Their Birthdays

We are a bit of minimalists when it comes to birthdays.  Well, in the sense that I will probably never be the awesome birthday planner that Kathryn is - a-mazing :)  But, we love our little parties, and we had two last week!

Sophie turned one two days before Carter turned five.  So, we went with pink for Sophie...and green for Carter.

Just like Carter, she wasn't a big cake eater.  She had a few bites of the icing and then dove into a bowl of watermelon.

John Paul was constantly trying to light the candle (and all of us!) on fire...

And the boys just loved watching her.

Papa and Elley came over for the evening, and sweet Gramma got the boys water guns so they'd have a little something special, too.  They were (and still are) in Heaven!

Sophie had some help opening her gifts...

...but she didn't share her new baby doll.

 And, she ended the night with a birthday spanking!

 Carter then woke up a couple of days later to a cake made my Gramma for breakfast!
 He chose to spend the day with his brothers in the "blast zone"...

And, he asked for a strawberry cake and a grilled cheese party.  So, that's what we did!

His favorite part of the day (and days after) was going by his huge birthday poster of pictures from birth to five and asking us to tell him stories about the photos.

 Sophie just enjoyed watching all the fun.

Jeremy picked the boys up their own welding hats and spark starters (whatever you call them), and I'm praying we stay far away from any accidental fires.

I'm also hoping these silly hats don't become part of anyone's daily wardrobe choices.

They pounded a pinata forever...

  (look at that face!)

 ...and they finally got to the candy!

Then, we had another couple days of celebrating with cousins and Mimi and Pops!  Talk about a week of fun!

Sophie ended up with her very own chair that she's extremely proud of - she even pulls on my shirt to get out if I'm in it!

 It's been a wonderful year with these two (and their siblings), and I pray for many, many more!