Dylan's Birthday Bash

On Monday we had a birthday party for Dylan. Nick was on call all weekend so that is why we had it on Monday. There is a McDonald's near by that has a really good play place and plenty of tables in the play place. A couple of Dylan's friends couldn't make it, but other than that we had a good turn out. The kids had fun running around and Dylan loved all his presents (thanks everyone!) I put together some goody bags for the kids and got a bunch of balloons from a party store. When we got home Dylan told me "That was the best birthday party ever!!!" Dylan's cake caused some drama for me that night and I posted about it below. Good thing 5 year olds don't care how bad looking a cake is, and at least it didn't taste bad!

My Cake Rant

Here is what Dylan's cake was SUPPOSED to look like

And here is what they gave me!!!

So I went to Walmart to pick up the cake right before the party. I have ordered cakes from Walmart before (in Omaha) and they have always turned out great. First off I waited at the bakery forever waiting for assistance. (welcome to Memphis customer service) and finally I made someone who worked in the Deli go find my cake. Besides the fact it looks like crap I couldn't even believe someone would write "Happy Dylan birthday". Obviously what happened was they forgot they had to write Dylan and when they realized the name needed to be put on there they just decided to write it in front of birthday. I worked in a bakery in high school and when an error is made on a cake it is really not difficult to scrape off the lettering and fix it. Seems like this person was too lazy to fix it! So here I had this screwed up cake and no way to have it corrected because Dylan's party was starting really soon. The cashier I vented to told me to go to customer service and they should give me my money back. Well here is the real kicker. A nice lady did refund me my money and then when the manager showed up she told me I could not leave with the cake since I got my money back. She said if I wanted the cake I could get $5.00 off and pay back the difference. More than anything I wanted to say keep your cake I don't want it. The only thing that kept me from saying that and few expletives was the fact Dylan was with me and had already seen the monster truck cake and I really did not have the time to get another one. The manger actually did not think the lettering was messed up and had the audacity to tell me to "calm down" when I was complaining. So I paid them, took the cake, and called corporate head quarters the next morning. They were very appologetic and the issue was resolved quickly. I received a full refund for the cake. I will never order another cake from Walmart as long as we are living in Memphis!!!

Dylan is 5 years old!!!

Dylan Nicholas Coles was born February 19th 2004 in Logan Utah

This afternoon we went to "pump it up" so Dylan could play with his preschool buddies

Jaxson wanted to do what all the big kids were doing

Jaxson had a mouth full of animal crackers and couldn't give me a smile.  If you look at Jaxson's shirt the monkey has one tooth just like Jaxson (Jaxson has his one tooth on the bottom though) I still need to get a picture of Jaxosn's snaggle tooth!

We went to Dinner at Red Robin

Great picture.. Notice the chocolate on his teeth!

The boys

How can I have a 5 year old???

Dylan had been so excited to turn five!  This morning he woke up asking if it was his birthday yet.  I let him open his presents since he had been patient and not opening them when they arrived in the mail this week.  He got some good stuff and my mom sent him a remote control helicopter which I am hoping will last a while.  My mom has sent Dylan two other remote control items which didn't last long.  The first, I actually broke, and then the second... Dylan  was upstairs playing with his remote control truck and he steered it too close to the stairs, and down it tumbled.  So I am hoping for better luck this time or Dylan will be devastated.  He also got a Nintendo DS for his birthday.  We are suckers and caved.  Our friends little boys have one and Dylan has been asking for one since.  I didn't even know it is a real gaming system like the xbox or wii.  At least he can take it wherever he goes and it doesn't need to be hooked up to our tv!   We went to a place called "pump it up" today.  It is like the kangaroo zoo in Utah except for this place is usually just for parties.  Dylan has a classmate who's mom runs it, and she has a play group for the boys in his class to meet there once a week and play.  This was the first time we went and it was great.. Especially cause Dylan and his preschool friends had the whole place to themselves and it was free of charge!  Once Nick got home we had dinner at red robin.  I am hoping to do a party for him on Monday since I couldn't do one this weekend like I had originally wanted to.  Dylan actually got to dinner and was like "where are my friends???"  He thought his birthday party was going to be at red robin!  He is a funny kid.

I really can't believe he is five.  I couldn't have asked for a better kid or big brother to Jaxson.  He has always been such a good natured kid.  He never hit or bit other kids or went through "the terrible twos" stage.  As a baby he was content to just hang out in his car seat or swing forever and never woke up at night for anything other than his bottle and he would go right back to sleep as soon as he got it.  When Jaxson came along he never even got jealous.  He just loved him and would always look out for him.  He always has an eye out for Jaxson and has saved him from falling off our bed, or any other potential hazards.  He has been such a good helper and has such a fun personality.  Of course he still has his "moments" in which he drives me crazy but that comes with the age ; )  Happy birthday Dylan we love you!

Catching up!!!

Dylan's first time roller skating!

The gang!

Dylan and Boo concentrating on not falling!

Jaxson driving me crazy, running all over the place!

I took Dylan roller skating with some friends a few days ago. He had never been before and he improved a lot after spending a good amount of time falling. Luckily my friend's husband was there to take his hand and help him go around the rink until he felt comfortable to try himself. I would have like to help Dylan, but Jaxson was running all over the place and I had to keep getting him before someone ran over him! So now Dylan is pretty steady on his feet and can walk with the skates on. We still need to master the actual rolling part!

Valentines Festivities!

Dylan made valentines to give out in preschool

My mom mailed him a box of these Diego valentines which saved me a trip to the store!

Dylan showing off the cute card my mom sent him and Jax, and I got them this balloon.

Valentines day was fun for us. Dylan had his class party at preschool and we went to a Valentine's dance at church. It was actually pretty fun and Dylan and Jaxson liked dancing. The next day (which was valentines day for real) I gave Nick and the kids some chocolate and candy plus their balloon. That balloon is still going strong and seems to be Jaxson's favorite thing in the whole world. Since he got it, he walks around the house with it non stop. Anyways, Nick and I were actually able to go on a date that night since our friends Natalie and Brandon were babysitting. Nick wanted to take me to a restaurant called Houston's but they had a 2 1/2 hour wait! All of the restaurants had at least a 2 hour wait and we called a ton! So finally we settled for Pei Wei and it was still good food plus no wait! We attempted to see a movie after but the theater had a line of like a hundred people outside. It was CRAZINESS! So we decided to go home and watch a movie instead. Afterwards we went and picked up our kids. It was a fun night!

Happy Birthday!

Rebecca gettting ready to blow out the candles

Here she is showing off the master piece I created

It was my friend Rebecca's birthday a couple weeks ago so some of us girls got together for dinner at the Olive Graden and then headed back to my house for cake and ice cream and to watch the bachelor. This is the first cake I have ever baked in my life. It looks like Dylan made it but at least it tasted pretty good. I was kind of embarassed because I seem to know a lot of domestic divas who can make a far more attractive cake from scratch! Oh well, maybe one day but for now it is baby steps for me! We have actually started watching the bachelor at my house ever since this night and I am going to be sad when it ends! It is hilarious to watch a show like the bachelor with a bunch of girls, and is way more fun than watching it alone!

Update

My brother was released from the hospital Sunday night.  When I talked to him he said he was still pretty weak and tired so I had to remind him that it takes a while to recover from a serious illness.  He also said he feels sore like he has been working out but he of course hasn't.  It sounds like his muscles still need to recover as well.  He will be on antibiotics for a couple more weeks and they want to draw blood again at the end of this week.  So far it seems like he is going be fine and he probably just needs to take it easy for a while.  Thanks so much for the prayers and kind words, I am very grateful.  I have realized that it is easy to take people around you for granted and we never really know or even expect something bad to happen to someone you care about.  It really makes me think about my kids and how lucky I am that they have never been seriously ill.  With all the illnesses out there, good health really is a blessing!

My brother is in intensive care

My brother David

I got a message on my answering machine today that was from my mom. She said my brother was in the hospital, and in intensive care due to a bad infection that was causing his muscles to deteriorate which can lead to damage of the kidneys. When I talked to her she explained that he had called her from his on campus housing telling her he felt really sick. He had a fever and his legs and back were killing him. She went to go pick him up and she said he could barely walk he was in so much pain and looked terrible. That is when she thought there was something really wrong. When they got back to my parents house she took his temperature and it was 104... That was when she took him in to the emergency room and they began running blood tests. At first the doctor thought it could be meningitis but that was not the case. They also did a flu test but that was negative. Finally they discovered it was a bacterial infection that probably started in his sinus cavity. They discovered that his muscles had begun to deteriorate by doing some kind of blood work which showed an enzyme elevated way beyond the range of normal. That was the reason he wound up in intensive care, because this could effect the kidneys and if the infection went untreated it could eventually result in kidney failure. He was in so much pain they had to give him shots of morphine. Fortunately he is doing much better now and he hasn't even been on the medication for a full 24 hours. His fever has gone down and he doesn't feel close to as bad as when he was brought in. I called the ICU and talked to him myself. He sounded tired and had a bad cough but said he was ready to get out of there because the nurses were bad and it was boring there! Unfortunately they won't be letting him go until another day or two and even then they may just move him to a regular hospital room before discharging him. I think they still need to make sure be is going to recover fully before letting him go. I told him I have never heard of a sinus infection leading to something so serious! He is a healthy 22 year old that works out and everything so I can't believe this happened to him. I am just glad he is getting better and not on his death bed. He is my only sibling so I need him to stay around for a while longer :) I will post an update when I find out anything new.