Let's Get This Party Started!

He's had a birthday, shout Hooray!  Ethan is 10 and he's here to stay.  One year older and wiser, too.  Happy Birthday to him.  Hahaha.  Well, I do have to say that having a birthday fall in the midst of our move this year has really paid off.  In an effort to make the day special, I would say we have WAY overcompensated and given him the birthday of a lifetime. 

The festivities started earlier in the day when our sweet neighbor down the street, Miss Donna, invited Ethan and Grace to join her and her grandkids to go swimming at The Lodge.   Before they left for the pool, Ethan and Grace REALLY wanted me to get pictures with their friends, and I graciously obliged.  Our neighborhood is a decidedly older and more mature neighborhood and Nathan and Meredith are pretty much the only friends they've had here in this neck of the woods.  I know they will miss them a bunch.

Nathan and Ethan.

 BFFs.

Grace and Meredith.

 While Ethan and Grace were off galavanting with friends, Jane decided to take up residence on the back of Scott's car as she's wont to do these days.  Hahaha.  I don't know what has started this trend, but Sophie and occasionally Grace have been joining in with her as well.   I'm not sure what the big appeal is, but hey -- what do I know?  Hahahaha.

Cute little space cadet.

BFFs?

Sunbathing Beauties.

Huh?  What?

Lover Boy's awake!

Getting the party started!

After waking Alex up from his nap a little early, we went to pick Ethan and Grace up from the pool and headed straight over to the BIG surprise I had been planning for Ethan for the last couple of weeks.    Or rather the big surprise I had been thinking about planning for the last few weeks.  Apparently "Bounce U" requires reservations for the your jumping time and I was awfully thankful when I called this morning to discover that there was indeed space for us to come and play this afternoon from 2-3.  Because as Ethan yelled at me yesterday {when he realized I hadn't made reservations yet}, "How can you say you've been PLANNING this surprise for so long when you never even looked it up?!?!?!"  Hahahaha.  Oh Ethan.  So young.  So much angst.  Like I said, THANKFULLY there was room for us to bounce, and bounce we did.

Socks were required for everyone who was jumping and since I hadn't thought to grab any for Alex before the movers packed things up yesterday, the cute little lamb ended up wearing some of Jane's.  And he really wanted those purple ones.  Hahahaha.

Hello Kitty.

{My new goal for the rest of the year is to be in more pictures with my kids.  And just be in more pictures in general.}

The birthday boy with his mother.

Enthralled in the safety demo video.

Rolling out of an obstacle course.

Coming down a slide.

The ants go marching 2 by 2.  Hoorah! Hoorah!

Alex was terrified of pretty much everything except these little bouncy animals.

Scott joined in on the fun since he had the foresight to bring socks for himself.  Me and my flip-flopped self became the group photographer.  Hahaha.

Alex {along with every other little toddler boy there}  REALLY loved this T-Ball game.

All in all, the kids had a blast and Ethan was SUPREMELY happy.  And that always makes me happy.  After bouncing for a good hour, our time was up and we headed on home after a brief pit stop to our local Schnuck's for a cookie cake for the birthday boy.  After singing and eating, we indulged in a birthday dinner meal of Papa John's pizza for Ethan, Jane, and Alex {and me} and a rerun of Five Guys burgers for Grace, Sophie, and Scott.  It was good.

We have a 10 year old!!!  

Mmmmmmm.  

And last but not least, I convinced my favorite number one son to pose for a super quick photo shoot for me so I could document his big day.  He was surprisingly willing and cooperative and I'm pretty sure it's because he's had such a great day.

Isn't he a cutie?

He wanted to strike a muscle man pose and here it is.  Hahaha.

By this point, he was totally done with the photo shoot.

But he sure did rally for the cause when I told him he could pose in Scott's car in the driver's seat.  Hahaha.

It won't be too long now before he actually WILL be the one in the driver's seat!  Yikes.  Hahaha.  I'm feeling OLD.

Are we done yet?

Alright -- I'm out!

And that's a wrap!  It was a good day.  I'm so grateful for Ethan and I'm glad he's in our family!  His strong spirit and heart of gold will serve him well in life.  I asked him what he would like his adoring public to know about him on this day in time and he responded with a resounding "Nothing!"  Hahaha.    Perhaps I can coax a real response out of him over the next few days.  Until then, goodnight!  I've got 3 out of 5 children still up and I need them to get in bed ASAP!  Hahahaha.  Tomorrow is another big day.  The movers will be here in the morning to start loading the truck.  Wish us luck!

Seizing the Day

Our time here is winding down.  In an effort to cram everything that I possibly can into our last few days, I decided the best way to spend my last Saturday in town was by running a 5K with Natalie.  Since we've been running together a few mornings each week, I thought it would be fun to run an actual race with her before I go.    

 Almost  there!

The triumphant runners. 

It was no Rex Lee Run, but we had fun nonetheless.

I think Natalie is thisclose to  being convinced she could run a half-marathon this fall!   :)

In other news, today marked the beginning of our move, and our packers got here around 8:30 this morning.  Apparently we had things super organized for them, because they managed to finish 2 days worth of packing in one.  The kids were, for the most part, super champs throughout the day and spent their time watching TV and playing on the iPad.  I took Ethan and Grace to the pool for an hour or so while Alex was napping and then -- once everything was finally boxed up {all of our food included} --we made the executive  decision to go out to eat as a family.  

Ethan's birthday is tomorrow, so we thought a little pre-celebrating would be in order.  Plus it doubled as Family Home Evening.  Hahaha.  So, after dropping off the last of our {overdue} library movies, paying all our fines, and then dropping a few bags off at Goodwill, we were on our way to Five Guys for dinner.

Cheese!

We decided to really kick the evening up a notch by getting some treats and Redbox-ing a movie to make up for our lack of a Movie Night last Friday.  It was a hit.  

Lover Boy really liked the Oreos.

He {and Jane} also REALLY like the iPad.

What a cute little mess he is.  Hahaha.

And that is that.  It worked out nicely that the packers finished up today -- now we can spend a little more time tomorrow focusing on Ethan and his birthday.  I know he's been worrying that his big day would be lost in the shuffle.  Hopefully, we can do enough for him tomorrow that we'll meet all his expectations.  Hahahaha.  Wednesday will be devoted to cleaning out the house after all our stuff is loaded onto the truck, and Thursday we roll on out of here.  It's hard to believe that in just a few days we will be in our new home!