Turkey Time

The past 2 weekends have been filled with turkey hunting. Not for me, but for some of my fellas. Derek took Braylen out for youth season's opening weekend, and then went the following weekend for his own opening season. Braylen loves these hunts. So does Derek. Although he shot at a turkey, Braylen didn't bring one home this time. Derek never saw a shot worth taking. I guess the hunt will continue a bit longer...

can you see the smile in his eyes?

Braylen with his grandpa

One of Each

One more year of Awana is in the books! This is the last time we will have one son in each of our church's clubs. One Cubbie, one Sparky, and one T&T kid. Braylen brought a friend early on in the Awana year, and this friend came every week with us! Wednesday nights were generally rush-rush, stressing this girl out a bit. Therefore, I am not at all sorry to see our Wednesday nights free up again. But I am a bit emotional to leave Cubbies behind us. They're just so cute in Cubbies. Even when their vests get too short, as Aaron's is! :) Kaleb just loved his aunt and uncle leading Sparks games. One more thing we're sad to leave behind. But now Aaron will get his turn in Sparks. And Kaleb will join Braylen and me in T&T. I've been a leader for 13 years now. Wow, am I OLD!!! :)

Our Cute Cubbie

Our Six Year Old

After a difficult pregnancy filled with unknowns, our little blessing was born healthy and whole. In my head I know that was 6 years ago, but in my heart it feels like yesterday. Aaron William is such a delight, and God continues to show us His creativity through Aaron's life.

We started his birthday celebrations with my husband's family on Friday. Last summer Aaron loved to collect toads, so I tucked that away in my memory and used it for his cake idea! Of course a frog cake is much cuter than a toad cake. :) I made a big dinner and am always amazed at how long it takes to prepare it and how quickly it all disappears! Aaron loved all of his gifts, most of which had to do with (surprise) Star Wars!!!

Aaron and his frog cake :)

Our family made complete with our little Boo

Monday, April 12th dawned sunny and warm--such a change from April 12th, 2004! Big, fluffy snowflakes covered the ground six years ago. Aaron and I both agreed the sunshine and warm breeze is much nicer birthday weather. :) He put on his new Star Wars shirt and counted down the minutes until his party started! Daddy joined us at our local fun center with Aaron's best buddies. God blessed us with the place to ourselves! Derek played with the birthday boy and his friends, much to their delight. I had fun taking pictures of them having fun.

We piled in the van and drove home for lunch. Aaron's choice for lunch? Mini corn dogs of course! The boys worked up big appetites and even asked for seconds. They loved playing with all of our nerf guns. Since Star Wars is Aaron's favorite thing right now, and his friends know that, they all got him something Star Wars-related. How fun for Aaron! My favorite part of his whole party was watching the boys have light saber wars in our backyard. They are so much fun at this age. Aaron and I put these cupcakes together to look like two light sabers crossing over one another. He wanted the red light saber to win, so I made it look like the red one is on top of the blue one. Pretty simple to do, and he loved it!

Once the party guests went home, I breathed a sigh of relief and geared up for Aaron's birthday supper. When Daddy got home from work we let Aaron open the rest of his birthday gifts. One of his favorite gifts is Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. Yay for Grammy and Grampy sending that to him! They also sent him fruit flavored hot dog bubble gum. For the boy who loves hot dogs--how perfect! Thanks to Skype, they were able to see Aaron and sing to him later that evening. Aaron loved his meatball supper, and I loved to watch him play with his new things. Braylen and Kaleb did their part to help Aaron feel special on his birthday, and I'm so thankful for that. Derek and I hope and pray our boys will grow up to be the best of friends while being brothers for life.

Exhausted from all the fun, Aaron fell asleep and I reflected on what a great day we had together. (while doing the dishes of course.) Birthdays are so much work for the mom--not only in labor and delivery, but in managing every detail of the celebrations year after year! But it's all worth it. To end this post, I'll end with an "Aaronism." If you know the Veggie Tales Pirates song it will make perfect sense to you. Two lines from the song are supposed to go like this: "And we've never been to Boston in the fall. Pass the chips!" Aaron sang several phrases in the car yesterday, and he sang them this way: "And we've never been too bossy in the fall. That's my chipmunks!" Then he said, "I know this one really well, don't I Mom?" :)

Spring

Easter 2010

Looking super-handsome with their haircuts and new shirts :)

January starts out slow and drags on and on. February does too. Things pick up speed in March, and by the time April begins, time does not slow down again until January! Spring is definitely here, and we are welcoming it with open arms. Our Ginger is one year old today. Happy First Birthday Ginger Girl! She's enjoying her "birthday bone" as I type this.

looking pretty after her bath...she really needed a bath...

Aaron lost his first tooth last week, thanks to the permanent tooth cutting through his gums to take it's place. And thanks to Daddy. ;) The tooth fairy visited our house for 2 nights in a row--once for Braylen and once for Aaron.

Speaking of Braylen, he and I enjoyed a "date night" last week. I enjoy my sons even more when I have one-on-one time with them! We picked up Arby's for supper and went to a concert together. Braylen loves this particular artist, and when I heard the concert was close by, I decided we couldn't miss this opportunity. The trip was made even more memorable thanks to the sheriff deputy who pulled me over on our way there. Thank you LORD for the warning instead of a ticket. I was on my way to a Christian concert after all...

Easter break brought beautiful weather our way. Yay! Maybe with basketball, catch, and hide-and-go-seek-tag, we can clear out the "Star Wars Psychosis" that consumes our thoughts around here. I am not kidding. I have become a walking encyclopedia of Star Wars facts. Ask me anything you want about all 6 movies and I bet I will be able to tell you the answer. Does admitting that I like Star Wars make me any less feminine? Because I do. Like Star Wars. But I've been known to ask my children, nicely I hope, to please change the subject now and then. Even a girl who likes Star Wars can get tired of it! :)

Braylen had a friend spend the night over Easter break, Aaron took an afternoon trip with his cousin and Grandpa, and Kaleb LOVED going to the BMX track. We had the place all to ourselves one very windy day. :) Derek let Ginger off-leash and she raced the boys all over that course. It's so much fun to watch her run. We colored Easter eggs--with a Star Wars kit of course. What a treat to have Derek color eggs with us. Now that our kids are older, he's realizing it's more fun than work, instead of the other way around. One thing that's a bit harder now that they're older? Finding things to do with them around the house that they have fun doing. I was SO ready for them to go back to school this morning. My creative juices had all run dry.



Aaron's birthday is on the horizon. From now until next Tuesday, my days will be consumed with birthday happenings. His requested birthday cake? Star Wars of course!!!