Birthday Boy

 Tanner turned 10 this month.  He was so excited about his birthday this year!  At school the dancing, singing, mechanical hamster got placed on his desk and it sang "Happy Birthday" to him.  Then the live rat (in a bucket--cage cleaning time) got to hang out on his desk and it pooped while there...and that was really funny for some reason!  Must be 10 year old boy humor, encouraged by his oft-times sophomoric Mom and Dad.

Dinner was pizza and macaroni & cheese.  Alia decorated the cake.   Grandma & Grandpa P. joined us for dessert.  It was a good day!

 The cake was designed by Tanner and Alia, but decorated by Alia.  We purchased some gel tints for cake decorating--wow! do they make intense colors!  So much better than regular food coloring!

Happy Birthday, Handsome! 

It's been hot. We've been playing in our little pool. Tanner loves wearing his goggles around the water. They are great splash protection!



















I had a hankering for pot stickers the other night...so I looked up a recipe and made some. Yummmm! Pot stickers are a lot of work, but each bite makes the work worthwhile! :)













And, here's the birthday girl! Older, wiser, and more beautiful!





















And here's what was left of the cake on day two. We like the fish-look! (The cake is a milk chocolate box cake. The filling is a thin layer of vanilla icing topped with marshmallows. The icing on top was per request of the birthday girl--sort of drizzled all over. :)

We've had another birthday. Tanner chose a "sprinkles" cake (white cake with sprinkles) with chocolate frosting, with sprinkles. It was yummy!


















The Sunday after the birthday we had a visitor who brought lots of "hand-me-over" gifts. Thank you, Aunt Marilyn!

We had a birthday girl in our house this week!

She helped make and decorate her own cupcakes.

She danced in the pretend rain.
















She got a new backpack for school.


And, she got an "Appletree" toy so she can play more with letters and words!

Happy Birthday Miss Elena!

Martin's birthday coincided with the first day of school at Wabash College. Here he is getting ready for the day:













When he got home we ate "Ann's Chicken" for dinner, had cake and ice cream for dessert, then opened presents.

This one is from the kids:
It's a moving blanket to be used as a padded gambeson for Martin to wear under his chain mail. He was pretty excited!
















And then, the second "used" gift:



Hockey gloves from Michigan. He was thrilled!!! On went the gloves, out came the waster (wooden sword), and away he went!

Thanks everyone for making his birthday a special day!

We celebrated Alia's 10th birthday with a trip to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. One of her best friends went with us and we each had a buddy to stay close to while we explored.

Happy Birthday, Beautiful!

:)

Here is our birthday boy with some of his gifts! The containers on the couch are bionicles, he's wearing a cape that his big sister made him, and his "ice gun" is on the back of the couch.

It was a good morning! Especially with no school!

Happy Birthday, little one!

Here's Elena with some of her presents and her cake.

She enjoyed her special day! :)

Here's our three-year old opening her birthday presents!

Mom had fun making the "pink" cake...it turns out that Pampered Chef glass mixing bowls are oven safe (to 350F) and make great "skirts".

:)

Elena did request that her doll be removed from the cake...Mom had to talk her into leaving it in for pictures and blowing out candles!

Happy Birthday, little one!

Wow! Look who had a birthday!

She's wearing a crown from her Nursery Class. She got lots of fun toys. She got to eat chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.

Birthday's are awesome!

This is an almost kid-less post! We had dinner with a friend the other night and came home with all sorts of wonderful gifts from her garden--hostas, black-eyed susans, columbine, white bleeding heart, etc.! The dinner and conversation were great, but the garden gifts just blew me away!







Here's a shot of the beautiful brick walk! It's lined with petunias and there are perennials (and as of today a couple of annuals) in the bed with the big green bushes.









And here I am blowing out my birthday candle. My crown was designed and created by none other than the talented Alia. Tanner wanted to be near me (and the cake!) for this picture.

Happy Birthday To Me!
Guess who likes ice cream and cake?















Oooo! What's this curly thing?



















Again? I thought we did this yesterday?! (I guess she's not old enough to appreciate two parties, but she still likes ice cream and cake! :)











Look Ma! It's a kitchen!
















Unpacking for new kitchens are soooo exciting! (I think they are packing newspaper down into the paper bag for recycling.)

















"X" marks the spot...no water, no drain in this old sink! :)