MJ is SEVEN!

MJ (talking to my friend last weekend):  Ms. Melissa, did you know my birthday is on Thursday?
Melissa:  I sure did.  Are you excited?
MJ:  Yes I am.  My mom is going to cry, you know.  She always cries on my birthday.  :)

It's true.  My sweet boy knows that every year I can't help but cry on his birthday.  Last year he asked me about it...

MJ: Mommy, why do you cry on my birthday?

Me: Because you are my first baby.  And in a way your birthday is my birthday too.

MJ: What do you mean?

Me: The day you were born is the first day I became a mommy.  So, every year, I am reminded of that very special day. ..the day you gave me the best gift I have ever received- the love a mother has for her child.  I am so proud of the little boy you have become but sometimes it's hard for me to see how quickly you are growing up!

MJ: Don't worry mommy, I will always be your baby.

And now that little baby is SEVEN.  He is reading, writing, doing basic math, and has (as of last Friday) lost SIX teeth!  He is really growing up...

His birthday was on a Thursday so I left work a little early to go celebrate at school with him.  And Daddy was able to surprise him as well!

MJ really loved his birthday treat (we did fruit and cheese kabobs again per his request!). 
I tried to get a picture of MJ with daddy but then the photo-bombing began!  haha :)

 MJ wanted to do another slumber party for his birthday this year- his guest list grew and I finally had to limit him to inviting 8 boys (10 total including MJ and Ty).  It rained the night of his party so we had to cancel the bounce house but they didn't seem to mind- they had a blast together!

MJ wanted a Minecraft themed party so Steve made these signs and they were a huge hit.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a Minecraft cake so we settled on Transformers instead.

Mr. Mike Fennelly told "ghost stories" and they were all mesmerized...

After running around like crazy for a few hours, they all settled down to watch a movie and eat some popcorn.

Then it was time for bed -- it took about an hour for all of them to finally fall asleep but they did!  And they were quiet until 7:00 AM (which I considered a victory since last year they were up at 5:45!).

They all requested donuts for breakfast - nothing like a sugar rush first thing in the morning!

It was a great party with great boys.


Happy 7th birthday to my first and forever baby.  I love you to infinity and beyond, sweet boy.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year.  I tried to get all of the kids dress in one theme, but I quickly realized that was not going to happen.  Ty wanted to be Iron Man, MJ requested Decepticon, Catelin had to be a Disney princess so she chose Ariel, and Jake was a sweet little pumpkin!

Catelin absolutely LOVED showing her costume off at her preschool Halloween parade:

The kids had a blast carving pumpkins with daddy- I think they turned out great!

We went over to Uncle Nick's house to play and eat before heading out to trick-or-treat!

One of the roads in our neighborhood is closed to traffic on Halloween so all the neighborhood kids go there to trick-or-treat.  Everyone did really well.  MJ was good about checking in with us after each house and showing us where he was going next.  Since he was the oldest in our group everyone just followed him!

 We stayed out for about an hour and a half and then decided to head home.  I don't think we realized how far down the road we went until it was time to turn around!  Thankfully, we had some wagons for the younger kids (we were looking at at least a mile walk back to the house).  One of my friend's sons didn't want to be in the jogging stroller so she let me borrow it...you should have seen the look on MJ's face when I told him to get in!  I reminded him that we had already seen all of his friends so they wouldn't see him in the stroller...he reluctantly climbed in.  After about two minutes he says, "You know mommy, this is actually really nice!"  :)  

Happy Halloween!!

Labor Day in Destin

I forgot to post this one!  Here it is...
 
Obviously I am very behind on updating the blog.  Fall is a crazy busy time for us!  We went to Destin over Labor Day weekend- just the 6 of us- and had a wonderful time.  MJ and Ty didn't have school that Tuesday (and Catelin hadn't started yet) so we were down there for 4 days.   Jake was such a trooper!  He stayed cool in the shade and would sleep in his carseat during most of his naps.  He LOVES the water and spent time in his float in the pool and ocean.

MJ, Ty and Catelin loved playing in the ocean and building sand castles.

 And we enjoyed our breakfast at the Donut Hole!

 Every day we had lunch at a restaurant right by the condo- just a short walk down the beach... the kids loved it.

It was a wonderful trip - we all needed a nap when we got home!