Open up a present, may your day be pleasant, just for you!

The last (but definitely NOT the least) birthday this month is Chad's. I always feel so sad when it gets to his birthday because at the end of August, our families are so sick of coming to our house for cake and ice cream that Chad usually just celebrates with us - how boring, I know! :( But I will remind everyone of the surprise party I did for him 2 years ago - so he doesn't get the shaft EVERY year.

I got Chad a new digital camera ... that we took back because he decided on a newer, cooler, BUT cheaper one and so far we love it! It takes really nice pictures... and I get to hear all the good things about it instead of all the bad things about our old one. If anyone's interested in a really good camera that takes fast pictures in focus even when kids are running around everywhere and won't even stop to smile - this is the camera for you... the Canon Powershot SD1100 IS 8MP Camera! It even has a Kids/Pets mode that has a faster shutter speed so you don't miss that perfect shot. (No, I don't work for Canon - but I probably should get something from them for how much I have been talking up their camera.) Chad also got a few DVDs, a shirt, some new pants, and of course always the favorite gift of his - the birthday chocolate bar(s).

We are so thankful to have Chad in our lives. He is a really loving, thoughtful, intelligent man who so kind and giving to his kids and wife. We are grateful to have him at home so much to spend lots of time with him, especially when I am about to have another baby. It's no wonder to me why Heavenly Father is sending us our 3rd Boy. Chad is such an excellent role model and father to them that I would be proud if my boys grew up to be exactly like him. I love him so much. Happy Birthday, Chad!

All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

Allison had her first "official" day of Kindergarten today! She was so excited. Can you tell? She only got to go one day and then they do the assessment testing the rest of the week so she got all ready and has to wait another whole week to actually start. She wanted to ride the bus so bad but I was a bad mom and didn't let her go on the first day. The bus wasn't going to be taking her home so I thought it might confuse her. But she gets to start riding the bus next week. Why do kids love the bus so much anyways?

Alli loves school and is excited to learn. I only cried a tiny bit on the way there, so I was really proud of myself. I thought for sure I would be balling and be a pathetic, embarrasing mom that was begging her not to leave me; but surprisingly I wasn't! Hooray for me! We'll see how I do next week when she rides the bus.

Guess Who's Back?

Well, I'm Back! I decided to put an end to my 6 (ok ok 8) month hiatus, and start blogging again! The Whole World I'm sure is jumping up and down right now cause you all are soooo excited to see what posts I'll make next! No, but for real I have A LOT to do to catch everyone up on what the Lingmann Clan has been up to. So I'll be making some back posts of activities and adventures we went on this summer.

As some of you know, I am expecting a boy end of September (yes, i know crazy - my fourth child, and I just turned 30 this month!) and he was definitely a surprise! Our third child, Jeremy kinda wore us out but I guess we are going to have to deal with that and get over it fast, cause here comes another! Jeremy and this baby will only be 17 months apart, so it's going to be rough for us for a little while. But obviously there is someone up there that thinks we can do it, so wish us luck!

This month our family has 4 birthdays - Drew, Alli, Mine and Chad's... poor Jeremy is the only one that doesn't have a birthday in August right now. So it has been constant cake, ice cream and an overload of presents. It's kinda like Christmas Day but really like a whole month of Christmas Day. The kids get so many presents (mostly from extended family and friends) that I started something new this year and only let them open one present every day or so to help the chaos seem not so chaotic. It gives them something new to look forward to.

I am so excited to post all the cute pictures and memories of this summer. I am also excited to catch up on what everyone else has been doing this summer. (Not only did I stop posting, I also stopped reading everyone else's blogs, so I have a LOT of reading to do.)

So let's hear 3 Cheers for Blogging!

Another year older, and hopefully wiser too!

Well, I am now officially OLD! I turned 30... please no applause. This is a very sad moment. I will never again be known as young. I am closer in age to gray-haired people than the cute little bouncy teenagers. :( Very sad!

For the record, Chad does deserve major, I'm talking major huge big brownie points for years to come for making my birthday filled with the least amount of tears possible. And the only tears I did have were happy ones. (I am going to blame that on being pregnant too, where every day is an emotional day! lol)

For the past year, I have been bugging my husband to death about how he better make my 30th birthday party something spectacular or ELSE! The week prior to my birthday, I was in tears threatening him with the wrath of doom if he didn't get busy planning my big party. He kept saying, "We ARE having a party. Your family and mine are coming over to have some cake and ice cream!" I proceeded to tell him that THAT was not considered a worth party for my 30th birthday and I didn't want to hear anything more about what he had "planned" because I didn't want to cry anymore.

So along came my birthday and he simply stated we were going to dinner and movie and that his mom was coming over to watch the kids for us, then the family was coming over for cake... blah blah blah. I was already crying inside and the night hadn't even started.

On the way to the movie, Chad missed the exit for the theater and started getting really mad and upset. I was thinking, "hmm.... ok I guess we aren't going to the movie. He's just trying to trick me into thinking he's really mad, and then he's going to surprise me with a huge party somewhere." Turns out he really IS mad and we have now missed about 20 min of the movie. So that sucks AND I am bummed there's no surprise party.

After the movie we head to one of my favorite restaurants, PF Chang's. That was yummy! On the drive home, I forced myself to lower my expectations for the "party" and just be happy that the fam is coming over to celebrate me getting really old. So I come inside and Chad mysteriously disappears somewhere (and I think, "He has been doing that A LOT lately... I wonder why?") and my mom is here with Sam and Sarah and of course the kids and Chad's mom. We start watching some Olympics on TV and I figure I guess we will be having some cake/ice cream/presents a little later. I am casually talking with my mom about something and glance out towards the front door and see a guy (who I'm sure wishes to remain nameless) from our ward just standing there in the front entryway. I'm a little puzzled since I for one didn't even know the front door was open and was just curious as to why he decided to randomly stop by. So I walk over and say hi and out pops his wife from our living room. "Oh... Hi!" So I could tell now the 2 of them where feeling a little bit awkward and in walks Chad and says, "Come on in!" They start to say, "I hope we didn't ruin anything." Chad says, "No, you're totally fine!" and then he opens the blinds to our sliding back door. There are about 20 people outside sitting in chairs.

I was like, "WOW! I guess the party started and I better go and greet my guests." HE DID PLAN MY BIG PARTY! YAY! I was so excited and happy, I couldn't hardly contain my happy tears. I felt so terrible remembering how I had acted the week before and all the pouting I did the past year. Chad did so good pretending to do nothing, and I couldn't believe I didn't figure it out. He was so sneaky!

Chad had an outdoor theater set up, complete with projector, surround sound, caramel & buttered popcorn, candy, the works! We played some Wii on a huge screen (courtesy of my brother Sam). We watched "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" when it got dark enough. It was like a drive-in movie in my own backyard. Chad is so clever!

It was so nice of everyone to come. I was so surprised, it's going to be hard for Chad to top it. (But I'm sure he will) My friend even showed me the cute, funny email he sent out to everyone - It was so adorable, he made me cry. Before cake and ice cream, Chad read me Top 10 List of why he loves me so much - again with the crying! It definitely is the best birthday I have ever had!

Take me out to the ball game

Chad's work paid for the whole family to go to a Salt Lake Bee's Baseball game and have a catered dinner there, which was yummy. They even had a raffle and Chad won a nice Bee's sweatshirt. The kids had lots of fun attending their first baseball game. It reminded me going to the KC Royals games when I was a kid and how much fun those were!

Any way you say it... it means Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, Allison! Alli turned 5 this year and I decided a while back that I would do birthday parties for all my kids when they turned 5, 8 or 9, 12, and 16. So Alli had a big princess party this year. We sent out "Royal Ball" invitations, and had all the girls dress up in their prettiest princess dress. There were so many girls Alli's age, I would have felt bad not inviting all of them, so there were 15 invited and 12 came! That was a lot of girls and I was a little bit overwhelmed at first but they were very well behaved princesses!

To start off, I read them the "Princess and the Pea" story and had them all try to find the "pea" under pillows by sitting on them. Then, they were proclaimed "Real Princesses" and got Tiaras and Wands. The next game we did was "Pin the Kiss on the Frog." I was going to put lipstick on all of them, but I wasn't sure whether or not all the moms would appreciate that so I made foam lips and a big picture of a frog prince, then blindfolded them and they stuck the lips on. It was pretty funny how far off some of them were. At the end, they all got some lip gloss to take home.


Then we went outside for a game. I had Alli find the hidden Royal Treasure Chest. Then when I opened it, all of the treasure was missing. So I told the girls that the evil Stepmother stole it and hide it and if all the princesses helped me retrieve the royal treasure then I would give them all some of the Royal Jewels as a reward. So they went on their treasure hunt - and they were super fast! Then they all got a necklace, ring, and earrings. We came back inside to do presents and cake (I made it into a Castle and it didn't turn out very well I'm afraid. I almost cried it was so bad, but Alli liked it and didn't care so oh well! Never again! lol)


Then we hurried up and went back outside to do the pinata. That took forever! Poor girls weren't even blindfolded and still missed it. I finally just had my 15 year old brother come and start beating on it. It even took him quite a few hits. Part of the problem was the plastic bat, but there was no way I was going to give little 5 year olds a real bat. Then the girls all played in this Castle I made out of refrigerator boxes, but they didn't get to play in it very long cause we ran out of time at the end and all the parents started showing up. Alli had a blast and I was just glad it was over. That wore me out! I just hope the princesses all came home happy and had a good time.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Happy Birthday, Drew! You're 3 years old! The funny thing is that Drew has been acting 3 for quite a while. He's so tall and talks & acts so big to me, it seems weird that he just turned 3. I decided to try to make a cake in the shape of a Herbie Car since it's Drew's favorite thing. It turned out ok until i ran out of frosting. so I had to make the rest of the cake the "road" (Thanks Chad, for the idea.) Drew got a big Play-Doh Factory set from Mom and Dad.

Drew is such a sweetheart. It is very hard to stay mad at him whenever he gets in trouble. He looks at you with his dark brown eyes and you can't help but think, "how can i be mad at that cute face?" besides the fact that he has a great sense of humor ( that he got from his mom of course!) He loves his family very much and he lets you know that by smothering you with lots of kisses and hugs. He is your typical roudy, loud, rough boy. He loves to climb and jump on everything. He is fearless with a big heart. He is eager to learn and aims to please.

Some of his favorite things are: Herbie Cars (which is pretty much every small car he sees) Lightening McQueen, Spiderman, fighting dragons to protect his sister Princess Alli, sloppy joes, playing in forts and houses that he makes, not taking a nap (especially now that I have moved his younger brother Jeremy into his room - all they do is play now - poor mom - no more "quiet time" for you!), playing outside and with friends, watching big sis get off the bus, giving hugs & kisses and receiving them (this kid is definitely a cuddler), parties, driving in the car, Ritz crackers and cheese and play-doh.

Some things he very strongly dislikes: Salmon, missing Alli getting off the school bus, not being able to give someone a kiss or hug goodbye, going to the bathroom when you ask him to, washing his hands when you ask him to, sitting on the "naughty" chair, Jeremy playing with any toys that he wants especially his.

We are so lucky to have this beautiful, sweet, smart boy in our family! We love you, Drew!

You walked with me, footprints in the sand...

Our Hunter Family Reunion was at Newport Beach, CA (same as last year) and we were so happy to be able to go this year! We had lots of fun at the beach, shopping, spending time with the cousins, Sea World, etc.

The family at Sea World. The kids LOVED it! I'm so glad we decided to go there instead of Disneyland. (We will have to go to Disneyland when it's not quite so crowded and our kids are a little older to enjoy it more. Plus I wouldn't have been able to go on any rides, and that's not fair! LOL) We got to see all the cool shows at Sea World -Shamu, Dolphins, Sea Otters and Walruses They even had a few rides in the Sesame Street Playland Area that were perfect size for the kids to go on!
Drew & Alli had fun with the cousins digging holes & making sand castles.
We also had fun playing in the ocean waves!

The kids had a blast feeling the ocean for the first time. We looked for seashells, had a luau on the beach, and I even did the limbo and won 1st prize in the pregnant ladies catergory- of course I had no competition, so not really an accomplishment. (I am so sorry there was NO picture of that. I don't know HOW that happened!)