Party Animals!

I had a really good birthday party on Saturday the 20th. The main theme was "Party Animal". This was the sign Annika and I made to let people know to go to the backyard gate.

Mom made zebra striped cupcakes. The one on the bottom left was mine, because it had extra frosting. :)  Each cupcake had a puzzle piece with a secret message written on the back.

This is a table with refreshments we made for animal food.

The kitty littler squares are rice krispie treats with sprinkles in them. They were the treat people ate most.

When people walked into the backyard, they got special patterned party hats and sunglasses so they could be party animals.

We played a game called "who am I". We guessed what animal was written on our back and if we guessed right, we got a different animal. It took me a long time to figure out I was a zebra!

We also played games like "poor kitty" and animal charades.

The Bean Museum set up a live animal show at my house. A women came and showed us a snake named Monty. It was python.

We also saw a turtle named Topper.

And a tarantuala named Gwen.

My favorite animal was Topper the Turtle because he kept banging in his cage and trying to get out. And when we set him on the grass he moved really quickly to get away.

I really loved all of my presents. I got a cake pop maker and a mermaid Barbie, four Lego sets, a chalkboard, and a Nerf gun at my birthday party!

My friends who came were Kelsie Bingham, Ashby, Brayden Grodigut, Kaylee Halbfell, Annika Boyack, Levi, Emily Good, James Reid and Max Burley. Some of the friends I invited weren't able to come, which was too bad.

The secret message on the back of the puzzle was to have a dance party! "Party Animals! Let's rock 'n rock 'n roll!"

Paige at Haigler

Paige was invited to attend a week-long cousin girls camp at Haigler Creek. This was her first time away from home by herself, and she even traveled to and from Arizona with people she had never met before (from Jana's side of the family). Lucky for Paige, she is very capable of making new friends. I missed my helper Paige while she was gone, but so grateful that she had this neat opportunity.

Here's what Paige has to say about it:

When I went to Haigler I went with Kim Lofgreen.

 My cousins, step cousins, and I loved to play in the river and cross it over and over again!

Every now and then we would go to the tree house close by the cabin we stayed in with Grandpa and Grandma Jana.

Julie, Kate, and I were the only ones brave enough to come to the very top.  It was much nicer than I remembered when last time I visited it.

We set a goal to finish our totebags by the time it was time to go, and we did it!

When I came home with my step cousins family, (the people that took me home) I saw my Mom and Dad waiting for me outside. You should've seen my face when I saw the poster hung on the door!

The names of the students  that were at camp were:

Paige Blumer 

Julie and Kate Smith

Ellie Greer 

Meagan Allred 

and Afton Allred.

The names of the helpers and leaders were:

Bethany Allred

Faith Fisher 

Dale Porter 

and Jana Allred 

Thank you For reading this entry on THE ROOMER ON THE BLUMERS!

To Be American

Paige, Ashby and I were able to perform in our second UVMCO concert and it was amazing! Completely filled with patriotic music, new and classic. Ashby's group sang My Country Tis of Thee and You're a Grand ol' Flag. (We decided to not have Levi participate this time round and hope he learns how to follow instructions soon). Paige's group sang To Be American, Profile of a Flag, and Let Slavery Clank. She says her favorite was To Be American.

The whole experience was incredible. Our very first song received a standing ovation - a standing ovation on the first song! My favorite song was an African spiritual, Follow the Drinkin Gourd. The night before the concert we had a dress rehearsal in SLC and it made for a long night to be away from home and away from my newborn. But I was just so grateful to have the opportunity. I know it wasn't easy on Brian but I told him, "Thank you so much for letting me do something other than take care of babies." I have been glad to have such an uplifting and challenging activity that shows me I can stretch and grow in different areas of life.

Provo City Hershey's Track and Field Meet

 I did the standing long jump. It made my stomach go uirlch.

 I did the 50 meter race.

My legs were tired.

This is the soft ball throw.

It hurt my arm.

Happy Valentine's Day

Submarine valentine box

Heart shaped cinnamon rolls. :)

 

Valentine hand outs this year. 

Scary Moment

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                   By: Paige A. Blumer                                                                     2/8/2014

Just today I was almost lost. I could’ve died! It all started out in the morning, I was pretending that I was being hanged, I had the window shade rope wrapped around my neck. Dad saw me and told me to get the rope off me. But I slipped off the stool I was on and got choked badly! My neck almost got SLICED! Luckily Dad was nearby and quickly lifted me up, he’s a life saver!It was very scary, but now I know to never, ever play like that.

WHAT PAIGE THINKS ABOUT CHRISTMAS BREAK

Oh, I can not wait for school!But I did have a fun time during Christmas Brake. Hey, do you want to here about how it was? Well here we go!   

 This is my favorite present, boy was I surprised when he was in my stocking!And I found out his name is Waddles. Isn't he the cutest thing?

                                                              

 I loved the Ice Castle!

               I got a headache from all the bumping and jumping when sledding with Annika.

 I got to hold Adam for the first time!

(he's my cousin visiting from Georgia)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

Most thoughtful Christmas Present

 The most thoughtful Christmas present award goes to Paige.

She has been concerned about Ashby's picky-eater-ness and wanted to do something to help him want to eat dinner with his family.

So she made him his very own place mat!  Complete with pictures of some of his favorite things - Ninjago (those are spinning tornadoes under them) and Skylander characters, and a snowflake smiley face.

He loved it! (But that doesn't mean he has started eating dinner).

One of Paige's favorite birthday presents

Excited for General Conference

All I did was a leave on a note on the garage door for the kids to read when they got home from school. (It was early out so I knew I would most likely be napping next to Levi in his room).

The note said, "Tomorrow is General Conference and we need everything CLEAN! Look around and be helpful!"

When I awoke from my nap Paige had been working like a busy bee. She cleared the table, wiped down the bathroom, tidied her room, picked up toys in the family room, encouraged Ashby to do the dusting, and washed all the dishes in the sink!

I was so impressed by her good attitude and hard work.

Nine Years Old at Lagoon

Paige says, "My birthday was so awesome! My very first roller coaster was the wooden one. It goes up and down and up and down and zoom. I tried to go on the spider ride but I was already sick just looking at it. My favorite ride...  (that's a toughy) was Bombora and the Bat. I went on it a ton of times with Ashby."

This year we decided to celebrate Paige's birthday at Lagoon. We were fortunate enough to get some free tickets  so we were excited for this opportunity that we would never do otherwise.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. The weather was perfect and the lines weren't even too long!

I was worried about being allowed to ride anything while pregnant, but there weren't any restrictions. That was good because Brian doesn't ride roller coasters. So I went on the first few coasters with Paige and Ashby. But then I couldn't handle it anymore. It took all my strength and energy not to throw up and to keep a happy face. Eventually I found a moment to put my head in my hands and cry a little. Then I felt better. Man - I don't want to get too old to ride roller coasters!

I thought the river raft ride was pretty fun with the kiddos. Even though we got pretty wet, the sun felt nice afterward.

We brought picnic food and a bunch of cupcakes to eat. Everyone had a good time, except for Cody - he definitely wanted to take a nap, but we kept him entertained.

It was a fun day. But, for future reference, we found out that Lagoon is definitely not worth the money.

Princess Festival

Paige got to join her cousins on their very first experience at the Princess Festival at Thanksgiving point. Thanks to Adrienne and Grandma for taking them. We realized we didn't have any princess costumes that fit Paige anymore, but luckily her upcoming Halloween costume filled the perfect slot for a Mulan character. She really enjoyed herself.

Paige and the Chamber of Secrets

Paige spent last summer reading the first Harry Potter book.
So, the first book she checked out this summer was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

She finished it in less than a week.

Congratulations Paige!

The only trouble is, now she is too scared to go anywhere in the house by herself. Her imagination runs wild and she thinks she hears noises and that the basalisk in going to capture her.

Oh dear! 

Maybe she wasn't ready for Harry Potter after all. 

Everybody Dance Now

Paige performing in her after-school jazz dance recital. She loved it!

"Change the y to i and add e s"

Found this sign on Paige's bedroom door.

I guess she is learning something at school.

Science Fair Winners

Paige and Ashby entered the school science fair today.
Their question was: "Does adding triangle shapes to a structure make it more stable?"

I told the kids we had to do something simple because we didn't have time for anything spectacular.

We looked through some science books and Paige stopped at a picture of marshmallow construction. Well, that's simple enough - marshmallows and spaghetti noodles. We already had all the materials and it would be fun for the kids to build.

It was fun! The kids built lots of squares and cubes, snapped lots of noodles and ate lots of marshmallows. It was simple, but they got the concept. They also liked searching the web for pictures of cool buildings and bridges that incorporated the concept they had just witnessed.

The judging was today (Wed), we did the project Monday night for FHE and made the poster last night. We kept it pretty low-key. I had thought about skipping out on the science fair this year, but I think its important for them to have these extracurricular activities.

Past years I've gotten to help judge projects and stick around for motivational support. This year I had to drop the kids off early, help them set up, pick up Brian and the little kids, take Brian to work for an early meeting, rush back to the school, pick up Ashby (even though he wasn't quite done with the judging), and hurry to the church so I could unlock the door to start aerobics.

I wasn't sure how the science fair would turn out, but the kids came home from school this afternoon all excited. "We got a gold medal! We won!"

Well, what do you know? I guess simple is better.

Good job Paige and Ashby!

"All I want for Christmas is my one front tooth!"

Paige got her wish.

She came into our bedroom to wake us up Christmas morning with the big news....she had lost her front tooth!!

Freckle Juice

Here's what Paige has to say about her latest creation...

I got the idea for Cody's blue freckles from Judy Blume's "Freckle Juice". It was kind of a funny book. So I got kind of really wanting to have a brother with freckles. I have freckles so I was really wanting to see what a brother with freckles looks like. So I put blue freckles on my baby brother Cody with a blue marker that you can draw on stuffed doodle animals. I thought it could wash off anyway, because it said it could wash off the other toys. But you cannot put Cody in the washing machine. That would be silly and hurt him! I kind of liked the way Cody looked with blue freckles, instead of brown. And then mommy came to get Cody and she looked at him and then she said, "Why does Cody have blue freckles on him?" And I said, "Ummm...I did that." And then she went to wash it off while I was drawing a picture (it looks realistic) and then she called me and said, "Paige! Its not coming off! Why did you do that?!" 
And now you know the story...

Crazy Hair Day

 It was crazy hair day at school today. I'm not very good at doing hair, or very creative. But the kids were happy with the results.

Paige went to school with a ratted up mess of ponytails. I'm not really looking forward to brushing it out later.   

Ashby wanted to look like Grandad. So we shaved the top of his head and left all the sides long. . I couldn't bring myself to actually buzz it to his scalp - this is a #2. I was surprised that Ashby was actually interested in drawing any attention to himself. Its surprising how shy/stage-fright he gets. So hopefully he will enjoy a little showing off today.