Hibachi Birthday To You....

 This is me.  I turned 40 in October.  Wow!   I'm finally "growing up."

 Harold took mom and me out for a Hibachi dinner for our birthdays.  Mom turned 70 the day after my 40th birthday! 

 This was our chef.  He was a cutie.

 I wasn't quick enough with my camera finger to catch the egg in the picture as he used his spatula to bounce it around and finally up into his hat.

 The onion volcano, complete with sound effects.

 The kids had their own chef and their own onion volcano. 

 I love John Wesley's and Jared's expressions in this picture!  The chef was popping shrimp at them to catch in their mouths.  I think Jared was waiting for his piece! 

 The ladies came out and sang us a birthday song and gave mom and me a birthday treat!  What a fun and delicious day we had. 

Fall Family Fun...

A Few of My Favorite Things...

 A big brother giving sisters (and doggy) a ride.

 Boys full of joy.

 Silly girls sportin' a 'tude.

 Drummer boys.

 Bunnies in dresses.

 Siblings deep in conversation.

 Brothers and sisters just hangin' out.

 Sweet girls with baby bunnies.

 Wet noses on sweet puppy dogs.

 An inquisitive mind all wrapped up in a body always in motion.

 Girls with curls.

 Fluffy soft kittens with bright shining eyes.

And loyal friends, canine or otherwise.

MaKenzie and Lena On Their Birthday!

 MaKenzie and Lena both have birthdays in September.  One day apart.  So we always celebrate their birthdays (cake and ice cream) together.  But they still have their own special days.

 On Lena's 10th birthday morning, she chose waffles.

 And she got a DSi for a gift.

 MaKenzie chose pancakes for her 9th birthday breakfast!

 And she received a camera for her gift.  She's always begging to use all of our cameras and phones to take pictures, so now she carries hers around the house capturing all the photo ops that happen every day around here!

 Grandma made her special chocolate chip chocolate cake at Lena's request.  Each of the girls had their own side of cake with their own number of candles to blow out.  I hope they made beautiful wishes and that they all come true!



Jonas Had A Birthday!

Back in June, Jonas turned 12! For several weeks before his birthday, he schemed and planned about what he wanted to do for his big day.  Lucky for him, his big day coincided with some appointments we had for Jared and MaKenzie in Cincinnati.  So, he got to tag along with us and stay in the hotel with the swimming pool!

He turned in his "day out with Dad" card from his Christmas coupon booklet and redeemed it for a Legend's game.  (Look how TALL this young man has gotten!)  

 He and Jared both got game balls to take home, courtesy of a couple of gentlemen who sat down on the foul line.

 For his birthday dinner, he chose Skyline Chili!  What else would we expect????  It's his all-time favorite!

 (Here he is, shovelin' it in!)  Surprisingly he wasn't able to quite get it all in.

 For weeks, we'd all been excited about the new Cars movie coming out.  My sweet young man was excited because he knew how much Jared would enjoy the movie, so he asked if he could redeem his "Day out with Mom" coupon to take them to see Cars II.  We all enjoyed it!

 For his actual birthday cake once we were back home, he asked me to make a chocolate mayonnaise cake with powdered sugar on top.  His favorite part of that celebration was having his cousins there to help him celebrate!

Happy Birthday my sweet, generous boy--even if you ARE taller than your momma!