Still dealing with the loss

I love you, Papa. I think we had a complicated relationship, but I still miss you and my heart hurts when I think of you. You taught me so much and made me very much the person I am today.  I look forward to seeing you again in Heaven one day and hear you make all those groany puns, something that Jaxon seems to have inherited. :)

Evening Walk with the Boys as the Weather warms up even more.

The Little Boy Turns 7 *gasp*

Birthday Party #1

We had our first celebration for the little boy with the ladies' bible class, with the ladies who consider themselves ( and WE consider ) surrogate aunts and grandmothers :)

The theme this year is Minecraft, and the first cake was a Stampy cake :)

We used sparkler candles that seemed to be playing a trick on the little boy, refusing to be blown out.

We got him a Squiddy action figure to complete the Dynamic Duo of Stamps and Squid, and he got some lovely gifts from the ladies.

Birthday Party #2

The second celebration was at home with a "Minecraft Cake" cake. :) 

A RAINBOW "Minecraft Cake" Cake

There were some little action figures that I had gotten at a Dittos for Kiddos event,

A Super Space Red Bird that makes Angry Bird sounds,

and some Cars Play Doh accessories.

Birthday Party #3

The third party was with the family over at Mamo's church building, this time with a more complete Minecraft theme. I mean, I crushed Oreos and everything to make make-believe dirt on the side of those "dirt blocks" that were arranged to make the number 7.

I printed out little food labels in the spirit of Minecraft and finger foods that matched them.

There was even a little activity station for the kiddoes with some stuff that I had gotten online from a online birthday supplies store.

I was happy to see that the boys were really into coloring their masks - as well as dueling with the soft blow-up pickaxes :)

It did my heart good to see Max and the little boy having some "peer" time, seeing how they are only 6 months apart.

Then, it was cake time ! Yum.

Among other things, he received a pixel star wars t shirt from Popo ( which he immediately changed into ),  a Stampy from Brianna, 

a Minecraft Lego set, and a crazy jigsaw from us :)

and a stop by the playground to top it all off.

Easter Egg Hunt #3

Easter Egg Hunt #3 was after church, on the other side of town, at Grace Church, where it seemed like half of the downtown crowd was there.

We all know that there is a real person under all that fluff, but we still can't resist taking photos with the Easter Bunny.

and which child can resist bounch castles or slides? He was a bit too old/tall/big for the regular bouncy castle, but he had lots of fun on the slides.

PLUS there were minions there!

Then, suddenly, the crowd when while when they spotted...

the helicopter that would drop thousands of eggs onto the field across the street.  That might have been quaint and exciting, but I think we will avoid being in such close proximity with a hovering helicopter in the future, if we can possibly help it.

Easter Egg Hunt #2

We always look forward to the Spring Festival/Easter Eggstravaganza over at Southern Hills Church of Christ, and this year we made sure we didn't miss it :)

I don't know how many eggs they had prepared, but they made sure to separate the little kids into the appropriate age groups so the little ones could have a go without being over-run by the older kids.

The little boy and Daddy had some sort of strategy planned out on how best to approach the whole hunt :)

The kids were surprisingly well behaved in their frenzy to get as many eggs as possible. :)

Of course, in between waiting for his turn at the hunt(s), we spent our time over by the bouncy castles. Hurrah!

We even bumped into Kareena there! She's grown up to be quite the young lady :)

There was a short break in between where they had a martial arts demonstration, and the little boy was fascinated.

When the hunts were finally over, of course it was off to the playground till we were too pooped to party!