Keeping the Party Goin' in Jan!!

Rewind to last week for Aunt Cait...Enjoyed tasty dinner together @ Olive Garden though my boys' restaurant behavior is severely lacking! Then traditional stop @ Coldstone Creamery except for this time we brought it back to our house to eat-whoo hoo! Thanks Cait for sharing your special night with us before the Vikings took over the celebration!


















Since Dane and MLKJr have become pretty tight b-day buddies over past few years, we felt obligated to start family festivities last night with his Bakugan Ball cake (will save visual so you can imagine it was cooler in your mind than it turned out-ugh!) and ice cream (ordered just plain vanilla?!) Grandpa Gar, Grandma Neecy, Aunt Britt, Uncle Lance, Aunt Cait & even Baby Ben

were invited to join us for that & cool presents--thanks!
Began celebration on actual day Dane turned #5 with Cole conveniently missing the bus (has nice new driver but comes/leaves even earlier?!) so we could grab doughnuts for breakfast. As you can see, Luke thought pretty fun way to start off day too!
Dane humored me by having his pics taken with anticipation of Dad's afternoon visit & another tradition, which has become pizza dinner @ the Rock--LtoR: Notice Rudolph made a post-Christmas appearance courtesy of marinara dip; Cole is always prepared to rock out on command; Dane's dough creation featured a b-day cake in case you were wondering re: modern art:); Coloring thanks to Dad's skilz seems to occupy boys until dinner served-sugar bags will oft do the trick too, but we didn't offer this time around!Considered adding movie theater to the fun & games, but Dane was content with x-box selection, new Leapster game & choice of 2 movies rec'd as presents @ home=3-D Monsters vs Aliens & Space Chimps.He chose to watch the latter before bedtime, much to Dad's chagrin due to the animation masterpiece that it is....T'was the b-day boy's choice, however, & he was thrilled despite his expression to top it off with that esp with oft requested popcorn/candy combo for dessert!Also want to wish Happy B-day to Uncle Ben (gotta differentiate now that we have 2 cousins with same name!!) 31 years later, you are still alive & well in your parents' & sisters' hearts!