Liam's Birthday Celebration

Liam has been looking forward to his birthday for months!  At first he wanted to have all his friends go mini-golf, but that seemed risky in November - who knows what our crazy weather would be on the party day.  His second choice was a bowling party - deal!

The crew for the celebration.

He wanted a spiderman theme - one of the mom's of a boy in Karsten's class is a super talented baker, and I've been wanting to try her cookies, and we were not disappointed!  These tasted as good as they looked! 

I noticed this instruction as I was taking off my fashionable bowling shoes.  Is this a problem, do people try to purchase the bowling shoes for everyday wear? 

Liam's not a fan of being the center of attention, but he enjoyed having Happy Birthday sang to him! 

The cookies were a big hit with all the boys, although we quickly noticed that the black frosting seemed to be staining whatever it touched!

Luckily, the frosting washed off with a bit of scrubbing. 

After cookies, the boys got to go play in the arcade for a bit.  I'd say it was a success, the birthday boy had a ton of fun! 

School Pics

Look how quickly they're growing up - 2nd grade for Karsten, Kindergarten for Liam. 

First Football Game

Today was Karsten's first football game of the season.  He's been enjoying practice and telling us all about the plays they were going to run.

They all look so little standing there together - it's often easy to forget he's only in second grade.  I think I have higher expectations for him since he's older than Liam, but I need to remember this photo - he's only 8!

They can't have physical contact; however, by running alongside his team mate, he did a great job keeping the other team away from him!

Working out their plays for the next drive!

I love this one - check out the hair standing straight up because he was moving full speed ahead!  Plus, such intensity!

He got to play quarterback for a few drives and did a great job!  

It's going to be a fun season, I love watching the boys play!  

Chores

We may be behind the times here, but we finally 'formalized' chores for the boys to do each week.  If they do their chores, they get $3, and they can keep $1, save $1 and donate $1. Their chores include mopping the kitchen floor, collecting trash, cleaning their bathroom, cleaning the bathroom in the main living area, vacuuming and collecting trash. I had grand plans of a cute, laminated chart to keep track of chores....but alas, that fell to the bottom of the to-do list and we refer to a list jotted on a notepad.

They use a ton of cleaning products when they clean, so I'm thankful we use the Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner which is non-toxic and leaves my house smelling like fall.  I can mix up a bottle of cleaning spray with just a capful of Thieves Household Cleaner, so I also don't worry about them using a whole bottle each time they clean (not even kidding...they really like to spray it.)

Raised Royal

The boys received Blue Crew tickets from Linda for Christmas and we decided to redeem the tickets today.  We went with a couple of my friends from work, and the boys already knew two of the kids since Liam used to go to preschool with them.

This truck was parked near the entrance, so we had to stop by and check it out.  We thought it was packed full of balls but these were just posters of balls!

Our seats were alllllll the way at the top.  The stadium wasn't too full so we probably could have found some new seats, but it was nice and shady and breezy up that high!

Our Blue Crew tickets came with coupons to the Outfield Experience, a bunch of activities for kids.  Karsten did a great job hitting at the Little K and had fun running the bases.  Liam did not want to hit - I think there were too many people watching for his comfort level.

Liam and I rode the carousel.  It was nice to get out of the sun and have a breeze as we rode around.  It was sooo hot once we got out of the shade.

Karsten and John decided to race to see how fast they could go.  They started pretty similar, but Karsten kicked in about halfway through and won!

Liam wanted to stop and take his picture on the L on our way back to our seats - hard to argue with a request to have his photo taken.  That never happens!

It was a fun day, and the Royals broke their losing streak and got a win!  Woo hoo!

Remembering David

Scott's uncle was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in mid-June, and unfortunately, he passed away on Thursday after a tough battle.  He had several weeks at home where he was able to see many friends and family, and he also was able to listen to the sprint car races (his famone final time the weekend before he passed away.

We aren't able to make it to the service on Monday evening, so we went up on Saturday to spend the day with Scott's family.  It was nice time together as a family, we just wish it was under better circumstances.

Scott was able to see three of his cousins that he hasn't seen for a while.  There were still four that he wasn't able to see; hopefully we'll see them sooner than later.

Liam and Karsten had fun with their third (or second) cousins...not sure about that.  Delaney and Morgan are his cousin's daughters, and they all had a great time together!

#cancersucks

Graduation Class T-Shirt

It's time for the annual photo of the boys in a shirt with the year they'll graduate.  It will be fun to see how they grow over the years as they near graduation.  This is Liam's first year in his shirt and Karsten's third.  You can find Karsten's first one here...I know I took a photo last year; however, it doesn't seem to be on the blog.