What the Waibels have been up to in the last 6 months in ..3....2....1...

......in no particular order.

We went out on a Mommy photo shoot adventure.

Eli started basketball and absolutely LOVED it.

Enjoyed some holiday fun at Kellyland.

Zach lost so many teeth, we threatened to sell him as a pumpkin.

Picked out a Christmas tree twice as tall as Jake...for a cheap $20!

Had a nice visit with Santa.

Where Zach stressed out big time, because he forgot his "list" and you don't mess with Zachs organization and order like that.

Zach dressed up as a little old man for the 100th day of 1st grade. Isn't he simply adorable in his old age?

Zach started gymnastics/tumbling and rocked it big time.

We spent the holidays at the beach with our cousins.

We bowled with cousins.

Santa spoiled us rotten.

Zach waited months to wear his snowflake jammies to school for jammie day, to match his teachers snowflake jammies...only to find out he had a major growth spurt and didn't fit them anymore. He was so upset, he made me cut off the feet so he could still wear them to match his teacher. He didn't care one bit they were WAY too small.

We dressed up as ALIENS for Halloween night to go trick or treating.

And gathered up some old costumes that didn't have face paint to wear to school on Halloween.

Zach went to Daddy and kid pumpkin night at school...and carved a puking pumpkin.

We tie dyed pumpkin Halloween shirts and went to the pumpkin patch.

Ran the school Dolphin Dash and broke personal records on laps ran.

Seriously, I was so impressed by both of them....I would have been exhausted running that much myself!

We welcomed the newest adorable face into the family. And also realized Zach hasn't been around many babies...he giggled at his new little cousin a lot.

Had our yearly check ups at the pediatrician...and cracked Mommy up while waiting patiently in the room for the Dr...in funny little robes.

Went crawdad fishing with Aunt Jen and Uncle Neil, invading their camping trip for the day.

Went to Oktoberfest. Eli climbed the rock wall all the way to the top. Zach got this far and started screaming for his life.

They also rode ponies at Oktoberfest. Eli was acting way too cool, or maybe embarrassed...to be on the tiny ponies.

Zach kept going rodeo clown on his pony...hands free making silly faces.

They started 1st and 3rd grades. Oh how time flies.

Making the traditional first day of school wishes.

And as of more recently (as in right now, tonight) I stayed up way too late and sat at the computer typing for way too long because I neglected our blog for way too long. Therefor, I, Mommy, solemnly swear to take better care of this precious family blog and keep it more updated on a more regular basis ...that way I don't stay up too late and make for a very cranky next day. Goodnight all.

My baby can't be 6 already, can he??

This kid picked the PERFECT party theme for me to put together, after surviving Eli's very hectic science party. "Mommy, I want to have a pottery party...I just want to paint". Ahhhhh....a group of kids sitting and painting quietly for a party? Does it get any more relaxing than that? I simply purchased every color paint I could get my hands on, a variety of little ceramic statues, and some tiles that we'd paint and turn into coasters...lots of finger foods for the kids to snack on as they pleased....and then I sat back and watched the party unfold so peacefully.

All of Zachs little buddies, posing for a silly face picture.
Cake time!

Happy 6th Birthday!

Such a cool little dude.

Hard at work, painting pieces of art.

Even the parents painted! This particular Dad had mad coaster painting skills... some of which now reside on my coffee table.

Mmmmmmmm food.

More painting time!

Happy 6th Birthday Zachary, my very laid back artistic little man.

Eli turns EIGHT!

Ok, enough is enough. Too many of my entires latley are starting to begin with "poor neglected blog"....I think I need to just pay more attention to my blog and stop saying I'll get to it tomorrow. Same with my scrapbooks. Thats my new years resolution. Because when you type up a blog entry and look through the pictures you include and think "man he looks so tiny in these!"...you know youre a bit behind. So here we go...rewind to June, Eli turns 8.

And nothing gets a new year started like Red Robin and ordering off the adult menu. Can he really be too big for the kids menu already? Well, not technically by his "age"..but by his stomach he definatley is. Birthday morning breakfast of champions.

This birthday party theme was by far the most fun Ive had planning out of any of the parties Ive thrown for my kids. Which in turn, made it the most exhausting. Anything for my boys. Bring on the Mad Scientists!

Upon arrival, I had the living room set up with stations for the kids to make their way through. They began with getting on their lab coats (that I made out of XL mens white tshirts) and safety goggles (purchased at the Dollar Store, score!). Then they were to decode their Mad Scientist names for their name tags using a mad scientist name generater. It was pretty funny, Im not going to lie. Eli's name was "Professor Gorman Pinklechunks".

We had celery soaked in different colored food coloring to stain the veins, for snacking on. Not many of the kids ate it, celery is apparently gross to your typical 8 year old boy...except these two healthy brave souls...red and blue tongues to prove it.

I found these cool small balloons at the store that you punched which broke up the chemicals inside causing them to self inflate. The boys had a blast smashing these.

Who knew that diet soda + mentos would make such a cool science experiment. I was amazed at how high the liquid actually flew. We did this experiment a couple of times it was so fun.

Blowing plastic bubbles.

Our pond had recently lost all its renters (ie, Jake killed our fish on accident), so it was the perfect location to add lots of dry ice.

The birthday boy requested a lava volcano birthday cake. It was the least impressed Ive been with my cake making skills over the years, but I ran out of steam planning the rest of this party...so I'll get over my self pitty soon enough.

Oobleck...green oobleck...its squishy...no, its hard.......no its squishy......so fun!

What I told the kiddos = create a monster cupcake.

What the kiddos heard me say = pile as much candy on top of the cupcake as you can!

By far my favorite experiment at the party. Lava lamps! Fill a water bottle 1/4 with water, then about 3/4 the way up the bottle with vegetable oil and about 10-15 drops of food coloring. Add 1/2 -1 alka seltzer tablet and watch the lava lamp boil! So neat.

Soda bombs. The kids could have done these all day long I think. Some found it very humorous to watch them very closley. Thank goodness for goggles. (vinegar + baking soda in a plastic baggy, closed really quickly and shaken...boom, they blow up and pop)

Aqua gems, growing marbles, garbled marbles, water beads, etc. Regardless of where you buy them and what the particular package is labeled as....they are pretty darn cool to watch swell up from these tiny little plastic balls into these fun squishy marbles. We never tire of them in our house, such a fun little novelty. Infact, sometimes when I mop the floor I'll find one in the water when Im done. Occasionally when the boys play with one, they'll drop them and cant seem to find them...so they shrivle back up and then when I mop they swell back up. It cracks me up every time.

Did you know that Ivory soap grows? Me either until doing some research for science projects for this party. If you put a piece of a ivory soap bar into the microwave...it will rapidly grow 5 times its size! No other soap bar will do this. Then when its cool, we put the fluffy stuff in a bowl next to the sink for hand washing. Pretty simply amazing.

Some adorable little mad scientists.

I think I had as much fun with this party as the kids all did...but man was it exhausting. I think Im still recovering....and still finding garbled marbles. Happy 8th Birthday Eli.