Cousins

After Luke's party, the cousins enjoyed spending some time together.  They all enjoyed trying out Luke's new rocket shooter.

 

Luke really, really loves Alaina, and he was more than happy to help her step on the rocket launcher.  He was so sweet with her.

A crazy crew.  For this side of the family, we were missing Cousin Wes in Oklahoma. 

A Birthday Party for Luke

Luke's 5th Birthday is this coming Saturday, April 7.  Since that is Easter weekend, we decided to have his party this past weekend.  It was nice and low-key with just a couple of his friends, and a lot of our family was able to celebrate with us.  We are so glad to be closer to family, especially when it comes time for birthdays and holidays.

Luke opted for a bug theme party, so dirt cups were on the menu.  We'd never made this simple, yummy, snack, and my food processor was a major help in grinding up Oreo cookies.

Luke LOVED helping me make the dirt cups, and he was very excited to find out I had gummies for the cups.

The finished dirt cups with two worms each

My helpers "cleaning up" the bowls

Luke's bug party meant that he got to play with his toy bugs all over the floors.

Nana and Alex played with him.

Pop and the kids enjoyed some games on the Wii before the party.

It was challenging to keep Alex out of the dirt cups.

I didn't get an pictures of the decorations, which I'm bummed, but I did remember to get a picture of the cake.  A lady at our church here owns a bakery, and she made this cake.  All was edible.

 Time for the party!  Luke had a friend from church come, along with twins from his preschool class.  Both sets of friends had two-year-old little brothers.  In addition, my friend Jen came from Raleigh with her three girls, and then my parents, Edward's parents, and my sister and her family came.

 I made these spider plates for all of the kids.  Luke wanted a taco bar, so we had that with a fruit salad, Queso dip, and a taco ring.

 Lots of little boys (and Madison in this picture)

 We would have had the party outside, but we had pouring down rain all morning.  At lunch, it was a drizzle (during party), but it was still way too wet to be outside.

 Cousin Alaina and Uncle Harry surveyed the scene. 

Alex enjoyed his food.

Time for cake!

Cassandra and Madison stuck together.

 One of the big items Luke had been requesting for his birthday was the Captain America Shooting Shield.  Grandma and Grandpa came through.

 They also found this awesome mask. It's really funny to watch Luke walk around in this.

 I LOVE his bug shirt.  Thanks Gymboree  :)

Captain America vehicle

 Large bugs

 Nana and Pop located the other item Luke wanted, a robot.  He wasn't specific on this robot, but this toy has been a hit.

 Captain America to the rescue!

 Luke had a great day with his friends.  They spent so much time in dress-up, but I didn't get a picture of that.  Thanks to our family and friends who celebrated the day with him.  He said it was an awesome birthday.

A New Fence

Edward has a couple of weeks off finally from his deployment, so we are working on some projects around the house.  One thing we have wanted to fix is the back fence.  The previous homeowners put up a fence, but quite frankly, they didn't do a good job.  The sections were falling apart, and the fence was just a mess.  In addition, the lot behind us is still waiting for a house to be built, so these weed trees had started growing on our fence.  They were right on the fence line, dropping junk all over our yard.  So, Edward talked to the builder who said it was fine to cut them down.  It should be built on very soon, so it was only a matter of time, but this way, the trees won't destroy our new fence.

Luke loved the demolition of the old fence.  He was delighted to help.

 New fence going up, board by board.  I enjoyed helping Edward and so did the kids.

 Alex liked holding the level.

 When Madison got home from school, she jumped in as well.  She decided to be part of the delivery crew, using the boys' truck to deliver the boards.

Delivery crew

All done!  The trees behind came down the next day, and then Edward stained the fence to match the posts.  I'll have to get a picture of the completed project.