Happy 4th Birthday John Thomas!!

First of all, we are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends to help us celebrate and spoil JT on his 4th birthday! He had a wonderful weekend. It started on Friday, when Ya-Ya and Poppy flew over for a visit, then a special dinner on Saturday and finally the Pirate Pool Party on Sunday. It was a very eventful weekend. And we had a BLAST!

He woke up on his birthday to find some presents from Mom and Dad.

Here he is after he woke up. Happy and he isn't waving... he is showing me how old he is now!

Oh my! PRESENTS! What a face!

WOW and a big boy bike! So happy!

Can't beat this shark cake though! He had to take a little lick.

Ya-Ya and Poppy were there to watch him blow out the candles... 4 and 1 for good luck!

Another of his big presents... a Nintendo DS!

After their soccer games, they came home and Sam took him on a bike ride.

Happy Boy!

That night we went to a special birthday dinner. He chose Red Robin. After the meal they brought him an ice cream sundae. Look at his eyes...

Eli learned how to wave. He has a dirty face from eating. :)

PIRATE POOL PARTY!

We celebrated JT's fourth birthday with a pirate pool party. It was a lot of fun! I have been planning it for a month! Matt made fun of me the whole way, but I don't care. He enjoyed it so it was worth it! We had land and sea stations..

When everyone entered, they got to make their own treasure map with a large blank paper and stickers.

Next they tossed cannons and the pirate ship. They earned coins to buy pirate stuff out of the large treasure chest at the end of the party.

Here was the Shark Bite station... Tattoos in the shark tent.

Outside they had the Pirate Duck Pull. They got the number of coins that was on the bottom of the duck they pulled.

And finally they dug for treasure in the sand. We had Gems and Pirate coins to find in the sand. I think this was the favorite!!

Aunt Debbie got JT this Captain hat.. .when it got too hot for him, I wore it.

Finally, after getting good and hot outside in the treasure hunt.. the Pirates went to Sea!

Matt cooked up some hamburgers and hot dogs and then it was time to cash in their coins for treasure. I had ordered a bunch of pirate stuff. We had Pirate Hooks, Bandanas, Eye Patches, Gum Coins, Chocolate Gold Nuggets, Tattoos, and Rubber Bracelets with Pirate sayings on them. It was a hit. The kids LOVED choosing their favors.

JT with his treasures!

The other cake -I cheated and used cake tattoos on this one because I wasn't sure I would have enough cake for everyone... and Ice Cream for the pirate ship sundaes.

And the real cake. This is a long story. I am not going to go into it... but I will say this is the 2nd one! The first was a big mess. I learned from my mistakes and came up with this one. He loved it and that is all that matters to me!

Happy Birthday Dear JT!

Love this!

Ella eating our Pirate Ship Ice Cream Sundae with the sail. She is so cute.

PRESENT TIME!

Again, he was so spoiled! He got such wonderful gifts from our family and friends. Thank you all so much! You were all too generous. We really appreciate all of your kindness!

Playdough Ice Cream Set from Ella.

A 3D Buzz Lightyear Slip and Slide from Cody.

Dick's Sporting Goods gift certificate from Jackson, Jordan and Gavin.

And Iron Man stuff from Owen, and a Pirate ship float from Tatum and Chase!!

Here Eli was trying to get in on the action. Don't you love his outfit - the front said Lil' Pirate and the back said...

Even Eli rocked the pirate bandana. He is so cool. :)

Overall it was a wonderful weekend.... exhausting but wonderful! We have spent the last 2 days recovering and of course playing with our new toys!

Thanks again!

And Happy Birthday to my little big boy, JT! 4 years old!! WOW. I love you little man!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great weekend. The only thing that could have made it better was if we could have spent time with our dad's too. We missed everyone so much!!

INDOOR SOCCER

We started out Father's Day weekend with our first Indoor Soccer Games. Sam and JT play together on one team (which Matt got roped into coaching!! lol) And Sam also plays a in the next age group up. So we will spend 2 games a week there each weekend!

Here they are warming up.

Sam is the biggest kid on the team 4-5 year old team and JT is the youngest. Here Sam is taking the ball. He is an animal out there!!

Here is JT going after the ball- What a difference from last fall!! He is actually in the play of the game and doing well! He almost scored a goal on this one... it went right! He was SOOO close!

Again, big smiles for JT and right in the middle of the game.

This is Sam's second game. He is probably the smallest out here... but that didn't stop him. He did awesome!

They are really doing well with soccer so far and enjoying it too! We were sooo proud of both of them!! Their next game is this Saturday. We are really excited for it because YA-YA and POPPY will be here! AND it will be JT's BIRTHDAY!!

BUTTERFLIES

The butterflies finally all came out of their chrysalis, and it was time to say goodbye to them (before they laid eggs and I had to do it again!) The boys were sad to see them go, but they also enjoyed it too. We learned so much by doing this. It was definitely a great experience and I am glad we got to do it together.

Here they are ready to say goodbye.

Eli was interested in them too. The butterflies clearly had a sense they were going to be released because as soon as we came outside they all come up to the top of the net and seemed excited.

Matt was taking the shots. He tried so hard to get a picture of one of our butterflies, but those little buggers are fast! The best part of the next few pictures is JT's reaction.. you can tell that one came out by the way he is looking. So adorable!

Here, if you look really close was our last butterfly to leave. He is on the orange slice. Apparently, butterflies LOVE oranges. They drink the liquid in them. We got to see it a lot. They have their own little "straw" and suck it right up! Anyway, I got this one to get onto the orange but I moved too quick and he didn't stay long.

All in all it was a great experience. I think the boys will remember it for a long time!

Eli.

Sam.

JT - always swinging a bat or getting in his stance to swing. :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

I love this clip!

The card the boys got Matt... it was a perfect selection.

Here the boys are bringing their gifts to Daddy. They were so proud!

I love Matt's face here. He is such a great dad!

Eli fell asleep as we were bringing the gifts out. So we quick took one picture before we brought him up to bed.

The "surprise" gift.. a golf club. It wasn't really a surprise at all, of course. Matt needs to pick out his own clubs. He was still very happy to get it from the boys and the boys were more than happy to give it to him.

Our very special Father's Day Dinner.. BUFFALO WILD WINGS. The boys love chicken wings and they insisted we go here. I have to admit it is a family favorite, so none of us complained!

The happy Dad.

Eli may not be able to eat wings yet, but he is LOVIN' Mac and Cheese!! He will be at those wings before you know it.

The best part about this picture is that JT had no idea I was taking this picture!

Sam LOVES wings. He gets cravings. Like Father, Like Son!

This is truly how his face looks after eating them... this was not created for the camera!

After a wonderful dinner, they had to bring Dad to try out his new club and go hit some balls.

I love this shot.

And Matt looks so happy here with his boys.

Crazy kids... soon Daddy will have his foursome when Eli gets a little bigger!

We are counting the days until this weekend... Literally! YaYa and Poppy get here Friday, Saturday JT turns 4!! and Sunday we are having JT's Birthday Pirate Pool Party !! It should be great! I will be blogging about that soon!