Happy One Year Older to Mommy

Friday was my birthday, our third and final birthday for the month. My only request was we not sit at home. I had been wanting to drive out into the country to some apple picking places all fall but we never had the chance. So, we decided a road trip would be fun. Apple picking is over but there were cute little shops, lovely scenery and good food. We tried pumpkin pie soda (quite strange but good), Ian and I had tri tip sandwhiches and the kids had hotdogs with cider. It was a fun little pic nic and the kids had fun seeing animals and running around playing tag. We stopped at a few stores on the way home and had a good day. Poor Luke was a trooper. I guess I have a present coming from Ian. It was something he said I told him I wanted and he could not find it but finally did. I have an idea....but we will have to see if it is what he got:) Here are some pictures from our day in no specific order.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed a fun day with TONS of food with some good friends, THE NANA! and two sailors from Ian's ship. We could have fed an army and are still trying to make our way through leftovers. I did not take many pictures but here are a couple. Ian and our friend Michael fried a turkey. Those two are two peas in a pod as you will see from the pictures! Ashlyn (our real estate agent and Michael's wife) made these cute treats for the boys. Pudding, grahm cracker crumbs and gummy works with umbrellas. They loved them!

Birthday Fishing trip!

Owen has been begging to go fishing so on Tuesday Ian and the big boys got up bright and early and headed up to Corona Lakes to go fishing. Ian rented a boat and they went out for a good part of the day. Unfotunately they did not catch anything....except a DUCK. Yep! At the end of the day from the shore Jacob (with help from Ian..oops) caught a duck. Ian was able to set it free and let it go but I guess it was quite amusing. Here are some pictures from their day Ian took. They came home BLACK! Guess that means they had fun!

Happy Fourth Birthday OWEN!!

November is the month of birthdays in our house. It is official as of yesterday Owen is FOUR. He is super excited to be four. He will have his big birthday adventure tomorrow with Daddy and his big brothers as they are going fishing in a BOAT! He can't wait (and is driving me nuts). None of us were feeling well yesterday and I ended up sleeping half the day but he still says it was his "best birthday ever". He loves his new toys and J and N helped him put together his legos. He was not loving his new bike as much as I thought he would because its "small" but Ian took them out for a bit while I slept and I guess he had a ball. He had requested a "sprinkle" cake with chocolate and green frosting sooooo he got what he asked for. He loved decorating his own cupcake at Luke's party so I got him sprinkles, gummy bears and M&Ms and he went to town decorating it all up. He was very proud of his design. Now that we are past the "thunderous" threes maybe he will chill out....?? Unlikely but one can hope:) Opening presents!

The cake! I love the pictures of him when we are singing to him. You can tell he felt so special. Then there is one of the three big boys having their cake!

Santa Visit...a little early

Saturday we decided to take a road trip up to Bass Pro shop and when we got there the kids were super excited because it was all decorated for Christmas. You could get a picture with Santa with an online image for ten bucks so I said why not. Ian was not thrilled as he is not a Christmas before December fan but he obliged and we were both so glad we did. A ten minute line and a picture of all four boys together:) Luke was not a huge fan but at least there were no tears! He was more scared of the huge fish in the tank than he was of Santa. Here are our babies! Merry (EARLY) Christmas:)

Happy FIRST Birthday Luke Ryan!

It is so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Luke is ONE! We had a fun day yesterday celebrating his big day with friends. He is having so much fun playing with all his new toys and he LOVED his cupcake!:) I am sad he is getting so big but he is so fun right now. We just all love him to pieces. Daddy found this cool toy for Luke and brought it home Friday we decided to just let him have it since there would be so much going on yesterday. He had a total fit when Ian was trying to get the wrapping off. We just laughed:)

Party time!

We did a cupcake bar for the kids. They loved it! I got a Angry Birds xbox game from redbox and the kids all had fun taking turns. Ian enjoyed getting into that too once the adults left:)

Cake time!!

They did not upload in order but you can see when he was done:) These last few are just a few shots from after everyone went home and he was enjoying family time and some of his new presents.

I think it was the perfect first birthday. Not too overwhelming. Just enough people and he seemed to have a really good time and even let other people besides mommy hold him. I love that little man! This last picture is of him playing with one of his new toys early (EARLY) this morning:)