The BABY is 6!!!

6!  6!  6!  The baby is 6 TODAY!

This 6-year old of mine has been counting down the days to his birthday for at least a month.  I am not sure I have ever seen a kid more excited about a birthday. 

This baby of mine still loves his mama fiercely and thankfully still needs snuggles most days.  He can build the coolest creations from his Lego collection.  He will scarf down any type of berry brought into this house.  He has become quite the mathematician and is making great strides in his reading.  I am convinced that at least half the facts he knows about the animal kingdom have come from the mouths of the Kratt Brothers of Wild Kratts fame.  He loves being read to, riding his bike and playing Minecraft with Matthew.  He never forgets ANYTHING....he is certainly my most ardent accountability partner!

Don't let that sweet dimpled smile fool you, this boy has quite the stubborn streak, I mean FOR REAL!  There have be MANY conversations here about choosing your battles, and he is making progress but boy....the stubborn is strong in this one.  He and Matthew are incredibly close...when they are not trying to maim each other. 

This shot epitomizes the CAN DO ATTITUDE employed by this kid.

And that stink face...when he doesn't get his way...alive and well today!

A big old 8 year old in the HOUSE!!!

That sweet little red headed boy who first called me Mama is a big lanky 8-year old today!

He is the sweetest kid on the planet, such an easygoing soul, full of happiness and life.  Legos and baseball are still his primary interests and Minecraft is a love as well.  Gnocchi is his favorite food by far followed up by pizza.  Fall baseball starts soon and it will be fun watching him in his element.

His hair, pictured here got EXTREMELY LONG over the summer, Willie made a deal with the guy he is working with that they would not cut their hair until they met a specific milestone and Matthew jumped right on board with them.  I think he secretly enjoyed all the attention I gave to him DAILY....asking is he was ready for a haircut yet??? 
We finally trimmed it a few weeks ago so the crazy hair is gone and my clean cut little man is back! 

Willie has been working an insane amount of hours over the past 3-4 months so we have seen very little of him, so for Matthew's birthday he took the ENTIRE day off.  I am not sure there is any THING we could have gotten Matthew that was a better gift than that.  Riggle U offers your birthday off so we had an easy morning with a few presents and game playing and then Willie took him on a special trip to the shooting range. 

Those that know this little quiet guy well know that he has
become quite adept at his little 22 rifle and having Papa all
to himself for a teaching and practice session was right up his
alley.  He even qualified and got his youth shooter card, which he thought was the icing on the cake.

We ended the day with dinner out at his favorite restaurant, MELLOW MUSHROOM! 

Our last ICE CREAM as a 7-year old!!!!

Moral of the story....DON'T BLINK!

Matthew is 7!

7 years old, that is hard for this mama to believe.  I remember this sweet baby at a year old....

and now he is a big 7-year old.

He is the sweetest kid I have ever met.  He loves baseball, riding his bike, star wars and legos.  He loves to help and will do most anything if you just ask him.  He has incredible patience with me and little brother but not so much with himself.  He recently discovered crunchy peanut butter and cannot get enough.

We celebrated his birthday with a special outing that consisted of 7 things for him.  He started off unwrapping a new pair of boots, we then headed off to Krispy Kreme for breakfast followed by mountain biking and fishing at Hays Nature Preserve.  After that we hit up Toys R Us and let him pick out a new Nerf gun.  After a shower and a short break we went to the new trampoline park in town and capped off his special night with a dinner with friends at Mellow Mushroom.

40!

Since Willie will be was on a mission trip in Nepal when he turns 40 we decided to surprise him on the first weekend in October.

Months ago we picked this weekend with some of our close friends, sickness and funerals tried to put a damper on the weekend and while we missed some of the people that planned to come, I think Willie was pleasantly surprised and had a relaxing laid back celebration.

Paddle boats, baseball, snuggles, hammock swinging, campfires, fishing, s'mores, great friends from Texas and Alabama, lots of digging in sand, delicious food, lots of hanging out and dirty dirty dirty barefoot but happy children.

Oh, and Santa...I the boys really want a sand-boat!!!!

Baseball with Uncle Ronny

So happy to be fishing, can you tell?

 

Aunt Nicki and sweet little Zoe dog

I would have bet money that I would NEVER witness Will in a paddle boat....

Little dirty feet, evidence of happy kids!

Pile O'Chicken

 

 

Makes me all warm and fuzzy

Not at all worried about 40

Boys Birthday Campout 2012

Please ignore that this post is a few a lot of weeks months late, life is crazy these days.

Our guys love to camp so it seemed appropriate that we camp out in our backyard to celebrate their birthdays.  I think this may become an annual tradition.  The party was a hit, with our children as much as the fellow campers.

The week before the party we hammered our little hearts out making signs, gathering sticks and getting our scavenger hunting bags ready.

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The day of the party papa took the boys to Home Depot while I decorated the cake with no helpers.  It turned out pretty cute I think.

 

Anita was our resident marshmallow shooter distributor

Guns and Ammo

Paul shuttled gear into Camp Riggle

Taste testing all the chocolate Ms. Nae unwrapped.

We had lots of helpers that made the day a success.

From handing out treats to shuttling gear to stringing balloons to making scavenger bags to unwrapping enormous amounts of chocolate to cleaning up.  This village we have the opportunity to participate in never fails to show us the love.

Ready to hunt

The rest of the hunters

                                                                                         The glowstick tree, the 1st of many scavenger finds

Traipsing through the woods

Inventory

Poor Dan, designated parachute installer, at least he has a PhD, right?

Mr. Dan, with the world's smallest balloon pump.

Real men dine on the back of a gator

We really did have an actual table for eating at.

Faces like this, make it ALL WORTH IT!

His big jeep, from the bestest neighbors!

Outdoor movie time

Camp Riggle

 

 

 

 

Early morning negotiations in the sandbox

Bacon, lots of bacon

 

What a stance

This picture cracks me right up

                                                                                                            My boys

Chocolate, for breakfast

Caden, working on his 2nd breakfast.

Buddies enjoying their treat

So happy

Potato Cannon instruction

Boys...will be BOYS, no matter how old.

A whole lot of cute, up in a tree.

 A friend loaned us a bow and the boys got to practice shooting after their camping friends left.