Ethan's 9th B-Day Celebrations - A Minecraft Gaming Party

{Ethan, 

Where does the time go?? These last 9 years, though fleeting, have been absolutely precious. I became a mom thr day  you were born and it has been the greatest joy of my life. You are the most wonderful son! I couldn't be more proud of you!! I love you Wiggle, and you will always be my sunshine! 

                               Love, Mom}

We celebrated Ethan's 9th birthday on Sunday afternoon here at the house. It was a Minecraft themed party and we had a gaming truck come up from TN. The truck had multiple screens inside so all of the kids could play video games at once.

Laura doty made the cake and cake pops. We even had some "Creeper" cake pops made to take to Ethan's class on Monday in celebration of his actual birthday.

                   Serious Gamers!

        Ethan was a little bit excited!!!

Uncle Derek just had a birthday too and so after Ethan's party, Landen helped him open gifts.

After Ethan went to bed...I decorated his bedroom...

    After escaping the maze of streamer on the morning of his actual birthday, Ethan blew out candles on his pancakes         

                ...an annual tradition.

Landen had a doctor's appointment this week and he was thrilled about pushing the elevator buttons! His big brother was at school so they didn't get to fight over this task as they usually do, darn (insert sarcasm!).

Landen and Josh enjoyed playing trucks while we waited for the doctor.

Landen enjoyed seeing his buddy Xander at the library's story hour Halloween party this week. The boys are very excited about trick-or-treating tomorrow night!

Fish, Flying, & Family ~ Baseball, Baltimore, & the Beach ~ Washington D.C. & The Pumpkin Patch

After story hour, Landen went on an imaginary fishing trip and he's showing off his string of fish here...

Ethan was out of school last week for Fall break, so we flew out on Friday night to visit Shane, Miriam, and Ashton for the week.

             Landen slept on the plane

 We got to their house late on Friday night and then headed out Saturday morning for Arlington, VA to watch Ashton play baseball. On Saturday night we took a tour of Washington D.C. and then stayed overnight there in a hotel as Ashton had more games on Sunday.

 The boys with Miriam and Albert Einstein

          The rest of us with Albert

     Josh, Shane, Ashton, & Ethan in front        

               of the White House

          All of us in front of the Capitol

        The boys & I at the Washington            

                      Monument

On Sunday, the boys tired quickly of the unforgiving heat while sitting at Ashton's games. So, we headed to Baltimore, MD to the (air conditioned) aquarium.

 After the aquarium we floated around the harbor in pedal boats.

On Monday we had a lazy day at their house and then on Tuesday we headed to the beach in Ocean City, NJ. It was chilly but we didn't let that stop us. We just went to the beach in jackets and pants. 

On Wednesday, we slept in and then went to a mall. Ethan tried a new kind of chicken and this was his response...

On Thursday afternoon we headed back home to gear up for youth hunt weekend.

Ethan didn't kill anything but he and his dad, and Uncle Derek had a great weekend in the woods.

I realized this weekend that if we're planning to decorate pumpkins we had better hurry up and buy some. So, today after picking Ethan up at school we headed to Just Piddlin' with Grammy. It was such a beautiful afternoon!