The finale to "Birthday Week" for Brady

Well Brady's actual Birthday was spent with him still laying around recuperating from the flu, so luckily we had already scheduled his Birthday party for the Saturday after. We had a family/friend Birthday Party at the local skating center, it was a lot of fun. I can't show any pictures with them skating because it's too dark in there, so you'll have to settle for cake cutting and present opening.

This is my cute nephew Sam, he is too young to skate but they had a stroller that he could sit in and his daddy pushed him around on it, he had SO much fun. How happy is he?

Here is another look at my excellent cake decorating abilities, ha-ha! Poor kids, they have a dorky mom that makes their cakes instead of buying them.

We are thankful for....the Broncos?

Every year when we get our Broncos tickets, we let each of the kids pick the games that they want to go to before we invite anyone else. B chose the Thanksgiving game this year and got a little surprise from his Uncle Sam - he got to go on the field before the game. We didn't tell him so he would be surprised when they got there. Brian just gave him his pass and they headed down to the field. I sent Brian the camera and made him promise to take pictures, well he didn't need to because B must have taken about 150 pictures. When they got home, I had to look at them all.

This is probably the first year that B has actually wanted to go to the Bronco game. Rachel and Mason have been going since they were little and always beg to go, they never pass up and opportunity, but B will usually pick a game and end up giving it to his brother or his sister. He is really into this year though, he has been waiting for his game to come and even been excited. So the field pass was a nice surprise. Thank you Uncle Sam.

B with Brian and my cousin Brian who works on the field. He played catch with B on the field. Pretty cool, huh?

Ummm, yeah this is a picture of Josh McDaniels that they had to take for me! :) Well, actually I think Brian may have a man crush on him too, so maybe it wasn't for me???

Happy Birthday Brady!

Happy 11th Birthday Brady!

I'm sorry that you spent the day sick. I hope that you keep feeling better so that you can have a good birthday party on Saturday.

11 years ago today was the best day of my life, my love for you continues to grow each and every day. You are a wonderful son and you make me proud for so many reasons. Continue to grow into the smart, handsome, and kind young man that I know you are going to be.

I love you and hope that you have a great 11th Birthday! XXOO - Mom

H1N1...is all that it is cracked up to be!

Well, the Strong Household has been hit by those initials that we have all been dreading, Brady is the first, and I'm going out on a limb to say, hopefully the last victim in our family to get H1N1.

It started early last Wednesday; he woke up with a high fever, body aches, sore throat, and a severe headache. We called the doctor's office as soon as they opened and he was tested - yes indeed, a casualty of H1N1 he is.

We have had an interesting week to say the least, we have good optimistic moments just to be knocked back down with a reminder that this is not your normal 24-hour flu. We have had him quarantined in our bedroom to keep him away from Rachel and Mason as much as we could. We have had many sleepless nights and plenty of worry.

He has been able to fight the fever taking motrin faithfully, however the headache and body aches are a lot to bear for a kiddo fighting this nasty stuff. Now... he has a giant fever blister on his lip from the high fevers that has now split so it looks like someone has punched him in the face.

Trying to force fluids down him has been one of the biggest struggles, he doesn't feel like eating or drinking. I'm not as concerned about the eating as I am the drinking. I am practically bribing him to drink. He keeps saying "Mom, I don't think this is the flu anymore, I think I have something else now". No, babe it is still the flu, just the worst flu you have ever had.

So, keep us in your thoughts, we are still fighting this thing. He missed school 3 days last week, and unless he wakes up and is miraculously cured, I don't see him going to school tomorrow or Tuesday. I see a looonnnggg Thanksgiving break in his future.

There are many yucky things with this stuff, but the worse thing right now is that tomorrow is his Birthday. I am so sad that he will be sick for his 11th Birthday. He will be hanging out at home instead of taking treats to school to celebrate with his friends. Thankfully, his actual Birthday party isn't scheduled until next weekend so... wishful thinking for a recovery by then.

Happy Halloween!

(Brady dressed as a punk-rock skeleton)

This year Halloween was a little weird for the Strong Family. Rachel and Mason were in Arvada visiting their mom, so it left Brady as an only child with two parents that don't really get into the Halloween spirit. Needless to say, he was less than thrilled that we had no exciting plans for him.

We ordered some pumpkin shaped pizzas and he went out trick or treating for a couple of hours with his friend / grandma's bf's son, Scott and helped hand out candy.

(Brady and Scott)

We did not get a lot of trick or treaters this year, those kids must have had cool parents that actually planned for them to do something more exciting than what we did.

I do have to show off my very cutes neices and nephew, Emma (cheerleader), Ally (Minnie Mouse), and Sam (Mickey Mouse). I do miss the days of dressing them up so cute and taking them to show their cuteness off. Ehhhh -Hmmm, I don't have a picture of my other cute neice and nephews to share (hint-hint brother).

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

I can't imagine living anywhere else in the world, well except maybe Hawaii, but that would probably get boring looking at beautiful blue ocean all day. I love that we have seasons here, we can go from summer to winter overnight. This week we had our first big snow of the season.

The kids have had 2 snow days. Rachel caught up on movies, Mason has played endless X-Box, although did scoop the walks for us (thank you Mason), and Brady, well has anyone seen Brady? It seems that he has spent the last two days building forts, having nerf fights in the front yard, and playing with half the block. I heard from him once in the last two days asking where all of his "old snow pants" were for the other kids on the block. He of course found his in his snowboarding gear, but needed to outfit the block for endless fun.

It was nice to put yummy soups in the crockpot for the last couple of days; we had beef stew and homeade chicken noodle soup. Mmmmm!

Rachel and Mason are back in school tomorrow, although their mom is coming for the weekend so we will be without them for a couple of days.

Brady had the day off already because it is teacher in-service day, so he will end up having a 5 day weekend. Lucky kid. Because I've put in some extra hours at work this week, I get the day off tomorrow too, which I am very much looking forward to.

Today is also my 'little' sister's Birthday. She didn't end up having a very fun day to do stuff, considering the weather. So tomorrow, Brady and I will go down and take her to lunch to celebrate since we couldn't get there tonight. So Happy Birthday Julie, looks like you will get a Birthday Festival Weekend, thanks to the weather.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is Rachel's 17th Birthday! I can't even believe that we are the parents of a 17 year old. It seems like yesterday that she was playing with Barbies. Now, she drives, she texts, she works, she drinks coffee, oh and she has a tattoo (see photo of Tattoo - Day 2).

She woke up this morning, and Brian took her to her favorite Donut Shop and to Starbucks, for her other addiction.

This afternoon we will have one of her favorite lunches, spiral ham and au gratin potatoes (definately not my favorite) and I made her a cake, a pretty cute one if I do say so myself.

Tonight she is going with a couple of friends to go haunted housing! She is a freak for that stuff. They are going to the Haunted Field of Screams in Thornton and The Haunted Forest in Parker. After the haunted houses, they are going to see Paranormal Activies at the movie theatre. I can't imagine that she will be able to drive home after all of that scary stuff, I wouldn't be able to, I know that.

Happy Birthday Rachel, we love you and are really proud of you. Have a great night, be safe.