Happy 6th Birthday, Zane!

The 6th birthday weekend of fun started on Saturday with the first round of arrivals of birthday cards.

Someone else loves her too. 

(And no, I don't think she reciprocates the love exactly)

Aunt Emily came over to bring him his present since she was going on her first anniversary vacation and couldn't come to his birthday lunch. 

We really love Uncle Chris.

Lego motorcycle?

Good choice.

Daddy took the boys bowling for a little pre-birthday fun.

The girls stayed home and let the boys have boy time. 

We aren't great bowlers.

Sunday after church, we went to get breakfast after church with Mimi and Daddy's family.

Cousin Brandon

Opening presents.

Aunt Sandy

Papa and Daddy

We were missing some family members, but that's one problem with a summer birthday. People are sort of scattered during July. But that was okay! He was fine with it.

A mystery package had come in the mail earlier in the week.

I did the right thing and made him wait to open it.

Even though I didn't really want to make him wait.

I'm not good with surprises.

 I don't like giving them or getting them. 

I like instant gratification. 

But he waited. 

Our sweet friend got him ready to play baseball.

I don't know whether to be happy or very very sad.

He is very very happy. 

I guess that means I need to be happy too. 

Daddy took the kids swimming for more birthday fun.

I think I took a nap.

That was my birthday present. 

Oh wait...

He spent the rest of the day after swimming putting together his new Legos.

He and Daddy love doing that. 

Monday was his actual birthday, and all he wanted was for his best friends to go with us to the jump place. 

So we did. 

They played and jumped...

And slid. They had a blast. 

We went and had lunch at Moe's after that, which was the birthday boy's choice. 

That made all the kids very happy.

(and me too)

Sister wanted to light the candles for him.

One motorcycle cake for the birthday boy, which he requested. 

Sister's present to him.

We spent the rest of the day playing with Legos and playing Wii, also the birthday boy's choice. 

It was such a great day. 

He went to bed one happy kid. 

It was a great birthday. I can't believe he's six. He's still the baby, but he's not a little kid anymore. 

The week in pictures - July 16th - July 22nd

This week was vacation bible school week. My sweet friend took all my kids to her church, which is our former church, for VBS all week. 

I was without kids each morning for an entire week. 

Day one was an "all my favorite things" morning. I ran at a lake I had been wanting to run at, I went to the thrift store, I got coffee and I went to Target. 

And I did not feel guilty about it. At all. 

This was the first year that all my kids could go to VBS. It occurred to me that I really slacked on my job as an obsessive photo taker because I didn't take a picture of them all leaving. 

So I took a picture of them coming back. 

I'm only a partial slacker. 

One benefit of going to the grocery store alone is you have time to slow down and pick some new things.

This is my new favorite thing. 

It's sort of hard to do Bible study this way.

Someone doesn't love cats. Or the fact that the cat snuggles with me while I do Bible study. 

Someone has gotten a tad possessive. 

 

The middle kid really misses "his" cat. He wanted me to have some pictures developed of Muzzy, and so I surprised him one day when he came home from VBS with a kitten folder full of kitten pictures. 

Yes, the folder is pink. There are no girl colors in this house. And boys can like pink kitten folders.

Yep. 

We got these silly toys from Sonic one night, and the kids and I had way too much fun with them.  It was just a sweet lazy summer night, and why are they so grown up?

They made these rockin' bandanas at VBS. 

I think they loved that they looked like Willie from "Duck Dynasty" too. 

I met a friend downtown for coffee. We passed this store on the way to the coffee shop, and she told me we had to save a few minutes to run in on the way back to our cars. 

I cannot tell you how much I loved this store. 

I am going back.

I mean, don't we all need a vintage Jesus holding a pigeon?

Okay, so maybe not, but this store was full of cool antique stuff, and I really can't wait to go back.

You know why I got to meet this friend downtown at a cool coffee shop and go to this really super amazing vintage store?

My kids were at VBS.

Not only did she take my kids to VBS everyday, she make her famous chocolate chip coconut cookies. 

We don't call her the Paula Dean of Alabaster for nothing. 

I won't lie and tell you I haven't been thinking about these cookies since she made them. 

I mean really, who wants to fit into their old jeans?

Anyway.

I grabbed this at Publix because the name cracked me up and they didn't have anything horrible in them and because the middle kid asked me if I would make them for him for dinner one night. And they were on clearance.

They were the best darn pancakes I have ever had. Better than Cracker Barrel. I need to go back and see if they have anymore. 

Don't let the "As Seen on TV" sticker fool you. Those suckers were delicious. 

Grab me some boxes if you see them. 

I have decided that this is my dream house. It's on a farm. I'm not exactly crazy about the green roof, but other than that, this pretty much makes me really happy.

It's from a television show, and I'm not saying which one so I won't be judged harshly. So I'm not crediting the picture. But if anyone gets cranky about that, I have the info...

We ended the week with a very long Sunday nap, this kitten and I. 

I may love her. 

The week in pictures - July 9th - July 15th

I came around the corner one day to find the baby kid with his school box reading a book. Maybe it's nearing time to start school?

I got to have a road trip with one of my favorite people to go pick up her son from camp. It was such a great morning. I love this lady and her family. They mean so much to me and to my kids too. 

He had a great week! His counselor was awesome. 

Ride home from the pool. This just looks like summer to me. 

Came to bed one night to find this. Stinkers. I guess they got points since it looks like maybe the middle kid was reading a devotion before bed. 

The baby kid decided that he wanted to take notes in church. This may not last long, but it made me exceedingly happy anyway. 

The baby kid made a picture for our friend in Africa. This is the two of them walking under a rainbow. 

We had an impromptu double date with my sister and brother-in-law one night, thanks to my mom staying with the kids. That was good. I love this girl. I'm lucky in that I really like my sister. She's actually my friend too.  

We had an extra boy kid one day, and from where I sat in my chair, I got a great view of the fun they had. They were blurs, running through the kitchen with one game or another. 

I may be a little more in love with this cat than I'm being honest about. 

What do girls do when they hang out? They paint their nails in the driveway, of course.

Soooo, we may have taken the cat in the van on an errand. Or two. She just chilled out the whole time.

I might love that cat a little. 

The boys hung out with the mama cat and she played with the Hex Bugs too. 

I guess cats aren't all that bad.