More Birthday Festivities

Late summer/early fall is birthday season at our house: Audrey and Clayton in August, me in September, and Luke the first day of October. Just so you don't think I didn't have a great birthday, here is a goofy picture of the present Clayton surprised me with. I was completely spoiled by everyone, and the day was only marred by the fact that I'm getting older.

Luke's birthday followed, and it's hard to believe that he's already 4. He grew from this cutie:

To this handsome 4-year-old! Can you tell that he helped decorate the cake?

A couple of weekends later, he helped me get ready for the big party by making the favors.

Here is a shot of the guests eating pizza and veggies at the 3rd annual Luke and Sam combined birthday party. I was worried about Luke since a lot of his friends ended up being out of town or sick on party day, but he still had a great time with the friends who came.

After getting energized, it was time for the big race. The kids had a fun time racing these cars around the little race track, being the crew chief, waving the checkered flag, or being part of the pit crew.

At the starting line

Pit Stop! The cars had velcro wheels and spots for gas fill-ups.

Luke and I had a race ourselves. I stuck my tongue out at the end for a photo finish.

Handing out Piston Cup trophies

Luke and Sam with their race track birthday cake. We joked that it was an "8", 4 for each of them.

The kids also had a bean-bag toss game into tires and played on the playground. I'd say the party was an overall success!

Somehow, two weeks later, Luke convinced me to make these cakes for FHE. Apparently it was Lightning McQueen and Blightning 5's birthdays.

I think I'm all caked-out for a while.

'Tis The Season To Be Busy

The fall seems to have brought a lot of busyness to our house. I finally completed my big project of the year for the GP Mom's Club, which was a bake sale through Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale program, to raise money to feed hungry kids in Detroit. After the inevitable drama that follows any large event run by women, it ended up coming together without a hitch. I think it was the Lord answering my many prayers, as I don't think it had anything to do with me. We raised just under $400, which greatly exceeded my expectations. I am so pleased with all the wonderful women in the club who helped make it happen, and for the leadership skills I'm slowly learning.

That is just the beginning of the events coming up, though, as there are more service projects for the club coming up, along with the Halloween party and Christmas party. I also have the Branch Halloween party and Christmas party, Luke's birthday party, and all my other "regular" tasks. May the crispness in the air bring me energy and vigor.

We've Got Joy!

It's amazing to me how much thought I've put into Luke's schooling the past couple of years. So many decisions! This year, though, I think we made the right one by putting Luke in Joy School. He loves it, I love it, and the group of moms and kids we are working with is amazing. Clayton and I were worried that our precious little guy just wouldn't be able to handle it (in a social way), but, as one mom told me this past week, "I can just see him blossoming." It's only been a couple of weeks, and he still sometimes panics when I drop him off, but he LOVES it. I love the things he's learning and doing, and I can't wait for my turn to teach. We have also already had some really great field trips. Our first one was to a pond at the University of Michigan (incidentally one of Henry Ford's wife's favorite spots) where the kids got to collect samples from the pond with nets and study the creatures. Today we went to a gymnastics center for an open gym where the kids had an absolute blast running, jumping, etc. and just seeing what their bodies can do. We have seriously got joy around here!

Can It Be?

I can hardly believe that the summer is at an end. My goal at the start was to under-schedule myself and take my kids to the pool and beach every weekday. I didn't quite accomplish it, but I sure tried. Here are a few last summer pics to remind us of fun, lazy days in the sun. Now that I think about it, we even played on days that weren't so sunny!

Racing to the Hill

Less than a block from our house is a ritzy little shopping area called The Hill in which we like to window shop, try out the trendy restaurants, and make late-night trips to Rite Aid (not so ritzy, I guess). Every year, they have a fundraising event for kids with cancer called Racing to the Hill. It is race car-themed, and tons of fun for a Cars-crazed 3-year-old boy. We saw lots of race cars, got free posters that are now blanketing Luke's bedroom walls, as well as a few other fun things.

Luke told me he really wanted to ride the ponies, and he went right over and did it. This is pretty impressive for such a shy little guy. It wasn't nearly as much fun as riding with Grandma Hall, but he thought he was pretty cool up there with his riding helmet on.

We did moonwalks, got balloon animals from a clown, and stood in line FOREVER for face-painting, only to abandon it at the last minute to chase down a lady giving out balloons. Oh, what I do for my kids. :) Audrey was there, too, although she preferred to sit in the stroller covering herself in sno-cones.