The 2nd May Birthday Celebration!

He caught up with me again!
Donald turned 45!

Hannah and I decided to test his "youth" by presenting him with carrot cupcakes holding 45 candles!

 Can he blow them out all at once?

What do you think?

Yep!
He was concerned that the smoke detector might actually go off!

It's hard to surprise Donald with gifts.
If it's wrapped, he'll shake it or feel it long enough to figure out what it is.
Plus usually he's been asked what he wants and so he knows it's probably coming.
This year I actually surprised him!

With a chainsaw!
Probably my most favorite shopping experience ever...not!
But I did know what I was looking for and I knew it was something he wanted!

And I was right!
Happy birthday to our very favorite guy!!

11th Birthday Party!

Jenelle just keeps getting older!!

This one LOVES her birthday!

She started it off right with a rainbow sprinkle donut for breakfast!

After school and dinner, the fun part starts...
Cupcakes and gifts!
I made an attempt at cupcakes baked in an ice-cream cone, but they turned out terrible, so we just made pretty cupcakes instead!

 And one just for Dad who didn't want frosting.

Showered and ready for the party!

On another night she had her friend Chloe over for a birthday sleepover.

This night was just family.

 She was pretty excited about the present opening part, but really, who isn't?

This is probably the strangest gift I've ever given anyone.
It was a request that Jenelle had.
She loves to braid and fix hair, so she asked for a mannequin head.
This one is actually named Emma and she has real human hair.

She sits on a shelf in Jenelle's bedroom closet...

We make sure to have it shut each night before lights out.

You don't want to wake up to Emma staring at you in the night!

Happy Birthday happy (crazy) girl!

Ivan's Birthday - Final Part

So the last part of Ivan's birthday celebration(s) was a party that he wanted to have with some friends.
Our neighbors were so nice to let us use their pool for the afternoon while they were out of town, so he invited four friends and they had a swim/eat/nerf gun war party!

I had an awesome helper...

 ...make that two!
Of course he had to follow us over!

We started with swimming and some lunch snacks.  

Lots of crazy play!

My main helper kept herself busy!

After swimming, I took the boys to a local park where they were going to have a large scale nerf gun war.

So while I did this...

They did some of this...

But a whole lot more of this...

I think the park was too big and they were making strategy up as they went...and those bullets had to be picked up each time someone emptied their magazine!

That was the part that was no fun.

With time running out before moms came back to retrieve their kids, we headed home for some cake and gifts.

Ivan loved all his gifts and had a great time!

He's fortunate to have a neat group of friends (David, Jared, Patrick and Tanner)  - some he's known for years and some only for this summer, but they are all welcome back!

And so ends Ivan's 12th birthday celebrations!

Next I'll start the tale of our Texas Tour!