Jack Turns 6!

First things first, Jack has grown a lot in these past 6 years, but he remains a cutie.

Tuesday morning was a bit rough all around, culminating with Jack unable to comply with my request of smiling for a picture before school. 

Not even the lure of a Clara, Jack, & Daddy selfie could shake that frown upside down.

I went into his classroom an hour later with donuts to discover a much happier Jack. Before we got down to the business of eating glazed donuts, his classmates sang to him.

The tail end of Jack's class singing Happy Birthday"

Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we hit the park after school. Zooming around on his scooter.

After leaving the park the kids played in the back yard before dinner, and we captured some pictures.

Having scarfed his favorite meal of "big pasta", Jack was excited for cake and ice cream - vanilla across the board.

Quick pic of Jack's square birthday balloon.

Jack huffed and puffed and blew his candles out!

Tasty.

Time for presents!

Snuggling with Daddy while waiting to open them.

Jack opens his first birthday present. Cones!

Jack opens a present that he'd previously seen in Buttons & Bows, pay attention to his comment.

"Ah baseball, but I like golf better."

Despite that fact he showed some secret baseball ability, knocking the ball across the back yard on his first try. Must have inherited his mom's stellar softball skillz!

Jack's first try on his new tee!

Jack's 6th Birthday Party

This past Saturday we held Jack's birthday party in our back yard. The weather report was really sketchy for Saturday, mid-50's and rainy, but saying that showers weren't supposed to begin until 12:45 pm, and our party was planned for 10 to noon.

Jack invited several of his kindergarten classmates as well as some old friends. They all enjoyed the swing set and sand box for a solid hour or so.

Playing in the back yard

Jack had said he wanted to have a "garden party". What he meant by that was he wanted to plant seeds in a pot like last year. There was a bucket decorating station where the kids could use stickers and paint pens to color their future planters.

Snacks, cake, and my new Christmas present from Nay-nay.

Around 11:20 it started sprinkling and a glance at the radar showed things were only going to get worse, so we moved the cake celebration inside. Considering how many kids were inside, things were not too insane. After all there was still cake to be eaten.

Blowing out the candles (with a little help from his friends).

 

Everyone gathered around the table eating.

Clara Turns 8!

On Wednesday after her party, Clara turned 8 years old! How is it even possible that she is so big?

After school and a tasty dinner of Chipotle, Clara opened her presents. She was excited to receive several of the books for which she'd been hoping.  

Clara opens her owl.

Clara gets a shock!

Clara and Cecile.

After the presents were unveiled, it was time for the Clara requested coconut cake with chocolate icing masterpiece. I aim to please.

Don't even think about it, Meghan!

Happy Birthday!

Clara's 8th Birthday Party

Your eyes do not deceive you, it is in fact a new blog post! We've had some birthdays this month, so I thought I'd get back on track by sharing recent goings-on before tackling the back-blog yet again. 

This year we did something we've never down before. We held Clara's birthday party not in our back yard but at Prairie Ridge Ecostation the Saturday before her birthday.

As you can see it was an absolutely gorgeous spring day with warm temperatures too!

Meghan got busy right away cooking something with the dinosaurs.

Obligatory birthday balloons.

The girl of the hour, very excited to see that the water had been turned on.

The kids scattered all over the park.

Adam and William perched atop the tunnel.

Elliot taking a rest in the shade.

The kids racing up to see the wire-buffalo.

The kids racing back to have cake!

Meghan thought about going up the hill to check things out but saw everyone turning around and opted to stay put near the cake. Smart girl.

My attempts to light the candles. Brec got so distracted at the situation that he forgot to record the singing and faux-blowing out the candles (because we never were able to get them all lighted).

The yummy cupcakes...

After cupcakes it was time for the long awaited creek exploration. It got messy or at least soggy, but they had loads of fun.

Clara took a minutes near the end of our time with her two oldest girl friends, Carmen and Rosalind, to open their gifts.