Handsome Boys

We have a bit of a running joke in our family, when one of the adults will tell one of the children how handsome he is. It never fails that the boy on the receiving end of the handsome comment perceives it as an undesirable trait, shouting back "I'M NOT HANDSOME!" They would much prefer to be silly or crazy or wild, anything but handsome. Well I will always pull for handsome, because well, they are!

Here's some proof, pictures of the boys taken this past May 2015.

 Jack, 7 years old now!

Jason, age 4

Conner, age 2 (actually he prefers Super Conner)

 With all this handsome in the family, I think we're overdue for a little pretty! Which is exactly what we'll be getting this December! We're expecting baby #4, due December 10th.....and yep, it's a baby sister! We are all thrilled- the boys had requested a sister and they're eagerly awaiting her arrival.

Playing Catching Up!!

Due to several reasons- which involved technological warfare declared upon me by any nearby tech devices I own- my blog has been seriously neglected these past months. I've had 2 phones die on me, leaving me to deal with a phone I used about 6 years ago, and consequently my picture taking has suffered. And then to top it off, our computer's wireless connection crashed, leaving me unable to load what very few pictures I could take with crappy phones to a temperamental computer, or post them to the blog. 

Miraculously, our computer healed itself this last week, and I'm getting a new phone in the next week or two, so hopefully I can breathe a little bit of life back into our blog. This all being said, I'm hoping to post several entries over the next week to catch up on our life in 2014.

Jason turns 3

 Jason turned the big 3. Somehow three years has passed in the blink of an eye, and my baby boy is now a big boy. The night before his birthday while Jason slept, Jon and I snuck in his bedroom and decorated it with streamers and balloons. We hung streamers in the doorway so he'd walk through them on his way out the next morning. He loved it- especially the "Daniel Tiger" balloons (what he called the tiger striped ones).

 This year we had more of a low key celebration with just our family at home. Jason didn't seem to mind! To start the party off right, we enjoyed dinner at Red Robins, yum! Jason loves their mac 'n' cheese and milkshakes!

Then we came home and opened presents. Jason sure was excited for this part of the evening. He was old enough to anticipate and really get into opening presents....I love it! Jack was also very big brothery and obliging in helping little brother open his gifts. He is a little envious it wasn't his birthday, but he only has to wait a few more weeks for his to roll around.

This is the best picture we could get of the excited, jittery guest of honor before his presents were ripped open-

The main theme of the evening's gifts was Mater! Jason got a Mater tee with plaid shorts and an awesome remote control Mater tricked out with machine guns, propelled by rear rockets, and a ticking time bomb under his hood! (as featured by his character in Cars 2). He also got a few different planes from the Planes movie.

the new Mater-

 Instead of serving cake, I opted for frosting/sugar cookie sandwiches. (With all of our birthdays in the family falling within 2 months of each other, cake starts to sound blah!) As you can see from the picture below right, Conner didn't seem to mind the cookies-

 Jason is also one never  to refuse any kind of sugary sweet.

A gymnastic 6th b'day!

Jack got a special birthday party for his 6th birthday this past year. (Disclaimer: if you're reading this blog, this post is about 8 months late. Yep, 8 months. Right now I'm dating it with the current date, but I will correct the publish dates to get this next series of posts in their correct chronological order in the next few weeks.)

 So Jack turned the big 6 this May and was really excited to celebrate. He awoke to a special surprise breakfast- chocolate sprinkle donuts with chocolate milk! Then he left for school like any normal day.

 He had his party the next day at our city's gymnastics center, where the boys took a few months' of classes.

Jack and Jason on the bars

 Trampoline time

 This was the group favorite- running/jumping along the trampoline runway into the "foam pit." What's not to love about that?

 We played classic parachute games

 We finished up with cake and presents in the party room. I was quite proud of the cake I made for Jack this year- themed from the movie Planes, it featured blue skies, wispy clouds, and plane figurines from the movie.

 Jack got plenty of great gifts, including a few Lego sets, transforming dino/cars, a Mario/Luigi shirt, and a remote control Dusty plane from his grandparents. He did not want for anything!

 I love how this picture captures his joyful enthusiasm at just the right moment-

It was a great party and a great birthday. I think we succeeded in making Jack feel special that weekend, which he deserves, especially since sometimes we just get so busy with his little brothers. We love you Jack!