Happy Birthday, Jonas!

Jonas turned 7 on October 8th.  He is growing up to be such a smart, funny boy.  He is very interested in science right now, and decided to have a volcano birthday party.  We invited all his cousins, Brynn, Bransen, and his friend Denny from school.

"Hot Lava" game (like Marco Polo)

Making our own volcanoes!

Our balloon race - don't let the balloon touch the ground!

Presents!

Our volcano drawing contest - The kids actually got really into this!

Cake Time!  We put sparklers in the middle of the cake to be the exploding lava.

The next day we went out to Collins to celebrate Jonas' birthday with the Gabels.  Duane did a Mentos/Diet Coke experiment and the kids blasted off a rocket with Papa.

We spent most of the afternoon outside finding caterpillars, playing on the trampoline, and launching apples into the woods with a giant slingshot.

Then it was time for LOTS of ice cream cake!  

And, of course, presents!

Thanks to everyone for sharing Jonas' special day with us!  

Happy 7th Birthday, Bethany!

Bethany turned 7 last week!  We celebrated with a Stitch party...

and Jonas and I got her some LEGO Friends.

Of course, Jonas was right in on the action when it came time to blow out the candles.  He must be getting older though, because even though you could tell he wanted to, he refrained from blowing them out for her.

We love you, Bethany!  Happy Birthday!

3rd Birthday Party!

For Jonas' 3rd birthday, we celebrated with a Curious George party! The first thing on the agenda was snacks - Jonas' favorite!

We had a banana scavenger hunt, and Bethany and Jonas had a great time finding all the bananas.

Until they were all gone. Then the meltdown happened.

"Don't try to take my bananas!"

Luckily presents were next, and that cheers up everyone. Jonas got lots of nice things and evened remembered his manners and said "thank you"!



We had a Curious George cake, and Bethany helped pass out all the plates. The kids had tons of fun!

I can't believe Jonas is already 3!

Happy Birthday!

My little boy is 2! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He has grown up so much and is learning things so quickly that I can't even keep up with him. I feel like I am always saying, "When did you learn how to say that?" He makes me smile every day!

2nd Birthday Party - Play Time!

After things calmed down a bit, Jonas started to relax and played with all of his new toys!

2nd Birthday Party - Cake

We made a racetrack cake to go with the Cars theme. As you can tell, Jonas loved it!

2nd Birthday Party - Presents!

Jonas got tons of wonderful presents. He is moving into a big boy room, so he got a lot of Cars things to make the transformation. He also got a Cars racetrack complete with Lightning McQueen and Doc Hudson racecars. He got some Hot Wheels and a cool car storage case that is shaped like a wheel. He also got some cute clothes. And that's just some of it! Luckily Bethany was there to help open them, so it didn't take too long. There was paper flying everywhere! What a lucky boy.

2nd Birthday Party - Dinner

Mmmm....hot dogs and rolls....

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

"Oh yeah! I get presents and cake!"

2nd Birthday Party - Discovering Cars!

We decorated for Jonas' birthday party while he was taking a nap. He was so excited when he came downstairs and found everything decorated with Cars!