Angry Ty!

Happy Birthday to you! Ty loves to play games on Jake's phone. So we thought this was a fitting party theme. It was a ton of fun to get ready for and the kids all had a great time. Clean up was easy, not a lot of prep. Turned out perfectly. Thanks Sarah for helping me keep the chaos managed :).

The Games:

Target practice with real eggs. Hit the King Pig and get 50 points!!

Ty goes first.

Knock down the pigs!

Each kid got to take our angry bird plushes (thanks to his aunts and Grandma Ball who bought them for him for his birthday. It made party planning so much easier,) and throw them at the blocks of wood. Then all all got a turn setting it up for the next person. I was suprised how well this worked. I was worried the wood wouldn't fall just from the kids throwing a stuffed animal at it. But it worked like a charm. So awesome! Plus we then had a purpose for some of our scraps from finishing the basement this summer :)

My super talented friend made this shirt for Ty. Thanks Britt!

Coloring Angry Birds pictures.

Goodie bags. I thought they turned out so cute!

The cake!! Love the way it turned out. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull it off. It is the most elaborate cake I have made yet (just from the standpoint of all the fondant creations.) He loved it and the kids loved each getting to eat one bird or pig.

*The white bird and the pigs turned out the best I think.

Birthday Times Two

Another successful year of the double birthday's. Ty turned 4 and Lily 2. They are such a joy in our life and we are so grateful for them. We had a really fun day. You know how sometimes you have one of those days, peaceful, happy, everything goes great. That was their birthday this year. One of my favorites days with them yet.
Princess shoes!! She loves them.

Thundercats, HO!

Captain America!

Going to Chuck-e-Cheese

In the morning I took Ty and Lily to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts. Ty is so my kid and doughnuts are his favorite treat. Lily just likes to eat :)!

Watching them make the doughnuts. They loved this. They spent at least 35 minutes watching the doughnuts. What a hit! Mom was looking pretty awesome for this fun outing. What's even better...Krispy Kreme gives kids a free doughnut and drink for their birthday. How awesome?!

I never realized how much they look alike until I saw these pictures. You can totally tell they are brother and sister. Its funny, the older Lily gets the more they look really close in age. She is catching up to him in height too...

Buddies :)

Lily always says, "Its so yummy!" when she is eating. I love it!

Lily's Tangled Birthday cake. Super easy and she loved it!

Ty loves Ninja Turtles so I made these cupcakes for him. He thought they were pretty cool. He mostly was looking forward to his angry birds party the next day.

76 Trombones

Luke and Jake had an awesome opportunity to be involved in Syracuse Community Theatre's production of Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man". Jake was in this play in high school and then played the lead, Professor Harold Hill. This time he was cast as the antagonist, Charlie Cowell. He liked getting to play the "bad guy". I know it would sound like I am just being partial, but Jake was fantastic! He really has a gift for acting and performing. For those who know him well, this doesn't come as a suprise to you. It was extra neat because he got to have Luke do it with him. Luke was a chorus member and also part of the boys band that Harold Hill organizes. During one of the cast musical numbers, (Trouble--for those who know the story/music), Harold Hill would bring Luke out in the middle of everyone and talk to him. I was so proud to see my little boy handle all of the long practices and preparations. He was honestly the cutest kid up there. Completely animated and singing his heart out--every word!

We are so grateful to all of our family and friends who came out to support Luke and Jake. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Thank you!

Here is Jake or "Charlie Cowell" trying to convince the River City citizens of the evils of Professor Hill.

There are more pictures I was forwarded from the directors, but I can't get them to upload. So hopefully I will be adding more later.

This is my favorite scene they did. Charlie and Hill are finally confronted. Hill punches Charlie and he ends up cowering offstage.

My 5 year old neice shouted out "NO" when she saw Uncle Jake get punched and collapse to the ground. So sweet!

Finally breaking character to snap of photo together.

Luke in his "Boy's Band" costume.

I loved Luke's costume. We were in charge of putting together the costumes ourselves. Jake and I put it together and my friend helped me make the pants into nickers.

Luke thoroughly enjoyed his experience. I think for while this will be an annual Swensen summer endeavor. Hopefully as ouryounger two kids get a little older we can do it as a family.

4th of July

Waiting for fireworks with our friends the Speredons and Hegsteds.

We went mini golfing during the day. It was a lot of fun. Ben beat us all...barely! Luke found golf a little frustrating, but Ty had a great time. Lily threw her ball in the water on the second hole, so she spent the rest of the time in her stroller, she was pretty mad at us. Then it started to rain a little. Then she was really not happy (see later picture :))

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe that a whole year has come and gone. Because we are year round, it literally has been a whole year. Plus from the end of kindergarten to the beginning of first grade we only get three weeks off. It is very surreal for me to see Luke growing and moving forward so quickly. Here he is with two of his buddies from school. Ryan and Alex.

Singing their songs and getting their diplomas.

There is my handsome boy!

Our gift to Mrs. Z. The most fabulous teacher ever!! I miss her! Luke misses her too! No one will ever be Mrs. Z! How lucky we were to have her to start school.

Last day of school. :(

Catching up

Since I view my blog as my scrapbook and journal in one. I am going to attempt to catchup on the last few months and put everything in order. Check out the updates below :)

May and June

Just a few random pictures from the last two months.
My boys love to play dress up. They are always pretending to be someone or something else. Then they usually act it out or put on a pretty elaborate play for us. They are such hams! Luke of course is always the ring leader. Here they are dressed as red batman and black batman.

"OHHH! A baby Jack Jack!" says Lily in a super high pitched voice! Lily and Ty love Incredibles the movie. For about 3 weeks we had to watch it every day. They can all quote it. Even Lily, which is pretty funny.

Playing Rock band with Daddy.

Batgirl!