Boys and Trucks

Mark and Keaton got invited to the Monster Truck show this year. I have been wanting to take the boys. There was only two tickets available so Cort didn't get to go. Cort, Gage and I enjoyed a morning at Chuck E Cheese and Cort has been promised daddy will take him on a 1 on 1 outing later.

John and Levi
"Can I take it for a spin?"

They had all day passes so they went early and got to enjoy some of the events.

Here is Keaton driving a remote control truck.

The famous Grave Digger

Keaton just so happened to wear an ATV shirt he got for Christmas. He got the motor cross racers to sign his sleeves.
The Main Event

It was loud for Keaton so he stayed in the box most of the time.

Playcenter

I finally am finding the time to catch up on all my pictures. And pictures equal blog entries. On New Year's Eve we took the boys to the playcenter for a little outing. It was a funny kind of day because we had so many things going on. I actually had to go into work that morning to take year end inventory, but it only took 2.5 hours and I was on my way home by 9:30. I then took the kids to the neighborhood playcenter while Mark went grocery shopping. He met us at the playcenter and took over the kids again, while I went home, put up the groceries and then went to a doctor's appointment. We all met back at home in time for lunch and to await Gee and Papa Dan's arrival. We had Christmas with them and then Mark and I were off for our New Year's Eve night out. Wow, that makes me tired just writing about it!

Anyway, since we were going out that evening, I thought it would be fun for the boys to have an outing also.

Keaton and Cort in the kitchen area. They have the cutest wooden play sets that even boys like to play with. Pizza, bread, vegatables that are already 'cut' but stuck together with velcro. They pretend they are cutting it with a knife on a cutting board. So cute.

Gage and mommy hanging out in the farmers market.
This ice cream set is magnetic and you scoop your favorite flavors of ice cream. You know mine is Mint Chocolate Chip! Well, I actually used to hate it, but ever since I was pregnant with Gage I can't get enough of it! So weird!

Keaton and Gage playing in the soft play

"Yeah, this is fun!"

Building a castle for Prince Gage

Gymnastics and Despicable Me

So I took Cort to pick out his birthday cake. In the past it seemed to work better by picking out the cake as a way of deciding the theme of the party. Cort picked out Despicable Me. I started shopping at WalMart and Party City for Despicable Me party supplies only to find none. Apparently, there do not market Despicable Me yet WalMart had a cake kit. I even had to have this invitation custom made by someone I found on ebay. It turned out really cute. With the lack of Despicable Me supplies on the market, I just decided to use a black table cloth, yellow plates and napkins, and yellow balloons. The yellow balloons would be decorations and also party favors accompanied with a goody bag of candy. Once Mark picked up the balloons the day of the party, he (being the creative one in our family) decided to draw Minion faces on them. It made the party! They turned out super cute and we received so many compliments. Of course, I didn't get to take the credit, but I was glad that everyone loved them.

This is the second year in a row that Cort wanted to have a gymnastics party. We let Cort make the complete guest lists which he mostly invited friends from daycare.

Flying high! Keaton on the rope swing

Group picture

Aidan, Cort, Blake, and Louis

Cort jumping on the trampoline up to the hot air balloons in the sky.
Listening for instructions from the coach as they move stations.

Cort having a blast!

I took some of the pictures, but so did Mark and Kerrie. I am actually glad I didn't see some of these things take place. Always makes me nervous, like this crazy move.

But I have to give this one a 10!

Here's another move I didn't see happen.

Cort received a gold medal! Way to go!

The Despicable Me cake with Gru and the Minions

Happy Birthday Cort! Make a Wish!

So after all the guest left we decided to have some family fun. This is us doing the Nestea Plunge. Funny to see I am the only one that didn't trust it. They all have straight legs and 'took the plunge'. I kind of cheated it looks like.

We were jumping on the trampoline for this group shot. I love this picture despite my shirt coming up a little. I think whatever Keaton is doing is hilarious!

Once we were home Cort unwrapped his presents. Don't you just hate it when the birthday kid doesn't open his presents at the party?? But the birthday guests would rather play extra time than sit and watch. We invited the neighbor kids, who were at the party, down to help Cort tear into his loot. Gee and Papa Dan were glad they got to participate in the gift opening. They stayed home with Gage and missed the party. So in a way, we brought the party home to them.

Gage was more than happy to help Cort open some presents.

This is the Super Bomber Cort and Mark are working on building.

410 pieces!

I still can't believe you are 6. You are such a grown up little boy. I hope you had a wonderful birthday and enjoyed your special day.