Boys Pictures

About a year ago a friend of mine had a daughter turning 8 and she got her picture taken with snow all around- I loved it.  So I asked the same talented photographer to take pictures of Bruce for his baptism pictures.  

He's so handsome.

 

 

Plus- she took some of James:

 This is what Bruce was doing while James was having his picture taken:

 

and even made me get in some:

   

I love my 8 year old boy!

Thank you Laura! 

Golden Birthday Party for Bruce!

Bruce turned 8 on the 8th, but last night we had the party! 

We booked the pool at the local university and invited all the boys in his school class and old Tiger Cub Troop. 18 little boys ended up coming and we had a great time.  

They swam and then we came back to the room and ate Subway for dinner.  

Then we got to go jump off the diving boards.

  They ALL LOVED this so much and jumped for a long time.  We came back again, ate cupcakes

 

 and then everyone changed out of their wet suits.  Each boy got to take home a bucket of goodness:

 

  We were going to open presents at home, but lots of the boys wanted him to open them there. 

 

 He got WAY too much stuff (half of it is hidden away :) 

He wanted Josh to see this picture and maybe it would convince him to come out and visit... 

Happy Birthday Party Bruce! 

(Now we'll celebrate his baptism on February 16th and call it all good.) 

Weather (For the Record..)

I just need to remind myself how wonderful this winter has been so far.. 

On December 27th we had our first real snow- 

Last night it looked like this:

It was in the 60's over the weekend. 

Last winter it only snowed 2 times.  Some winters we had over 3 feet of snow in March.  

We'll see what happens..

Fishing Pole..

Bruce had been "patiently" waiting for a box to arrive from Grandma and Grandpa Damstedt.  Today after I picked them up from school we drove home and there is was. 

It was a very long, thin box... what you be in it?  A baseball bat? A stuffed alligator?  Lots of long licorice?  

Bruce took it inside and wanted to open it in private in the bathroom.  

He brought it out and was so excited- A FISHING POLE!! 

It also came with an awesome tackle box, homemade flies, 

and all sorts of other things. 

 He LOVES it!! 

Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you! 

This was the mess in the bathroom after: 

He's 8!

Happy 8 on the 8th Birthday Bruce!  

This morning he got up early and came in to tell me that "it's my birthday!"
 
We all watched him open presents

Jane gave him "baseball gum"
Kate gave him a "Happy Birthday" sign for his chair
James gave him Dinner for 2 @ Applebees (Bruce always takes his friend Brennan)
We gave him a big remote control car.
Grandma & Grandpa Miller gave him 3 awesome chapter books and a gift card.



For breakfast he picked sausage, hash browns, and a blueberry smoothie.

They all got on the bus and James and I went to pick up the cupcakes for his class.  We took them there and he got a Birthday pencil from the school.


When Bruce came home he got to play with 2 friends in the snow.
He picked where to go for dinner and then we spent the rest of the night taking his sisters to and from Girl Scouts and Activity Days- super fun!
He is going to have a birthday party at a pool next Friday.
He is going to be baptized on February 16th at 10:00.

It's a VERY special birthday this year for more reasons than one :) 

Christmas Break in Charlotte!

A few days after Christmas we drove to Charlotte to visit 2 of my brothers and their beautiful families.  

Here are a few things we did: 

Relaxed- this is what vacation is about: 

Played with Play Doh & Cars:

 

 My Mom made this quilt for Kim.  They went to England this summer.

 

(Reading in a comfy chair is the best) 

 SPA!!

 

 

We took the kids to this AWESOME bouncy place:

 Cousins on the couch!

 We decorated gingerbread cookies:

 Hiromi made us a delicious Japanese dinner and Derik took the kids to Krispy Creme to pick out doughnuts. 

 We went to see Stu at his work in Downtown Charlotte 

 His office :)

 We found Brad's Deli (but went to lunch at Chick Fill A)

 Erin at the park

 "K-T S O K"  This is a really fun book park:

 We ate Chinese Food on New Year's Eve

 Stu and Derik

 Elyse and Bruce with their fireworks and silly string:

 Getting ready to count down:

 Happy New Year!