Dallin's Big Day

Okay - so one last birthday post, but certainly not the least.  Our little Dallin turned the big 16 this year.  See what a pro he is with fire?  Even his newly-turned-13-year-old brother was impressed....

So, what kind of gift excites a 16-year old?  Nope - it was a water bottle - go figure.

 Along with turning 16 comes driving.  Let's just say that we've all aged a bit in the last few months.  Dallin is a nice, safe driver as long as no one else is on the road.  Then, all bets are off as to what he'll do.  

See - eyes forward and hands at 10 and 2.

Happy birthday, "Dallin Doodle"!

Cameron's Big Day

Cameron being the middle child, he seems to always get shafted.  Hey, wait, didn't I just post about a kid getting shafted.  Hmm - maybe we are pretty good at that.  Anyway - his birthday landed RIGHT on Mother's Day again this year.  He was actually born on Mother's Day and it has never happened again until this year when he turned 11.  I'm sure there's a mathematical equation to figure out how often and when this will happen throughout his life, but I'm sure it gets complicated with Leap Years, moon phases, and probably the Myan Calendar - stuff like that.

So, in order to give him his own day, we celebrated a day early on Saturday.  We were watching his cousins for the day, so we decided to make a party of it.  I sent Leon to the store to get a pinata, which are pretty hard to find only a week after Cinco de Mayo, apparently.  

 Young and old all love a Pinata and the mad scramble for candy.  

 Cameron wanted something caramel for his cake, so caramel brownies would have to do.

Here he is wearing ALL of his birthday gifts - tie, sports necklace, baseball helmet, hoodie, cinch bag, and baseball bag.

In all, Cameron has always been easy to please and he felt like he had a fun birthday.  I guess that's all that matters - that the birthday boy feels loved and had a good time.  

Happy birthday, Cam-Man!

Landon's Big Day

Being the youngest child I think Landon has gotten shafted a bit.  With him turning 8 this year we realized that he'd never had an official "friend party" before.  Lame.  So, he rounded up a few friends and we headed to the arcade.  I soon realized that we can't be entirely lame since there were a couple of kids in the group who had never been to an arcade before.  Really?  It was fun educating them on the ways of tickets and tokens.

 After the arcade and a good hand-washing (arcades are Petri dishes), we came back for pizza, cupcakes, and presents.  Judging by the smiles, giggles, and general overall noise level, I think they had a great time.

 Of course, we also celebrated family-style on his actual birthday, too.

Happy birthday, "Boots". I hope you'll always be my snuggle bug - no matter how old you get!

Jayden's Big Day

A few months back we added another teenager to the family.  Jayden turned 13 - can't believe it.  

 The family went miniature golfing, but Jayden said he was going to do it "Happy Gillmore style".  Hmm.

Apparently, when you are 13 you are allowed to light your own candles.

And, apparently when you become a teenager you start sleeping a lot more.  Well, in Jayden's case this can't be true since I have a lot of evidence that he did a lot of sleeping before....

 As I got going through the scrapbook, I found more and more "Jayden sleeping" pictures.  Poor kid.

 I sure do miss my little "Jaybers".  He has been a lot of fun to have around and I look forward to finding out what kind of teenager he'll be.