Cupcakes, cowboys and celebrations

I feel like I write this all the time, but life has been crazy the past couple weeks around here.  Maybe as these  kids of mine continue to get older life will never be "not crazy" again.  Don't get me wrong - I love the things we are doing, but I love down time too.  I love down time A LOT! 

Speaking of getting older.  Gulp.  My baby boy turned nine last week.  Nine.  The last year before double digits.  It just doesn't seem possible.  I swear I was just holding him in my hospital bed.  Him wrapped like a tiny mummy in a blanket with only that black, black head of silky hair and his sweet little scrunched up face peeking out.   Then I blinked and he was nine years old and already better at math than his mom is today.  

The day of Evan's birthday, his class was attending the one room schoolhouse for the morning.  So I helped him get dressed up in my old London Jean overalls.  I knew I saved them for a reason.  He was the cutest little school boy anyone on the prairie has ever seen. 

Since they would only be at the schoolhouse for the morning, he wanted me to bring his birthday treat in that afternoon.  Luckily I had whipped up these sweet little Ninjago cupcakes after my PTO meeting the night before.  They turned out pretty cute, but once again I was bested by packaged fondant.  Let this be a reminder to me that there has to be an easier way.  

After a steak and cheesy potato dinner that was the choice of the birthday boy, we headed out to his baseball game.   I love watching him play ball - and he has improved so much this year.   Just look at that stance.   

At first and ready to run.  He hasn't struck out yet this year.  Most of the time he gets a hit with the first pitch.

I was so glad I had my camera out at this moment.  He just scored a run and put his arms up in a victory pump!

Their team won the game by one point and Evan's last hit brought in the winning run.  That night he had three base hits.  Two runs scored and as I just said, brought in the winning run.  Look at that stance again.  My boy looks like a PLAYER!

Since it was his birthday he handed out ice cream sandwiches to the team after the game.  They were all so happy they won.  It was the first game they won all season.

After the game I asked Grama Bonnie to take a picture of us with Evan.  One thing that I try really hard to do is get some pictures - at least on their birthday - of the kids individually with us.  That way when they are grown they will have some pictures of themselves with their parents that will be just theirs.  It might sound weird, but if you think about it how many pictures do people have of themselves with their parents.

Of course Hailey wanted to get in a shot.  This would have been a really nice family photo if Spencer had been in it.  Poor Spencer was home fighting a stomach bug.

After the game we went home and Evan got to open gifts that we got for him.

He was thrilled about his chocolate fish.

The kids are fascinated by this Land of the Lost series.  We had the first season on DVD and they were dying to see the rest so we bought Evan the complete series.

Soft pillow cases.  Evan is a boy who loves anything that is soft.

Over the weekend, Ev had a small party with some of his friends at the laser tag place in Holland. 

I swear this boy could play extreme hunting games until he can't see straight anymore.  I don't think he played anything else for the whole two hours - besides the laser tag.  My kids (and husband) love laser tag and can't wait to go back. 

On Sunday, we had my mom over for Mother's Day and celebrated Evan's birthday one more time.  He hadn't actually had a birthday cake yet so he had yet to blow out his candles and make a wish. 

He found a recipe for this chocolate cake in a cookbook he checked out of the school library and I promised him I would make it for his birthday.  Initially he had requested a "How to Train Your Dragon" themed cake, but since the movie is pretty old, I couldn't find any characters or anything to go on it.  I found this lizard and stuck it on top with some cracked up white chocolate pieces and it was everything he ever dreamed of.

Although it was a busy week, it was a special one too - celebrating with our second born.  Happy Birthday Evan!  I hope all your wishes come true!