Summer Birthdays!

July is a busy birthday month in our household. My birthday is on the 5th and Chad's is on the 12th, followed by several extended family birthdays. While in Boise last week, we celebrated my birthday. Chad was so cute to write me a birthday message on the sidewalk with chalks. I think you can read what it says, "Hape BDY Mom." He sounded it all out and then went back because he remembered the "dot" (period) at the end. He is awefully proud of his work.

Today was Chad's turn for a birthday. He turned 4! We had a lot of fun with his cake. At first, he wanted a cake shaped like Mader when he was still blue. I thought about it, but it was WAY too much work. After going through many ideas and several prototypes, here is the finished product.

It is a mini Radiator Springs. There is the "new road" and "Luigi's" tire store as well as the "Cozy Cone." Chad was so excited and the best part was the toys on the top were part of his presents.

Here is Chad with his cake. He picked out his own shirt to match it.

Finally, Chad got to play with all his presents. He got a lot of fun things and it was so thoughtful of everyone who brought gifts, cards and thought of him. In his own works, he was "SO EXCITED!!!" Happy Birthday Chad!

Balloon Farm

We recently took a trip to Boise to visit Dave's family. While there, we had the fun adventure of planting a balloon farm. There is a book called "Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm." It tells the story of a man who farms balloons, so we thought we'd try our hand at it. We planted the seeds (colorful cake sprinkles) and watered them. Then we waited for them to grow.

The first morning after we planted them, we awoke to find this. Little balloons had popped up all over. The boys had so much fun, and each of them had to pick just one.

The next morning, they had come all of the way up. Again, everyone got to pick one and it was just fun. To this day, I am sure Chad thinks balloons grow from seeds.

Tyler had fun too. He always wants to be in with the big boys. Whatever they are doing, he is going to do to. He is getting so busy and so grown up.