Happy Birthday Carter!

 Another birthday has come!  And what an exciting one at that!  Carter informed us a few weeks ago that we WOULD be having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party for him this year.  He had it all planned out, and who can argue with a 5 year old?  It turned out perfect because his birthday was on a Saturday this year, so we invited a few friends, made a birthday cake and off to Chuck E. Cheese we went.  What is this strange looking cake you wonder?  This is Jay from Ninjago. That should clear it all up for you.

 Carter has a buddy from school named Camren.  He was so excited that Camren actually got to come to his birthday party, and so was I.

 Here is the birthday crowd... Sydney, Ella, Carter's BFF Logan, Carter, Camren, and our neighbor boy Jackson.  Spencer, Tyler and Sam were also honorary members, which was all good with them as far as the pizza and soda was concerned, but as soon as it came time to dance and sing with Chuck E Cheese, they were less than festive.

 Here's the Mouse himself...

 I was actually quite shocked that Carter would pose with Chuck E.  As you can see from his expression, this mouse was not the reason he chose this venue for his party.

  Here is the Family shot.  Hey!  Who is the Steven look-a-like?  That is Steve's brother Lynn who came to visit for the weekend!  He is a father of nine and had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before.  Well, we hooked him up!  He has also never been to any of the iconic sites in Chicago, and did we take him to any of those?  Nope, just Chuck E. Cheese.  So, all of you who are wondering if you should come and visit the Gordon clan, you can clearly see that it is only the very best for our visitors!

 Blowing out those five candles!

 As part of the birthday party package, the birthday boy gets to go in the ticket blower and collect as many tickets as he can.  If you look carefully at these pictures you will recognize that the gentleman inside the blower is NOT the birthday boy at all.  That is because the birthday boy had no interest in going inside that tube of blowing tickets.  The reason might be because he had recently watched this Studio C episode with his brothers.  Whatever the reason, Carter was given permission to elect a stand-in, and he chose big brother Sam to do the honors for him.

 Sam made a noble effort to collect as many tickets as possible for Carter, and he so sweetly handed them all over when he was done.  What a good big brother!

 The kids were super excited to see this sign hanging up, they are huge Studio C fans!

The rest of the day included a massive snowball fight with Uncle Lynn, some yummy pulled pork, and a rousing game of Quiddler.

 

All in all, a super fun day!  Happy Birthday Carter!!

Daddy's Boy

     So Steve went with me the other morning to drop Carter off at Preschool.   And, being the good Daddy he is, he took Carter in while I, you know, kept the car warm (it was the least I could do).
     When Steve got back in the car he was laughing, and recounted this conversation he had with Carter's teacher.  She stopped Steve and said, "I wanted to ask you a question.  We were doing a project with the kids the other day and were asking them what they want to be when they grow up.  Carter said he wants to be what you are."
     Steve thought, "Ok, he wants to be in marketing or sell spices, that's not so strange."
     But Carter's teacher continued to say, "I'm not sure what you do, but He said he wants to be a Bishop."

Halloween 2014!

                           

 Happy Halloween to one and all!  Here are a few fun shots of the kids costumes this year.  We had a visit from Dr. Who, the famous soccer player Messi, a BYU football player, and two pirates: Jake and Zarina. 

To truly be a Jake and the Neverland Pirates look-a-like, we decided that Carter needed to dye his hair black. It took a little doing, but we did finally convince him how awesome and fun it would be to spray his hair.  He relented, and while it wasn't as jet black as I had hoped, it was fun!  However, by the end of the night he looked more like Jake might in his nineties.  His hair was definitely more gray than black!

And, if you don't know who Zarina is, then you need to spend a little time with this action-packed movie right here:

We never knew there were such things as pirate fairies before!  And, if you ever wanted to know where Captain Hook came from, then this is the movie for you. 

 Enjoy your candy!  I know I, I mean, WE will!

Pickle Jars and Super Strength

     There is a great story that will, inevitably, go down in Gordon Family Lore.  A couple of years ago I bought a big jar of pickles.  The next day when I went to open the jar, I found it impossible to even budge the lid.  The boys began taking turns exerting their manliness and tried to open the pickle jar.  But alas, the lid would not give.  The next day we tried again, but again to no avail.  I began to wonder if we would ever be able to enjoy those yummy pickles. Lunchtime came again the next day, and again we were craving those pickles.  Sam pulled the jar out, gave the lid a squeeze, and low and behold the jar opened!  Amazing!  My eight year old boy saved us from the pickle famine!  And, to this day, we still talk about the day that Sam opened the pickle jar.

     Just a few weeks ago, while waiting to go to school, Sam was doing some of those funny quizzes you find on the internet, you know the ones, where you answer certain questions and it tells you which character from Harry Potter you would be and so forth.  Sam was interested in knowing which Superpower he would have, and after answering all of the questions, this was the result he got...

Oh yeah!  That's my boy.