Logan turns 1!

Another birthday was recently celebrated in our house...

Logan, Olivia's guinea pig, turned one!  A birthday celebration would not be complete without presents.  Olivia made the cute sign.  I secretly shopped for his presents, knowing this would make Olivia so happy.  Since she is Logan's mom, she got to open the presents.

I think the kids were more excited than Logan to see his presents...

Olivia has been begging for this vest for Logan.  She is convinced that if we put it on him, he can go for walks.  We tried to put it on him, but he is too fat :-)  Olivia was sad at first, but soon realized the vest would fit her stuffed animals.  I guess we will have to think of another way to take Logan out for walks...

He has the cutest little mouth with the sharpest little teeth!  He doesn't bite us as much as he used to, but he will still chomp if you are not paying attention.

 It is hard to believe that this little guy has been living at our house for one year.  Olivia adores him!

Molly adores him too!  She eagerly awaits while we get Logan's snack ready every single day - his favorites are apple slices and carrots - knowing she is about to get her daily carrot (or apple) as well.  Then she rushes up the stairs to Logan's cage to say Hi!

Happy 1st birthday Logan!

There is one more birthday to come... can you guess who?  Hint:  She sheds.

Caleb turns 10!

Can you believe this little boy is now 10?!

Please excuse me while I wipe my tears...

Caleb is an awesome boy - so smart, creative and funny!  He has worked SO hard this year in school and has earned all A's (with the exception of one little B during the 3rd nine weeks which is the hardest of the school year according to his teacher.  Since then, that grade is back up to an A!).  His teacher says he is the first one in class to raise his hand to solve a difficult math problem.  And computers - a true genius!  We just received an email from his teacher that Caleb was one of ten students in his class to receive an advanced score on this STAAR test!  

He still loves Legos and can put any set together faster than I can flip through the instruction manual.  He also loves Star Wars, Halo, and Minecraft.  He is always creating and playing with his toys and I hope that doesn't end anytime soon.

The other day he asked me what it meant to do something for a living... I explained that it meant working, earning money to pay bills.  He told me he is not doing anything for a living, that dad will pay his bills and he will live with us forever.  I will take that answer - for now.  We will see when he is a smelly, grumpy teenager and we are ready to kick him out!

Here are some pictures from his big day...

He hid in the closet while I set his gifts out.  Normally, I do this the night before while they are sleeping, but we had a slumber party on the living room floor and I was not able to step over all of them.  Caleb didn't seem to mind and thought it was fun to hide.  He even received a birthday phone call from Papa and Uncle Christopher while hiding.

Caleb closed his eyes while opening every present, making the surprise even that much better :)

I took Caleb to see Iron Man 3.  I don't often get to spend time with just Caleb and we had so much fun.  We need to do this more often!!

After the movie, we headed over to Gramma's house (where the girls were) and ate cupcakes.

Caleb opened up his gift from Gramma and Papa - brand new dollar bills!  He was so excited he did a little dance.

We then headed to the restaurant of his choice - Outback Steakhouse.  Caleb LOVES outback... not for the  steak, but for the brown bread.  This boy could eat 10 loaves if you let him.  We always make sure to ask for bread to take home and the kids will devour it for breakfast the next morning.  

Caleb ate his bread and the servers surprised him by singing and clapping.  He thought he was pretty cool.

We saved one gift as a final birthday surprise - an electric scooter!

He zooms through the cul-de-sac like crazy.  Since then we magically have two more in our garage.  Blame Chad and Craigslist.

Caleb wanted all blue for his birthday.  Ericka was in Texas and helped me choose his plates, cupcake liners, candles, sprinkles - all blue.  We even ordered blue frosting on the cupcakes he would take to school.

Look at that!  Every student had blue teeth when they headed home.  Even Caleb's teacher ate one before she realized it was conference night at school and she would soon be talking with all the families and students!  Luckily she is nice and laughed about it!

So far 10 is a pretty good age.  I can't change him back so I might as well get used to the fact that my kids are growing up.

Excuse me while I wipe my tears... again.

Sprinkler system installation

Our sprinkler system is complete!

The crew arrived bright and early on a Monday morning and finished Tuesday night.  The current state of our yard is not the best... yet.  There are lines of dirt throughout the entire yard where the sprinkler lines run and bare areas that will need new sod or something called hydroseed.  Our neighbor said it looks like our lawn had surgery and was stitched back together...  Even though it is still a mess, it is such a huge relief to know that we will eventually get it back to green.

Here are a couple pictures that I took while the crew stared at me like I was a crazy lady.  When they left for lunch, I ran outside and took a few more.  I didn't want them to think I was TOO crazy!

So, here you go.  A post full of pictures of dirt and PVC pipes!

Once the crew left, we turned on each zone (we have 11 total, all different set  ups based on the area (rotary nozzles, spray nozzles, drip lines) and watched the pretty streams of water spraying our soon to be green lawn.  My how times change when you are a homeowner!

Up next - adding sod.

Summer sundae bar

It is officially summer in the Plemon house!  I don't know if the tears I am crying are tears of joy for having the kids home with me every day, all day - or if the tears are from having the kids home every day, all day ;)

I am kidding!  So far, so good.  We are spending lots of time at the pool, playing with friends and staying up late!

I wanted to start summer in a fun way for the kids.  And, what better way than ice cream on the very last day of school?!

I typed up these cute invitations and we delivered them to the neighbor kids.  

While the kids were still in school, I secretly shopped for the supplies - and then hid them in our closet!

I made the kids play outside while I set everything up.

We called the kids in and let them go crazy, choosing between vanilla or chocolate ice cream and covering it with as many toppings as they wanted!  We crammed 13 kids around our table and stood back while they devoured their creations.

Papa and Gramma came over to experience the craziness with their own eyes.  Papa quickly became the designated ice cream scooper.

After they filled their stomachs, we sent them outside with their second surprise - silly string.  Armed with their string, we lined them up, counted slowly to three... 

... and off they went!

I think it is safe to say that the kids had fun!

I also think this will be a tradition I will keep doing on the last day of school.  Next year, I am thinking snow cones and water balloons... get your snow cone machine ready Papa!