"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.