Happy Birthday Papa!

Yesterday we surprised Dad with a little birthday lunch when he came home for lunch from work.

Yellow cake with caramel icing from Pie Kitchen in Louisville

An attempt to get a picture of all the kiddos - not so successful.

Waiting for Papa to come home

Ready to eat

Cake time!  All the kiddos helped blow out the candles.  (Ignore the shadow on this picture - I think it came from the mirror on the table)

School's Out for Summer:)

First Day of 1st Grade

Our last day of school was May 9th (unbelievable).  This is the first year I can ever remember not missing ONE SINGLE DAY for snow or illness.  We are loving the fact that we get a long summer.

Will on his last day of school as a 1st grader.

Will's 9-week award ceremony was also the last day.  He was recognized for making  25+ AR points for the 9-weeks, Brilliant Behavior Award, Fantastic First Grader (All S's) and the PE award.  We are so proud of Will.  He had a great year and is all ready for 2nd grade.

Let's Play Ball!

T-ball and Coach Pitch has started and it seems like we are at the ballfield every night.  Little League was recognized at the high school baseball game.  Above is Walker and Noah pausing for a picture.

 Mason and Will cheering on their little brothers who are on opposite teams.

 SeaDogs are officially 2-3 for the season.  We started off with two tough losses (5-6), followed by a big loss, but the boys are working their way back to the top. 

Walker in action

Spring Break

For Spring Break this year we joined Uncle Seth, Aunt Jenn, Alexa, and Owen in Daytona for a week of fun and sun!

View from our room

Will loved going down the big slide.

while Walker loved the little slide.

Most mornings started at the kiddie area.

Walker and Alexa striking a pose.

Owen enjoying his first trip to the beach

We also went to our first dog races. 

Will got the hang of boogie-boarding

The Lazy River- Mine and Walker's favorite place.  He'd say lets just be lazy!

The boys got a visit from the Easter Bunny while we were there

Walker loved making sand angels

And no post about spring break would be complete without this picture.  While we were there, I think it was on the Thursday before we left on Saturday, Shannon had went back to the van to get my sunglasses I had left there the night before.  Then as Shannon says he should have just stayed in bed that day.  He got locked out of the parking structure and had to wait to be let in the lobby.  He met us out on the beach, but again, didn't have a key so he got locked out of the swimming area.  Once he finally got there he went swimming with Will in the pool and then they went to the beach.  At this point Shannon realized that he had left the van key in his pockets.  Needless to say it did not work at all. After exploring several options the only one (and the most expensive) was to have a locksmith make another key for the van.  I want to thank Seth for getting the pictures with the locksmith for me.  That was his job as he had tons of fun out of Shannon's little mistake - that I still get blamed for because I left my sunglasses in the van.

The most expensive souvenoir we've ever bought.

Easter

Lots of things have been keeping us busy lately, so here are several posts to update.

Stephens Family Egg Hunt

Since we were going to be out of town during Easter, Nana had a special egg hunt for the boys.

And E.Bunny left Easter treats a little early. 

Fishing Birthday Party

One of Will's friends, Brandon, had a birthday party today with a fishing theme. The boys met at the Fish Hatchery. They ran through the museum looking at all of the cool things.

Here are the boys with the mascot "Squirt" the Skunk

Walker petting Squirt

The boys put together a little fish bowl for later. Then they went Trout fishing behind the hatchery.  Only Blake caught a fish but they all had fun.

After cake and all kind of goodies (gummy worms, Goldfish, etc), the boys got to "catch"  their very own goldfish to take home.

Walker also got a fish and got to join in all the fun.

After the pinata, the boys went and feed the trout at the hatchery.  What a great party!  Fishing, food & fun!