Hunter Turns 10

 Our sweet Hunty-cakes turned 10 on the 18th.  He's such a happy, fun kid we just love him to pieces.

 McKay always does such thoughtful presents.

 Chelsea Towel.  Hunter is a big Chelsea fan.

 Grandma Happy gave Hunter this leather box with candy and money inside it.

 A guitar!  Hunter learned some guitar from Grandpa while they were here for Thanksgiving.  The guitar we had was pretty cheap and kept losing it's tune so we got him a good one.

Grandma Ann gave Hunter guitar books to help him learn.

 Hunter chose to have crepes for breakfast.

 Hunter chose steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli for dinner.

 Every birthday I make them whatever they want on their cake.  This Chelsea logo is one of the more tricky ones I have done...

Hunter's such a silly.

Grandma Ann also gave Hunter these glowy gloves.  She must know his love of accessories! We love you Hunter!

McKay's 6th Birthday

 McKay woke up on his 6th birthday to our traditional balloons in his bedroom.

 He came downstairs to open presents.

 Avengers everything.

 I love how sweet the boys are to each other.  Hunter gave McKay this cute present.

 Hunter's face in this picture is priceless.

 McKay loves those pigeaon books.  He laughs so hard at them.

 Grandma Happy gave Hunter these treats, the leather case and some money.  Score!

I'm pretty sure we have given McKay this Avengers set 3 times, but he keeps asking for more...

 Grandma Ann gave McKay this Eno. 

McKay LOVES McDonalds and I have been promising him for a year we will go there on his birthday.

 McKay's favorite dinner.  Hot dogs.  

 I made him a Captain America cake last year, so this year we did Avengers.

Look at that cute smile.

 When we asked McKay what he was looking forward to most about being 6, he said "now I get to use mouthwash."  I didn't know there was an age limit on mouthwash, but we made sure he had some for the night of his 6th birthday.

He's growing up so fast!

Dear Edwina (Palmer 6th Grade)

 Palmer was so excited to do the school play when he went to middle school.  He had mixed emotions when he found out it was the same play he had done in elementary school.  He tried out for the same part (Ziggy) and was thrilled when he got it (especially since the play director had said that the older kids would be the ones to get the leads).

He was a little disappointed however when he found out that he would be on the stage for aobut 3 minutes total.  The part he had last year had been separated into two parts and he chose the one that only sang a song.  I think he still had a good time, but it wasn't quite the experience he had last year.

 It was fun to see a different take on the play though.

 Our good friends had a daughter that was also in the play.  Her name is Allyson and she was the "Fairy Fork Mother."

 This song, "Hola Lola" is one that gets stuck in my head a lot...

 Palmer did such a good job.  I love watching him perform.

 This year he had girls as back up singers instead of the funny guys from last year, but it was still really good.

 His friend Thomas tried out for the other party (Scott) that Palmer had last year and he was so good.  He was super funny and did a great job.

 Palmer made some great friends during the play and I am so glad that he tried out for it.  It was a lot of hours of practice and I think overall it was a good experience.  

 After his final bow.

Singing "Hola Lola" at the end.  

Chattanooga TN

 The first time we went to Chattanooga Tennessee, we sort of fell in love with it.  We also fell in love with our Aquarium season pass and vowed to come here often. We headed over to Chattanooga for the last part of our Christmas break to try some new things and visit some old. The other thing we loved is all of the different restaurants there are there.   This restaurant is called Good Dog and has a whole menu of specialty hot dogs.  McKay is major hot dog fan, so we definitely had to come.

 I was in love with the holes in the table to put cones full of french fries.  

 After lunch we headed to the aquarium.  There is so much to do there that it doesn't get old for us. 

 The boys always love this space.  I think petting sting rays and hammerheads is defintely a thrill for boys (or for anyone).

 We always have to get a picture here with ther cute penguins.

 The boys love the sharks and I love the sea turtles in this huge tank.

 This is probably my favorite picture I have ever taken of Josh and the boys.  Their faces are just magical.

 Josh loves hot chocolate so we just had to try The Hot Chocolatier.  It was chocolate heaven.

 The boys liked watching out the window.

I am a scone lover, and especially loved these chocolate chip scones. The homemade marshmallows were awesome!