Tanner's 9th Birthday- A Transformer Party

We started off Tanner's birthday with breakfast burritos, his breakfast item of choice.
Then we went to his school for lunch and brought him his favorite Chinese food from Panda Express. He was so excited. Look that this cute freckle face boy with his food. 

I just love him!

Bailey's lunch is right before Tanner's lunch, so she hung out with us while we waited for Tanner and then she skipped recess to eat with us. We all love our Tanner bear so very much!
He loved having us all with him for his birthday lunch. 

Then after school we invited a bunch of his friends to the pool to swim, play and party with us. 

This year Tanner wanted a Transformer themed birthday. He loved how it all came together and he really loved his ice cream cake. 

He got home to find his party all set up and he just loved it all. 

We served "energon crystals" and "transformer fuel"

along with "autobot cookies"

and "energon cubes".

We also served "wires".

Here's Tanner's autobot cake that he loved so much!

Look at this sweet boy. He was so pleased with his birthday party. 

I love this sweet boy. 

He had a great time playing and swimming with his friends at the pool!

We ate and then opened presents. Tanner was so thrilled that his friends brought presents for him.
We had told everyone they didn't need to bring presents, just to come hang out and swim. But they all surprised him anyway. 

We are so grateful for Tanner's sweet friends!

Directly after the party, the took off for Mountain Home. It was a crazy full day, but we wanted to celebrate with Nanny and Papa as well as the cousins so we all met in Mountain Home to party some more. We had a fun party with another cake and presents and lots of playing.
This boy- he just melts my heart!

Tanner got lots of fun toys for his birthday, but the biggest hit were the bubble bumpers.
We all had fun playing with these. We let Tanner pick his opponent first and he picked Clark. They were so funny battling each other. 

We were all laughing so hard!

Then Bailey battled Danny

and Max. She was too big to battle Max but he wanted to so we let them.  

Then we let Tanner battle against Bailey for a bit.

Then we passed Tanner off to the queen of body bubble bumpers- AUNT SARAH!

We were laughing so hard during this battle. It was hilarious. 

Tuck enjoyed battling Clark and Max. 

Max and Tuck were pretty evenly matched and they were so cute to watch.  

Then Tanner battled Daddy. The bubble bumper was way too small for Daddy but he squeezed himself into it. 

I battled Aunt Sarah too

And we ended the battles with Nanny VS Papa.
The grand kids loved this and we were all laughing. 

The next day we went to church together and then headed home. It was definitely a quick trip but it was exactly how Tanner wanted to spend his birthday and it was super fun.
Happy birthday to our sweet Tanner. I can't believe he entered our world 9 years ago!

First Day of School for Bailey and Tanner

Today Bailey and Tanner started back to school and they were both nervous and excited.

Bailey started 2nd grade and she is in Mrs. Clark's class.

We've heard great things about Mrs. Clark and we are excited to see what the year holds in store. 

I love this gorgeous girl of mine. She's my favorite girl in the world. 

And I love these two friends. I'm so glad they have each other at school.

Their little friendship makes me so happy. Tanner watches out for Bailey and Bailey is always encouraging Tanner.

Tanner started 3rd Grade this year. He has Mrs. Rachel. She's fairly new and he already loves her. He met her at back to school night  and thought she was so awesome. I'm excited to have him excited about school. 

Man, I LOVE this kid. He's so handsome and sweet. 

Here are the kids in their class shirts. It's crazy to see how much they have already grown into them. I can't handle it. 

We are looking forward to another happy and exciting year at Elm Tree Elementary. 

I left both kids happily sitting at their desks ready to start the first day of school with a smile. 

When we picked up the kids from school they couldn't stop talking. They both had such a great first day and they are both really excited to go back. This makes my Mommy heart so happy. It's hard to get back in the routine of school but knowing they are having fun and enjoying school makes it so much easier. 

When Dad got home we had our annual BACK TO SCHOOL PARTY.
The kids were so happy to see the party all set up for them when they got home from school.
It turned out cute and made for such an easy dinner. 

How cute are these big kids? All three of them are in school this year and I can hardly believe it.
Tucker doesn't start Pre-K until after Labor day, but then he will be gone 3 days a week. 

The weather was so nice and we ate our sack lunches on the patio. It was such a great evening together. I just love this not so little family of mine. 

After dinner Chris gave the big kids each a Father's blessing.
Tucker was so funny. We were talking about the blessings and asking the kids if they would like one and both Bailey and Tanner said yes, but Tucker very plainly and directly said "I don't want a blessing. They take too long." We were cracking up. In the end, he decided that he did indeed want a blessing and his Daddy gave him one too. 

The blessings were sweet and heartfelt and I'm once again grateful to have a worthy and willing priesthood holder for a husband and father to my kids. 

Here's to a GREAT school year!