More Summer Memories and the Birthday Boys

Since the twins never had an "official" birthday party, we decided to do a special one this year for their 4th birthday. They chose Chuck E Cheese. Everyone had a blast as you can see:

This was one of their favorite things, the ticket blaster


Following in his grandpa's footsteps with his racing? Hope not!



Dalton in his cowboy outfit. He didn't want to take it off once he put it on!




All tuckered out


Daddy's present to the boys. Keeping the batteries charged is our biggest challenge!



Time with Cousins
We had a great trip to Cousin's house for the fourth of July. We went to a parade. Just look at these patriotic cuties :) Auntie had them create their cool flag shirts:

The kids (and adults) enjoyed the parade. Here are some photo highlights:




While we were visiting, Carolyn and I and the older boys took a hike at one of the parks on the Blue Ridge parkway. The views were breathtaking:







At the end of the hike we climbed a tower which was high above the tree tops. The boys loved it. Auntie who is afraid of heights.... not so much so. She braved it and climbed up, however. After such a long hike, you had to enjoy the reward at the end!

Where did the month go?

I cannot believe May is over. Where does time go? :) Hold on for one very long post ;)

The Month in Review...

My sweet boy Tristan turned 9! I am so proud of him. I love his caring heart and his desire to do his best. I hope he never loses his desire to help others or to look out for the "underdog". My proudest moments as a mom are when he reveals his loving character.

For his birthday, he chose to celebrate at the lake. Everyone had a good time swimming, taking rides in the canoe, and just playing:





He chose "How to train your dragon" as his party "theme". I wasn't sure how to make a cake in the theme as I never had a chance to see the movie with them. I checked online and found a few pictures and came up with a volcanic mountain, water, and a lot of rocks in the picture. In the movie the boy and dragon take turns drawing with a stick so I "drew" Tristan's name on the cake:

We spent the next day at the zoo. We could not have asked for better weather. The kids really enjoyed seeing the animals:


The twins' favorite (and Mom's :)) was the polar bear:


The boys even managed to wake up the lioness and annoy her so badly that she sought refuge next to the lion. I believe she was telling him to go gnaw on the obnoxious children :)

The month ended with Annette's son's graduation party. Here are photos of the cake and cupcakes:




While hers was graduating from high school, mine was graduating from preschool and I think he thought that ranked right up there with Samuel's graduation :) Isn't Collin a little cutie in his graduation cap?


They sang a song about the days of the week, he loves this song and sings it a lot at home:


Jim decided to surprise the boys and take them to a Durham Bulls game over Memorial Day. They loved it. Can you tell?

Do you like my wig?

Nope, I was not trying to eat the entire bag of cotton candy, not me






The boys really enjoyed the fireworks after the game too:




And finally, I made this cake and cupcakes for a wedding shower for a couple at our church:




We've been blessed with some new family memories this month. I'm looking forward to making many more over the next couple of summer months...

Birthday Memories

Had to share some of the photo and video memories of Collin's birthday. The kids had a blast and we played away the morning while the winds and rain of Hannah swept thru. Of course the big kid, a.k.a. my hubby, had to get in on the fun. I was able to capture one of his back flips into the pit:







Here comes the little daredevil!





And She's off and swinging!



Once over the foam blocks, she changed her mind and came swinging back to uncle's arms!




This is gonna be fun!



Must get the big pink ball!



I swear I didn't eat another cupcake when you weren't looking :)