A Day at the Park (12/9)

One of the best things about our neighborhood is being able to walk down to the park to play.  On a beautiful day it's easy to spend hours down there and it's always fun to see friends while we are there.  

Josh has been practicing his football skills.  

Simon always wants to go higher on the swing.

Caleb pretends to be a soldier protecting a fort.

We all play freeze tag with our friends Beth and Lydia. 

Pirate Birthday Party for Caleb and Simon

Simon's birthday is on the 3rd of November and Caleb's is on the 12th so we decided to throw them a joint birthday party this year on the 5th.  The theme they agreed on was pirates and it was so much fun looking for ideas for games and activities that the kids could do and I had so much fun making their cake and cupcakes!  The boys seemed to really enjoy themselves and I think their friends did too!

Chocolate Treasure Chest cake and vanilla mini treasure chests with chocolate frosting.  Chocolate gold coins, candy necklaces and ring pops were the treasure.

I made chocolate mustaches and had pirate hats and eye patches for all the party goers to dress the part.

The birthday boys were so excited waiting for their guests to arrive.  They loved their cake!

Josh made one of the cutest pirates I have ever seen!  Ahoy matey!

Caleb invited several boys from school and we were happy that they all came!  Here he is with Luke, who is was also on his soccer team this fall.

The best part about this mustache is that you can eat it.  

Simon and his friend Reece walk the plank.

 There was some great sword fighting on the plank too.

There was digging for treasure.  Some lucky pirates found diamonds and gold dubloons.  

Caleb got some nice presents.  He was so excited.  Here he is with his friend Jace.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Simon got some nice gifts too.  Like this cool back pack from Kenleigh.  He had a blue ring pop and so he had a blue mouth for the rest of the day.

Caleb takes a swing at the treasure chest pinata.

We had to make them stand way back unless it was their turn and we stopped making them use the bandana to cover their eyes.  

Simon did pretty good.  He almost hit me though.  He wouldn't stop swinging after I said stop!

Eventually candy did come out.

And then it was every pirate for himself!

All Aboard!

The boys were invited to a birthday party at the Transportation Museum in Roanoke.  We had been before and it is a very good museum.  It is right on part of the railroad system and so there are lots of old trains to look at.  This time they actually had a train we could ride!  We rode in the refurbished caboose and once was not enough.  We had to go two times!

The caboose. We sat up in the top part!

 There were two sides with two sections of seats.  Troy took Caleb and Simon to sit with him on one section.

Josh and I sat in the other section facing them.

On the other side were the rest of the kids for the party.  They really had so much fun!

 There is a little kitchen area with wood burning stove and all.  It was so fun to imagine the life that the men had on these trains. 

Chugging along!

Cheeto Chums

We visited lots of friends while we were in TX. The visit just didn't seem to last long enough though. We got together a couple of different times to let the kids play and spend time together. I really miss hanging out with my friends there. The boys really miss their buddies, The Love Boys. Simon and Issac seemed to get along really well together and even shared Cheeto's! 

Boys and Trucks

I got to visit with my good friend Rachel and her boys while we were in TX.  It was great to get to catch up with her and to watch the boys all playing together.  They mostly played outside with a battery powered truck.  It was like watching clowns pile into a small car!

Something's wrong.  We got to pop the hood.  

There they go.  5 little boys.

Bye Mom.  See ya later!

Olivia Came to Play! (Oh yeah, and her Mom and Dad came too.)

We had a great visit with Ray, Janell and Olivia last week.  They stopped at our house and stayed the night on their way back to PA from TX.  It was great to see them.  It was way too short of a visit, so we are making plans to get together in August or September.  I can't believe it had been a year since we had been together!  Simon is a month and a 1/2 older than Olivia.  It was fun watching them interact and Josh really liked playing with Olivia.  He wants a sister so bad.

 

Olivia (2), Joshua (6), Simon (2) and Caleb (5).