Shane's Birthday Party

Shane invited a few of his friends over for his birthday party. The boys had a great time together! See below for party details.

We started the party off with a scavenger hunt around the house searching for clues to enter into a code to spell out a message. Here the boys are diligently working to figure out the code from the scavenger hunt...."May the Force be with U"

Making of the "enemy droids" from boxes, bottles, tubes, and lots and lots and lots of tape.

Ready for battle...Thomas and Shane vs Eric and Zack...

Water bombs away!!! The droids were set up on a table in the backyard and the boys threw water balloons at them from our balcony...they had a blast!

Finishing off the "enemy droids"...boys will be boys! There wasn't much left of the droids, except for a bunch of trash in my garden...I did make them pick up the pieces before coming back inside:)

Time for some cake...no I did not let them blast away at it....but they sure wanted to.

Singing of "Happy Birthday" and Shane getting ready to blow out the 10 candles.

Opening of presents...Shane was thrilled with the gifts. More Legos and Nerf Guns...what more could a boy want.

And the annual tradition of "lazer tag" in the basement playroom.

And last, but not least - R2D2 pinata time!!! I made R2D2 out of paper mache - and I was quite impressed with how long he lasted. The boys had to hit him over and over and over again - and finally after poking a hole in the bottom did they get a few pieces of candy to fall out. Then they knocked him down and basically tore him apart to get at the rest of the candy. In the end - Thomas took the remains of R2D2 home...he made a great helmet.

It was a very fun party, but I'm always glad when it's over and I can sit down and put my feet up:)

Happy Birthday Shane!

On February 15, 2001 - I became a mom! Shane Jeremiah finally entered the world after being 7 days overdue (that is a long time to wait when one is so anxious to start labor and finally meet our little baby). A labor of love began on Valentine's Day as Jeremy and I finished up our last Lamaze class during which I was starting to have mild contractions. It would still be hours before Shane woud make his appearance....as he wasn't born until 7:44am on February 15. If I remember right he weighed 7lbs 14oz. Tears of JOY were shed as he finally entered the world - a healthy baby boy! It is hard to believe it as been 10 years - a DECADE! My firstborn has now reached the double digits...where has the time gone? Here is a little walk down memory lane....

Newborn

Age 1

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Age 5

Age 6

Age 7

Age 8
Age 9

Age 10

The main reason I pulled up all these pictures of Shane was because he needed them for school. His teacher celebrates each child's birthday by askng for photos of them from birth through current age. The class then sits in a circle holding signs of the months and a candle is placed in the middle. The candle represents the sun. Shane then starts at his birthday month and walks around the sun while his class sings to him (sorry I can't remember all the words to the song they sing). As he gets back to February (his birth month) I got to hold up a picture of him and say a little bit about Shane. Once Shane reached 10 - the class sang Happy Birthday to him an he got to blow out the candle and make a wish. It is a very special celebration - and so I thought I'd share the above photos with you too. Here are some from the celebration at school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANE!!!


Shane is having a birthday party with some of his friends on Friday. Here is a sneak peek at the preparations....Star Wars theme this year.

Coloring

Silas is very much into coloring lately. He will sit for a long time just coloring quietly at the table. For being only 3 he does such a good job staying in the lines. He is very precise, and uses different colors for each different part on the color page. I grabbed the camera while he was just starting on a new page today - but I'll have to take another photo when he is closer to being finished to show just how good of a job he does! Way to go buddy!

Shelby - 9 months

Love that BIG, FULL FACE GRIN!!!

Shelby is 9 months old and sweet as can be! She is now sitting like a pro - and prefers to be sitting on the floor, surrounded by her toys rather than in her exersaucer. Fortunately she is content to stay put yet - so I don't mind a bit. She has great balance and will lean way forward (basically eating her toes) to reach a toy or a magazine (she prefers those if she can get one) and pop back up again. When on her tummy she will scoot around in a circle or backwards - she can push up onto her knees a bit, but she hasn't quite figured out how to push herself forward yet (and I'm totally okay with this). She loves playing Peek-a-Boo with most anyone and will giggle and giggle. She is now eating peas, green beans, carrots, pears and rice cereal. She is getting better with the "baby keks" but still seems to mush them to bits rather than actually eat them. She can however sit in her highchair with one and stay occupied for about 20 minutes...great for when I'm trying to get something done in the kitchen. She seems to be eating like a real trooper these days, but she is still a little peanut weight-wise (roughly 14lbs). She is now sleeping through the night. About 2 weeks ago we decided it was time to let her "cry it out". This is always so hard on mommy - but waking up 3 times at night to nurse her was wearing mommy out too - now that the hard part is over I'm getting a good nights rest - and so is she. Isn't she sweet when she's alseep. Oh how I love you baby girl!

A Big Hole

Shaylee is very proud of the BIG HOLE she is now sporting when she smiles:) She has lost one of her top front teeth (as if that isn't obvious from the photo) and thinks it is great to stick a straw in her mouth right through her teeth via the hole!

Crocodile Slippers!

Our neighbor girl made Silas very happy the other day. She stopped by and asked if we would be interested in a pair of crocodile slippers. She had received them as a gift from her grandmother for Christmas - but they were way too small for her - so she was regifting them to us. Silas was so excited!!! Especially since I had just taken him to the shoe store earlier that morning for new "house-shoes" for Kindergarten - and while there he had pointed out these exact crocodile slippers - but I had said "no" since these were not the type of shoes he needed for Kindergarten. In the end it worked out well for him - now he's got new shoes at Kindergarten and new slippers at home! They are a bit big for him - but he isn't about to let anyone else have them! Chomp! Chomp!