Patrick's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Patrick's birthday with family the weekend before his actual birthday. 

Jack was just as excited as Patrick about the presents.

The cake I made sunk in the middle, but it still tasted good.

On Patrick's actual birthday, we met several friends at a playground and had a picnic lunch.  It wasn't too warm outside, but everyone had fun.

After dinner, we had more birthday cake and ice cream.  This boy loves his sweets!

Our big four year old!

Cousin Love

In early October, we sent this message to Australia to the boys' new cousin Addie who had been in the hospital for weeks.  She is home now, and doing great!

If you can't read the signs, they spell "WE LOVE YOU ADDIE"

Charlie's 2nd Birthday

Charlie turned two at the beginning of September.  The weekend before his birthday, we celebrated with family.  His brothers were good helpers when it was time to open presents.

The baseball cake I made (thanks to some pans from my cousin's wife):

Baseball cupcakes:

Charlie with his cousins:

On Charlie's actual birthday we went to the Magic House.  He got to work on cars:

This is the closest he'll get to having a dog:

Two scoops of cute:

Construction trucks are always a hit:

That evening, we celebrated again (with cupcakes).  Happy birthday, Charlie!

First Days of School

This year, Jack started first grade and Patrick started preschool.  Both boys were excited about the new year.

Jack's first day was in August.  Just like last year, he wants to be a train engineer when he grows up.

He was very excited about first grade!

Patrick's first day of preschool was in September.  He, too, was excited about the new year.  He wore the same shirt that Jack wore on his first ever day of preschool.

I asked him to show me how excited he was for preschool and this is what I got:

Patrick with his teacher:

Now that Jack and Patrick are in school, I have a couple mornings I get this cute guy to myself:

Charlie would tell you that all too often we run errands instead of doing something really fun while Patrick is at school.  It's still nice just to have one cutie on which to shower my attention.

Last Days of Summer

Jim took a day off work the week before Jack went back to school so we could do some fun things as a family.  We rode bikes to Grant's Farm.  Jack was the only one who wanted to go in with the goats to feed them.

Patrick was happy to look at them through the fence.

Charlie was also happy to be on the outside.  Although, he did try to climb the fence a few times.

Before we (well, Jim) enjoyed the free beer, Jack and Patrick took a ride on a camel.

They were so excited!

The weekend before school started, we co-hosted the Jambeque.  This year it was at our house.  I was quite busy and barely took any pictures.  It was a perfect day, and everyone had a blast!

Ou-of-Town Visitors, Part 2

Continuing our week of fun, we spent a morning at the much-loved Magic House.  Everyone enjoyed playing in the water.

The Van de Graaff generator was another big hit.

Another morning we met up with a couple of my cousins, their kids, and my aunt at Grant's Farm.  Feeding the goats was not Patrick's favorite activity.  

The group of second cousins:

We only caught the second half of the bird show when we first got there, so the boys wanted to go back to see it again, from the beginning.

We made a trip to the Science Center on another day.  My boys love to look through the windows on the floor at the cars on the highway below.

Jack and his cousins produced energy in the huge "hamster wheel."

I wanted to get a few pictures of my nephews before they went back home.

These should be entitled, "The many faces of Lukas."