The past two weeks have been full of fun and celebration (and candy and sweets!)
First, we went to Oma and Opa's neighborhood in the city for some good old fashioned trick-or-treating fun on Halloween.
My little Darth Vader has much to learn, because he told me his hand was up because he was using 'the magnetic force'.
And everyone thought my little duck was a little girl.
Then, a day later, my little Lincoln turned THREE!! We kicked off the morning with the traditional (and much anticipated) run through the 'birthday wall' of streamers and balloons.
Still working on getting those fingers into the right formation.
Then, five days later, my big guy turned FIVE (I know, he looks like it should be seven :)
He loves running through those streamers so much. Last year, after a long day of many fun treats and activities, he confided to me that the streamer wall was his favorite thing :) I already rue the day when he no longer wants to do this.
But I think I've got some time until then.
Over the weekend, we had a (slightly) pirate-themed bash to celebrate their birthdays. My talented artist sis drew this lovely pirate for 'pin the patch on the pirate'.
It was a big hit with the kiddies, though I'm pretty certain they all cheated.
As always, the many aunties, soon-to-be-uncles and close friends showered them with love, hugs, kisses and great new gifts.
I worked my tail off (remind me not to do this next year) cooking and baking and prepping for the party. I decided to emulate this pirate ship watermelon I saw on Pinterest. What you don't see on pinterest is yours truly, a procrastinator non-realistic-view-of-time kind of person, so it's about one hour til the party start time, and here I am, not showered, no decorations up, frantically carving masts out of watermelon rinds. :) Keepin' it real folks.
That one turned out decently. But what I was REALLY proud of (though the process was fraught with grief, stress, doubt, and frustration), was this pirate ship birthday cake.
I sweated and fretted over this cake for about 24 hours (and loudly declared numerous times that cake decorating is so not my thing!), but it was all so worth it for those looks of joy and excitement on my little boys' faces.
So, the birthday festivities are over.
My goofballs are growing into crazy boys, and (often, or sometimes) loving brothers.
Now we're on to the next big celebration...six days to go!!