

2014 was a great year. I'm excited to see all 2015 has to offer.

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Why? Because we always get together with my entire family in Cheyenne. We spend four days together playing, eating and making fun of each other (that's what we do as Heybornes).

Sadly, I only took two pictures of the event, but I still wanted to document the event for my kids to look back on 20 years from now.

I have never seen kids get along as well as these cousins do. Though there is an almost 10-year span between the youngest and the oldest, they all play together so well. The oldest kids always include the youngest and the youngest have a bit of hero worship for the oldest. It's GREAT! Here is a picture of Sydney taking care of Lucy. Sydney (almost 13) spent the majority of the trip being followed around by Lucy (who claims Sydney is her best friend). Sydney was so patient and attentive. Those other two cuties in the picture are Jane, Simon and Donovan. Rachael is pretty cute as well.

Here are Lucy and Grandpa playing guitar. Grandpa was playing his guitar, which enthralled Lucy. Lucy then proclaimed she had to play Grandpa a song she'd worked really hard on. Lucy strummed while Grandpa changed chords. This is one of those pictures we'll cherish forever. Grandpa and Lucy have always had a very special relationship.

What a fabulous vacation. I know a lot of people think this about their families, but my family truly is the best family in the world.

Halloween 2014

I am once again behind in blogging/journal keeping. So I will try to keep this concise to keep my fingers from cramping up. Growing up, Halloween was a one night event. We dressed up, went trick-or-treating and came home happy. These days, it's a month-long event. Here are the highlights from our Halloween:

It began with Simon's school Halloween party. This was a huge all-school party with games, treats and prizes. Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the night. Jacob had a class that night so I was by myself with the kids. Lucy was a very fashionable witch and Simon was Luke Skywalker. He originally intended to be Batman, but masks were not allowed so rather than go without, he decided to go as something completely different... two hours before the party.

Next came Boo at the Zoo. This year, we invited our good friends the Buchanans and the Slaters to go with us.

Here we have Batman and Wild Style (Since her mom and I want these two to actually get married one day, this worked out nicely). The second she got there Simon walked up to her and said, "Hey. I'm your boyfriend." She came back with, "Okay." Oh if life were that easy.

Lucy the witch (Don't worry. She's a good witch) and her friend Dorothy (Malena)

Here is a picture of all the girls. We're so grateful to have such great friends here, not only for our kids but for us as well.

Then came pumpkin carving number one. As usual, Lucy was all over the goop and Simon refused to go near it. This year, we did get him to touch a pumpkin seed, so that's progress. Every year we let Simon draw a picture of what he wants the pumpkin to look like and Jacob carves it. It's great team work.

Then we had the parties. Simon had a karate party on Wednesday and Lucy had a school party on Thursday. Rather than make two separate treats, I made a big batch of chocolate-chip spider cookies with my basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It saved a lot of time.

Simon won the costume contest at his karate party. The parents and students were in charge of voting and the costume that earned the most applause won. Simon won a $20 gift certificate for karate gear. Like Batman needs karate gear...

Onto pumpkin carving number two. On Halloween morning, Max Buchanan hung out with us so his mom could go to school parties (Simon had a normal school day since his party was earlier in the month). Once again, Lucy was all over the goop.

Finally it was time to go trick-or-treating. Since we'd already been so many times (I forgot to mention the church Halloween party a week earlier), the kids were content with going out for about half an hour. As usual we came home and ate candy while watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown."

All things said, it was a successful Halloween month.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

And so it begins

I decided since we're less than two weeks from Halloween, I'd better post about the kids' first days of school so I'm not as far behind.

This year, Simon started first grade. He loves his teacher, Miss Pollack and still loves his school. We are so thankful he gets to go to a great school. That's something I have remind myself often when we're driving across town at 7:30 a.m. in a blizzard rather than putting him on a bus at 8:20 a.m. to go one mile to the neighborhood school. It's worth it... it's worth it... it's worth it.

Simon continues to love piano and is now a green belt in karate. WAHOO! I feel much safer knowing this kid has my back.

This year was momentous as my baby started preschool. I can't believe she's old enough for school, even if it is only 5 hours a week. She loves it and had no problem saying good-bye on the first day. In fact, I took her to the school for orientation the night before school began and after she said, "Alright Mom. See you tomorrow morning!" She was very upset when I told her she had to come home with me and she'd come back the next morning.

Lucy also started ballet with her BFF, Scarlette. She loves to dance so this is perfect for her. We even got to go to her first recital last week.

Even with all the school, piano, karate and ballet, we still try to make time to have fun together as a family. We decided to make it a yearly tradition to go to a Rockies game around the time school starts. Since the Rockies are terrible, it's usually pretty easy to get tickets without spending a lot of money. And since the kids don't care how badly the Rockies play as long as they get candy and to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," we always have a good time. This year, the Friday after school started was "Star Wars Night with the Rockies." No wasn't even an option. We all dressed up (kids, remember that if I ever need a kidney), marched across the ball field (which was really awesome) and ate until we were sick. That's the basic recipe for a perfect night.