Tom's 14th Birthday

Let me first say that I cannot believe this guy is 14 years old! I swear I was just getting him a sippy cup and begging him to nap with his brother and I. But alas...

He asked me to get donuts for him on his birthday. He stumbled out of his room early in the morning, rubbing his bed head hair, and asked me if would be possible for me to run into town and get some for him. How could I resist?! Jake and I flew!

We had our family over to celebrate with a taco bar and general chaos. I'm terrible about taking pictures at parties! Sorry! I really need to work on that.

He got a bunch of awesome gifts including this big bag of candy!

They had loads of fun terrorizing their oldest cousin!

A special request of Jello Poke Cake was lit by the birthday boy himself after they all played with matches in the kitchen for half an hour.

We had a boat load of fun! My brother and his family were there. My Dad and Step-Mom. AND my Mom and my Grandpa were spending the weekend with us, so it was extra special.

So there you go. Another birthday in the bag. Tom said it was the best ever...again. He loves to have people over, especially Uncle John. Uncle Worship is putting it lightly.

My Nephew's Awesome Birthday Party

Much fun was had at my brother's house! Talk about an awesome theme! My sister-in-law pulled out all the stops! From Wookie Cookies to Millennium Margaritas, this party had everything a newly turned four year old could want!

 

Short tables and coloring for the littles!

 

Han Solo frozen in carbonite! Help unfreeze him!

 

A Death Star Pinata!

  

And a bounce house full of foam light sabers!

We all had fun. The food was great and good memories were made. I'm sure they had a ton of cleaning up to do, but it was definitely worth it.

Family Doings

This past week we drove down into the city and spent the day with MY Grandpa. We showed him the pictures of our vacation and then went out to lunch at my favorite burger place by his house. Then we visited an air museum. 

Yesterday was my nephew's birthday party, so we drove down to the city again, picked up Grandpa on the way, and went to my brother's house for some zombie killing birthday fun. The drive that usually takes us about 2 1/2 hours, took almost 5 hours! There were two accidents and so many cars. One stretch of five miles took us 45 minutes to get through! I seriously hate sitting in traffic. I was worried we would miss the whole party and my brother would be so mad at us. Tom reminded me there was nothing I could do about it, unavoidable delays. We made some phone calls to everyone knew our status, turned up the radio and rocked the whole drive.

I love it when we find others who are willing to entertain while we wait it out. There were a couple other drives showing off their car dancing moves. 

We did finally make it though and the party hadn't even really started yet. It seems others were delayed by the traffic as well. We had a great time eating and talking and opening presents. 

Dan didn't go with us this time though. He was taking Nikki to the airport. She's off on an adventure to intern in New Hampshire.

Today, we're resting. I don't even want to drive to the grocery store! It's hot today, so it's the perfect day to lay around and watch the boys play video games. I did wash the dogs though and got some laundry done.

Check out these Bad Boys!

Do these guys look like trouble or what?

Cousin War

We spent the day at my brother's house for Olaf's 9th Birthday. My brother is a total nut when it comes to parties. He had a pretty good one this time. He made a pinata for cryin' out loud! He made a great cake, meatballs, and we had tons of fun. What the boys are sitting on is the remains of an archery target that he made with balloons stuck all over it with prizes inside. They all proceeded to destroy it after the game was over of course. That was half the fun!

We brought the RV and stayed the night in his driveway. The boys had a slumber party in the house. They said that Mr. Chuckles (my brothers french bulldog) kept them up with his snoring and laying across them in bed. We had a great morning harassing each other over a breakfast of scrambled eggs and waffles, while my brother entertained the troops with his impersonations.

Great fun was had by all and I know we are all looking forward to doing again soon!

Birthday's and Baseball

What a weekend! It was so busy that we had to take Monday off completely to recover.
Saturday was supposed to have Little League opening day and a game, but the opening ceremonies were moved to next week. Thank goodness cause it really helped to have those extra hours to get ready for the party on Sunday. Jake played his first baseball game of the season and won! It was a good start to the season for sure. He was pretty happy. He struck out the first time he was up and walked the second, but did score a run for the team. He played second base for two innings and did a great job scooping up that ball and getting it to first base. He even got someone out.

I love watching my boys at the ball field. Jake walks around so proud and confident when he is there, but then again when does he not? When we got there, Tom and Jake were walking together when one of Jake's coaches said hi. They talked for a second and then Tom extends his hand to shake and says "Hi, I'm Jake's brother Tom. I'm on the Cubs this year." Like a little man. I actually got choked up watching it. Too bad they are both so un-socialized. :)) I over heard another conversation that made me laugh. Some kid asked Jake if he played World of Warcraft and Jake thought he said World War Two.

Minecraft Cake!

Sunday was Jake's 10th birthday party! I still can't believe he is 10. Crazy boy getting big. It was so fun. I love having everyone over. My poor Mom was sick and couldn't make it though. So sad. And my brother and cousins entertained everyone with their antics. We had some old friends come that we haven't seen in a long time. Yay! And I got to talk with my new friend's husband a lot this time. It was a great afternoon. The kids spent a lot of time on the go-kart and chasing chickens!

Uncle John and Eric try the stilts.

Carson and Uncle John Rockin' It

Jake's Table Cloth

Tom Giving Go Cart Rides

Jake, John and Melissa, and Carson