Our Weekend and HallowYAK!

I dont normally outline our weekend, however this weekend was one of those that should be recorded...

Saturday Morning-
The older two boys had their last soccer game. It has been an odd season with a coach who knows very little (aka- NOTHING) about the game of soccer. Thankfully, Karson was also on the team so Jody (her mom) was my sanity-saver.

The boys had a great last game though. Ashton scored! I seriously prayed the night before that he would score just one goal this season. He was not technically old enough to play yet but since he was close to the deadline, they agreed to allow him. He was the smallest on the teams but he worked so hard. It didnt matter who had the ball (his team or the other team), he was going to try and get it. Hunter scored a few goals as well.

Ashton throwing the ball in.

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Hunter and Ashton getting the ball (notice Ashton trying to push Hunt out of his way)

Glad to check this off my list of things to do but I am happy they got to play together on the same team.

During this game, Shep had 2 diarrhea (that is hard to spell) diapers but was fine the rest of the day.

Saturday afternoon
My parents took Ashton out to lunch for his birthday and then Toys R Us to pick out anything he wanted. I would never have guessed in a million years what he would have picked... Electronic Football (or Vibrating Football). My dad had one when he was a kid and apparently Chad had one when he was a kid. To say that Ashton loves this game would be quite the understatement. He played with it for 3 hours straight! Yes, straight!!!

All the boys

Trying to figure out how to play

Ashton with his game (thanks Mantis and Queenie- he had a great time and loves the game)

Sunday morning-
Chad informed me Saturday evening that he was going to church with his football team so I was on my own. We had to take breakfast for our Sunday School class as well.

I get Shepherd into his class and Hunter looks at me and says "I think I am going to throw up." I rush him to the bathroom where he does throw up a little.

At this point I still have to drop breakfast off with our class but before I can do that Hunter says, "I have to stinky." His diarrhea begins. Thankfully, I ran into someone from our class who took breakfast (which I am sure is really appealing at this point) and I was able to get the boys back into the car and go home. It was at this moment that I was thankful that my niece, Charlee, who has originally supposed to be with us, was not with us.

On the way home, Shepherd exploded his diaper (out of his clothes). So thankful to already be gone from church.

Sunday (the rest of it)
We did nothing but lounge.

The Diarrhea Brothers watching the movie, Zookeeper.

Monday
And now for my least favorite "holiday"... Hallowyak. We, again, are not doing anything besides letting the boys dress up for the school day.
Ashton re-used the pirate costume (he will wear this again next year.)

Arrrrrr

Precious Pirate

Hunter's school does a "We are Not Scared of Books" day. You dress up from a character from a book and then bring that book to school. Hunter decided to be David (from David and Goliath). He said that his teacher took his picture with his book first because the Bible is the most special book.

"David"

I wonder if the real David was as handsome as this little guy.

Practicing with his slingshot.
I made the slingshot and when I asked Chad if it looked ok, he said "yeah, but you do know it was a sling but not a slingshot." ha ha ha, oops. Looks like I should have sang the song, "and 1 little stone went into the sling and the sling went round and round."
Hunter forgave me for my oversight and said it was close enough.

I know it is wishful thinking to hope that my kids will not want to trick or treat when they get older. I guess we will probably let them once they start to hassle , but for now rest assured that our lights will be off this evening.

"Camping" Out/In

It is so nice having my parents close by. Numerous times during away games this football season, the boys and I have stayed the night at mom and dads house. It is a nice "break" from our house and gives me some much needed grown up time.

Last night, we were there and it was close to bed time. The boys were looking at pictures of their cousin, Owen, who was camping in his backyard. Hunter, who has already told me NUMEROUS times that he wants to go camping, proceeded to mention it to me again. I told him to tell Mantis that when the weather gets warmer that he wants Mantis to take him camping.

Somehow, during Hunter's conversation with Mantis it turned into this...
In case you are wondering- that is a picture of Mantis setting up the tent in the basement. He thought it would be a lot of fun for the boys and ME to stay in the tent. Thankfully, we turned the ME into HIM sleeping with the Hunt and Ash (didnt think Shep was quite old enough to partake in the male bonding fun just yet.)

I can't even put into words how excited the boys were to go "camping."

The sleeping arrangements.

No comments needed... it is close to bedtime and I look a mell of a hess.

Lights Out- however, the sweet sound of little boys chatting with their Mantis went on for quite sometime. I couldnt hear what they were talking about but it was precious just hearing them talk together.

Ash went to sleep quickly once Mantis got in between him and Hunter

Hunt finally asleep.

Dad, I cant even begin to thank you for such a fun evening for the boys. From the tomato fights outside (yes, they were throwing tomatoes at eachother) to the camping, they will be talking about this night for quite sometime.

And Just Like that, He's 4!

It is hard to believe it has already been a year- It feels like just a few weeks ago I was writing about your turning 3.

Taken today- officially 4! (he doesnt really like clothes!)

I went back and read what I wrote (click here) for your 3rd birthday- and I have to say, not much has changed.

You are quite a charmer and everyone loves you to pieces. You have an amazing ability to find the one spot that will totally annoy the snot out of someone and then hit that spot over and over and over again. You do this to not only your brothers, but me as well.

One of your favorite sayings right now is, "thank you, that is very helpful". I dont know why this makes me laugh every time.

Your birthday dinner was totally picked out by you and included: fish, mac n cheese, and Caesar salad. You love McDonalds' double cheeseburgers (plain) and ice cream.

You have discovered computer games and are VERY good (better than Hunter). Unlike your attention span with the TV, your attention span when playing games is quite long. You also still love to swing. You started playing soccer this fall and though you are the youngest and smallest, you hold your own and are quite the aggressive one.

You always tell me that you love me and will hug me for no reason. It melts me.

Ashton, I pray that I will be a good mommy to you and that you will are going to be a man after God's heart.

Happy Birthday SmAsh!

Love you forever and always,
Mommy

And now for an additional bday pics.

Shep and I took Ashton lunch at school yesterday. We also brought cupcakes for his class.


Today we met up with some friends and went to play (and of course eat) at Chick fil A for breakfast.

We did not open presents and do the cake until after dinner.... daddy even made it home in time for the cake!

His favorite part, the presents.

Puzzle!

Cars Legos (we bought some of the small legos and either they are not quite ready for them or I am not quite ready for them so I went ahead and go the bigger ones)

They loved them... Ash and Shep just enjoyed playing with them but Hunter enjoyed making new things with them.

Happy Birthday song and cake!

On a side note, Shepherd found a new method for keeping his hands clean- eat like a dog

And this picture tells you about everything you need to know about Ashton! He is laughing with a mouthful of food as he tries to run away from me before I take his picture.... yep, this is Ashton and I love him!

Happy Birthday!!!

Hunter's Best Bulldog Prize

I got a letter a couple weeks ago saying that Hunter had been selected as one of the Best Bulldogs for his class for the month of September.

The Letter

Basically, his teacher thought that he (and another little girl, his buddy, Karson) were good examples for their school and exhibited good traits. The treat was getting to ride a school bus to a local ice cream place/ diner for lunch.

The trip was today and Hunter had a great time.

Picture of him when he got home with his little certificate (he looks a bit crazy here, he was wanting to play computer games and was trying to rush the picture process)


His sticker that showed what he wanted to eat

His Best Bulldog Badge

I am quite proud of him. He is really letting his light shine!

Good Job Hunter Bug!

Ashton's Birthday Party

We had Ashton's birthday yesterday at a bouncy house type place. It was the perfect place to entertain and feed 10 kids. I think he had a really good time playing with his buddies.

Pre-Party

Ashton said he wanted a Cars birthday party. Cars stuff has kind of overtaken a lot of our house. I decided to make him Tow Mater cupcakes. I found a cute idea of pinterest... pinned here.

I did modify the recipe a bit. First, they used jumbo muffins for the base and regulars for the back and top. Obviously that is too much cupcake per kid and I hated to not give each child their own Tow Mater so I did a regular cupcake with 2 minis attached. I still used regular sized M&M's. Instead of using the cookies for tires, I used pretzels (I already had them in the Chex Mix and nobody in my house eats them). I also did not crumble the cookies on Tow Mater. The modifications turned out perfect.

The cupcake decorations
What you need

1. One box cake mix
2. Two container of chocolate icing
   
3. One container of vanilla icing
   
4. M&M's
5. Pretzels
   
6. Gum (eclipse or something with that shape)
7. Edible black marker (thanks for letting me borrow this Amanda)
   

--- using an edible black marker, make circles on the green M&M's (these are the eyes)

To assemble the cupcakes...
1- Use chocolate icing to ice the regular cupcake and one mini cupcake.

2- Place the little one directly behind the larger one.

3- Ice, with vanilla, about 1/3 of the side of another mini, then use the chocolate to ice the rest. Picture below

4- Stack that one on top of larger.

5- Then add the wheels (pretzels or cookies), M&M eyes (green), M&M headlights (yellow or white), gum (2 pieces- one piece needs to be smaller then the other), and a brown M&M for the hood thingy.

Aren't they adorable?!?!

And just because it is funny, this one is Hunters- he doesnt like icing. ha ha ha! This is albino Tow Mator.

One box of cake mix made, 10 regular size cupcakes (I probably only filled each cup 1/2 way full), 24 minis, and an 8*8 cake.
The cake was for the adults. I cut it into 4 strips and then molded the number "4". Iced it in chocolate and added some white icing for the road... 4 red m&m's made it into a 4-way stop.

finished product

The party favors included some candy, a Cars cup with each child's name painted on it, and a pair of Cars socks (for the boys), and Princess/ Smurf socks (for the girls.)

In the words of my mother, I got a little preschoolish and made labels for the drinks that were Cars themed. Ok, so it is corny, but cute, right?

Filmore's Organic Fuel (AKA Dr Pepper) and Flo's V8 Oil (Chick fil A sweet tea)

THE PARTY
As I mentioned, the party was at a bounce house that also has a mini putt putt course inside. It was perfect.
Here are some pics from the play time.

Ashton playing putt putt by using the shooting pool method.

Aunt Sandee helping out Charlee.

Sam and Karson debating on "whose ball is this?"

The big boys going down together
Ashton, Sam, Hunter, Eli

Shep finally decided to conquer the bouncy houses- up until this trip, he was a little apprehensive of them

Sweet Conner wondering why this strange man is going to catch him.

Madi shooting hoops or playing catch.

Little Miss Ava (though sleepy was such a trooper)

Eli taking his turn

Sam sliding down

Hunter

Madi and Ashton

Shep could not get up this one by himself so Sandee, Benji, or I had to help him up

This girl has some ups... seriously, Karson would basically jump to the bottom of the slide.

Ok, so it was fun. Going down with Shep and Madi

Shepherd doing the backwards method

Even Queenie took a turn down the baby slide

The Food and Presents
First, I want to THANK my parents. They bought 1/2 of the hot dogs, the buns, the ingredients for the chili, ingredients for the slaw and then made everything and had it at the party at the perfect time!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! It was delicious!

The gifts
He got 3 shirts, 2 pants, cookies, Cars Operation, Cars paint book, Toy Story coloring book, Hot Wheels cars, 3 gift cards, , rain boots, socks, pajamas, and money for the bunk bed fund

Such a cute shirt and describes the gift table perfectly

All the kids lined up ready to eat
From left to right- Hunter, Eli, Sam, Ashton, Karson, Conner, Shepherd, and Madi (Charlee and Ava were sitting on their mom's laps)

Ashton blowing out his candles

Thank you to those who came to the party- we are so blessed with wonderful friends and family. I did not realize until I got home that I didnt get pictures of the adults that came. But, I wanted you guys to know that we are so thankful that you took time to celebrate with us.

Ashton, hope you had a great birthday party! Just a few more days until you are officially the big 4!!! I love you sweetness!

*** Trying to get a video of the party uploaded to the video site, connection is really bad for some reason. Will post it when it uploads.