Happy (early) birthday!

Had the Brown/Weeks family birthday party for Kate and Dad Saturday. What a gift to be able to celebrate birthdays with family again, not just Christmas or some major holiday. This is how I remember birthdays growing up-- my family, eating dinner, blowing out candles. It's special to have family gather for any reason, and it makes a birthday feel even more special. Kate enjoyed the haul of gifts too, of course. Happy nearly 7!

It's a headband. And a birthday girl.

Make a wish!

Nanny protecting her 10-year-old great grandson (her ONLY great grandson for about 4 more months!)

Kate's birthday

What? Kate had a birthday?

She did!

First she had a Chuck E. Cheese party with her new Las Vegas friends. We invited 9 kids, plus mine, and ALL of them showed up! I don't think I've ever had that happen before. Now, some of those were siblings, but clearly Kate is much loved by our new friends. Sam had a couple of buddies there too, so everyone had a great time. She chose a Barbie theme.

Then, Mamaw and Papaw showed up for their first visit, just in time for Kate's birthday. We picked them up LATE Thursday night, and honestly Kate was grouchy for the next 2 days (including her birthday). Oh well. Lesson learned. We got a cookie cake for home celebration and singing on the night of her birthday, but her real wish was to go to Margaritaville, which we affectionately refer to either as the Pirate Restaurant or the Volcano Restaurant. We just knew Papaw would LOVE the pirate restaurant! (Actually, the best thing about this visit to Margaritaville was finding out about the locals discount card for future visits! Go locals!) She loves the restaurant

Thank you to all who remembered Kate's birthday from afar. We had so many gifts sent from friends and family back home, and it was a great treat for Kate to see what came through the mail.

Who cares about the writing??? Here are the pics!

The Birthday Girl with Leilani

Dancing with Chuck E Cheese was a big source of excitement.
This is Bailey (from new preschool), Kate, and Jaeden (old preschool)

Montana and her mom Anna take games seriously!

Kate and Jaeden. I'm not sure what they're doing.

Opening presents!

Barbie birthday cake! (The boys especially loved the Barbie theme!)

Present opening could not wait for clothes, or for Dad to get home. (We held back a few gifts for him to witness, but it was hard to wait!)

A lamp from Uncle Lysle and Aunt Carolyn (no, they didn't ship it from Independence!) It's for her new room!

Grandma and Granddad sent the Barbie hair salon, complete with a working (questionable term) sink and markers for hair coloring. It took some real work, but we managed to get it up and running. It was a big favorite of Kate's. FYI, Moms love this type of gift. Really. Fun.

This is the October 28 birthday cake.  

Sam turns 8!

It's hard to believe my baby is now 8 years old! He wanted a pool party AND a sleep over, and being a total sucker right now, I complied. (Knowing that Sam and Kate's life is about to turn upside down with the move to Vegas, it's very difficult to say no right now!)

Our dear friends Beth and Doug Whorton agreed to let our boys swim at their house for Sam's birthday. Beth told me that one time, when Luke was younger, Bob and Adella Lunsford hosted Luke's birthday party in their arcade-like basement, so it was her turn to pay it forward. They went totally above and beyond with decorations and preparations, and Doug even jumped in with his clothes on, which was a big hit for Sam's friends from school. Sam had 3 friends: Reece, Dillon, and Max. I was a little worried about the group, but they got along great! My parents, Bob and Adella, and the Wilkersons joined us poolside to celebrate too.

Afterwards, we went home and let the boys sleepover in the basement. Stu was the late-night sentry, but they were asleep by about midnight (though they were pretty sure that they stayed up all night!) It was a sweet send-off.

Cookie Cake

The boys!

Looking for a loose balloon

Here he goes...

It's tough being the only girl!

Birthday Extravaganza

Kate turned 4 last week! She was very excited, but transitioned to telling people she was four and a half approximately 12 hours into her new year. Poor Kate, her birthday always gets crowded by Halloween. She celebrated at Jo's the Tuesday before because of Halloween parties on her birthday. She was supposed to bring birthday treats to preschool on Monday before, but we were still on vacation, so we had to make those up the following week. The day of her birthday was also Sam's big football game at the Chiefs training facility, so we celebrated with our extended family and friends by noshing at Red Robin afterwards. No wonder she thinks her birthday is Halloween!

We invited several of Kate's friends to a party at the Flip Zone, where she takes gymnastics. We lucked into having the owner, Mr. Chad, working the party, so it was well-organized and the kids had a great time. They played games, played on the trampoline and inflatable slide, had cake and opened presents. Kate started a trend of jumping off of some padded stairs, into a triangular pad that was leaned up against the wall, and falling to the floor laughing. I'm not sure what kind of technique is required in this (possibly insanity), but the kids did it one after another for quite a while. Fortunately, all that padding means no one got hurt!

We had our family birthday party at the house afterwards, which was low-key and manageable with only 4 kids at the house instead of the typical 10-15. It was nice to be able to celebrate on the 30th, instead of combining with Halloween, though that did give us something to do during the party!

Kate asked for Barbies, and got several, all of which remain unopened. Her favorite gifts were a white board and play computer for her "office", a letter tracing Leap Pad toy, and clothes. One friend gave her bath tub toys, which I thought was clever, and she got a huge art kit that she's dying to break into. She really isn't a toy kid, which makes her really hard to buy for. I hate to think Christmas is right around the corner!

Happy birthday to my big girl, Kate!

Sam's 7!

It's Sam's birthday today! My lucky boy's birthday happens to also be Worlds of Fun day with summer camp, so off he goes to celebrate with his pals. He was a lot easier to wake up when presents were involved, and even Kate liked that Sam was going to open presents. We sang to him at least 10 times this morning, probably 4 or 5 in the car, where Kate informed me that she did not like my talking additions to the song (aka "Happy birthday, dear Sam -- Mr. Nice Nice Guy"), so we had to do it over.

About the only other birthday thing we're planning is that I told him he could pick where we have dinner. Of course, this means Chuck E. Cheese, but hey, it's pretty cheap and it's where a kid can be a kid. Who doesn't like that.

Here are morning pictures of my birthday guy:

Monopoly Deal was a big hit at Maranatha last week, so I picked it up (on sale of course) for a last-minute birthday gift. Good choice!

Sam waking up to presents!

Kate gave Sam a "Phineas and Ferb" t-shirt, which she told him about approximately 15 minutes after we bought it three weeks ago. What a surprise!

We're 3. We're girls!

Kate had a Fancy Nancy Tea Party for her birthday this year. It was big time. She invited two friends-- Chloe and Lottie, and they wore their fancy outfits for a fun girl lunch. They have to learn the girl lunch sooner or later, right?

It was a great day. I tried my best to use make it very girly, with a sparkly tulle tablecloth, pb&j in girly shapes, and even a craft project. Fortunately, the small numbers made it very manageable.

They were really cute sitting at the table together. They would talk nonsense, mostly, but then just giggle like crazy. I let them ice their own cupcakes, which was messy but awesome. Kate thought it was a good party, and that's what counts.

Coco Key Birthday Fun

Everyone had a good time at Sam's CocoKey Water Park birthday party. It's a good thing, because frankly, it was kind of a pain. The hostess said I was supposed to relax and let her handle everything, but that turned out impossible for me. Good idea though.

We played and swam for 2 hours and then had pizza, presents and cake. Most kids had a parent with them, which helped with the overall corralling. The only person I could never find while swimming was Sam. Go figure.

Sam's birthday pics

Sam's birthday commenced with a summer fun trip to Fritz's train restaurant and Chips Chocolate Factory. As I said before, a fan favorite.

Sam and Carter waiting to eat lunch

Sam, Carter, Kate and Chloe: Life imitating art

The girls waiting to eat lunch: Kate, Stella and Chloe

That evening, we went to celebrate at Chuck E Cheese with the Ernstings and Janet.

Stuart broke the no big gift rule and got Sam his very own flight jacket with patches to sew on and a name badge. We ordered big, and it's REALLY big. I think it will be able to be used this year and next. At least. He opened it on the weekend after his birthday.