Ryan Turns 4!

This little boy turned 4 years old in March, and he was so ready for it.  Ryan has to keep up with his older siblings so he probably seems more like 4 going on 10! He was super excited for his birthday though.

Last nap as a 3 year old! Yes, he still is a great napper. 

We celebrate with some birthday sprinkle pancakes (like always)

For his birthday this year. what do you think he wanted to do? He wanted to go bowling and have a Ghostbusters party. So that's what we did. It was hard to find someone to make a Ghostbuster cake, but we found one!

Bowling at Mel's

He invited just a couple friends and family to join us.

It was a great day. Evan was actually supposed to miss the party for a soccer game, but it got rained out. So, it worked out pretty nicely that he and Daddy could join us. Ryan - you crack us up all the time with the things you say. You are smart, funny, a goof ball. You have to do everything by yourself. You love letters and letter sounds (especially the letter R).  You love to ride your scooter, jump on the trampoline, and play legos. You also dress up like a ghostbuster and pretend to be Peter Venkeman. You wear your proton pack everywhere (and I mean everywhere). Your favorite food is probably Mac N Cheese. You love to snuggle and give kisses and hugs. We love you so much! Happy 4th Birthday!

More February

Here are some more highlights from February! It was a busy month...

First, Caitlin got a Texan award at school for being responsible. No surprise there :) I love that it corresponded to the week she was Terrific Texan for her class.

And two of her really good friends got awards the same day! I'm glad the school does something to recognize the students. It makes them feel good to get something special.

We also have a big weekend with the Boy Scouts! They had a camp out at Camp Mabry, an army base right in the middle of town. I took the boys over Sat morning because Bryce and Caitlin had a soccer game.

We spent time playing and exploring in the woods. Ryan was wearing his "proton pack" and looking for ghosts to bust!

Then we went on a tour.

This was the first time we'd gotten to go in the Texas Military Museum. It was actually pretty neat!

Towards evening, we all left to go to Evan's first soccer game of the season. The boys played a great game. After that, we grabbed a quick dinner and the boys headed back to the campout while I took the other two kids home. I was thankful for my nice warm comfy bed :)

On Sunday, we had Evan's last flag football game of the season. 

We also attended a back to school night at Old Town. Here we got to see what the kids have been working on and they took us around the school to show us things. Ms. Johnson made this cute "students" to sit in their chairs at school.

And as I mentioned, Caitlin was Terrific Texan for her class that week. She made a poster and got to bring in trophies/ribbons to share with her class. It was a great week for her!

Trip to Baton Rouge/Houston

In early February, we took a trip to Baton Rouge with my family.  My Grandpa was driving to Pensacola to spend some time with his brother and so we tagged along to Baton Rouge.  If you didn't know, my Grandpa was in WWII on a Destroyer called the USS Chauncey.  He has amazing stories to tell from his time in the war.  In Baton Rouge, they have a destroyer of the same class as his destroyer (like a sister destroyer) called the USS Kidd. 

So, we took the opportunity to have him give us a tour of the boat (just like his own) and hear about it first hand.

Waiting for everyone to arrive

Picture with the boat in the background

Group photo!

It was very tight quarters. Grandpa was showing us the radio room. He was a communications officer during the war.

The big guns are always fascinating to the kids. He told us stories of them fighting the Japanese in the Pacific ocean.

Grandpa telling more stories. This was next to the flags where he would have to raise/lower certain ones as at times, they didn't use radio communications (which could be intercepted). Instead, they used signal flags to the other ships in the fleet.

Better picture of inside the radio room.

Picture of where he slept. Since he was an officer, he got a special room to share with just 3 others. After seeing the main sleeping area, this seems like quite the luxury!

It was so amazing to get to see/hear his stories about the war. I'm so thankful we were able to do this!

After the morning at the ship, we drove back to Houston to spend the night and go to the Science Museum the next day.

Beautiful gardens right by the museum

Ready to go into the Butterfly exhibit

Butterflies everywhere!! Ryan was NOT a fan.

And dinosaurs! It was a fun museum that we hope to go back to. And overall, a great trip. It was short but glad we could fit it into our busy schedule.

February Fun 2017

February was a fun month for the Stacers.  We very much enjoyed the fact that somehow we never got Winter. It seemed to just pass by Texas so we had lots of fun outdoors!

Ryan is still obsessed with Ghostbusters (in case you were wondering). Here he is riding his scooter in his "Ghostbuster" outfit with his proton pack.

Mema and Papa hosted a fun Super Bowl party complete with football games for the kids!

Evan celebrated his half birthday at school - all you UofM grads will be proud. He chose a Michigan Wolverines Football book for his birthday book club!

Caitlin was awarded her Reflections ribbon at a special event for her dance choreography!

We celebrated Valentine's Day. Evan made a Charizard (pokemon) box for his class Valentine's box. Pretty cool! Thanks Pinterest!

I had fun celebrating with both kids at school. Caitlin's class was first!

And then Evan's class - photo wall!

We also enjoyed some family game nights!

Caitlin turns 7!

Caitlin turned 7 years old in January.... SEVEN! I can't believe it. The time is really flying by. Here are some quick picks from the birthday week. I think it turned out to be a pretty fun time.

Special birthday pancakes - tradition!

Got to be on KTEX at school for birthday book club

We celebrated with cupcakes at school

Yes, this is January in Texas. Do you see why we live here??

The big event was a roller skating birthday party. It was actually super fun!

We had a lot of Caitlin's friends join us. I love this place because it has the old school wooden floors and these "trainers" the help for those not as good at skating or nervous about it.

We even let a few siblings tag along which Evan was happy about :)

Ryan and Baba hitting the floor - Ryan did awesome with these skates that just fit over his shoes. I think we will be coming back here soon! 

Caitlin LOVES the movie Moana so that was our theme.

One more pick before we head out!

It was a super fun party and easy for me. We even celebrated with family dinner afterwards at Buca (to celebrate Baba and Caitlin). 

Caitlin - you are so special to us. You are silly and smart and beautiful. You love to do projects and read. Gosh - so many nights I have to come upstairs and tell you to stop reading and go to bed! You love math (which I love!). You love art and creating (not from me). When you want something, you work hard for it. Sometimes you don't agree with me and I have to push you out of your comfort zone, but you adapt pretty quickly. You love gymnastics and hip hop. You put up with ballet and swimming.  You love Moana and music and reading. And we love you so much!

Happy 7th Birthday!