Brothers Watching a Movie

Father's Day 2011

These pictures were taken a few days after Father's Day- the day the presents arrived in the mail! Ben had purposely dressed to match Peter on this particular day. When the movies came in the mail, Eddie and Peter each chose one to wrap and give to their Dad. They hid their movies for Dad to find. Peter hid his in the window sill, which I thought was quite clever. He moved his to match Eddie, though, so they both ended up behind a pillow on the couch. Of course, they showed Ben right away where they were hidden. Before Ben opened his gifts, Eddie told them they were movies. I thought Ben would have already guessed, but he hadn't. Eddie couldn't wait to watch "his" (Eddie's) movie. Sorry, buddy; you are going to have to wait a few years! We love you, Ben! Thanks for being a great, Dad!

Eddie's Fifth Birthday

Eddie turned five on Wednesday, July 6. We had a fun day. We didn't do anything extraordinary, but we spent most of the day as a complete family, which was really nice.Making the cake the day before Eddie's birthday.
First things first-opening presents. Eddie wanted to do a treasure hunt to find his presents. So I told him which room they were in, and he went and found them. Thus they got opened in my bedroom. Eddie's happy about his Spiderman mask.
Spiderman stopped by to help open presents.
In this picture Eddie is thanking me for his birthday presents; he was so happy and sincere. He had had a long list of what he wanted for his birthday; I was surprised he wasn't immediately disappointed that he didn't get everything he wanted. He was disappointed later, but I was impressed with how well he handled it.
This seemed very much like a Spiderman birthday-Spiderman wrapping paper, Spiderman mask, Spiderman bike, and Spiderman helmet!
Two of Eddie's favorites-crepes and blueberries. A perfect breakfast. Look at that full crepe!
I know my kids love crepes just cuz I let them put chocolate chips on them!

Helping Daddy build the bike.
Matching brothers! I found some cute clearance clothes when shopping for Eddie's birthday presents. I let Eddie and Peter each choose what they wanted to wear. Peter originally had a different shirt on, but he changed to match Eddie. Peter has since asked to wear this shirt again. I have never had him request particular clothes before.

Eddie making a silly noise over and over again because it made us laugh the first time he did it.

The bike's maiden voyage.
Luckily Iron Man was able to join us.

Peter can pedal, but he tends to walk the trike instead.

Yummy camera case.

Eddie did an excellent job riding his bike. He really should have had a bike before now, but we just didn't know where to store it, and it's really too hot to ride bikes in the summer.
We took Ben to school and went to Toys r Us so the kids could use their birthday coupons while Ben was teaching. Peter chose a bowling ball set. He found it when we first got there and never changed his mind. Eddie was really disappointed he couldn't get whatever he wanted. He was so happy when he found this set of two swords and shields. By now he has modified (which means he broke it on purpose..urggh!) his sword so it can be a knife.
After we picked up Ben from school we went to dinner. Eddie chose Moe's because he gets a cookie there.


It's nice to be in a picture with my boys, even if we can't get everyone to look at the camera.

Decorating the cake. Eddie wanted an airplane cake since we are flying out to Utah soon, but it was too complicated. I showed him this racecar cake, and he was happy.
Creeg's trying to be involved.

Decorating the cake's racecars.
Eddie's friends came over for cake and swimming. This is Sawyer. He is one week younger than Peter.
This is Jackson. He's almost two years older than Eddie.

The finished cake
Cute birthday boy, cute cake.
Eddie had us light some of the candles a second time because he didn't make a wish the first time around.

Blowing out the candles.

Eddie chose strawberry cake. He looks pleased with his choice.

Eddie's favorite icecream has not varied over the years-mint chocolate chip. He and Ben chose "Edy's" brand for the big day.

Handsome even with a messy face, and I think Ben wants to prove his around sometimes cuz he keeps taking pictures of himself with the kids.

Nothing will stop Peter from eating when he has a yummy treat in front of him.

Look at those eyes...and that icecream!

We went swimming after eating cake and icecream.
Eddie loves swimming in his floaty. This picture makes me want to go swimming right now.

Peter is a very cute and silly kid!

Creegan's first time to sit in his floaty. He's only recently started sitting up with any decent balance.
He loves eating the floaty.

Cute brothers. Here you get a great shot of Peter's "cashew" (tattoo). :)

Some fun things I want to remember about this day: We were reprimanded a few times because we didn't say "Happy birthday" often enough. Eddie was really excited when Grandma called him "birthday boy" on the phone. He was surprised that the cashier at Toys R Us "knew" it was his birthday (she wished him a happy birthday cuz he paid with his birthday coupon). Multiple times he mentioned loudly that it was his birthday, in hopes that people standing near us would overhear.

We had a great day! I can't believe my li'l Eddie is five (and don't try to call him "li'l Eddie"!)! Happy birthday, Eddie! I am so glad you are mine!

First Birthday Party Ever

Yesterday I did my first birthday party ever. I have to admit I actually felt really happy to be up late the night before making cupcakes for my big five year old's big day!

Eddie has been looking forward to the party all week. Eddie's response to Peter's first tease yesterday morning was, "You have to be nice to the birthday boy!". Of course Peter just teased him more.

We had Eddie's party at Michael's. Eddie LOVES doing crafts, especially painting and building projects. This was a perfect place to have a party; it was inside and not at my house! The kids painted and decorated treasure chests. Thus our party was pirate themed.

Working on the craft-Peter's smiles are great in all these pictures.

How can you not love this cute little boy!

I am having a hard time inserting my comments by each picture, so I will put them all at the end.

Eddie got really great presents at his party. His favorite was the Iron Man from his best buddies, Jackson and Sawyer; he couldn't wait to get home so we could get it out of its box.

I had talked to him ahead of time about saying thank you after he opened each present. I warned him not to say if he didn't like something or if he already had it. After everyone left the party he asked, "Didn't I do a good job at just saying thank you, Mom? When I didn't like that present, I just said "thank you"!". I asked him which present he hadn't liked, and he said the remote controlled spider because it was too scary. He told me that maybe he could play with it when he gets bigger. When we got home he told Peter he could have it. Peter's been loving it, but Eddie plays with it, too. Looking at these pictures, though, I can tell he loved this present right when he got it. Look at those smiles!

Eddie received lots of fun crafts as birthday presents: cars to paint, Buzz Lightyear and Woody to paint, and a box containing seven different crafts. He also received Cars cars, a Cars bathtub set, and a Toy Story coloring book.

Blowing out the cool treasure chest candle. Eddie was really excited about the gold coin candy on top of his cupcakes. He wanted to eat those all week. He chose Funfetti cupcakes with strawberry frosting. I also made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Proof that Ben and Creegan were there. When we were taking off for the party, Eddie was shocked that Ben was going with us. You can see usually we do our adventures without Ben. It was really fun to see how happy Eddie was that his Daddy was going to be at his party. I was a little worried about how Creegan would handle the party. It was at 10 a.m., and I knew he'd be tired. Ben held him for the first half, and our friend, Annie, held him for the second half. He did great, though you can see how tired he was. By the time it was over, he was ready for a good nap. Creegan loved the balloons and water bottles.

Michael's happened to be doing free face painting in the store, so some kids got their faces painted after the party. My children have never wanted their faces painted before, but Peter waited in line, got right in that chair, and told the face painter he wanted to be a butterfly (what the girl ahead of him had requested). He spoke to the face painter himself. Eddie didn't get his face painted but commented at home that he wants his face painted next time.

The party was a huge success. I wasn't stressed out. A lot of my friends asked about having parties at Michael's, so they must have liked it. Eddie exclaimed at the end that he liked the party the best because it was his birthday. I love doing fun things with and for my children. It was a great day.