Happy Birthday Aunt Melanie!

Auntie Mel joined us for a birthday dinner.  Happy 29th (Again) Melanie!

 

Thanksgiving 2014

We spent Thanksgiving at David's parents house this year.  Melanie, her friend Gabe and Karen's friend Louise joined the festivities as well.  It was a really fun day filled with good food and good football!  Go Hawks!

She can wrap her finger around people in seconds.

Keeping the couch warm.  David is showing off his beautiful black eye.

Shenanigans with Auntie Mel.

A beautiful table, even with the crooked candles!

More shenanigans with Auntie Mel.

Natalie helped set the table then waited for hours in her chair until dinner was served. 

Ryan (are you there?), Mel and Gabe.

That HAIR!

 

All tuckered out after a fun day.

Loving up Coco.

What?

I'm not sure why David thought it was ok to bring this home and put it on my deck so it could stare at me while I eat.

Grandma Goodness

My beautiful mother came to help out while David went hunting.  While we missed David we didn't really know he was gone at the same time as we were soaking up as much of Grandma Sue as we could.  We just love when she comes to visit! 

I love how the kids take over her bed in the mornings!  Good think she's an early riser.

Montana Memories

David spent "his week" in Montana hunting with his Dad and brother.  I'm pretty sure it's his favorite week of the year.

He had some luck this year.  And more importantly had some great stories to share about hunting with his Dad.

My Little Volunteer

Rotary First Harvest holds a work party the second Saturday of every month.  I've gone before, but haven't been able to take Ryan with me because you have to be in 3rd grade or up to attend.  I talked with my boss and he thought it would be just fine to bring Ryan with me (especially since he is 8 now) even though he's only a 2nd grader.

OMG!  Proud Mama is an understatement!  The kid was a work horse!  He put his head down and boxed up those apples faster than anyone there, and he didn't flinch when it came to moving the 22 pound boxes.  And he didn't quit until every last apple was boxed up.  We helped repack over 20,000 pounds of apples for the food banks!

After 3 hours of work, he asked if we could go back again the next day.

I was so impressed, as were many of the other Rotarians there.  I'm guessing our second Saturdays will be booked from here on out. 

The Card Assessment

The boy got a TON of cards for his birthday and he couldn't be happier.  He continues to spend hours reading them, sorting them and organizing them.  Love this boy and his ways!

Silly Selfies

Ryan's silly selfie from the birthday scavenger hunt:

We laughed and laughed as we looked through them all.  So funny!

The Great Eight

Eight is most definitely great!  Especially when you get to invite 7 friends over after school for a PARTY!

Ryan, and the rest of the boys were so excited to ride the bus home together.  I loved watching them dash off the bus full of excitement!

It was a very low-key party, but the boys seemed to have a terrific time. David was there to help keep them all engaged (he's amazing!).  He planned an awesome scavenger hunt where each boy had to find something on the list then take a silly selfie!  Very fun.  Then, it was time for football and soccer.  Of course the boys all loved this.  We had snacks, more snacks and cupcakes in between all the fun.  Then it was present time, and before we knew it the party was over.

It really was a great party!  David and I were shocked how fast it went.  We were a little nervous about having that many BOYS in the house, and while it did get crazy it wasn't too bad.  All that really mattered was that Ryan had a great time and loved celebrating with his friends.

I think this picture is fantastic!

And here are a few more in no particular order of the party fun!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

You Are It

Eenie, meenie, miney, mo
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he holla let him go
My mom picked
The very best one
And you are it.

And this goes on until all her snacks are gone.

She cracks me up!

Happy 8th Birthday Ryan!

Happy 8th Birthday Ryan!

You are growing up way too fast!  You are such a smart, active, happy, fun-loving kid.  We love you so much!

You continue to be such a great big brother to your sisters, which makes us really proud.  You love to play with them and we love watching your imaginations come to life.  The three of you can come up with some really fun ideas - like setting up stores all over the house, or making a library or just coloring together.  Your sisters look up to you so much.

You are still our numbers guy.  You love math and can calculate things in your head like a whiz.  I'm really impressed with the way your brain handles numbers.  You spend hours adding up random stats on your baseball and football cards.  You are even doing multiplication at school.  It's really cool to see how quickly you can master your math skills.

Your writing skills have really taken off this year.  Your teacher, Mrs. Sanford, likes to develop good writers and her devotion to this is really showing.  We can tell she's challenging you, and you are rising to that challenge.  Your attention to detail and really thinking your stories through has really improved in the last couple months.

You continue to be one active little boy.  You grab your football as soon as you get off the bus and start playing catch with yourself in the yard.  Unless, of course, your dad is there to play catch.  The two of you have a blast running routes!  One day when you were playing by yourself I peeked out to check on you and you were calling penalties, on yourself of course.  Not only are you the quarterback and receiver, you're also the referee!  I love your imagination!  You would spend all day every day with a ball in hand if you could.

Your red hair makes me smile everyday.  How did you get so lucky to have such an awesome head of hair?!  Love it!  We call you "Red" a lot, which is not your favorite because red is a 49ers color but we do it anyway!!

Your sense of humor is really kicking in.  You love to tease and be sarcastic.  You can dish it out like a pro, but still don't take it like a pro!  You're getting there, though.

It's really fun to watch you grow Ryan.  We think you are one special kid, and are so proud that you're ours!

I love you!
Mommy

Girls Day

The day after the family birthday festivities the boys headed to the Seahawks game while us girls hung out at home.

Kendall and Natalie LOVED having their cousin Aubrey at the house all day.  And Grandma Karen and I adored watching them play.

Kendall adores Aubrey!

Reading Buddies.

Grandma Karen and her girls.

We put Aubrey to work Ha!

 When the boys came home we fit in time for a picture on Grandma and Grandpa with their happy grandkids!

The girls spent a bit of time checking out Kendall's Fairy Garden.

 

So fun!  We loved hanging out with Aubrey!