daddy's birthday

posted by mommy

this year for james' birthday, we surprised daddy with a morning in the foothills. we enjoyed a beautiful crisp fall day hiking in Lair 'O the Bear park and eating a picnic lunch.

finding good hiking sticks was a must

evie is a true daddy's boy

amazing trees perfect for climbing

and no one can pass up some true rock climbing

a much-loved daddy and his kiddos

we love you tons daddy! happy birthday!

happy 5-year birthday everett!

posted by everett

i turned 5 years old today! i chose a special breakfast (buttermilk pancake muffins with lots of yummy toppings) and dinner (homemade mac 'n cheese with hot fudge sundaes). i've really been into star wars lately so mommy and daddy themed it up with one of my favorite characters, darth vadar. daddy even had darth vadar sing "happy birthday" to me. just like owen and eloise, we went to the zoo in the morning and saw all the fun animals. we even rode the carousal and as a birthday boy, my ride was free. i also received lots of fun gifts from my family, including really cool walkie talkies! we finished the day off by playing fun board games and going outside for some basketball.

i woke up to a darth vadar-inspired door of streamers

star wars decorations

a happy birthday sign created many years ago
by my cousins that we still use!

star wars and pj masks tattoos from eloise...i'm obsessed with tattoos!

a darth vadar lego watch from owen

a new scooter from grammie and gampa with light-up wheels

our annual birthday whipped cream shots!

fun breakfast pancake muffins

my family sang me happy birthday

rocking my birthday shirt from mrs. beth

my birthday pin from the zoo and a crown i brought from home 
since i was king evie for the day!

having fun at the zoo

me and daddy

owen wanted to take a few pics, not too bad owen!

me and mommy

riding the carousal

my goofball brother

walkie talkies from mommy and daddy

my birthday dinner - homemade mac 'n cheese with hot dogs and salad

it was an amazing day. i'm pooped!

birthday celebration

posted by owen and everett

since our birthdays are so close to each other, we had a joint birthday party this year with friends. even better, lula, two of our cousins - reagan and rye, and grammie and gampa were here to help celebrate it. the party was at the miller activity complex here in castle rock (we moved a couple months ago to castle rock!). we played on the climbing structure and cooled off in the swimming pool. lots of our good friends and their families showed up and helped us celebrate.

celebrating with good friends

yoda for owen and darth vadar for everett

goodie bags for our friends that had temporary tattoos,
popcorn, and fidget spinners! and mini cupcakes for us all to
enjoy - hot fudge sundae, lemon drop, and birthday cake sprinkles.

enjoying the pool with cousin rye

they had a perfect size pool for eloise

awesome cousins!

eloise and reagan enjoyed mimicking each other

rye the human playground

we loved being able to celebrate with our cousins. 
maybe next year the rest of the ellison crew will make it out!

happy 7 year birthday owen!

posted by owen

today i celebrated my 7th birthday - the first birthday in our new house! i woke up to a door of streamers and lots of fun balloons waiting for me. everett and eloise both gave me fun gifts and, of course, i got to choose my breakfast of choice - pancake cupcakes! we then ventured off to the zoo to see the new dinosaur exhibit and have fun being outside in the sunshine. we finished the day off with my dinner of choice, dad's homemade pizza, and a movie, night at the museum. of course, what birthday would be complete without my fabulous dessert of choice, a coke/root beer float! it was a wonderful day spent with my family.

evie had the idea of giving me a crown for my birthday

decorating my birthday pancake cupcakes

enjoying my birthday song

evie gave me a star wars yoda lego watch

my very own birthday pin at the zoo

we all enjoyed watching the awesome elephants

the zoo was filled with dinosaurs that moved and made sounds

enjoying the splash area at the zoo

evie being resourceful and creative 
using what he had to fill up the bucket

me and mommy

me and daddy

daddy even let me take a few pictures by myself with his big camera

we loved the t-rex

my crew

eloise gave me a camo fidget spinner

mommy and daddy got me a learning drone...daddy's currently
trying to learn how to drive it so it might be awhile
before i show off my mad skills

digging for dinosaur bones

i'm now officially seven years old