Happy 40th Peter

 

Yay! Peter is finally 40.

All the members of his district at work kidnapped him and took him to Luby's on his birthday. 

They said that's where old people eat. Ha.

They also supplied him with Depends, Ensure, prunes, and other needs for older folks.

His birthday was Thursday, so I had planned for his closest friends and their families to come for dinner.   We had an italian creme cake made for him and cupcakes for all the kids.

Rudy's BBQ was our entree for the evening and they made it so easy. We had the marg machine crankin' and appetizers. It was a great way to celebrate his 40th.

I love this picture!

I used simple brown wrapping paper as the table runner and the kids decorated it with lots of sayings.

The small cupcake in the above picture is a mini carrot cupcake. One of Peter's faves.

Campbell & Ian

The 2nd grade boys spent the evening playing video games.

Randy, Peter, Eric and Greg. These are Peter's closest friends.

 For decorations, we had pictures throughout the house of Peter at all ages. He liked it, and said he hadn't seen some of those pictures in a very long time.

Peter with pictures of his life until now.

Happy Birthday love!

Birthday Bash

We celebrated Alex's birthday on Friday at the skating rink.

He invited a lot of friends including these cute girls.

Some kids were pro's and others hadn't skated before.

I think a fun time was had by all.

Zach, Grant, Cooper, Luke, Alex, Nash, Matthew and Hayden

Lifelong friends

At home that evening, Alex opened his gifts. Let's just say he is set on the Lego scene for the next couple of months.  He also got a new Aggie shirt. He was so sweet and thankful for his gifts.

On Saturday, his actual birth day, he played an early soccer game and then hit the road with dad for an overnight Scout trip on the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi. I hear there was a Haunted House onboard, and that the racks were not comfy. I bet he is sleeping soundly this evening.

Happy 8th Birthday to my special boy Alex. I love you!  - Mommy

Happy Birthday

 to ME!

 

Peter outdid himself this year. He invited four other families to dinner with us at a mexican restaurant that I like.  It was a fun evening. Thankfully, the restaurant has doors between two rooms and we could close the doors to let the 13 kids run around like banchees. There were big kids being pushed in high chairs. It was hilarious. Margaritas were going down smoothly.

girls end of the table. Caroline, Sandy, me and Liz.

boys playing pool.

I'm ready to face year #44. Thank you family. I love you!

Happy Birthday Peter!

Today Peter celebrated #39 (what a youngin'), and we celebrated being done with the dang STAAR test.

We went to dinner at BJ's Brewhouse. The kids loved it. 

As for gifts, we gave him a pull up bar that fits in a doorway of the house, some new pants, and two blue-ray DVD's: Star Trek and Gladiator.  

My favorite gift for him was something homemade.  After school on Tuesday, the kids got busy making a hand print collage for Daddy.  I had bought a cheap frame and then got some matte cut to fit inside. Then each of the children chose a paint color and we let it rip.

cheap-o frame from, you guessed it, Goodwill.

Gold for Conleigh!

I painted the frame gray today.

 

Soon Peter will have a real office at work and he said he will be taking this sweet gift with him.

Happy Birthday dear Daddy-O!

43!

I hit the big four three yesterday.  It was a low key celebration.  We actually went to a really nice steakhouse here in Austin with the whole fam on Saturday night. It was the best steak I have had in a long, long time.  The view is beautiful when the lake has water in it.  They had a pianist and he allowed Conleigh to sit down with him and he gave her one key to play while he played a couple of songs. She thought it was the best and has declared it her new favorite restaurant. :)

Peter gave me some pretty sunflowers and a delicious chocolate birthday cake.  He and the kids also gave me a jewelry holder. I've been wanting something to hold all my necklaces. Now I have it.  We went to the super fancy Pei Wei for dinner last night. Not fancy but it hit the spot.

I had gone to the school yesterday to eat lunch with the girls. They overlap in the cafeteria by about 10 minutes which is so nice.  Alex doesn't understand why I didn't eat with him. His lunch time is a whole hour before the girls.  Maybe next time bud.

I wish I had it in me to come up with 43 things that I am thankful for but truly I don't have the energy. I am thankful though.

A Day in the Life - Sunday

Love this picture of our three Sharks!

In line with Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner, I thought I would follow suit and do a Day in the Life post each day this week.  I've been in a blog funk, so this will be good for me to have a defined topic each day. 

We were all awake by 7:30 here this morning. We had mounds of clean laundry floating everywhere, so everyone got in on the folding action. Kids fold towels and dishrags. I seriously cannot even remember if or what the kids ate for breakfast this morning!

Peter & I were just lying on the bed ready to start getting everyone ready for church. Alex came in and snuggled up on top of us which led to wrestling and laughing galore. He is definitely all boy.

Sunday is church day around here. Peter rarely is willing to miss Sunday school.  I was just exhausted from the early morning rise yesterday for swimming and the continuing go-go for Campbell's birthday party, so I stayed home & slept. Thankfully, the kids didn't throw a fit and happily went on with Peter to church.  Today was the first day of Summer Sunday school, so they got to be in the gym and move around more than usual.  They only stayed for Sunday school and were home again just after 11:00am.

I kept of sleeping & the kids watched a movie with dad. After that, we had lunch of bean & cheese quesadillas.  Then we wrapped up the gift for the birthday party of the afternoon. We loaded up the golf cart and headed to our friends the Burnette's for a backyard pirate party for their three year old. The kids had good water soaked fun.  Surprisingly, it was mostly dad's representing their families, so I took that que and came home.  I finished my book that I've been reading, Winter Garden. I had begun it on vacation in Florida and am happy to have plowed through it.

I went back & picked up the family on the golf cart at the end of the party. Peter headed to the bedroom for some quiet time. I watched Disney channel with the kids and Alex and I did a little bit of reading. For dinner, we went to the fancy hamburger joint, Wendy's. We were the only ones in the dining area for awhile. We never plan to go to fast food, but it just sounded good, and everyone ate well.

The HEB next door was calling our names. The kids start vacation bible school tomorrow and each year they have a big contest as to how much canned food they can collect for the food bank. So instead of waiting until the kids come home tomorrow all excited, we went this evening and purchased a load of canned goods for them to start the week.

The kids are tired. Getting them to bed is usually a workout mentally & physically. Thankfully, everyone hit the sack pretty easily tonight. No books were even involved except that Alex & Peter worked on the Bob Books a little bit.

Happy 5th birthday Campbell. The celebration is now officially over!

That's a wrap on a Day in the Life - Sunday!

It's My Birthday!

I had a great birthday weekend celebration. Saturday our family went to Bull Creek and had a picnic and waded through the creek and Alex spotted a water snake and we saw fish. It ended abruptly when Campbell announced she needed to USE the restroom. We packed up quick and headed home!

Saturday evening we took the kids for their first sushi experience. Conleigh & Alex both liked the miso soup. Alex loved the dumplings and even ate more than one bite of sushi. Campbell ate white rice. I'm glad we took them though. Conleigh was all dressed up. We called her Lady Conleigh a la Lady Gaga. She wore these fingerless gloves and had drawn blue teardrops under her eyes and long lines out of the corner of her eyes.
The kids made me some cute art for gifts. I also received some certificates from Peter for cleaning the garage, making dinner and one left blank, so I can fill.it.in. A Conleigh Classic
Campbell loves to draw flowers, AND she loves to spell MOM.
On Sunday morning, my actual birthday, Peter made green eggs & ham for breakfast. Yes, he added green food coloring to the eggs.
We headed off to church and then the kids & I started karate classes at the YMCA Sunday afternoon. All three kids and me. Conleigh & Alex stayed attentive...not sure if Campbell will make it. We have 6 classes in the pipeline and we'll see how it goes.
I'm looking forward to making it a great year!

Happy Birthday Coach Peter!

How did you spend your birthday Peter?
Why coaching t-ball, of course. The kids did great on the field and Peter enjoyed a round of Happy Birthday from his team afterwards.
Alex earned the game ball that day which was terrific. He got two outs. He'll tell you "one was tagging the runner, and the other was at home plate." Congrats my boy!
Conleigh made Peter a special birthday shirt and here he is wearing the gem. We love you so much Daddy-O!

Daddy Celebrates a Birthday!

Daddy celebrated his birthday on Friday. Everyone had a good time. We gave him a fancy reclining chair to take camping or sit in the backyard and watch the swingset in action.
We invited our good friends the Johnson's and the Hall's over for a BBQ celebration. Mommy made carrot cake, one of Daddy's favorites.
Happy Birthday Daddy, and heres to another great year!
We love you!