The Box

Today T received what I hope is his last box of birthday gifts in the mail. He is always so excited to get mail that is addressed to him. For the next couple of months any box that is delivered to our home Taye will automatically assume is his. Here are some pics of him celebrating as he unwraps birthday presents for the FOURTH time!!!!

Bob the Builder stickers!!!

I've never seen a kid so excited about new socks.

Great Grandma Caughey sent an automatic bubble blower that is capable of 10,000 bubbles per minute. T was sooooo excited.

Here is a shot of a small portion of the bubbles. It looks pretty close to 10,000 to me.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Treanor and Great Grandma Caughey for the awesome birthday presents!!! We love you all.

Party Time

Today we had a birthday party with most of T's friends and their parents. T wanted a Spongebob Squarepants party (of course). We got everything put together and we all had a blast.
Here is T anxiously waiting for all of his friends to arrive.

Here's a shot of the gang. We love these guys. We don't know what we would do without them and their families. We've all become such good friends over this last year.

T's Spongebob cake. We had a blast frosting it.

As we neared the end of singing to T, the circle of children kept closing in on the cake. Right as we finished two or three kids helped Tayeson blow out his candles. It was totally cute.

We had a pinata for the kids. After about 15 minutes of trying to break Spongebob open we finally gave up and pulled the strings to release all of the candy. That was one durable pinata. The kids had a blast though.

Here is a shot of all of the candy tumbling out of Spongebob.

The kids were so funny. They calmly went through the candy and picked out what they wanted. There was no mass hoarding at all. I was really surprised.

Here is everyone helping T open his presents. Thanks everyone for celebrating this special day with us!!!

4 Years Old!!!

I can't believe it has been four years!!!! Today was T's official birthday. We had a great time together as a family and we were even lucky enough to have some of the missionaries join us for the celebration. As usual, T made off like a bandit and was so excited about everything. Last night I decorated the house with some balloons and streamers. When T came down this morning he was so excited. As we were eating breakfast together he kept looking around at everything and then he would look at me and say, "You did a good job Mom." I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to have him in my life. Over these last four years I have laughed and loved more than I ever thought possible. I am so grateful for the joy that he brings into my life and the things that I learn from him daily. I truly am blessed that the Lord sent him to me.

T wasted no time getting right to it. He was so excited he could barely sit still.

He was soooo excited about this truck. Thanks Grandma Culbertson.

T loves Eric's blue basketball shorts. He will put them on, hold them up, and wear them around the house all day. When he can't find them he will search the entire house looking for Dad's "blue." Now he has a pair of his very own.

We were lucky enough to have the Elders over for dinner and cake. We love having Elder Fohr around and we look forward to getting to know Elder Mensah as well.

He always gets the cutest smile on his face when you sing Happy Birthday to him.

With there now being four candles on the cake, it took a couple of extra tries to get them all blown out.

Success!!!! I love the look on his face in this pic. This is truly characteristic of Tayeson. He is such a sweet and happy boy.

There are few things in the world that are as good as a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake. Mmmmm...

The Naked Chocolate Cafe

So last night we all gathered at the Naked Chocolate Cafe in downtown Philly to say goodbye to Lori. Finally her husband is finished with his surgical fellowship here in Philly and is ready to practice on his own. We're so excited for them but this means that they're leaving us!!! We had a great time hanging out last night (without the kids!!!!) and I must say we all LOVED the Naked Chocolate Cafe. I can't say that I'm too disappointed that Lori is leaving because her husband has expressed some interest in offering Eric a job. In January we will head out to Billings, MT for Eric to rotate and interview with Lori's husband Zach. We're so excited to get to see them again soon but until then, we'll miss you Lori!!!
The girls left to right: Me, Lori, Amanda, Carrie, Liz, Kay, and Sage.

Doesn't this look awesome? Its a frozen hot chocolate. It was soooo good!!! Try not to think about the calories.

Its Done!!

I finally finished the second quilt I've been working on. I know I said I was going to make a little boys quilt but I really wanted to finish this one. It turned out much cuter than expected. Now that its done I have all of my fabric for my boys quilt and I'm ready to get started.

Sand Flower Gardens & SANTA!!!

Today we decided to beat the heat and head for Wildwood. We picked a great day to go down the shore. We had a great time playing in the sand and the water. We were even lucky enough to have a surprise visitor. Just as we were getting ready to leave Santa Clause rolled up in his truck with his entourage of junior lifeguards and his brass band playing some Christmas carols!!! We were lucky enough to work our way through the hordes of children to get our picture with Santa.

This is the sand flower garden that Eric made for me. Before Tayeson found it there were half a dozen flowers in the garden. You can see the remains of one on the top right. Oh well.

Here we are with Santa. And you thought I was kidding didn't you? Check out Santa's shades! T was a little confused that Santa was at the shore. Honestly, I'm pretty sure we all were.

T having fun playing in the sand. Notice that he is completely covered in it.

He loves this little truck that Aunt Jeni gave him. Its good for so many different things.

See I told ya. Its great to ride in.

He was a little uncertain about sitting in it while there was water coming in from the bottom.

Here is T hard at play. Again, notice the evenly distributed coating of sand.

Here is T adding water to his wagon full of sand to make...

...this. Here is T's creation. He was so proud of himself. Of course Dad helped a little with the layout.

For those of you who have never been to the Jersey shore, what you're looking at is a group of three small planes that are hired to fly banners all up and down the shore. They're constantly coming by with different ads. My favorite was one for NutriSlim. They really know their audience.

Pocahantas?

Okay, I took it twice just to be sure. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed its not Cinderella. Sigh...

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?