Craig and Heather plus TWO: July 2014

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Birthday Party in CHC

After nap time, we showed up in Children's House C for Mark's birthday party with his classmates and friends. The kids were in their circle for group time. The kids, just like for Jack's party, were so excited when Mark brought over the cupcakes. Mark really enjoyed passing out the cupcakes. After all of them were passed out, all the kids had to wait until Mark took the first bite. Then, the kids could eat their cupcake.

We had a great time at both parties at Children's House today. We appreciated their teachers giving us some time to celebrate our sons' birthdays today.

Cole, here is your cupcake. - Mark

Look at that smile on that birthday boy's face!

Another big smile after he has taken a couple of bites/licks.

The rest of the class chows down on the cupcake.

Mommy and Mark had a great time at the birthday party!

Birthday Party at CHD

Jack's birthday party in Children's House D was scheduled to be right after lunch. We met Jack's class in the cafeteria. They had just finished lunch and we brought in a couple of dozen cupcakes. The kids were so excited. Jack had such a big smile on his face as he handed out the cupcakes to his classmates and friends. A lot of the kids ate the whole cupcake, while others basically had most of the cupcake on their face. Mommy and Daddy were glad they could be there for Jack's party with his class:

Jack handing out cupcakes.

Look at that happy child!

Everyone has started eating their cupcake.

Another table of Jack's friends.

And yet another table of Jack's friends.

Jack's best friend in his class. Drew (known as Drew-ba the Tuba).

A not so serious shot.

This kid has blue icing all over his face (and later is all over his shirt).

Birthday morning pictures

On Tuesday, July 15, Jack and Mark turned 5 years old. Hard to believe that it has been 5 whole years. Where does the time go?

To celebrate their birthday, for breakfast the boys wanted to eat a leftover cupcake from their birthday party. This obviously isn't their normal breakfast, but this wasn't a normal day. So we had a cupcake for them and let them blow out another candle. They loved it.

Then, we had our yearly birthday minute pictures. Jack really let Mark know that he was 5 while Mark was still 4 during the entire 3 minutes between their birth minutes. One could only smile listening to Jack say: "Mark, I am 5 and you are only 4." Mark took it in stride, thankfully.

Here are some pictures from the morning of their birthday:

Jack turns 5!

Mark turns 5!

You think these two are excited?!?!

Jack turning 5 at 8:43 AM.

Mommy, Jack, and Daddy

Mark turning 5 at 8:46 AM.

Mommy, Mark, and Daddy

The Birthday Boys!

At Home on Birthday weekend

After the birthday party, we came back to the house to open their presents to have a nice, relaxing afternoon. With four kids and lots of presents, relaxing probably isn't the correct word. When we got home and brought in all the gifts, food, and balloons from the party, we decided to let Jack and Mark open gifts. They had a lot of fun opening gifts. This year, they even got a gift for each other. One day a few weeks ago Daddy took Mark to lunch and he picked out a present for Jack. The next day, Daddy took Jack to lunch and then he picked out a present for Mark. Those were some of the first presents they opened.

The gift Mark picked out for Jack was a slip n slide that is in the shape of a baseball diamond. A perfect gift for Jack. Jack picked out a new set of street hockey sticks and a street hockey puck. A really good gift for Mark.

After all presents had been opened, all the cousins put their swim suits on and set up the slip n slide. Everyone had a blast. I mean, just look at the below pictures to see how big the smiles are on everyone's faces:

Happy Birthday with Grandpa and Granna.

Best friends. Brothers. Birthday time!

Birthday time with Kate, Mimi, and Macy!

Daddy throws out the first pitch to Jack.

Macy, you got me wet. - Kate

Macy gets ready to swing the bat.

I don't want to steal a base. I want to crawl a base. - Macy

I am going to slide...and slide like Trea Turner. - Mark

Yes, I am having a good time. - Jack

I barely am on 2nd base. I almost slide too far. - Jack

Uhh, Mark. You are supposed to let go of the bat after you hit the ball. - Daddy

Kate takes her sliding into second base with a smile.

Sisters who are just having fun.

Cousins all who are having a great time!

The oldest 3 cousins strike a great pose!

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

5th Birthday Party

It is that time of the year. This past week was birthday week for Jack and Mark. On Tuesday July 15, Jack and Mark will turn 5. The Saturday before their birthday we had their birthday party. Mimi, Aunt Janet, Kate, and Macy came from Tennessee (Uncle Jarett unfortunately had to work and couldn't make it). MawMaw, Uncle Roger, Teri, and Evi came up from Gastonia. On Saturday morning, we all made it over to PlayNation near the airport. At PlayNation, there are several bounce houses as well as play structures. It is indoors and a fence keeps all the kids in the play area. It is a perfect place to have a birthday party. We have been there multiple times for some of their friends birthdays. No surprise that both Jack and Mark told Mommy and Daddy that they wanted to go there.

For the first hour and 15 minutes, the boys played with their friends as they ran from one fun area to another. At the end of 75 minutes, I saw pure exhaustion out of Jack, Mark, as well as a few other children. It was time then to eat lunch (cheese or pepperoni pizza for the kids...except for wagon wheel pasta for Jack). Then we all sang Happy Birthday to Jack and then Happy Birthday to Mark. Next, we all ate cupcakes. Finally, a new thing that PlayNation does is to have a pinata full of candy that the kids can open. Everyone enjoyed that...especially going after the candy.

Everyone had a really good time at the party. We had fun watching Jack and Mark have so much fun with family and their friends from Children's House.

Here are some pictures from the party: