August is Birthday Month!

August is the Birthday Month for the Larkins Family.
 

Yep, all 4 of us have birthdays in August.
 

No, we don't have Birthday Cake all month long.
 

This year we decided to have one big party to celebrate the boys' birthdays and picked a Saturday about halfway between the two.  We rented a water slide bouncy house and set up the backyard for fun!  The bouncy house was at one end of the back yard while the pool was at the other end.  We placed the food and cake on the side with chairs grouped near by.  Over all, it was a great day!  The party officially started at 1:00 with a 'come-and-go' feel.  We cooked hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner for those still hanging out with us in the evening.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and the boys loved it! 

 

Putting stickers on the bubble bottles that went into the goody bags.

The 5-n-1 water slide bouncy house

David picked Spiderman for his cake,

Michael picked Batman for his cake.



David used the money he got for his birthday to buy what he wanted.
What little he had left went into his piggy bank.

Michael used the money he got for his birthday to buy what he wanted.
He decided to put what he had left over in his piggy bank!

 

Christmas 2012, part 2 (more pictures)

Setting up lights outside

Helping Daddy take lights out of the package

Helping Daddy take lights out of the package

Starting to string them out

David decided that he wanted to ride his big wheel instead of helping.
Michael was helping pull the lights straight.

Waiting on you Daddy!

Finding the 'corner' of the yard

Michael was telling David to stop playing and get back to helping Daddy!
(David was ignoring him...)

Mostly done!  Lights were also wrapped around the lower part of the tree.

Starting to put ornaments on the Christmas Tree!

Everyone's stocking was hung on the fireplace.
(L to R: David, Rachael, Sheba, Chris, Michael)

Sheba's new toy from her stocking

About 2 minutes later...

4 minutes after getting it...

Taken away after 5 minutes of playing with it!

Grandpa Dave & Grandma Lela came over for lunch and to help celebrate Christmas.

Michael's new slippers

David's new slippers

Opening gifts

Christmas 2012

Christmas Morning before the boys get up

Being very patient right now...

 

Sock Monkey stocking (Mama embroidered their initials on the hat)



Checking out what Santa put in the stocking

 

Sheba likes her new toy (lasted less than 5 minutes!)

 

New watch!
A Time Teacher (hour and minutes are different colors and match the hands)

 

Really excited about his new 'Video Game' system!

 

Loves the Tag reader and the books he got with it!

More stuff to explore

More stuff to explore

New cookbook from the show "the Chew"

Daddy likes the movie he got

 

Christmas Advent Book Countdown

Aunt Liz (Rachael's sister) stopped by a little while ago with a gift for the boys: a basket of wrapped books to count down to Advent.  They get to open one book a night to read and count down the days until Christmas (there are 24 books).  The calendar has been marked with who gets to choose the book each night (have to take turns) and we opened and read the first one tonight (David got to choose!).  Aunt Liz has been doing this with Cousin Charlie and it is a wonderful idea!  I think that we will need to continue this tradition.....

 

 

Look what we found!

While shopping for a few things at Kohl's today, we decided to get a new ornament for everyone. Michael got a teddy bear with his initial and David got a sparkly dog. We picked out a motorcycle for Daddy and Mama got a Russian doll.

 

David's 6th Birthday

We celebrated David's birthday with just us at home this year.  Chris took the boys out to breakfast at IHOP (Mama had to be at school for inservices) then to Toys-R-Us to pick out his gift from Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel.

 

Gifts from Mama & Daddy

Gifts he picked out from Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel

New bicycle from Grandma Lela & Grandpa Dave
(Daddy helped pick it out)

 

Michael's 4th Birthday

We decided to celebrate Michael's birthday simply this year.  We got together with Chris' mom and step-dad at Gatti Town  to celebrate.  We had a cake and the boys got to play in the arcade with Daddy & Grandma after dinner.

 

Gift from Mommy & Daddy (and Sheba!)

New bicycle from Grandma Lela and Grandpa Dave
 (Daddy helped pick it out)

Dinosaur and Alligator (he picked them out) from
Grandma Bambi & Grandpa Mel