Everest's 5th birthday party

We usually have a small party at home for our kids. This year we had a unique opportunity, at the Montessori auction in the Spring, a firefighter birthday party was auctioned off. The party is at a Lafayette fire station, with 8 firefighters. They have food, games, decorations, one of the firefighters makes a cake in the shape of a firetruck and the best thing of all, a ride around the station on the firetruck. The party itself sounded cool, but then we found out you actually get to ride on the truck. We have visited many stations and Everest always begs to ride on the truck. He loves firetrucks.
We have been looking forward to this party since May. But on the day, an hour before the party, the firefighters were called to a fire. We did not hear if anyone was hurt, but we hope it was a small fire with little damage. 

Here is the fire helmet pinata Everest, Nathan and I worked very hard to complete. Everest decided to save it for his party at the station. Luckily there is not food in the pinata. We sealed it after we put the stuff in.

Some of the party goers enjoying a couch firetruck ride. Everest and Nolan were the drivers.

The kids played dress up at the party. We have an extensive dress up bin. Elliot was a cheetah (which was Everest's Halloween costume) and Meredith was a Purdue cheerleader police officer.

We changed plans quickly and had the party at our house. The kids all had a blast and are looking forward to having another party sometime this Spring.

On the nineth day of Christmas

My baby turned 5!!!!! I can't believe it has been 5 years already. WOW time really does fly. I came across a quote about raising children recently but can't remember who said it, "the days are long but the years are short". How true that is. There are many days I feel will never end, but then a week seems to go by and I haven't even noticed. 
Everest was supposed to have a Firefighter birthday party this year. Nathan and I won it at Montessori's auction in the Spring. We have been so excited for the party. We had everything planned for the day after his birthday. The party was at 4. As I was picking him up from school at 3 on Friday, I got a phone call....the firefighters got called to a house fire. We were all very disappointed but knew this was a possibility and we hope that no one was hurt in the fire. We quickly changed gears and had the party at our house instead. We will reschedule his party for sometime in 2011. We will definitely post pictures when it happens.

Dec. 9th 2010. Everest Nathan Mentzer turns 5 years old. 5 years ago he was born in Logan UT. Nonnie and Papa had just arrived in UT the night before. Perfect timing Everest. He has grown into an amazing boy. We love you so much Everest. Happy Birthday!

Starting the morning with hot chocolate.

Next, we baked a cookie cake. I asked Everest what type of cake he wanted. He wanted a gingerbread cake. He has never had gingerbread so I wasn't sure how it would go, but it is what he wanted. At night he has a very small piece. He liked it, but was too excited about his presents to eat much.

Everest's birthday outfit. It is a firefighter print.

Birthday ring with new ornament. Everest is into cheetah's so he got a cheetah ornament this year. He placed it in the middle where the number usually goes.

Aurora was helping Everest and daddy put together his lego tractor and log loader. Thanks Nonnie and Papa.

Leaf was trying so hard to ride Everest's new scooter.

We love you Everest!

Leaf's 2nd birthday

My little boy turned 2 in October. I am a little behind. My parents came to Indiana for his birthday. We had a small pizza party for him. Our friends Heather, Christopher, Elliot and Micah came over. I got individual pizza pans for the kids so they got to make their own pizza!.

Leaf's birthday outfit. I lined the pants with flannel (my first try at lined pants). I didn't think about it, I used red flannel. After the first wash, the pants are now pink, I don't care so much about them being pink, but they do not match as well now, oh well, he's 2 and doesn't care. He loves his ball pants, and that is all that matters.

Making pizzas

Micah's pizza

Birthday boy with his crown.

Cake.

Eating cake.

"My Birthday" Leaf continues to say this, every time he see his kitchen. My parents got him a kitchen set. He loves it. He makes pizza and ice cream the most.

Happy Birthday Leaf! We love you.

Getting Ready for Baby #3

We have been getting ready for the baby as much as possible. With Everest being older, I have been trying to find ways to include him in welcoming the baby. We decided to have a birthday party for the baby. I found a really simple, but cool looking balloon wreath on a blog and decided it would be a great symbol for our neighbors to know we had the baby. And we can use it for the rest of our birthdays too.

Everest and I went and bought all the supplies: straw wreath (with plastic wrap), a variety of balloons, and floral pins.

Sorting the balloons. I didn't get any good pictures of him helping, but we spent about an hour putting balloons on. It was easy enough for Everest to push the pins in.

Here is the mostly finished product. I need to put a ribbon hanger on it so we can display it on the front door when the baby arrives. That is one of Everest's job, he is very excited about it.

While Nathan, Everest and Grami were in Montana, Leaf and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. We made a HUGE batch of granola (Leaf was sneaking some). I was hoping we would have it for after the birth, but everyone loves it and we are already half way through it. Thankfully Nonnie is here (she is the expert granola maker), so we will make more.

We also checked out the garden, hoping the tomatoes were rip to make sauce before the baby comes. I think we might be out of luck. I have some beautiful tomatoes, but they seem content at being green right now.

I have 2 basil plants in my herb garden. They are as tall as Leaf. I use fresh basil often, but I knew I wouldn't be cooking from scratch once the baby is here. We picked the plant almost bare (I got 2 buckets full). I made 8 bags of pesto and froze them, and had enough left over to make fresh pesto for dinner the other night. YUM!

Nathan and I spent the other day cleaning out and reorganizing our freezer. I wrote down everything in there so we know what we have. Now I have room to add more. I am spending my last few days before the baby is due filling it up. I am not sure how life with 3 kids will be, but I do know, I will not have time to cook from scratch....at least not in the first month or two.

Leaf's home water birth

I have been meaning to post about Leaf's home water birth for a while now. I wanted to post before the baby comes so those of you who have no idea what a home birth is like or why we would do another one, you can understand. This is why. It was the most beautiful, peaceful, intimate experience I have ever had. When we decided we were not having any more children, I was a little sad that I would never experience this again. Be careful what you wish for, right? Fast forward almost 2 years and we are going to have this amazing experience again (if all goes well). Home birth is not for everyone, and I am fully supportive of every woman birthing the way she feels comfortable. This is what is right for us.

Putting Everest to bed the night before. I started contractions in the afternoon, they were light until about 5 or 6 am.

Everest gave up sleeping with baby this night, he wanted to have baby be part of the experience too.

I LOVED my birthing ball, for both kids, we have it inflated and ready to go again. We also have the pool inflated, but put up on it's side so the kids DO NOT play with it (we don't want any holes in the pool!).

Around 7 am Everest and dad got up. Dad took Everest to play for the day. Thanks dad. This time he will have both kids, but he is bringing the motor home, so they will have a place to be if we have the baby in the middle of the night. He was so excited to meet his new sibling.

I started a contraction right when he woke up. I was doing my best not to let him know. Compared to his birth, the contractions were all manageable. Until the head came out, I would not describe the contractions as pain. They were uncomfortable, but not painful. I used the hypnobabies technique and let my body push him out. I only pushed once to help his head come out.

We will miss Kenya at this birth. She was good the whole time. She stayed out of the way, but checked on me once in a while. We miss you Kenya.

I got into the pool to relax, and it felt VERY good. A little too good. I relaxed enough that my labor stopped.This is one of my favorite birthing pictures.

Mom and Nathan taking a break and giving dad and Everest and update.

This was my birthing room. It was a beautiful October day. The sun was out, we couldn't have asked for a better morning. Isn't the pool so cute?

My water broke at 10 am and I got back into the pool.

My contractions were getting stronger, I knew we were close to having a baby. Nathan, my mom and my midwife were wonderful the whole time.

This is Nathan's favorite picture. Leaf is born! I love all the support I had bringing my beautiful little boy into this world. It was an amazing experience.

Everyone helping to welcome him from the womb. (Nathan and I and my mom....my midwife was there as our coach and helped when needed.)

This is Leaf, he sucked his fingers in the womb and continues sucking them to this day. The baby I am carrying also sucks its fingers. We were very blessed to get ultra sound pictures of it.

Nathan snuggling with our new born son.

Nonnie got some cuddle time too. She was happy and grateful to be there.

Nursing. We love you Leaf.

I would like to say thank you to Nathan for being amazing and supportive as a birth partner, husband, father and friend. I love you. Thanks mom for sharing this amazing experience. Thank you to our midwife for helping us find our way on this amazing journey. A very special thanks to our good friend and photography, Treya. The pictures she took were amazing and we will cherish them (and her) forever. She is an amazing photographer, I don't even remember her taking pictures. Thanks for being conspicuous! Thank you to Papa, for taking care of our other precious baby during Leaf's birth. And thank you to Leaf for being in our lives.

A friends birthday party

We went to one of Everest's friend birthday party on Sunday. It was at Monkey Joes. If you have never been to one (like us), it is a kids dream when it comes to bouncing. It was a big room full of blow up bounce things. It was hard keeping track of Everest, he was running around having fun. Check out his red face in the pictures.

Everest going down the big slide. You can see Courtney taking Leaf up the steps (at the bottom right hand corner). Leaf really wanted to go down, so I let him. We were not allowed to go with them, so Courtney helped him up and I caught him. We only did it 3 times, because he flipped and started rolling the third time.

Meredith is almost 2 and has no fear at all. This slide was really fast, but she got right up and did it again and again. Poor Leaf, he loves playing with her, and he tried so hard to keep up with her.

Leaf taking a break in one of the bounce houses, and of course, sucking his fingers.

Leaf and Meredith getting ready to go down the slide. Leaf was just a little too short to get his leg up onto the step. There was nothing above for him to grab and pull himself up, so I had to go in and help him.

Monkey Joe came to visit while we were having cake. The kids all got up and did the chicken dance with him...well most of them, Everest wasn't sure what to think of everything. He kept asking me afterwords if Monkey Joe was real or just someone dressed up.

This picture is amazing. I did not take it. Ali (Morgan's mom) is a photographer and take wonderful pictures. We have the same camera, but as you can see she has the skill. This was after the party. The boys were saying goodbye and thanks to Morgan. (Morgan, Nolan, Everest and Roman). Notice how red Everest's face is...might be because he had on a long sleeve shirt and he never stopped running. That is what happens when they turn 4 and want to dress themselves.

Thanks Matt, Ali, Matthew, Morgan and Mason. We had a great time. Happy Birthday Morgan!

Getting ready for a party

Growing up, Nathan's mom would make him a cookie cake for his birthday. I have been trying to keep the tradition going. This year, both boys helped me make the cake. Leaf REALLY wanted to run the mixer, but in typical "Leaf fashion" the minute I touched the mixer he let go and screamed. (He is so determined, independent and stubborn, all qualities that will be wonderful in his life, but sometimes make me crazy!) I found that I could hold on to the underside of the back without him realizing this. He was so proud of himself. All Everest wanted to do was play in the flour.
Adding the chocolate chips, so much fun to stir them in!


We ran out of time to decorate the cake, but no one seemed to mind. We invited our neighbors over to celebrate with us. We had Nathan's favorite food, a Costa Rican meal (Gallo pinto, hearts of palm salad, and fried plantains).

Yeah daddy. Both boys helped him blow out the candles. As is typical these days, Everest did not want his picture taken.

Nathan's birthday gift

Every year I try to have Everest (and now Leaf too) make something for Nathan's birthday. This way he is directly involved in the gift and not just picking something out. We usually paint some type of picture. This year, I decided to make it a little more than just a picture. We sanded and painted a frame too. We have had so much fun making it. Everest loves to go to daddy's office and see his paintings on the wall.

Ready to work. My parents got the leaf apron for Leaf for Christmas and Teresa got the little apron for Leaf from Etsy. Isn't it adorable on him?
Nathan had found an old picture frame in his mom's attic over Christmas. He brought them home for us to use, so we did. The frame was shiny, gold with black specs. I wanted the boys to paint it and I wasn't sure if the paint would stick to the smooth surface. We decided to sand it first.

Leaf even got into the sanding.....as long as he can keep his fingers in his mouth, he is up for anything.

Starting to paint.
Leaf painted 90% of the time with his fingers in his mouth. At least this hand stayed clean of paint.

Everest wanted to make flowers for Nathan's birthday. We started with some tissue paper, scissors and pipe cleaners.
Assembling the flowers. He was very focused on this task. (He has been into wearing his Purdue hats lately.)
Proud of the flowers we made.Leaf drew while we were working on other things. I traced his hand print on the paper and then cut them out. I glued down the middle and ring finger (the sign for "I love you") and put a heart on the palm with "Leaf 2010". I also punched 2 holes in the palm and put a pipe cleaner through it.
Here are our flowers and painting for Nathan.