Happy 12th, Dyl!

 I gotta say...this boy always brings a smile to my face.  I think with each passing year he just gets funnier and funnier...and he seems to crack himself up more and more. :) Love him!  Here is a quick runthrough of his day...early morning wake-up to get to 1st day of ukelele club at school.  He's either excited about being 12 or 3 :)

a dozen donuts for a dozen year old kid!

 he slicked his hair back, put on his new outfit and was ready to celebrate his day at school....he was most excited about these cat/dog plates. He was cracking up over them.  lol :)  And his Pacers cookie cake was the bomb!

 Seriously...he loved this new outfit. I think he sorta looked like a Harlem Globetrotter :)  Or a Ninja :)

 Never a dull moment at lunch with D and the school boys :)                                              

 An artsy pose with the cube cake :)  Nothing fancy and definitely not my best work, but for a girl that is bad at math and making things look cubed, it was ok!

He was happy with it :)

 Pops would be proud...a bday game of bball...he clobbered the girls. Though Shelby still claims she has more skillz than him :)                                         

What happened to my baby boy? I can't even lift him up now!

He initially chose Red Robin for dinner, but after much though he reconsidered and we had take out from Mother Bears complete with our own bottomless rootbeer floats and a movie (Despicable Me 3...the kids had been begging to see it...I slept through it...3 hours of sleep a night is catching up with me)

The boy is racking up the rubiks cubes!  lol!

 Love that smile! :)

those candles were sparking up a storm! 
and lol...daddy is off lifting restrictions today just in time to carry his baby boy around! :)                                         

So proud of the sweet, smart, fun-loving boy this guy has become in his dozen years of life.  He's such a fun(ny) kid and makes life so much more joyful.  So grateful every day that God blessed us with this sweet boy.  He was a surprise that cold January day he joined our family and he surprises every day with his wonderful, easy going personality!  Love you, Dyl!

The exhaustion hit full force

Well I posted this literally 1 second too late and now it’s officially my biggest boy’s 12th bday.  Remind me next year not to plan the youngest boy’s bday party so close to the big boy’s real bday. And also remind me that if I can’t actually do a Rubik’s cube and have a great knowledge of mathmatics and measurement I should not attempt to make a cubed cake.  Good grief, what was I thinking?   Anyway, off to decorate the bday boy’s bed and attempt to get a few hours sleep.

A Puptastic Paw Patrol Pawty! :)

Well, it's always a happy day when a party is over with.  Now if only we didn't have to jump right into another bday.  At least I have one day in between :)  But the Paw Patrol bday is over and was a fairly good success, I think.  Logan was happy :)  Here's a few pics...

The sweet lil' gang (minus one who couldn't make it bc her mama couldn't find keys to her car :)).  Such a sweet group of friends!

 The pawty table!

 The pre-party pups.  We missed Hays being here, but we had our other "fav" sister and girlfriend, Audrey! :)

 Such a happy boy :)  Love him!

 They had fun with the games :)  We had to stall a little waiting for one friend to show up...but we did ok with the fill-in games.  Thankfully Hailey had cotton balls in her bathroom so we didn't have to use marshmallows :) 

 He's always so happy :)                                             

He was so funny with the cake. He was in the middle of eating a cake pop and I had spread the candles out too much and he actually asked his friends for help. They didn't come to his rescue so he had to stop eating his pop and do the job himself.  Good job, bday boy!                                       
                                                  
 One of their fav. parts of the map/scavenger hunt...fishing for lifesavers with Zuma.  The older girls helped hook the lifesaver on the fishing pole) :)
                                             
 The pesky Marshall pinata...he wanted to keep all the candy to himself in his legs.  Crazy dog!

Such a sweet group of pawty friends! :)

It was a fun day, but we have never waited this long to get stuff done...and we had a busy morning of church and violin so that didn't help.  But we made the party happen and there were many smiles and one happy bday boy after.  We are just exhausted now and wishing for a few days of rest.  Not gonna happen though.  Not our life :)

Tired of paws and dogs and all things party related

Lots to do!

 party shopping after preschool....didn't really need anything here...just seeing what they have...

 learning about the planets at new school...they are loving it!

 no matter how busy we are there is always room for chips n cheese!

 This cake has taken forever bc I am never home to do it!  Grrr!

 An early bday gift...he's going to a game tomorrow in Indy against Orlando...with one of his good friends.  Such a fun opportunity!  Ash wasn't impressed...she also wasn't impressed that she had to be this close to her brothers in Nina and Poppy's small car :)  She did like wearing pj's to school...this girl is racking up the dojo points...She got to wear pj's today and sit at a different lunch table.  Monday she gets to be principal for a day.

 Picking this girl up from school after her orchestra practice for ISSMA (her trio violin group)

 picking out the bday cookie cake for school...Pacers of course!

 Hoping for free stuff, but it wasn't working

 LOL...she is so helpful...but this Sam's frosting is heavy!

 Trying to figure out the finishing touches of the cake.  Where to put the pups....we all wanted them different places.

 We had some sleepy guys....

 Smiley Paw Patrol boy!

 The many faces of Lo...

 LOL!

 Deep in thought

 happy!

 His idea...a nose picking pic :)

 She really is my biggest helper!

getting chores done...and having fun while doing so :)

A bad day for Loggy, GS cookies, too many deadlines...ahhh!

Not the best morning for Loggy...the first time he got a yellow card home.  He showed me right away when he got home with daddy, which I was proud of. And he felt really bad.  He even told me later on that he felt really really bad about that and he would not have a bad day at preschool again.  He was a little too chatty with a friend and needed a lot of reminders from his teacher.  Somedays we all have bad days, buddy.

We put on some smiles later on and as we waited in a 1.5 hour line for GS cookies.  fun fun...not

lots of cookies all piled in a semi. Seems a little sketchy if you ask me :)

Living the good life with our van full of thin mints!

If he liked mints he might have dug in...but he doesn't :)

My helper

also my helper...still working on the cake.  It's hard getting stuff done when you are only home an hour at a time!  ugh
                                                 
                                                someone gets to be principal for a day on Monday!

 last minute alps meeting for dyl for middle school.  Ash was loving it, obviously.  D got the highest number you can get on the school IQ test...so I'm pretty sure he'll get an alps letter in the mail next week.  He's one smart cookie :)  Not sure why, but he wanted to stand for the meeting.  He's a funny one :)

 Someone didn't make it thru the meeting....the Steg eye roll...

 then completely out

after violin lesson, it was working on the high school schedule again...due tomorrow

                                                   sorting cookies

 oh the joys of proofing college essays :( :)

 Hays went to the ballet tonight...they had a new balloon artwork thing in the Koch theater

 kinda cool

Beautiful girl.  Hard to believe that in 5 months she leaves this city she has called home for so many years.  We shall see what he next path will be....

And we are in the midst of more college essays, summer ballet decisions, etc, etc. I'm weary from decisions.