The Birthday Boys

It is so hard to keep up with this thing during this time of year.  You would think that Summer would have been the height of my "busy-ness" but that is far from it... September is when things just pick up.

Kenai turned 8 back on the 12th

We took him to buy some gifts and he got a Rubix Cube with the money from GREAT Grandma/Grandpa Bennington... We got him some Pokemon Cards and a binder to keep them in with transparent sleeves for organization... he got a few more packs of cards with money from GREAT Grandma Johnston.

My parents game him these awesome basketball shorts (he is planning on trying that sport this winter) and the top as well as some football gloves, which he insists on wearing... or at least ONE on his LEFT hand "just like Kotah does"...

Kenia's birthday was on a Saturday so we had Kotah's football game to spend our time at instead of where ever Kenai wanted to be... but he said it was okay because we did go to dinner at "his 'favorite' place"... Pizza Pie Cafe.

The next day was Sunday so we were planning on dinner at my parents' place.  He requested brownies in the shape of an "8" just like I did for Kotah's birthday cake 2 years ago... DONE :) (see his football gloves in the picture above?)

...after eating our dessert Kenai opened his gift from Brooks/Jovi/Nash (Jason & Tenisha) and it was a kit to make his own bouncy balls... so naturally we HAD to make them that night when we got home.  Happy Birthday Kenai! More great things are yet to come for this little guy.

Kotah turned 10 on the 20th

SERIOUSLY, WHERE DID MY BABY GO???

He is so big and grown up... seems like from last year to this year he has just matured beyond what any of my expectations would have been a year ago.

Kotah's birthday was on a Sunday so we went over to my parents in the evening (4:30) for dinner and playing in the backyard.  Kotah played some Lacrosse, some football, some soccer and then we were ready to eat his feast.  He requested SHRIMP (notice his own bowl below), fish, green beans, and frog-eyed-salad.  He got all of it.

When dinner was over the kids were anxious to give him their gift.  He got some nice warm-up pants from them and it went PERFECTLY with the outfit we got him above and the athletic attire my parents also got him... clearly he is moving into that phase of his clothing style.  I can't blame him, if I could I would LOVE to LIVE in my workout clothes... okay some days I do just that :)

Kotah is such a wonderful kid.  He is a strong, quiet leader among his peers/teammates and can always be counted on to do what is right... even if they are giving him a hard time about doing what is right.  I hope and pray this quality is one that will press on through the next (harder) stages of his youth.  He is intelligent, and LOVES speaking Spanish now that it flows much more easily than ever before.

I had to capture the kids' reactions to holding a fuzzy caterpillar... HAD to. I can't get enough of these adorable little faces and all that comes with them.

Happy Birthday Kotah
Keep up with all you are doing and becoming.
You are an example to me and you are always inspiring me to do things that are hard.
WE DO HARD THINGS!
LOVE you!
Love you all so much.