One More Birthday Celebration

Today we had our "family party" to celebrate Wesley's birthday. It was wonderful and, even though I stress out sometimes, I know I am blessed to have such a fabulous family nearby.

Lots of pictures to capture the day - and as usual, I borrowed a few from Aunt Susan (thanks, Sus!)

Wesley chose "Mixels" to be featured on his cake

Getting ready to light the candles

 

Aunt Paula and Wesley. She even braved her allergy to our cats to come celebrate

I cannot tell you how much I adore this picture!  Five of my favorite guys in the whole world on one couch

Wesley with Grandma and Grandpa P.

Wesley with Aunt Susan

Telling Grandma W. all about the (many) Mixels

Wesley and Grandma H.

Ryan waited patiently while Wesley opened gifts.

Well.....mostly patiently

A very cute meowing card from Aunt Carol

Ryan somehow sprouted a tail

Wesley with his new ukelele

I love this picture because he has his tongue sticking out in concentration. His daddy does the same thing.

Wesley looks like all leg in this one

Smiling with Aunt Cathy

Ryan climbed Uncle Kirk

Aunt Susan playing a round of Uno with all the boys

Happy Ninth Birthday

Wesley celebrated his ninth birthday yesterday!  I thought the day was pretty low key, but I think it was just the right pace for Wesley.

I woke him up by singing "Happy Birthday" to him. "Say how old I am, Mom. Say it!" he begged. 

He enjoyed his birthday breakfast of rainbow pancakes.

I cannot bring myself to eat any of these. Logically, I know they are just regular pancakes with food coloring, but they look a bit too much like playdough for my taste

During breakfast, Ryan complained about going to school, stating that since it was Wesley's birthday they should be able to stay home.

"But I want to go to school today," Wesley insisted. "Going to school on your birthday is awesome!"

Apparently the whole class sang to him and the other boy that shares Wesley's birthday, as well the entire lunchroom singing to them during lunch.

Wesley opted to forgo a big party this year, and just invited two of his classmates, and his cousin over for a birthday backyard camp out. No big fancy dinner, or birthday cake either, Wesley wanted to cook hotdogs and 'smores over the firepit. That's my kind of birthday party!

The birthday dinner spread

Deluxe accommodations for the boys

My s'more looks like it's mad at me

Everything went really smoothly, which is easy for me to say, because Duane handled it all, while I did the grocery shopping and then went to our room to read.  Duane even slept outside in a reclining chair so he would be readily available for the kids if they needed him

They didn't need him. They went out to the tent around 10:30, but didn't actually try to go to sleep until about 1:00 in the morning. They were busy doing "night raids" in the yard. And they were up at 6:40 this morning!!!!!

We did donut kabobs for breakfast. I was both impressed and horrified by how much food the six kids (Wesley and his guests, plus Ryan and Sho) put away. 40 Timbits, a plate of bacon, strawberries and some leftover rainbow pancakes disappeared in a flash. It was like a school of piranhas!

The morning was spent playing video games and packing up to go home. Luckily, Wesley's lack of sleep crankiness didn't really hit until everyone was leaving. As I type this, he is sitting locked in his room (of his own accord), listening to his new iPod. I don't think those earbuds have come out in almost 2 hours. Between the lack of sleep and the new tunes, it's like he morphed from an 8 year old to a surly teenager overnight.   I have a feeling he'll revert back to his toddler years and take a nap later today though. 

It was the perfect celebration for him.

Bedtime Fort

This is how we have found Ryan when we go to bed the past couple of nights.

 What? You don't see him? Well, let me pull the covers aside just a bit....

And the kid actually sleeps like that! Of course, it means it's pretty easy for him to make his bed in the morning too.

Breakfast Reading

Since school started I have banned television in the morning before school. I noticed last year that the boys were more likely to be wound up and hyper if they watched tv while eating their breakfast, so I just took it out of the equation. The up side of this is that fact the boys will often do some reading before leaving for school.

The downside, is that they inevitably want to read the same book. This morning we had a big fight break out over who got to read the new Captain Underpants first. It's still better than tv, right? Right?

Ryan's Soccer Team

Ryan had his first soccer practice of the season the other night. We've had to wait a couple of weeks because Ryan's coach is in the reserves. Let me tell you, it was pure torture for Ryan to watch Wesley practice every week. He was chomping at the bit to get out there.

We know we lucked out with Wesley's team this year, but we lucked out with Ryan's just as much. Ryan has three classmates on his team, which means we have tons of parent friends on the sidelines and practice is fun for everyone.

Speaking of soccer fun for everyone, tonight was a scrimmage practice for Wesley's team. It's not a real practice and it's not required, but whoever can show up does and they scrimmage each other. Wesley's awesome coach allowed Ryan to play as long as he could keep up with the bigger kids and we "signed off" in case of any injury. Ryan did get knocked around a few times, but each time he got back up. He came to sidelines and cried for a minute or two on two separate occasions, but then he willingly went back in and continued to play hard. The assistant coach called him, "the toughest youngster in the world."

The other great thing about the scrimmage practice was the confidence it brought out in Wesley. For the past couple of years Wesley has been really good at being near the ball, but not really going after it. Tonight I saw him make contact with the ball more than I ever have before. He smiled and laughed and you could just see him becoming more comfortable. He even scored his first goal tonight!

As we were leaving the field Wesley called to the coach, "If you are doing this next week, I will so be there! Soccer is the only sport for me!" 

Like I said, we've got a great season ahead.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama.

I did not get a little teary dropping the kids off on the first day of school, only to remember that one of by BFFs is dropping her little girl off for college this week! And there's no way that realization made my drop off a bit easier.

I am not tempted to insist that my friend's daughter take a selfie on the first day of her college classes for her "first day of school" picture for her mom to post on Facebook.

I am not mildly annoyed that my mom STILL makes better chocolate chip cookies than I do! :-)

Duane did not have to tell me not to smother my friend's daughter who just moved to town to go to college and remind me that she'll call if she needs us. I couldn't be THAT excited that she's here. 

Up, Up and Away

We had a fantastic evening at a community picnic with Grandma and Grandpa P. and Aunt Paula. Ok, so it wasn't really our neighborhood and you could probably argue that we crashed the picnic, but we had such a great time!

There was a hot air balloon there giving tethered rides. I have wanted to go up in a hot air balloon for ages, so you know i got in line!

Wesley didn't want to go up, but Ryan, Duane and I took a ride

 

 

See? There's my hand and ring (and Grandma and Grandpa on the ground). Proof I went up!

 

Duane had to lift me out of the basket because I was wearing a skirt. He's a gentleman like that.

Ryan's  out

 

Here comes the big man.

Duane did a lot of assisting with the balloon - helping people in and out of the basket and adding weight so the basket would stay down. While he worked, the boys and I walked around a bit.

A friendly little toad

Ryan just HAD to touch the toad. Repeatedly.

Wesley found the courage to go up in the balloon later in the evening. He headed up with Grandma and Grandpa and wound up loving it!

Looking a little tentative

But if you look real closely here, you can see Wesley's big grin!

It was so much fun!  Duane even helped put the balloon back in the truck.

And I can finally check a hot air balloon ride off my bucket list. It counts if it was tethered, doesn't it?