Phoenix' Birthday Party!

This year for both boys we just had a family party. For Phoenix' party we had brownies and home made vanilla ice cream.

Phoenix loved all of his presents! Tibi and Lan got him this Mario Brothers DVD show. It has 2 discs and tons of episodes and both boys have loved watching these! Grandma and Grandpa gave him 2 water guns. He and Marce play with all the neighborhood kids with these. Nathaniel contributed water balloons and they had themselves a really fun time the other day! They also gave him a new train he didn't have, Henry! Phoenix still loves the Thomas and Friends trains! Shar and I gave him 2 Cars 2 look and find books. They are kind of like Where's Waldo, but easier and in the theme of Cars 2. One is actually Mater's Tall Tales. They love both and they have been choosing them every night for reading in bed just before I tuck them in. We also got him Guido and Luigi. He has never had some of the cars from the original movie and these are 2 he never had but wanted. He's very happy to have them now.

Candids With Captions

I LOVE to see that Marce has taken after his mom in song writing. He sits down at the piano once in a while and makes up his own music. For 6 years old, it's not bad! I can't wait til he gets on the keys next year in his pre-piano program "Let's Play Music". Here he is below at his recital. These were my Mothers Day gifts. I seriously wasn't expecting anything so I was surprised. The M&M's are long gone but I'm trying to keep my flower alive! I love the flower. I love that he got me something I can plant rather than just a vase of flowers that will die. I like that much better. This is what I am currently reading. I hate to take a break from my easy fiction reads but this is so much more rewarding. It's very long so it'll take a while but I am already learning so much from my family history. I love it. I love rehashing stuff I know and learning things for the first time even better. I'm possibly the first person to have and read a copy of this so I consider it a treasure for sure. I hope to have it done sometime in July. I am still getting compliments about the Moapa Valley Arts Counsel talent show. I'm thinking "How many people were in that auditorium?" because they just keep coming and I love 'em. In early May, I performed a dance with 7 other HS girls to "The Race Is On" from Starlight Express that I choreographed. It was fun to dabble in choreography, something I've never really done before. People seem to be as impressed with the choreography as they are with the dancing we did. I for one loved the choreography but had no idea it would be received so well. I loved working with those HS girls, they were fantastic! Sorry about the blurry shots. He doesn't exactly stand still and I've been left to my iPad for a camera for now. He looks SO much like Marcelus did! This face has Marce written all over it. I have pics of Marce at this age making this same face. Marce's features weren't quite as "black" as Amar'e's but they do look a lot alike. They both have Daddy's eyes. Amar'e's lips might be bigger.

The Reaction

After Marce came in off his bike and told me his arm hurt, I looked at it and thought right away that it was broken. Marce often goes down on his bike because he does tricks but it turns out after an Urgentcare visit, that he had not fractured or broken it at all and that the swelling was a reaction to a set of shots he'd gotten on Thursday. This was Saturday that his arm blew up and these pictures were taken Sunday. The doctor gave him an Antibiotic in case of infection and we're giving him Benedryl for the swelling as well as icing it. We are grateful that it wasn't a break for the sake of the summer and swimming! None of my kids have ever had a reaction to a shot and so it was unexpected and the swelling was scary. It was huge! These pictures are a day later as it had gone down a little probably. Also these pictures show the swelling go down into the wrist and hand but on Saturday the swelling started ubruptly at the middle of the forearm like night and day which was even grosser. Hopefully, he is now on the mend.

Birthday Boy Pictures

I got some smiles out of him!

Phoenix Bitner is 4!!!