Seth's Birthday(s)

Happy 5th Birthday Seth!

Our sweet son has turned 5, and we had his party last week.  His actual birthday was June 11, but we were on vacation at the time and had to wait until we got back to have his party.

This was his invitation:

We had the party at our house, and Seth said he wanted a cake with blue water on it. So we had a beach party theme!

For the cake, I made the sand out of crushed Nilla Wafers, and then just dyed some icing blue for the water.  I made the dock out of pretzel sticks, and the palm trees were actually drink stirrers that I found at a party store.  All of the ocean creatures came in a little set from the toy store.

I poured real sand on the center of the table and added some seashells.  I thought I might regret this later if the kids started playing and got sand everywhere, but they were busy enough that they never even touched it!

Sand on the smaller table:

Playing with party favors!

About to sing Happy Birthday!

Opening presents...

Then we headed outside.  My brother owns a cool new franchise called Games2U. It is a mobile game theater truck that they take to birthday parties, community or corporate events, church functions, etc.  They also have portable Laser Tag and a human Hamster Ball!

How fun is that???

Here is what the Game truck looks like inside:

Some of the "older" boys playing Guitar Hero on the outside of the truck...

Thanks, Neal, for bringing the truck and the ball for the party!!

Then the boys headed over to the pool:

Thomas and Seth

Cousin Austin and Seth

Seth and one of his three girlfriend's, Maggie.  Maggie was such a trooper to come and bring her 3 week old baby Eve!

Seth's other two girlfriend's, Mindie and Molly.  Thanks so much for coming girls!  Seth was so happy, as you can see :-)

Christian...

Jack...

Leah and Mark, parents to 5 adopted boys! (including Christian, Thomas & Jack)

Steve's artsy picture of Seth with Janessa and Mike.  Guess whose birthday it was the day of Seth's party and yet he STILL came?  Yes, that is right.  The man with the new guitar.

They brought Seth some shakers for his birthday!

Thanks to everyone for making Seth feel so special!  (And thank you to my Mom and Dad for watching Caleb during the whole party so I didn't have to worry about him!)

2009 Horvath Family Pool

So we went big time this year.  

This was our 2008 Horvath Family Pool:

It was great! The boys had lot's of good times in that little pool with the slide.

When it started getting hot this year, Seth asked for his yellow pool.  Unfortunately, it didn't make it through the winter.  It had cracks in it, so it would no longer hold water.

We went to look for a pool, and this same pool at Wal-Mart costs $30.  Not bad for a summer of use and helping to keep cool in the hot, humid Texas summers.

But then, I started thinking.  What if we got a bit *bigger* pool, one that we could all occasionally get in together?  Like this...

(Oh my gosh.  Someone get me a bag.  I am hyper-ventilating just looking at this picture.)

So I went to Academy, and found this little gem for $48.99.  

We did have to buy a tarp to put the pool on ($14), and also some chlorine ($5) and a little frog holder ($7) that floats and holds the chlorine tabs.  Still, overall, a great deal!

If you consider this pool, however, I would warn you that you have to position it close to an outlet because it has a pump with a filter that you plug in.  And the cord to the pump is black, so it sort of blends in with the ground.

So when you mow, you have to remember to unplug the pump and pull the cord out of the grass.  Or you MIGHT just run over the cord and rip it to shreds.  I'm not saying this from experience...I am just saying that I could see how it could very easily happen to a totally competent person.

(And if this did happen to you, wouldn't it be amazing if a friend had just recently come over and given you a brand new pump that they never got around to using last summer with the pool that they no longer have?)

See?  You could fit like 14 more people in there!

Seth practicing his mad swimming skills for swim lessons in two weeks.  The only problem is he won't take his feet off the ground.  He is pretty much walking in this picture :-)  But his head is under water!!

Seth + Daddy + Pool = Serious Happy Place

Daddy Rocks

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, STEVE!!

Arizona: Sunset

These were all taken out the window of our car, during our road trip back home, within about a 5 minute span of time.

Arizona: Goldfield Ghost Town

After we left Canyon Lake, we stopped at Goldfield Ghost Town. 

 

This was our attempt at a family picture.  From afar, it doesn't look too bad.

(And there is some sweet Arizona landscape in the back, too!)

But under closer scrutiny, you might notice someone doesn't look too happy about doing a family picture.  Can you find him?

Oh....there he is.

And one more...

Julia, I've got you covered in case you ever want to put out a CD. (I seem to have a bit too much time on my hands this morning.  Please forgive me :-)

Arizona: Canyon Lake

I am still on Arizona time.  So are the boys, especially Caleb.  He wants to party like its 1999 until about 11pm every night. Then he wants to snooze until about 10 am.  We are working on it.

Greg and Julia live in Queen Creek, which is a suburb of Phoenix.  Our first full day there, we went to Canyon Lake by Superstition Mountain.  It was a 45 minute (windy mountain) drive from their house.  It was absolutely beautiful! 

After a particularly traumatic potty pit stop for Seth at a camping site bathroom (I shudder just to think of it.  It was Seth's worst nightmare, as the thing he hates most in life are flies and they were there in abundance) we arrived at the lake.  It is in the middle of a beautiful canyon, and we rented 2 boats to cruise around and explore.

Here are some of the views we had from the boat:

Our boys have never been on a boat before.  I don't mind saying that I was a *tad* bit nervous about Caleb being on a boat.  He can be a bit on the unpredictable side in his reactions to new things.  We were on a pontoon boat, and the only thing separating him from the lake was a rather flimsy metal railing.

I shouldn't have been worried.  It was pretty much one of Caleb's happiest hours of his short life.

Seth rode in the other boat with Grammi and Grandpa which is why I don't have many pictures of him enjoying the ride.  But trust me, he did!

From the looks of this picture, I would say Grandpa enjoyed it, too!

Steve and Caleb watching the other boat.

Here is Julia and I in our big sunglasses.  I think I remember making fun of my Mom for having big sunglasses back in the day.  Sorry Mom.

Our family portrait minus Seth.  We missed you on our boat Seth!

Nathan didn't like the boat so much.  We think he might have been sea sick, but aren't sure. He had the same, slightly pained, expression for the whole ride.

Our fearless driver/lake tour guide Greg:

(Julia, I added a little grungy texture to the edges of this one just for you.  

I was thinking of "you know who" when I did it :-)

Back from Va-Cay '09

Sorry for the sore lack of posts for the last week.  We have been enjoying a sunny vacation in Arizona with our friends Greg & Julia!  Steve's Dad and step-mom also drove over from California to see us and we had such a great time with everyone.

Arizona is beautiful and there is no humidity there.  God bless Arizona for that!  (I hate humidity and I just so happen to live in one of the most humid cities in the USA).  Here is one of my favorite pictures that Steve took from the trip.

I will be posting more pictures from our trip, but I am still recovering from our 20 hour road trip back yesterday.  I am tired.  So instead, I am going to tell you a little secret about milk.

Milk?

Yes, milk.

We have been hearing concerning things in the news lately about the hormones they are giving to cows in order to make them produce more milk.  These hormones can cause early puberty in children, can alter their balance of estrogen and testosterone, and can also increase our risk of cancer.  Most dairies also give their cows routine antibiotics in order to keep them "healthy".

Hmmmm.  Hormones + Antibiotics = Healthy???

I know that lot's of people, including the Horvath's, have a hard time justifying the price of buying Organic milk.  I looked in the store today, and it was $6.50 per gallon.  We usually drink 2 gallons of milk per week between the four of us. Buying organic milk at that price would cost us $676 per year.

Here is the secret...Braum's.  Their milk is hormone and antibiotic free!  (Side note: My husband endlessly makes fun of their advertising campaigns because they are about 20 years out of date.  Have you been inside a Braum's lately or seen a commercial?  You would probably agree with Steve. They are really not putting their money into atmosphere & ambiance.)
Braum's milk = $3.50 per gallon.  Drinking 2 gallons per week, we would spend $364 per year on milk instead of $676.  Almost half the price!

Here is an excerpt from their website regarding their milk:

"We have always believed that the natural way is the best way. At Braum’s, we know that we can produce the best quality milk by feeding our cows natural, healthy ingredients. We do not inject our cows with hormones like rBGH to stimulate milk production and we don't add antibiotics to their feed.

We feed our dairy herd of 10,000 Holstein cows a mixture of alfalfa hay, corn, grain, whole cottonseed, soybean and more(the majority of the feed for our dairy herd is grown on our family farms.) This provides the cow with a well-balanced diet which is very important because what a cow eats directly affects the type of milk she produces."

I know that all the information out there can sometimes be overwhelming, and one can start to feel like EVERYTHING causes cancer and disease.  But milk is something that some families consume a large quantity of daily, and if there is an alternative out there that doesn't cost anymore than an additional trip to another store, I thought I should pass along the info!

Garden Progress

Corn

Okra in the front, green beans in the back

Peppers

Jalapeno

Squash

Green Bell Pepper

Faithful husband tending the garden.  He waters it by hand every day!

Knitting Progress

If you remember my first knitting post, you will recall that my scarf looked like this a few short weeks ago.

Now it looks like this!

I could have had it finished by now, but I got *side-tracked* by starting another project before finishing this one.  Janessa was working on a blanket, and she was making such fast progress!  I felt the need for some instant gratification, so I started on a blanket, too.  One of the reasons it goes so much faster is that we are using bigger, fatter needles.

Janessa has a really creative idea using knitting to helping orphans.  When she gets her thoughts and ideas together in a blog, I will be letting you know!

We are leaving on vacation tomorrow, so I am hoping to finish both my scarf and the blanket. Lofty goals....we'll see!