Double Digits!

CoCo's 10! He also had three birthday desires. He wanted slot cars, a fluffy body pillow, and a sherpa-like blanket. For his special dinner, he chose tacos.

Here he is with his body pillow from his cousins. (A and CoCo had a family birthday party a few days before Co's birthday.)

Birthday morning sillies.

Breakfast with the grandparents, and a cookie cake from Grandma. (CoCo still doesn't like regular cake.)

More sillies at an afternoon playdate.

Happy Birthdays!

It's birthday month!

A is now 12! His birthday wish list this year? York Peppermint Patties, sweet midget pickles, and a black marker! His dinner menu? Same as always - homemade macaroni and cheese. He did choose carrots and pineapple this year, which is a change.

Dad is another year older - not sure what his age claim is this year. Doesn't this look like the face of youth, though?

Mom made a great birthday dinner for me on my birthday. Nice to be spoiled!

This is my birthday treat from my hubby. I've been considering getting a lap dog since we had to put our cat down in the fall. I really wanted a cuddler, but didn't want to endanger a kitten with our overly-enthusiastic German Shepherd. So here is our new Cockalier (Cocker Spaniel and Cavalier mix). We all just love him! He plays with the kids and follows us around, and most importantly, he sleeps on my lap when I'm reading or watching television. I can just feel stress slip away while he snoozes!

Going Broke

Daddy: You lost ANOTHER tooth!
A: (pulling his tooth out of the tooth fairy pillow for inspection)Yep. It's a big one.
Daddy: How many teeth does that make in the last 10 days?! You're going to make us go broke!
A: (slyly) I thought the tooth fairy brought us the money.
Daddy: (without any hesitation) Well, she sends us the bill!

Begin Again

When I looked through my pictures today and discovered that I had only taken about 10 pictures during the entire month of February, I realized that it was indeed time to begin to blog again. Where to begin after a 4 month break? I'm not really sure. Guess I'll start with today. Here is what everyone in the house was doing while I was panicking about failing to document our family's life.

Hubby - calm, as always. Working on a new project - extra cabinets for the kitchen.

Three of the boys - playing a superhero game.

Our big guy - showing off more lost teeth.

Our girl - watching a Burmese movie and happy to have a homework-free evening.

Our newest addition -

CoCo's hermit crabs. His "aunt" disposed of them yesterday...oops, I mean generously gave them to CoCo. He's happy; she's happy. Win, win.

Not an exciting post, but it's a start!

The Toothless Wonder

Neil -Te has been waiting and waiting for his teeth to fall out. His brothers have lost their teeth. His cousins have lost their teeth. His friends have lost their teeth. Poor Neil-Te turned 7 last week, and still had all of his baby teeth. Yesterday, while eating a pear (not a ripe one, of course - He can never quite wait that extra day for them to be truly ripe!), he realized that he had lost his tooth - literally. It was nowhere to be found. Not in the pear. Not on the table. Not on the floor. Not in his clothes. Probably inside of him. He has the proud honor of having truly lost his tooth. (He actually was not thrilled about that and was sure that I needed to search his bowel movements. Luckily, I was able to show him on Facebook that the tooth fairy had still come to visit some of his friends who had only written notes. Thanks for that, friends!)

As he was getting ready for bed, he asked Daddy to wiggle his other tooth a couple of times. Daddy wiggled once, then once more, and proceeded to pull out the tooth. Much crying and screaming ensued. (I was fairly certain he had fallen off his bunk.) Apparently, he just didn't like the blood- no pain, no injuries, just a couple spots of blood that really freaked him out. Now, he has another tooth honor - the first of his brothers to lose two in one day!

Our Toothless Wonder is a happy man.

First Day

It has begun! Let the whirlwind begin!

BASH

We have gone camping with our college friends every summer for over 15 years. Last year was the first year without a Big Awesome Summer Happening. It appeared that there would be no BASH again this year, until two of our "social coordinators" decided to hold a Michigan Backyard BASH. One of the BASHer couples graciously hosted a smaller version of BASH in their backyard. They also hosted our family in their basement for the weekend. (We did a token night in the tent for the official BASH overnight, but happily retreated to the basement the next night because it was SOoo hot outside.)
The family that we stayed with have three boys - 7, 4, and 2. Our kids had so much fun with them. Here is a picture of the 7 boys feeding the geese and ducks. (Don't worry - despite this serene picture, they did give the birds a good chasing!)

Here are the BASHers who made it to the overnight. (The 2nd couple on from the left are the ones who hosted.)

BASH - the next generation!

This is the youngest BASHER - two weeks old! What a pleasure! Hubby was happy for me to get my "baby-fix," but really she just made me want one! (Until she cried and her mom reminded me of the sleep loss! ;-) )