B's Birthday Celebration, Part 1

Bryton's 4th birthday isn't until Saturday, but my parents and John's brother were here for my father-in-law's funeral so we decided to end the weekend with a birthday celebration.  I think it was really good for everyone to focus on something fun, and it was especially good for the kids!  It was also another reminder of how much we will miss Grandpa though, since he was always there for birthday celebrations.

Guitar cake.  He has been wanting a guitar AND a guitar cake for months and months.  I didn't know that a 3 (almost 4) year old could want something so badly for so long!

Make a wish...

Blowing out the candles...

Success!

The fruit almost outshined the cake!  (Is outshined a word?  Outshone seems a little awkward.)

Grapes, yum.

Time for presents: A GUITAR!  So excited.

He played it so much the first day that he gave himself a blister on his thumb, and then popped the blister while he was playing some more.  I guess he likes it.

Daddy showing him how to tune it.

Then off to Red Robin for dinner.  (B with "Momma" - my mom)

Ice cream & balloons.  Life is good.

All gone!

And back home for a little more guitar playing.  I have an adorable video of him singing & playing if I can figure out how to add it sometime.  His favorite song is "Toes" by Zac Brown Band.

First Day

Today my big boys went off to school!  I can't believe they're old enough for school already.

He looks so grown up & serious!

A little less serious and definitely more "Preston"

Mr. B

Ack...he's just so incredibly cute.  I can't stand it.

Arch wanted in on the fun, of course

The boys.

8/30/11 Update, as their second day of school is now over: They are LOVING school.  B was pretty shy at first, but he has some friends that he knew pretty well previously in his class and that is helping.  He got to be "leader of the day" today, which he was proud of.  He's also warmed up to his teacher nicely.  Preston also seems to be doing really well.  They had show & tell today and he took his glitter ball along (he seemed more interested in another kid's remote control tank though!).  I am not really loving school...having to be out of the house at a specific time every morning is going to take some getting used to!  And Archer misses his brothers SO MUCH it's sad.

Grandpa

Grandpa with Preston on the day he was born

Grandpa with Bryton at just a couple of hours old

Grandpa with Archer...only about 1 hour old!

Well, I've been completely absent from the blog lately.  My Father-in-law passed away last Sunday, so we've been a bit occupied with other things.  We are all sad and grieving, but I am so thankful that we know he is in a MUCH better place.  We will still miss him so much, especially 3 little boys who loved to spend time with their Grandpa.  They are working on grasping the concept of death, Heaven, and the fact that they won't see their Grandpa again on Earth.  I think John and I are working on grasping that concept ourselves!

Last Hurrah

My big boys are starting school in one week, so we had a final camping trip planned this past weekend to Glacier Nat'l Park.  Unfortunately John's dad isn't doing well (prayers appreciated!) so we decided to stay close by and within cell service.  We were close enough to be able to drive back and forth to Spokane which worked out great for visiting Grandpa.  We ended up only spending one night there due to the circumstances, but we fit in plenty of fishing time.

Trekking

Daddy with the big boys

Me with my boys

Big boys being silly

Archer & B napping - they refused to nap at camp but the second we'd get in the car to go to Spokane, they were OUT.  Archer propping his feet up was so cute!

Fishing at sunset (Hayden Lake)

Archer's perch.

"What'd you catch B?" "Aaaaahhhh, SEAWEED AGAIN?!"

The most determined 5 year old fisherman you will ever find.

Breakfast around the campfire.  (Like his outfit?  Did I mention it was COLD?  Yeah, 43 degrees in the middle of August.  Why do we live in N. Idaho again?)

Preston multi-tasking: eating breakfast while blowing bubbles.

Snuggles.

Silly B

Like I said, COLD.

Our first harvest of carrots

"Summer" Garden

I don't really think this is a typical summer garden thanks to the crazy weather we've had, but here is what is growing on our little lot of land...

Grapes

Tomatoes - we've only had 1 full size ripe tomato, and a handful of cherry tomatoes.  TONS of green ones!  Hopefully they ripen up before it frosts!

Corn - This is John's project.  We are currently growing corn in 2 Earthboxes...they're looking pretty good so far.  They did run out of water while we were in Oregon, but they seem to be making a full recovery.

Blueberries!  It's rare to find a ripe one on the bushes though, they tend to get picked & eaten as soon as they show more blue than green.

Baby Apples.

Blackberries...yum!  I can't wait until they are ripe!

Peas...we've been getting peas for an incredibly long time and they just keep producing.  No complaints from the boys though - these rarely make it inside either since they graze on them throughout the day.

We just started getting raspberries a couple of weeks ago.  Our patch is a little out of control and difficult to pick...we'll have to thin it more next year!

My puny little pepper plant.

Green beans

Tomato forest

And the most exciting for last: the beginnings of a pomegranate?!