Happy Birthday, Elliot!

Elliot turned 17 this year. He is fun to have around and enjoys running, pickleball, and games. He and I enjoy watching sports together and playing ping pong almost every night in the winter. He hit the gym a lot over the winter and would often stop at Ross on the way home looking for deals .

Partiers
You can tell from his smile that he knew he was going to have a lot of “girlfriends” after his first attempt at blowing out the candles.

Happy Birthday, Lucia!

This evening we had Lucia’s family birthday party. On Friday she has a sleepover with 8 friends.

Lucia loves dance, reading, talking, playing with friends, school (her teacher).

She enjoys soccer, church, and any art.

She doesn’t really like waking up early.

Rose’s Birthday Party

Today we had some friends from school over for Rose’s birthday, followed by a family party in the evening.

Playing on the trampoline
Pool Time
PiƱata
Party People

Elliot’s 16th Birthday

This evening we celebrated Elliot’s 16th birthday. The Reagens, Mimi & Papa, and Mari’s friend Lila came over for skyline pizza, cake, and presents.

Some notes about Elliot:

  • Elliot would sleep until noon every day if he could, take a 3 hour nap at some point in the day, and go to bed at 2.
  • He likes to play video games on his phone and occasionally on the TV.
  • He doesn’t have a job yet, but is committed to get one when he turns 16.
  • He is a good driver and is planning on getting his license in a few days.
  • He likes athletic clothes and shoes.
  • He likes cool cars.
  • He and I play ping-ping and he wins 99% of the time.
  • He wanted that Lakers shirt for his birthday.
  • He and Cam play pickleball with me and Nate sometimes.

Favorite song:
Favorite color: Red
Favorite food: Skyline
Favorite musical artist: Yeat
Favorite book:
Favorite sport: Running
Favorite movie:

Birthday Party Redo

This evening we hosted Lucia’s birthday party redo. She ended up being sick the first time we were going to host and luckily everyone could make it this time.

Painting Pumpkins
Birthday Cake
Group shot

Missing In Action

Today was Lucia’s birthday party, but we didn’t take any pictures because she was not feeling well. We still had the Hylands, Liesses, and Reagens over for dinner, but Lucia wasn’t feeling well, so it was a short night.

Colorado Visit

This past weekend we went to Colorado to spend the weekend with Andrew. He is on Fall Break at school, which lined up nicely with his birthday. We left Des Moines on Friday, picked up Andrew, and then went to Woodland Park, which is up the hill from Colorado Springs. We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring the area and then on Monday we drove Andrew back to school and headed home.

It was great to see Andrew again and get the gang back together. We all miss having him around.

Hanging out in Andrew’s dorm room.
Touring campus.
The girls and Reggie.
Dinner at In-N-Out
Garden of the Gods.
Climbing
Andrew worked hard to get to this spot.
Mari
Susan and Rob
Family, minus me.
Sunday – We drove up Pikes Peak
We didn’t take the cog railway, but it was cool.
Pikes Peak Visitor Center
Rose and Lucia on a hike.
Susan and Rob on a hike.
The kids, on a hike
Still on a hike
Family pic, with Pikes Peak in the background
Andrew’s birthday dinner at Casa Grande
Andrew’s birthday dessert at Casa Grande
Happy (almost) Birthday, Andrew!

Birthday Weekend

This weekend we celebrated Mari’s 17th birthday and my 41st birthday. The Reagens and Mimi and Papa came over a couple of times for cake and ice cream.

Mari likes to go to PF Chang’s for her birthday dinner. This is probably the most popular sit-down restaurant for our family.
Cousin Swimming
Rob and Mari
On Saturday night Susan, Rose, Lucia and I went to see an outdoor performance of Into the Woods.
Swimming on my birthday.