Happy Birthday Scott!

We had a fun day celebrating Scott's birthday.  The boys played, came to have lunch with me, went to the pool, and we ended the day with ice cream cake.  The boys came with me to pick out the cake, and as soon as we saw the shark cake, I knew we had a winner.  

There was much negotiation about who would blow out Scott's candles - in the end, they decided the boys would blow out the white candles and Scott would blow out the numbers.  

After having cake, Scott got to open his presents.  On his head, you'll see the glove the boys got for him - they thought he should wear it on his head like Alex Gordon does.  Scott was pretty excited to get his new 'toy' set up - a wifi enabled sprinkler system.

After dinner, we had to give Scott's new glove a test drive to see how it worked. I think Scott enjoyed his relaxing birthday!

Wordless Wednesday - Restaurant friends

First pool trip of the season!

The boys wanted to go to the pool over Memorial Day weekend, but Scott and I thought the water would be too cold because of all the rain.  Wimpy, wimpy - I know!

Today was the day - the boys were so excited!

Family photos

I usually have photos taken for each boy's birthday, and this year we decided to combine Karsten's photo session with a family session that included my parents.  My mom wanted updated photos of her and my dad with the boys, so that seemed like the perfect Mother's Day/Birthday gift for her.

We had the session at a local park, and we were so lucky to have a beautiful day after it had been raining for so many days.

The boys were troopers, we took lots of photos and they gave us a lot of good smiles.  I can't wait to see the photos! I snapped this one of Liam with my phone when they were playing on the playground when we were done.

Their reward for being good during the photo session (yes, I'm not above this type of encouragement, don't judge), was giant bouncy ball from Walmart.  Linda had these balls when we were recently at their house, and the boys loved them.  This was the most anticipated (and cheapest!) photo rewards ever!

Fun at Grandma's

The boys wanted to do some artwork, so Linda found some paper and paint for the artists to create.  Karsten made a big painting for Scott for his birthday and Liam painted a masterpiece for Grandma.  

We walked to the local restaurant for lunch before we left town.  Karsten must have had a memorable meal last time we were visiting, because he asked Grandma if we could go to the restaurant while we were visiting.

It was a quick visit, but the boys enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Papa.  On the way home, they got to watch a movie and wear their head plugs (as Liam calls them).

Take a close look at Karsten's hand - he's clutching a large lug nut that he cound while we were crossing the road to go to the restaurant. We washed it off when we got back to their house, and he's kept it close to him all day.

'smorin

We had debated about getting a fire pit last summer, but decided not to when we couldn't find a deal on one we liked, and never could decide where it would be stored when not in use.  We were at Lowe's this spring and saw a kit to build a stone firepit.  We have an area of the backyard that can never grow grass due to all of the trees around it - Scott suggested we put a firepit there, and it seemed like a great solution.

Scott's been working on it for the past few weekends, and it's finally done!  You can see the start of the pavers around the fire pit but we need to get those all placed and dug into the ground.  

I'm not sure which the boys enjoyed more - the marshmallows or finding sticks to feed the fire.

Scott demonstrated appropriate roasting technique after we lost a marshmallow in the fire.

Pretty tasty - I think we're going to enjoy the new firepit.

Quick Road Trip

We made a quick trip to western Kansas to attend the funeral for the father of a close friend.  He passed unexpectedly, thankfully my friend had just been visiting and got to spend a great weekend with him.

We drove to Linda and Leland's home on Thursdsay evening, then Scott and I went to the funeral on Friday morning.  Although we were driving around 8am when we would typically encounter rush hour, we didn't have any issues with traffic!

While we were gone, the boys had lots of fun with Grandma and Papa.

When we got back that afternoon, the boys wanted to show Scott how much fun the lawnmower was.

 We also enjoyed some time sitting on their new front deck and relaxing.