Field Day 2010

Field Day at the boys' school was this past Friday. The weather forecast didn't look too great, but the school decided to go ahead with the event. The younger grades had their outdoor events in the morning and the rain held off, so they were able to participate.

Camden at the "kangaroo hop" relay:

By the time the older grades were supposed to go outside, a major storm was moving through the area, so they held the events in the hallways of the school. It was quite a dissappointment, but they managed to have some fun anyways.

Cullen at the three-legged race:

Cullen and his friends:

Rodents, rodents everywhere!

We are now a two-rodent family! In our household, nine is the magical age when your allowed to get your own pet. Cullen has been talking for months about the hamster he was going to get for his birthday. Funny thing happened - we went to the pet store to pick out a hamster and came home with a gerbil!

Cullen and Gerry the Gerbil:

Kenna and her hamster, Pip:

Cullen's Ninth Birthday!!

I'm a little late on this post since it's now been a full week since Cullen's birthday and even longer since his party, but to state an well used cliche - "better late than never!"

Cullen had his first sleepover party last Friday night. We kept his very small - just three of his best buddies:

We had Cullen's favorite food for dinner - pizza!

The boys had great fun with a silly string war:

The theme of Cullen's party was Mario Bros. from the video game. His cake was supposed to somewhat resemble one of the mushrooms from the game. It turned out okay, but was definitely not one of my better creations. On the up side - it tasted great!

In keeping with the party theme, the boys spent a lot of time playing video games:

In fact, Cullen and one of the other boys were so excited about playing video games all night, that they didn't go to sleep! That's right, when I got up around 6 (because another boy had woken up throwing up with a migraine), Cullen and another boy were still awake! Of course, I knew Cullen would crash sooner or later, and it turned out to be sooner. He fell asleep about an hour before the party was over and slept through everyone leaving to go home.

The End of an Era

Saturday was a big day for our family: the kids' beloved swingset came down. They used their own money to buy the set about 4 years ago from some friends of ours (the set was already several years old). They have spent many, many hours playing on it. Recently I've been noticing it wobbling quite a bit when they play. A few days ago Robert was outside and realized how rotten the wood had gotten and we decided, for safety reasons, that it was time to take it down.

Here are the kids on the first day we got the swingset, four years ago. I just love the huge smiles on their faces:



And here is a picture of the deconstruction process. There were a LOT of nails and screws in that thing! Everyone pitched in to help with the effort.





It was a bittersweet day. One the one hand, I'm glad to have the set no longer taking up the majority of our small backyard, but on the other hand, it was another reminder that my babies are growing up!

Marvelous Musician

Kenna played on Saturday in her first solo contest. She earned a First Division Rating - the highest award given! Way to go, Kenna!