Ryan's birthday

 Spencer, Lexi, and Ryan all have birthdays within a week of each other in August, so we had a combined birthday with them that was great. Good family + good food = good times. It was so good to have Jill and Eric and Luke come join the party. I made an ice cream sandwich cake, which I think was my favorite cake that I have ever made because it took about 5 minutes. Then I tried to spell their names on top in M&Ms, which took 10 minutes and you couldn't hardly read it -- just in case you ever think about trying that it's not worth it.

 JW and Alli gave Ryan a shaving kit for his birthday. It is so cute! And it is nice that he is actually excited to go upstairs and get ready for bed when he gets to shave.

And since I couldn't convince him that he wanted an ice cream sandwich cake, on his actual birthday I did what I could to give him a Thomas cake. He was expecting something quite more elaborate, but the great thing about a 4-year-old is that he was excited to drive Percy and Thomas around the graham cracker tracks and didn't notice that I took the easy way out on this cake. Happy birthday sweet boy!

School

I think my good blogging intentions kind of went down the drain when we started school.

 Here's Nikki doing grammar on the first day -- no complaining yet.

 Hannah beginning her new year of math. I love having this guy be the teacher instead of me!

The girls dressed Ryan up as a Celtic warrior one day. They used to paint their bodies blue and make their hair stick up in spikes by rubbing in fat or lard so they would be more scary to their enemies. We used mousse instead of fat! He liked his axe.

Beach

We spent two days at the beach with Mike's and Robin's families in July. It was so much fun!

 Notice the big blow-up Nemo toy in the background with Nate and Spencer (my two nephews). They chose to get two of those from the surf shop, and they were so much fun. The kids rode the waves on them and just had a blast. I can't believe this is the only picture I have of them.

 These two had so much fun together.

 One afternoon Mike convinced all the kids to lay down and take a nap (or at least pretend) in order to be able to go back to the beach.

Nate's birthday -- back in July

 This was funny. Hannah got Nate some Twizzlers for his birthday, but she opened the package and wrapped up only three of them to give to him.

Yeah, that's only half of a cake mix. The other half crumbled to pieces. Have I ever mentioned how I want to be the next Cake Boss? Not happenin' anytime soon.

Pictures?

So, here's the moment when I get to admit that my camera has been working for more than a month, and I've just been too lazy to upload any pictures. We had a birthday party on Saturday for Ryan, Lexi, and Spencer so I'll download them soon. But today is Ryan's birthday and he wants a Thomas cake. I think he may end up disappointed, but we'll see what I can do on top of a 13x9 this afternoon. Then I'll upload my pictures!

Crazy dream

Last night I tossed and turned all night dreaming that I was either Misty May or Kerri Walsh, and I was coming down with the flu just as we were starting to play the gold medal match. It was awful. We always won, though. I may not really be a champion beach volleyball player, but I really am coming down with the flu. Or something like unto it. And it is awful.