The Brenay Family

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Happy Birthday Derrick!!

Derrick celebrated his 4th birthday on March 23rd. It's hard to believe our baby is 4 years old! He keeps asking if he is still 4! :) We had his all day celebration when we went to Golfland, but he and I still had some fun on his actual birthday. We went to Sweet Tomoatoes for lunch and to Build-A-Bear Workshop. He chose a dog at Build-A-Bear, which he named spot for the spot on his eye. After we got home I made his birthday cake. For those who know Derrick well, you know he LOVES the color green and anything that is green. So, his birthday cake was green! He wanted a green cake with green sprinkles. I say it every time I make a cake, but I really need to learn how to decorate cakes better. But luckily a 4 year old is pretty easy to please. We had the table set for his birthday with the cake on it, then we had to wait for daddy to get home from a work trip he was on. I was in the other room doing something when I came out and caught a glimpse of the cake and noticed little finger prints and holes poked in it. Then I found the culprit. Derrick had a green face and green hands! I was mad , then I laughed, then I took a picture because it was pretty funny. Derrick felt bad (you'll see from his face in the picture). He thought he was in more trouble than he was. Once Jon got home (around 7:30pm which is bedtime) Derrick opened presents and we had green cake and mint ice cream. Emma was so excited to give Derrick the present she picked out for him. It was Stanley the Train from Thomas. In the picture you can see Emma looking more excited than Derrick when he opened it! He got some other small presents and we ate cake and ice cream and called it a night. He said he had a great birthday. We sure love our Bubba!!

Build-A-Bear Workshop...

They made him a special birthday sticker with is name and age on it at Build-A-Bear and gave him some Easter candy. He felt pretty special!

Lunch and ice cream at Sweet Tomatoes

The green cake before it was destroyed

And after!

The birthday boy caught "green handed"!

Emma was very pleased with her present to Derrick

"Happy Birthday to you..."

Make a wish!

YUM!

A new Thomas move from Grandma and Grandpa Clark

Legos from Grandma and Grandpa Trafzer

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spring Break

Spring Break started on Friday March 12th with "Crazy Hair Day" at Emma's school. She was so excited about this! I quickly discovered that it takes much longer to make hair look crazy than it does to make it look normal! She did make it to the bus on time, but not without a brief moment of doubt that she might get laughed at. I told her it was crazy hair day and people would look much sillier than her and it was fun to do. So she left feeling better (and no one laughed at her crazy hair!).

That day Derrick and I stayed home and cleaned the house. I asked Derrick to go dust his room and then forgot that he had the duster. Later that day I opened his closet to put clothes away and found he hung up the duster in his closet! That boy sure makes us laugh sometimes!

On St. Patrick's Day the kids started the day with the breakfast of Irish Champions...Lucky Charms and green milk! :) They thought it was so fun to drink green milk that they had it with breakfast and dinner! That day we also met some friends at the park to play. We went to a park I had never been to in Chandler called Tumbleweed park. It was a really fun park with a large play structure and a small bike paths for the kids to ride bikes on. Derrick has really excelled in riding his bike lately. I think we may lose his training wheels soon. Emma...she a little more timid! That park did stress me out a little because the play structure is so big and it was so crowded it was hard to keep track of the kids. But we survived and had a fun time!

Emma trying to show off her green milk mustache!

On Thursday, Jon took the day off so we could celebrate Derrick's birthday a little early. The kids have been begging to go to the "castle" off the freeway. So, off to Golfland we went. It was actually really fun! First Derrick picked to go to Macaroni Grill for his birthday lunch. If you have never tried their Sundae's there, you have to try one. The chocolate sauce is amazing! At Golfland we rode the race cars (twice) and played video games. Another surprise was the cost. It was only $8 for an hour long play card. So we bought one and shared it and the kids got to play as many games as they wanted in that hour. Pretty reasonable! Derrick's favorites were the motorcycle game and the car game. Emma like Ms. Pacman! The smell of the castle is still the same as when I was a kid and Jon and I had a lot of fun being kids again and experiencing something with our own children that we use to do when we were young.

The rest of Spring Break was pretty much spent outside where the weather was beautiful and the kids loved playing on their swing set, riding scooters and riding bikes. We even got to go to lunch with Grandpa Clark one day. I was happy for Emma to go back to school though. She was getting bored. I have no idea what we will do during the summer when I can't just send them outside to play! Lots of swimming at friends houses I suppose!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Emma's Field Trip

I am a little behind on blogging, but I will try to do better!
Emma had her first field trip in the beginning of February. They went to The Stuffington Bear Factory in Phoenix. It is similar to Build-a-Bear Workshop, but they make all their animals on site at Stuffington. The kids got to tour the back work space, make a bear and hear how teddy bears came to be. Emma picked out a pink teddy bear and named her Pink Sparkles! (She's such a girly girl!) Emma loved it and I'm glad I was able to go with her.