Beautiful Boys

I rebelled against the school pictures rip off this year. I decided to not pay $40+ per boy for pictures I don't love, and took them to get pictures taken on Friday when they didn't have school. The down side is it took over 1 1/2 hrs! The upside is I like the pictures they took and with the package I bought, I got the CD of all the pictures! I Photoshopped some of them and I might use them for a Christmas card. Aren't my boys looking great? They are really great kids and we are soooo lucky and blessed.

I Don't Feel Good

I have a headache that hasn't gone away since Wednesday and I have spots on my scalp that hurt. The doctor says I have SHINGLES! Again. I have medicines that should help but the one for pain sure doesn't seem to be working. I'll try to go to my regular doc tomorrow and hopefully start feeling better soon. It stinks being sick while Mom and Dad are here. I feel like a sick party-pooper sicko. At least shingles on my head isn't hurting as much as I remember shingles on my waist hurting. That's something. It's just depressing to be hurting all the time. And now I'm done whining.

You Got Ta Move It, Move It!

Saturday was Tyler's first Stake Dance! He was so handsome! He says he danced with 6 girls and he had a lot of fun and he'll probably go again next month. I can't believe it. My baby boy went out dancing with girls!! When did he grow up? (And can I embarrass him anymore?)

Cupcake Heaven

I had heard great things about a cupcake shop here in town called Daddy Cakes so Mom & Justin & I went and bought 6 different kinds to sample. We divided them into quarters and shared with Dad and Ryan and Tyler. They were pretty good! Too pricey to have very often, but maybe we'll try to recreate some of their flavors. We had Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Chocolate Mint Grasshopper, Chocolate Cupcake (like Hostess cupcakes), Lemon, Cookies & Creme. They were all very tasty.

Ryan's Turns TWELVE?!?!

Yes, Ryan is 12! His birthday was the 9th and Mom and Dad Ashby surprised us by coming a couple days earlier than planned to celebrate with us! We've been busy every day so I haven't had much time for posting about our fun times. Ryan got a red iPod and he loves it. It's one of the very new nanos and he actually uses it! He also got a Calvin & Hobbs book, and a Wii game. What a great day!

Then next day, he had 5 of his best buddies come to the movies with us to see The City of Ember. They all liked it but they said it didn't follow the book as much as they thought it would. His friends gave him some great gifts (he still needs to write thank yous!) and they played a couple games of football in the backyard. We had pizza and a very chocolatey ice cream cake. It was double chocolate cake, double chocolate cookie crunch ice cream (my new favorite), chocolate frosting, and chocolate sprinkles. Mmmmm. So Happy Birthday to Ryan! We love you soooo much!!!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Tyler Dear!!!

Saturday was Tyler's birthday! He's 14!! How did that happen? He is still a boy and wanted to get up early to open his birthday presents. So at 7am he got his gifts: candy from Ryan & Justin, and a Far Side comic strip book, the Spore computer game (very cool), and his secret birthday wish - a cell phone!! He was soooo happy. He had been looking at ads, comparing phones online, and casually mentioning friends and cousins who have cell phones. He wouldn't come right out and say that's what he wanted until 2 days before his birthday (and I had already gotten his). I think he was too afraid to ask because he didn't want to get his hopes up. It's exciting to see him grow up but it also makes me just a little bit sad - it's just happening too fast!

Later that afternoon, Tyler did his first parade in the middle school marching band. It was only 7 minutes long, but he had a great time. He's liking the marching & trumpet playing.

That night we had ice cream cake from Cold Stone. Tyler had a great day with great presents, fun times with friends, and his favorite foods! Happy Birthday, Tyler!!

We're Skype'n Now!

My brother Ben was the first one to get signed up. My sister Emily raved about it. And since I had heard about it before, we set up our Skype account tonight! It was so easy and Soooo coool! Todd's laptop has the web cam so we all crowded around and were amazed to talk to Ben's family face-to-face! His little boys are so cute - they like to make faces and see themselves, but we got to watch. And Ryan played a little part of his Star Wars song on the trombone. Leslie carried their laptop around their house and gave us a tour, too! It's just amazing to me that technology has caught up with the cartoons I used to see when I was a kid! So eveyone get with it and Skype with me!