We Have a 12-year Old!

Birthday Girl! Mary Jane celebrated her 12th birthday on Wednesday, August 28th.

She asked for a an ice-cream cake (again!) — yellow cake with chocolate ice-cream.

I have sworn this is my last ice-cream cake. They are messy and annoying!

MJ and Eliza

Kaden, MJ, and Eliza

Granny and MJ (Isn't she gorgeous?!)

Papa and MJ

Mary Jane checked-out the first book in this series from the library. She couldn't wait to collect the rest, and has already finished the first four!

MJ loves wolves right now. On the left is the book Never Cry Wolf and on the right is a light switch cover. She is slowly re-decorating her room with wolves.

Now she has no excuses not to practice her serve.

All of the Harry Potter movies (yeah, yeah, we're probably behind most families on this one...).

Opening the package/present from Gramps. There was no chance anything was escaping that package in transit. They are near impossible to get into!

Her first MP3 player. Woohoo!

A new diary from the Mennonite store, Busy Bee, in Macon.

Not pictured is the punching bag. Her 12th year is going to kick ass! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Both Beds Are Done

Both beds are tilled, filled, and planted. If everything goes well, we should have more vegetables than we could possibly eat. And the Wench can't wait to try her hand at canning.

Bed #1: lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, beans, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelons.

A garden isn't complete without a pot of flowers for decoration.

Baby lettuce are the cutest of all baby plants.

Eliza has a small plot of tomatoes all her own, and a watering can.

Bed #2: tomatoes, hot peppers, banana peppers, squash, green and red peppers, corn, broccoli.

The Comrade planting the last of the seeds.

Mary Jane enjoys the warm sunshine.

The cats enjoy the warm sunshine, too.

Mary Jane, Pam, and Sammers.

Almost Out of the Single Digits

BIRTHDAY BOY!

Well, Kaden is only one year away from entering the 2-digits. We celebrated his 9th birthday on April 11th, just one day after celebrating his Papa's 82nd birthday. Kaden decided he didn't want to go out to dinner this year. Instead, he invited his grandparents over for a spaghetti and garlic bread dinner, and birthday cake (of course!).

Waiting for the cake.

If you'll remember from last year, Kaden wanted an ice-cream cake. The ice-cream cake idea originated from Addie who started making them for the kids when she moved here several years ago. She was not able to make Kaden an ice-cream cake last year, so the Comrade and I attempted it ourselves. And it turned out pretty well, except we frosted it with real frosting and Kaden had wanted ice-cream frosting. Kaden wanted an ice-cream cake again this year and, since Addie is back, we decided to contract the job out to her. And here is the end result:

I fight you!

All lit up.

The cartoon Dragon Ball Z is extremely popular in our house, so the Comrade bought one of Kaden's favorite characters, Broly, for the cake-topper. It was the perfect idea because it is an actual toy that can be played with later.

Kaden is surprised by the Broly cake-topper.

The candles proved hard to blow out.

Eliza helps.

Relief at finally having blown them out.

And the best part...eating the delicious cake! Okay, okay, the brats would probably say the best part is opening presents. It's fun to torture them with cake eating first, though.

The only picture of the Wench — just the way I like it!

Kaden enjoys his cake.

The Comrade

Addie, Mary Jane, and Granny

Kaden, Papa, and Addie

 Finally! Time to open the presents...

World of Warcraft collector's coins for Horde. The Comrade couldn't resist and bought MJ a set for Alliance.

A head lamp from Gramps in Utah.

The brats checking out Kaden's new Nintendo 3DS.

Eliza wants one so bad!

And that's where the battery went dead. Yep, the Wench forgot (again) to charge the dang battery for her own child's birthday. For shame! After all of the gifts were opened, we played a fun game of Pin the Tale on the Donkey.

Happy Birthday, Kaden! We love having your sweet, tender spirit in our home. Thank you for your thoughtfulness for all things living, and for your inquisitiveness about space, science, and philosophy. We love you! ♥

Easter 2013

We painted, we hunted, we found. And we did it in the pouring rain! Of course, the brats didn't care. The rain added to the fun of it all. Here are some highlights:

We only colored 18 eggs this year because no one eats them.

Waiting for the "Easter Bunny" to hide the eggs.

It's raining, it's pouring!

I think they were all done in this one.

Kaden lifted the slide up, just to make sure.

Da (God forbid his head get wet!) helping Eliza.

The brats have learned quickly to always look over each vehicle carefully.

Did we get them all?

Told you it was wet!