Happy 7th Birthday

Eli is 7!  He wanted all things Mario.  He requested a Mario cake and I feel I delivered for him.  His birthday is actually on Mario(MAR10) day.  We had a small family celebration and the neighbors came over for cake and ice cream later on.  He requested pancakes and eggs for his birthday meal.  

I actually bought him a Mario Castle and it had all the figurines in it so I used them on his cake.  The coins are yellow checkers.  I try to use what we have. 

He got 3 Marion Lego sets, Bowsers castle, fishing pole and a new bigger bike.  He was definitely spoiled.  

Riding his new bike, he said it was a lot easier than his other one.

Eli at 7 is fun, silly, the jokester.  He likes to be silly and that usually is all boy silliness with farts and poop talk.  LOL!  He is pretty well behaved and I am enjoying that he is growing into that.  He is liking to play with friends more and more.  He likes videos on his tablet and he loves video game...like Super Mario Bros.  He is a very good reader and so far enjoys it.  His teacher says that he is so good to have in class.  Well behaved and knowledgeable and kind, all things a mom wants to hear.  The little stuff keep leaving our house...like baths.  No one really takes baths anymore.  Just a sign they are all growing up.  

Eli!  You make me laugh.  You have a sense of humor like me.  We love you so much and can't wait to see your growth in the next year.  Happy Birthday Buddy!! 

 

February Fun

We had a wonderful day of ice fishing where we ALL caught fish.  Josie was the big winner catching 14 fish.  Eli mostly enjoyed making kissy lips at the fish 😂

My big catch I am proud of!

This reminded of the "you been farming long" picture;

And February means a certain birthday boy turned 44.  I do not have any pictures for some reason, but we did go out to dinner to celebrate.

And it is also Valentines Day...we hadn't had a tea party in a while so we decided to pull out the ole tea set.  The neighbor kids and one other friend came over for sweet and tea.  Nothing really healthy! This is why the kids are so willing to have these.

And what would valentines day with out making of boxes.  Josie's inspiration was her racecar she made at a camp last year. 

Eli made a Mario box.  He loves Super Mario.  I did zero help on any of these. So this was my favorite year.

Ella made 2.  First she made a really cute mailbox one but last minute changed to this robot complete with light up eyes.  Both were great but the robot went to school :)

And special valentines day from Dad.  He thinks they are pretty special and I agree, they are!

And at the end of February I was able to have a girls weekend away.  We went to Austin Tx with hopes of warm weather.  Well, we had a highs in the low 60's and cloudy.  My suitcase was not prepared.  We always seem to have a good time no matter where we go or what the weather is, so this did not stop us.

Great friends

And great drinks

Boats, Truck and Caves

Someone in our family thought we needed a different boat.  One that will fit us as the kids continue to get bigger, eat more and take up more room on our boat.  So Joey headed to Missouri to look at and end up purchasing this new boat.  On the way back, roughly 30 miles into the return trip Joeys truck engine blew up.  What a mess! I am thankful the kids and I were not with him and a friend of ours was.  He could remain calm and actually help the situation.  The solution, Joeys truck and boat were towed to the dealership in MO, a Uhaul with a hitch was rented and the boat towed home.  Please see the ridiculousness in the picture😂😂

The reason Joeys truck engine blew up with less than 15,000 miles on it? The direct result of the mechanic from the dealership in town that did some warranty work and made an error.

Here is the new boat.  It was not looked at long as it was 3* outside when they finally arrived home.  And it def hasn't been enjoyed yet, but we are anxiously awaiting boating season.

When Joeys truck was finally fixed we had to make the 4 hour drive one way, to pick it up.  

To break up the trip a little we went to lake of the Ozarks and went to Bridal Cave.  I thought this would be fun for the kids.  

Lake views!

Bridal Cave is one of the many caves around that area and was very close to where Joey's truck was. 

*This ended up being perfect for us to do.  The day was sunny and 60* We hiked some of the trails around the cave so we were able to move around after all that driving.  And the cave was pretty cool.  The kids REALLY enjoyed it and thought it was neat. 

I am glad we decided to do this because it was the perfect amount of time, the kids enjoyed it, the weather was perfect and made the trip a little better than just picking up a truck and return.  I like that our kids are at an age we can do things like this now. :)

Here are few pictures from the cave!  

This particular formation is where they have had weddings performed..hence the name Bridal Cave.

January

Christmas has come and gone and January, the longest month ever, is here.  I have been having a lot of fun decorating in our new house.  I have decided 2 places in our house will be seasonal decorating.  Those places are the mantel and the ledge on the stairs.  I put all the Christmas decor away and happened to hit hobby lobby at 80% off.  So the winter decor was bought.  I just finally put it away in the beginning of March and we had a snow storm March 11th...

All my snowmen and snowflakes. 

What's January with out a snow day?! Enjoying the snow and day off.

And Enjoying our Christmas presents.  Eli completing his big Minecraft Lego set he got from Santa 

And Ella enjoying her bath bombs and face mask and chocolates she recieved for Christmas in our bathtub.  She cracks me up! 

And what's January with out all the new years resolutions filling the Y up.  So I had to work out on a Saturday at a not busy time and Ella came with me.  She said she had so much fun and wants to come again.  I like a new workout buddy!

Spirit week at school includes crazy hair and Ella had milkshake hair.

January was filled up more swim meets, school and snow.  

I was deciding if I wanted to keep this blog going or not as I am just hitting the highlights.  March 12th and I decided I am going to try to keep it going.  I really love my blog books and I think I will be disappointed if I don't keep this going.