6th birthday

Race Cars from Grandma and Grandpa.

Stencils and a SuperMarioBros. Wii game from Gram and Grandpa.

An Avengers airplane from mom and dad.  

Basketball shoes from M and L.

"Skateboard" rainbow cupcakes.  

He REALLY wanted cupcakes with Spiderman rings on top.  

He'd seen them once in a grocery store.  

Unfortunately... I couldn't find ANY spiderman/superhero party favors that 

would work as cupcake toppers.  

Luckily (whew!) he approved of the mini-skateboards.

10th birthday... in pictures

We don't have any pictures of her opening her gifts - rrrr!

But we had lots of fun.  This is M posing in her outfit from Grandma.  

I guess the 80s are back?

Brent got off early, and being the day before Thanksgiving the kids only had a 1/2 day of school.

We took a trip to Nordstrom and she picked out a pair of Tom's... I didn't dare pick them out for her.

Then we went out for Mud Pie at a local restaurant.  

It seemed like a good idea in my head... but we probably won't take the boys to share a dessert in a nice restaurant again anytime soon!  Still, the best part was no left-over cake for the next week.  

all i want...

C lost his front FOUR teeth just in time for his 6th birthday.  

Watching him eat is pretty funny.  

He bites his apples with his back teeth.  Poor guy!

worker bees

Fall gives us a great way to teach our kids to work.  

Cooper loves to make big piles.  

Lincoln mostly plays around.

The best part of raking leaves is jumping in the big piles - the payoff for all of the work!

brothers

Meal time is never  peaceful  here.  There's a lot more talking, playing and rough-housing and me saying, "eat over your plate!" than actual eating going on.  Yesterday at lunch the conversation between our boys went like this: 

Cooper:  "Lincoln, do you want me to be your dog, or do you want me to be your dog?"

Lincoln:  "I want to be your dog."

Cooper:  "No.  Lincoln - do you want me to be your dog or do you want me to be your dog???"

Lincoln:  "I want to be your dog!"

Cooper:  "NO!  WRONG ANSWER!"

Lincoln:  "I don't know what the answer is!!!!"

Cooper:  "DO YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR DOG OR DO YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR DOG?"

Lincoln:  "I want you to be my dog."

Cooper:  "RIGHT!  I will be your dog."

(The "pretend dog game" is pretty popular around here).