Turning Seventeen

Yesterday, Zack turned 17! Only one more year and then he can call in and order stuff off the TV all by himself… LOL

Seriously, how could he be 17 already???

Zack is the easiest of our three to buy for. And this year we knew exactly what to get him…

YES!!!

He was so surprised! He had been looking at this mic on-line for forever! It’s so much more fun when they are truly surprised!

He may be 17 but he still needed Dad’s help getting it out :o)

 

checking out the wind guard

installing the mic

installing the wind guard (it looks like a little mouse sitting on top of his camera)

He named it “Benny”

Will blew on the camera for a wind simulation

We can’t wait to see what top-quality sound movie he comes up with next…

That night he took a pan of brownies to Bible study and celebrated with the guys!

Hope you had a very happy birthday Zack! We love you and are very proud of you!

Stella’s One!

Today I got to go to Stella’s first birthday party! The boys were at Acquire the Fire and Chris had a district meeting in Olympia, so I was the only one that got to go.

Theresa and I had lunch at New Season’s on the way, after going to the feed store. I love having lunch with Theresa! We always eat the coolest stuff! Today was turkey baguette, chicken lemongrass salad, and an artichoke-mushroom “thing”. Yummy!

Amy did a great job on the cake, as usual, and Stella got some really cute vintage presents! 

Molding chocolate is the best! Makes a terrific cake and tastes good, too! 

Stella decided she really didn’t need a bib

But she really did need it…

 

Stella had plenty of help from the big kids!

  

taking a break from presents to read a story with Mom

 

Ada liked the part where everyone threw the paper up in the air!

the stroller from Mom and Dad

  

the kitchen canisters from Grandpa and Grandma

 

After Charlie went outside to play, Ada broke his “NO GIRLS ALLOWED” rule and played with his trains. Shhhh! Don’t tell Charlie! :o)

Happy Birthday Stella! We love you!!!

A Van Full of Memories

My Grandma moved into a new apartment this month and so she is going through all of her things. She told me I could have anything I wanted.  Honestly, I couldn’t think of many things I would want but I figured I take home a few memento sort of things. She had some neat stuff! LOTS of REALLY NEAT stuff…

Going through all her things with my sisters was such a wonderful walk down memory lane. Some things we really needed. (No really, we did) LOL Some things were practical. But so many things had such fond memories of our grandparents, I just couldn’t let them go!!! 

the pile o stuff

 

he’s gonna look perfect hanging on the house

I simply adore this old bucket!!!

this great vintage box had a special bonus inside…

cake toppers from my mom’s cakes when she was little

Grandma always served rolls in this (it didn’t even have to be a special occasion)

we ate fruit out of these little bowls every morning for breakfast when we spent the night

Grandma carried this little mirror in her purse for as long as I can remember (now I’m gonna carry it in my purse)

Grandma taught both me and my boys how to play poker using this

I used this towel every summer! After splashing in the pool when I was 7 and for sunbathing in their yard when I was 17!

I brought home one of Grandpa’s steins for each of my guys

I didn’t even know she had all these state souvenir plates! I took 4 of my favorites!

It was kinda like a garage sale, only everything is special!!!

Zack & Hobo’s Party

Since Zack and Elijah’s (Hobo) birthdays are only one day apart, we have had a joint birthday party for them the past couple of years. It’s fun to have all the guys together to celebrate (all 14 of them!) and this year was our turn to host.

Zack and Hobo arranged the whole thing and all I had to do was cook! Now when you have 14 teenage boys for almost 24 hours (some left earlier or came late), you do quite a bit of cooking! They devoured 29 homemade bean & cheese burritos with fixins for supper, a pan of brownies and a blackberry cobbler for dessert, 40-50 plain and blueberry pancakes for breakfast and nachos for lunch the next day!

But I don’t mind it one bit! They are a FANTASTIC group of boys and we are so blessed that our boys have them as friends!

I LOVE this pic! (wish I had gotten one with all the guys in it)  :o(

Most of the time the house was so quiet (I did some sewing and gardening in between meals) because they were out shooting a movie on the hill or running around the backyard playing airsoft wars. And even when they were inside, they were having fun jammin’ on the instruments, playing Wii, watching “Under Liberty” or just talking…

all geared up for a movie shoot (or a military take-over) LOL

  

Zack blew out the candles from there!

Hobo got three Game Stop gc for gifts :o)

Will got caught trying to steal Hobo’s gift

Thanks guys! We had a BLAST and can’t wait to see your movie!!!

Fun With Nate

Today we got to watch Nate while Sonja went to set up for MOPS. He is so much fun!

I was so proud of the boys! They did everything while I blogged and took down Easter decorations!

Here are some of the fun things they did today…

played drums

did a bit of singing and driving

hung out with some chicks… :o)

    

and played some tennis (sort of…)