Jack Is 5!

On St. Patrick's Day, Jack turned 5. We celebrated at a local arcade/sports bar and he FINALLY got to play Super Chexx. He was happy to open a "slide hockey" game when we got home, which is a smaller version. When he opened new Nike clothes, he said, "boring." 

For his friends, Jack chose to go back to Pump it Up, where he gets to be king and sit in a throne. The crown here actually serves two purposes: 1. it lets everyone know whose day is is, and 2. it hides the beads of sweat on his head from jumping for two hours.

Jack had a nice group of kids from day care and St. Augustin preschool join him for the jumpfest.

Griffin turns 2!

Griffin celebrated his 2nd birthday in February, with a Snoopy brunch. Yes, even two-year-olds like brunch. He's into Lightening McQueen right now and was proud to find Jack's old Snoopy hockey shirt.

Griffin was surprised to blow out the candles on his Snoopy cake and also to unwrap a big, fluffy Snoopy of his own.

Sally and Papa gave Griffin his very own grocery cart, complete with washed garbage! No kidding -- Sally saved "real" food for Griffin's cart and washed it out. No plastic knock-offs for her grandson! Actually, it was quite cute, and I just saw him trying to shake out a waffle from the Eggo box this morning. Sorry, buddy, those were just pretend.

Jack Turns Four

Jack celebrated his acutal birthday at Chuck E. Cheese and had a blast wasting money until he unwrapped more "guys." Baseball and Football Guys, that is. He was so wrapped up in figuring out what came in each set that he missed us singing "Happy Birthday" and even missed the mouse himself.

Jack had a second party at Pump it Up with his friends. After a sweaty play session jumping, he celebrated with hockey cake and a juice box.

The birthday gang.

Jack got to sit in the king's chair to unwrap presents.

Griffin's Big Day

"See,Griffin, if you pull off this fun paper, there's real toys inside."

"But, Cole, the paper and the box are just so much fun. You mean it gets better?"

Peek-a-Boo!

Don't touch my cake.

Let me just taste it to make sure it's OK to eat. Just a lick...

Back when we were still cursing that #$%@ groundhog, Griffin celebrated his first birthday. While we already knew he was a sugar woofer, he proved he knew what to do with that chocolate birthday cake. Cousin Cole was also on hand to show his younger cousin how that whole unwrapping thing works.

Bill Turns 60

Papa Bill turned 60 on June 28 and we all celebrated with a party at Okoboji. Naturally, it rained and all the guests rushed under the deck. But with waterskiing flamingoes, great food and good company, Bill makes 60 look young.

Griffin's Birthday Pep Talk

"Seriously, they sent you? What kind of amateurs do they think they're dealing with? Well, I guess we'll just have to work with what we've got."

"Come on, guys, huddle up. Here's how this is going to go down. Papa doesn't know you're here, and he's not exactly fond of you...thinks you're tacky. Can you be cool or are we going to have a problem."

"All right, I think we're going to get along just fine. Just do your job and stay out of trouble."

Ode to Red Velvet Cake, or The Reversal of Fortune

As inspired by events occuring immediately following Grandpa Tom's birthday party...

Roses are red,
So's red velvet cake.
And oh what a mess
throwing up it did make.

It looked like "The Exorcist"
But red -- not green soup,
And stained Jack's white jersey
With red, sticky goop.

My car smells so bad,
The car seat stinks too.
But we had Billy Mayes help
With scoops of Oxyclean -- two.

The jersey was cleaned,
the car's been aired out.
But when Jack next wants red cake,
"NO!" we'll all shout.

There are photos for the morbidly curious. Had we not just eaten said red velvet birthday cake, it might have been more scary to look in the rear view mirror and see what appeared to be blood pouring out of Jack's mouth. He's fine; a bath with lots of lavender lotion and a toothbrush with lots of minty paste fixed his issues. I think, though, that it will be a while before any member of our immediate family finds red velvet cake appealing againg. I guess that's good news for our waistlines.

Boesen Birthdaypalooza -- the end, finally!

Bryan surprised me on my 30th birthday with a great party. Tricked into thinking I was headed to a quiet dinner with my family, we went to visit a friend before dinner, and lo and behold, his downtown loft was stacked with friends and more. Boesen Birthdaypalooza is finally over and the cake hangover is just starting to die down. It was a fun night filled with good friends, great food (those bacon twisty things were amazing!) and lots of great wine, courtesy of our host Jamie Constantine. March 2009 was the year of the 3s for us: Bryan turned 33, Jack turned 3 and I turned 30. And better yet, we all survived

Happy Birthday/St. Patrick's Day from Griffin

"Really, Jack? Couldn't you have chosen a more sophistocated location for your birthday?" Griffin was clearly not amused by the sound of 100 kids running and screaming at the playground during Jack's birthday. We appreciate that he did make the effort to show up, though. That's love.

Jack Turns 3!

We continued Boesen Birthdaypalooza with Jack's 3rd birthday. On St. Patrick's Day we celebrated with friends at an indoor playground, filled with inflatables and wee spring breakers dressed in green. After disinfecting, Jack was surprised with a new set of wheels (courtesy of Papa and Sally) and presents from the fam. We finished off the night with a hockey cake, and Jack cried when we cut into it. He wanted to play with it -- just what I need, a petrified hockey cake.

Boesen Birthdaypalooza Begins

March is a busy and expensive month for our family with Bryan, Jack and Betsy's birthdays all within about 10 days of each other. Bryan kicked off birthdapalooza with the traditional chocolate cake from El Patio (local Mexican restaurant -- that buttercream frosting is deadly!) and Jack and Griffin helped blow out the candles.

Jack Turns Two

On St. Patrick's Day, Jack turned 2. We celebrated several times and with several different treats, so sorry in advance for all the funny messy eating pictures. Jack had a great time at all three parties (family, day care and little buddies) and really mastered the art of opening gifts. By the time guests arrived at the final party, he was unwrapping presents before they got in the door and took off their coats. Happy birthday, Jack!

Just Practicing, Daddy

Sure it's Bryan's birthday, but Daddy didn't want cake so Jack had to show him how it was done. This is actually cheesecake #2 but Jack just wanted to make sure the other flavors were OK, too. Next up, Jack turns 2!

Greetings from Des Moines

To prep for a mid-winter trip to the Tundra (Spencer), Jack gives a shout out to the Phelps side of the family. Happy birthday, Grandapa Tom. See you soon!