Mason is 15!

We had a lovely birthday dinner for Mason - complete with our new friends from Switzerland, who were still here and made it a point to get back from Pikes Peak in time to have dinner with us!  Mason opted for an apple pie instead of the traditional cake, which was fine by all of us!

Our Swiss friends bought Mason a nice shirt and bracelet to help celebrate his special day:

Morgan got him yet another nerf gun... I don't know who's more excited, him or Mason?

Our gift to Mason is going to be another private flying lesson - to be scheduled at a later date.  But for our fun evening out, we first took him to the mall to pick out a new pair of cool shades:

And then he wanted to go to Dave & Busters for dinner and fun.

Mason obviously enjoyed the dining, while Morgan is capitalizing on the "fun" part!

Michael and Maddox got in some good play time, too... but it looks as though Michael did most of the driving?!  When I look at this picture, I can just hear Maddox saying, "Mom, will you tell Dad to let me have a turn?"  :)

But when it was all said and done, we had a plentiful supply of tickets with which to purchase a large amount of things we don't need.  Fun!

Maddox Turns 6!

Maddox is now half a dozen years old!  As usual, we went all out on the celebration...

He really scored in the present department... Grammy and Koopop got him a beginning chess set.  I think he looks excited, don't you?

...and just to show you that he really is learning - here he is showing Dad a few moves.

 Morgan got him a fun game...

 Mason got him a HexBug habitat... somehow, his brothers know just what he wants!

 Mamaw Dianne and Papaw Larry got him a fun color version of Sudoku.

All in all, I'd say he hit the jackpot:

For our family outing, Maddox chose to go to Jump Street.

Mason and Morgan got to ride the bull:

And Maddox raided a quarter machine hoping for the perfect accessory to help him look older.  How did he do?

After Jump Street, Michael said he had another place to take us... it was a surprise, but we all had a wonderful time at...

Casa Bonita!!  We didn't eat dinner there, but we paid "admission," which gives us all-you-can-eat sopapillas and chips/salsa. 

It also allowed us to check out all the cool things to do and see!

 There was a fun tunnel that we must've gone through a hundred times - this is at the end.

 A mariachi band came and sand happy birthday to Maddox!

We had the boys' caricature drawn.  (see who's peeking around the corner?)

Casa Bonita is known for their divers.  You can see them performing in the upper left corner.  After their little dialogue, one of them always ends up jumping (diving) off into the water below.  They do something like this every 15 minutes.

Here are Morgan and Maddox sitting in front of the diving pool.

Fun times!  And just when you thought the party was over, along come two more gifts in the mail!  Grandma Sara and Papaw Nick got him this fun lizard building set...

 ...which makes this cool chameleon!

 And then, of course, Auntie Audrey spoiled him rotten!

Happy Birthday, big boy!!

Flowers for Michele

Michael was out of town the two days prior to my birthday, but he surprised me by sending this beautiful bouquet of flowers on Monday:

...and then this one on Tuesday:

...and then THIS one on Wednesday, my birthday!

I am spoiled.  I think he loves me...

Morgan is 13!

We have another teenager in the house!  Morgan had a wonderful - but not accident free - birthday.

It started with a fun-filled day at Water World!  Michael took Friday off so we could go on a day that wasn't so crowded... and it paid off, as there were virtually no lines.  Michael also upgraded us to a private cabana and priority access to the rides... he spoils us.  The weather was gorgeous to start out with, then it threatened to rain, but we only felt a couple drops before the sun finally came back out.  What a great time we had!!

Our favorite ride was the Journey to the Center of the Earth - or something like that.  We must've ridden it at least 5 times!  The great thing is that all 5 of us got to ride it in the same boat... there were many rides like that, which added to our enjoyment.   Here's one of my favorite photos that Michael snapped while we were on that ride... although you can't see all of Morgan, you get a pretty good idea of how exciting the ride is!

The next best thing to a beach?  A giant wave pool!

 Here's my guys going down some more adventuresome slides... first is Michael:

 ...then Mason:

 ...and finally, Morgan:

And here I am enjoying the warmth of our private cabana!  It was a bit too chilly for me in the water when that sun went away.

We really enjoyed Water World and would love to go again some day... one of the neat things about the place is that they aren't so uptight about rules.  They have them, don't get me wrong, but they aren't constantly blowing whistles and ruining your fun.  All in all, a fantastic place.

Since we stayed at Water World the whole day, we missed Morgan's Taekwondo testing, so they let him test the next morning.  It ended up that he was the only one in class, so it was a private testing just for us!

 Here I am tying on his new camouflage belt!

 After Taekwondo, we came home to presents... first up is a Perplexus from Maddox.

And some green from Grandma Sara sure makes the 13th special!

Grammy and Koopop sent another piece for the Force family nerf arsenal... specifically requested by Morgan himself.

Mamaw and Papaw Force sent another of our family favorites - Legos!  ...again requested by Morgan himself.

Michael and I got him his full sparring gear since he will now begin sparring in Taekwondo.

...and last, but not least, he got a new bike!

The day was going so well, it was high time for a hiccup... and a hiccup we certainly got.  Morgan invited several of his friends over for a sleepover, and as they were playing outside, Morgan had a bit of an encounter with a stick.  We are VERY fortunate that he managed to gouge himself UNDER the eye and not in the eye itself.  Too close for this mom's comfort, that's for sure.  Upon investigating, we found that it just needed a good scrub and some TLC... no trips to the ER this time.   I'll spare you the before pictures, but Michael performed the necessary procedures and did his usual Dr. Force bandage job.  Good as new!  ...well, almost.

...bandaged or not, it's on to the cake and presents!  He requested another ice cream cake from Baskin Robins.

Joe knows Morgan's affinity for Legos...

Case knows Morgan's affinity for gift cards and candy...

Johnathan and David also know Morgan's affinity for Legos... and quirky mind games...

And finally, Kelly knows of Morgan's interest in building just about anything... including bugs out of cans.

And, prolonging his birthday by a couple more days, Mason's gift arrived.  Can you guess?  Yes, more Legos!  And look, Morgan's bandage job is now down to a mere band-aid.

We had a wonderful celebration with much to be thankful for.  At the top of the list for this momma, is a boy with two healthy eyes.  :)