Avery J is 12!

 Today we celebrated sweet Avery turning 12! It started with me bringing her a poppyseed muffin with a candle while playing "Jesus Was Born Today" by the Oakridge Boys (her choice!). I brought her a burrito bowl from Chipotle and cake pop from Starbucks for lunch at school today. For her b-day dinner she chose meatloaf and cheesy potatoes from me, deviled eggs from G and eggrolls and crab rangoons from Lai Ma. It was a delicious feast! We had G, Papa, Uncle Du, Lai Ma, Uncle Cullen, Aunt KJ and Benny Boo over for dinner and then Lila, Lena, Bill and Marija came as a surprise after dinner. The kids had a blast playing and then we opened gifts (lots of Gift Cards for a new iPhone) and had the best Taylor Swift themed Ice Cream Cake! I hope Avery felt all the love today and knows how special and amazing she is. I loved every minute of celebrating my amazing girl!!

Tay's Top Golf Birthday Bash

 We celebrated Tay's 8th Birthday with his buddies at Top Golf. It was a bit chaotic but the boys had a lot of fun and Tay gave it a 10 out of 10. I am glad he was able to party with his friends and be the center of attention for the day. A special thanks to G, Stu and Uncle Du for helping us out. 

Love you buddy!

Tay is 8!!

 Today we celebrated Tay turning 8 and what a day it was!! It started with G bringing over Quack Daddy Donutd (Choc with Sprinkles) before the bus. I surprised him with Penn Station for lunch at school and his classmates celebrated him by all writing him a note about what makes him special - It was really fun to read them after school! His soccer team organized a Laser Tag and Pizza team building night and he was excited to spend the evening with his buddies. He won the last round of laser tag and had a blast playing tons of video games with his teammates. 

We made it home around 9 and the whole family came over to give him presents and have ice cream cake! He got some amazing gifts including a new soccer nets, some cool soccer jerseys, commercial free you tube and golf lessons. The biggest surprise was a new set of clubs and he was PUMPED! 

He is one lucky boy and I am forever grateful to be his mom and watch him grow (even though it goes too fast!). Happy Birthday Tay Man - You are SO special and SO loved!

Cedar Point with the Bolton's

We had one last trip to Cedar Point with Rebecca and Ella. It was just going to be a girls trip, but Tay loved Cedar Point SO much in July that we had to bring him along (and he is finaly 52 inches and could try all the rides). He was obsessed with counting down the days all week and even made a bucket list of all he wanted to try - he conquered it all! 

We went into the park Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday morning with a little rest time, swim, and japanese steakhouse dinner thrown in. The lines were fairly long at times, but the kids got to do all the big rides at least once. I loved Millenium Force and it was fun to ride it with Tay.  Bec made us all matching shirts which were super cute and made it easy to find each other all day! The girls couldn't have been kinder or more inclusive with Tay. It was hot and there was a TON of walking, but totally worth all the fun they had!

One hiccup - Someone decided to pull the fire alarm around 1 am on Sat, so we had to evacuate the hotel including 5 flights of stairs down and back up. Not the best to have interrupted sleep after 14 hours of park time....But not something we'll forget!

And one other minor hiccup - On the last ride of the night on Sat, the kids' Magnum train was stopped heading up the first hill. The EMS pulled up just as it happened, so Bec and I freaked a bit. Turned out it was a woman on the ground that needed medical attention and the train was stopped because a passenger undid their buckle, the sensors caught it, and they had to get re-buckled before the ride could continue. Ended up being not too dramatic, but it was enough that it was Tay's last Magnum ride for the trip...

 Loved spending time with our best friends and so cool to see Tay be able to hang with the big kids! We will for sure be back next summer - tonight we are all exhausted and happy to have our own beds :)