The Lyman's Life.

James Newell turned 5 on January 21! And yes, I'm just getting caught up on it now, that's right.

In order to celebrate birthdays to the fullest, we believe in at least week-long celebrations!

Here is what we did for James' five year old birthday:

Pirates:
Had a smashing Pirate Party with friends from church and pre-school on a very wet and rainy day! The children had a grand time with Nerf gun wars and light-saber sword fighting, going on a treasure hunt all over the house to find buried treasure (their party bags) under the kitchen table, and James' friend from pre-school has 13 Labrador puppies and his mommy was kind enough to bring 4 for the children to play with. They loved holding them and giving them loves! They were so adorable! I'd found a super cute pirate cake tutorial online, and was all geared up to make it the night before the party. Well halfway through my laborious endeavor, the entire cake decided to flop on it's side and brake into pieces. Ahh! I managed to get it into some sort of shape albeit using three tubs of chocolate frosting, but that and popping it in the fridge overnight seemed to help it hold it's shape. My mom came over bright and early the morning of the party, and I set her to work on it. She did a lovely job in bringing it back from the dead, and James thought it was amazing. That's all that matters, right?

The cake in it's fallen mess!

The finished product:

Pretty good, eh?

Enjoying lunch

Visit From Grandpa Newell and Grandma Janet:
Adam's parents flew in for the weekend to celebrate James' birthday with him and to visit family. We were so happy to see them and had a fun time eating out, baking bread together, and chatting until late.


Weekend in Monterey:
In our church, we give our babies a blessing when they are tiny. It is a big to-do and all the family gets together and the mommy gets her baby all dressed up in a pretty outfit and the daddy goes to the front of the church and holds the baby and says a prayer for the baby, blessing it with health and strength and asking Heavenly Father to watch over the baby and help the baby to lead a righteous life and all that good stuff. It is very special. Adam blessed both our babies when they were newborns and my daddy blessed me when I was a baby. He even blessed my twin cousins who were born 4 days before me even though they are not Mormon, just because my uncle and aunt thought it was a neat thing to do.

Adam's niece Jessica was having her baby's blessing that weekend and we all went up to Monterey to be a part of their special day. Adam went to a Shark's game with his brother Jason on Saturday night and since my sister lives in Palo Alto, I went over and played with her all evening while he was at the game. We stayed up late watching The Changeling on TV: good movie, very creepy and sad and emotional. Losing a child would be the absolute worst thing ever. Sunday was spent at church for the baby blessing, having dinner, and hanging out with family all evening. It was good to be with Adam's family. I especially enjoyed holding Jessie's baby (oh the sweet newborn scent, it's intoxicating!) and playing with Adam's other niece Amanda's little guy. On Monday, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was fascinating!

The jellyfish were beautiful, such vibrant colors!
That is a seahorse!

Watching the sea otters

James had a great time playing with cousins and seeing the beautiful fish and ocean life! Oh James, we love you so much and are so glad you are part of our family! Happy 5th Birthday, cute boy!!