Happy Birthday Via "Merlot"

Our good friends, Joe and Debbie Nix, hosted a birthday celebration for all the August birthday's on the street (Via Mero but we like to call it Via Merlot since we are all such vinos)!! Anyway, their beachhouse is down in Carlsbad and we spent the afternoon there with all our friends. The food was great, the pool was cool and the kids all had a blast! Here are some pictures of our day:

The birthday gang: Maureen, Katin, Drew, Christian & Xander (not pictured: Erin and Dave)

Tawni, Christy, Kimberly, Maureen, Denise and Debbie (Via Merlot Girls)

Birthday Weekend - Happy Birthday to Xander

Okay, 2 birthday's down and my mom's and a neighborhood friend of Xander's, Katin's 15th b-day is tomorrow. Whew.... Saturday was actually Alexander's (I don't get to call him that often, :-)) and we actually had a relaxing afternoon. We were going to go down to Del Mar to see a horse race however, he said that he would rather hang out with us and his friends. So....off to the movies we went. Xander and Bob went to see the "highly acclaimed" Simpson's movie and the 2 little one's and I went to see Ratatouille. I can't speak for the Simpson's movie but Ratatouille was absolutely delightful. I would see that again. A great family friendly movie for kids, it was very entertaining. Both of our movies started at the same time however ours was about 20 minutes longer than the Simpson's movie, so Bob and Xander snuck in to watch the ending of ours!

Afterwards, we went over to Barnes & Noble. We can't keep Xander in books and he could spend the entire day in the book store just reading and perusing the aisles looking for something that he hasn't possibly already read. I bought his some dragon fantasy book that he wanted and then he bought the Sherlock Holmes Classics book (in the bargain section) for himself. He LOVES the classics and has read many of them. He will be one step ahead of the English teacher in H.S. when it comes to reading because he has already most all of the required reading. Every time one of his friends or their parents mentions that a book is required in a class, he requests to get that book and adds it to his collection. All this from the boy we thought would NEVER want to read. Thank goodness for Harry Potter, that first novel was his entrance into fantasy land. Bob would read a chapter to him every night in different voices for each character (long before there was ever a movie) and Xander was completely engrossed and realized at that moment that books could take him on far away adventures or teach him about real life lessons. So, I am thankful for the Harry Potter series, it created a reader in my home!!!

I talked to my dad tonight and got the update on my brother and 2 sisters. Daniel is headed to Iraq in September so please keep him in your prayers. We want him to return to his wife, 2 daughters and the rest of us safely. It's hell over there and I am sorry he has to go but I am also thankful for people like Daniel, it is because of him and others like him, we sleep safely at night and have the freedom we do! I am very proud of him. My other sister, Jessica, has her first baby due in a few months, I am very excited for her. Another girl will be added to the estrogen rich McKinney grandchildren gene pool for my dad and step mom. They are loving having all the grandchildren, it keeps them busy....among other things!

We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out as a family, reading our new books and bbq-ing with neighbors. It was quite relaxing. I had to take Bob to the airport tonight, he is headed to Reno until Wednesday. This coming week should be fairly laid back with little to do.

It is late, I want to read another chapter and head off to sleep so I'll catch up again tomorrow! Good night....

Happy Birthday to Christian! He's THREE!

Wow, I can hardly believe that my baby boy is a big THREE today. Wherever did the time go? I made him a special breakfast of pancakes and bacon (his favorite), he was VERY happy! Since Xander's b-day is on Saturday, Hannah and I are going to make them both a cake tomorrow and do a small joint celebration tomorrow night as a family. You see, I decided years ago that having 3 kids gets very expensive when you have to host birthday parties every year so we only host large parties on milestone year, i.e. one, five, ten, thirteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty one, etc. On a milestone year, we pull out all the stops and make it a huge deal, all the other years, we quietly celebrate with family. Although regardless of the year, each person does get a "birthday" week that begins on the day of their birthday for one week. They do not have to do any chores, take out the garbage, etc and are basically allowed to just hang out, play and have a good time. They get catered to by other members of the family during their week, not a bad deal!

So, today starts Christian's birthday week. He is happily watching tv right this moment (a rare thing since we don't watch a lot of tv) so I will wrap this up soon and head down to play. Later this afternoon we are headed to a friends for an afternoon of swimming and playing and enjoying the day!

Here the "Moose" is riding a friend's bike while we were at the beach in Carlsbad!

I am so excited for my darling. baby boy, he is now THREE!