The birthday boy..

When it's your birthday at our house, you get to pick where you want to go eat.  Jacob wanted to go to Branson and eat at Texas Land & Cattle.  He picks it every year, as do Roger and Michael.  We weren't able to actually go on his birthday, because it was on a Tuesday and he had state golf at Melbourne.  AND...we had to wait on Michael to come home.  So, he did come in and we went to celebrate Jacob.

 His birthday dessert that was free!  It was yummy!

LoVe this brotherly picture.

SIXTEEN

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby boy!  I can not believe you are 16 today.  I remember it like it was yesterday. 

We have had a very busy day today.  Jacob competed in state golf tournament today at Melbourne.  We had dinner at El Chico's tonight, and opened up presents.  He is so excited about being able to drive ALONE.  Me?  Not so much!
LOVE YOU SON!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Party Time

My baby, Jacob, will turn 16 on Tuesday.  Sigh. We did something that we have never done and threw him a "surprise" birthday party this weekend.  OH MY- what work that was.  First, how do you keep 14 teenagers quiet and NOT talk about it for a week? I contacted the parents and let them tell their child.  We had a dinner evening cruise on the houseboat on Bull Shoals Lake.  We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. The weather was PERFECT and it was so nice.  We decorated the boat with lights.  The kids stayed on the top deck while we cruised and played, cards, twister, listened to music, talked and just had a good time.  What an awesome group of kids!  They are the best~

Before we left.

 When we returned.  We cruised about 3 1/2 hours.

 Couldn't be more proud.

Did NOT do a cake this year.  First time EVER.  Did "cake balls".  They were delicious.  And a hit.  I figured that would be easier for the kids to grab and eat.

Also had decorated sugar cookies.

Was Jacob surprised???  Not really!  The majority of the kids had been together that day for a float meeting for homecoming and he suspected something was up about 2 hour before it actually happened.  Roger has a hard time telling a "lie" according to Jacob. LOL.  But if we kept it from him prior too two hours then that was good, I guess.
Don't really ever want to plan another "surprise" party, because it is stressful.
We had a blast.  And Bull Shoals Boat Dock is the best!
Happy birthday, Jacob!

Michael turns 21

It has been awhile since I've posted! I've had trouble with my laptop and no time to have the expert look at it. I think I'm finally back! It has been so busy crazy around here. So much going on. I'll start with the first exciting event that has happened.

Michael turned 21 on March 10. Just does NOT seem possible!!!! We actually went to Fayetteville on March 10 for "Mom's Day" for his fraternity. He then rode home with us, and we had a little surprise dinner celebration at a restaurant with all his friends. It was awesome!! He rode back to Fayetteville the next day with one of his friends. It was a fast and furious weekend. We are so blessed to have him. He has been a breeze to raise and such a wonderful young man. So proud of him!

15 Years Old...

Seriously, can't believe that my baby is 15 years old.
Saturday night, we went to Branson to Texas Land and Cattle for Jacob's birthday dinner. That's where he wanted to go. And it was YUMMY!

Today we had family/friends for a birthday lunch at home. He had a golf birthday cake.

Aunt Mel came today for the birthday dinner. We were so excited that she got to come spend some time with us!!!

Thanks for coming Aunt Mel! We love you!!!

Birthday boy!

The candles just kept lighting up.

Granny and the birthday boy!

It's been a great day with family/friends! Happy birthday, dear sweet boy!!

Love you!~

Jacob turns 14!

Another year older! Jacob had a wonderful birthday- we celebrated all weekend. Friday night with his friends. Saturday night- just us. Sunday - family and close friends. Alot of good food, conversations, and laughs...
Dairy Queen ice cream cake...Yumm-O!

All in the family...can't believe my baby is 14...

LoVE that he was home for the weekend to celebrate with Jacob.

Hannah and Jacob. She and her family spent the day with us to.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jacob. Can't believe you are 14. What an amazing young man you are. Can't wait to see where life takes you... LOVE MOM!

Random Happenings..

We have had two birthdays this month. Roger's was first. I didn't get any pictures. We celebrated his birthday dinner at the Landing in Branson at a steak house. It was really good!
Then Michael celebrated his birthday the following week. Can you believe my baby is 19 years old????? His birthday was on a Wednesday night, so after work we traveled to Fayetteville to have a birthday dinner with him. He got to pick where he wanted to eat.
Happy Birthday to YOU! LOVE LOVE LOVE you!

Showing the brother some love.

Daddy and momma with the birthday boy.
We ate at HUGO's. It was a burger joint....and it was very very good!

On Monday night.....Jacob had a track and field match in Mtn. Home. I know NOTHING about track and field! We left the meet at 9:30 pm! COLD, TIRED and HUNGRY! Jacob competed in several meter races, shot put, and discus throw. Didn't do very well, but still very proud of him. He was going up against 9th graders who were alot bigger than him and more experienced. But he still had a good time and that's what it is all about.

Then during all of our "free" time (ha) we have been practicing skits for the middle school talent show tomorrow night....
This is how Jacob looks for one of his characters.....

More to follow on the talent show....................................wish us luck!

13th Birthday...

Soooooooo....on Friday my baby turned 13! Can you believe it? He is now a teenager. 2009 has certainly been a year of milestones for us. Jacob is such an outgoing, caring, loud, rowdy child. He certainly keeps us on our toes. We love this boy! Happy 13th birthday son.
Friday night we celebrated at the bowling alley with 15 of his friends...boys AND girls! The kids seemed to have a really good time. This is the first year in a long time that I didn't have the boys over for a sleepover. This was a nice change.

One of Jacob's buddies got him a "crown" and "Barbie". This has been an on going joke between the two. The older brothers started it years ago! Tradition continues. He did NOT wear his crown all night...just slipped it on for me to snap a picture.

He couldn't get the candles to go out. They kept re-lighting. He didn't like that. He had some help getting them out.

Another buddy got him a Batman costume. We had a lot of laughs. This is such a fun group..they love to aggravate one another.

On Saturday both sets of grandparents came up to celebrate. And the Elliott's who are just like family to us! We had a cookout and made home made ice cream. I had an ice-cream made before I knew we were going to do homemade ice cream. I LOVED how the cake turned out. He was proud of his ice cream cake. (We didn't eat any of it today--oh well, we will eat on it this week).

I LOVE this picture of Jacob and his Grandma Leonard. I just managed to snap it at the right time.

Jacob with Aunt Mel and his grandparents. They made a 3 hour drive. We were soooooooo happy that they came to celebrate with us!

Jacob with his other set of grandparents. He was one lucky boy to have both sets of grandparents come celebrate his day.

And....we finally got our go-cart fixed. We have had this go-cart forever! But it had to have a new engine in it...our friend has been working on it for awhile....well, it was ready today.

His helmet is as big as him!

Michael even rode it for awhile! He was funny to watch. He is almost too big for it...

But I guess some things you just never out grow.

Yep, he came back in this weekend to help celebrate Jacob's birthday. EVERYONE was happy to see him! He spent some time doing homework...he seems to have plenty of that!!! I don't care if he comes home and has to do homework...I just LOVE it when he IS home!

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY JACOB! IT WAS A GOOD ONE!

Happy 18th Birthday Michael

Michael turned 18 today!! I can NOT believe it! Truly, a blink of an eye!! His girlfriend, Alex, came to the house before school this morning and surprised him with homemade brownies. What a way to start the day!
Then it was school as normal. Michael had quiz bowl practice after school. Jacob had a basketball game at Bergman. Can we get anything else going on on this special day!? You usually get to pick your favorite restaurant to go to on your birthday, but that obviously wasn't going to happen today. So he got to choose his birthday dinner. We had steak, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole and corn. It was good. Then Roger and I were off to Bergman to watch Jacob play basketball. Michael had to be at soccer practice at 6:00. We let Michael open all of his cards before we left, but told him he would have to wait on cake and presents when we got home. We did NOT get home until 10:00.
(Jacob's basketball game went into overtime and we lost by 4 points). Michael had a GREAT birthday. He got money! He LOVES the money! Clothes, sandals and his big thing from us was getting his windows tinted in his truck (he has been wanting that for awhile). Hate it when it's busy days like this and we don't truly get to enjoy the day. But ... there are days like this.....

Alex and Michael with the brownies

Reading birthday card from Aunt Mel

(thanks for the money)

Birthday card from Grandma & Grandpa Leonard

(thank you for the money)

I didn't get a picture of Granny/Papa Fulbright's birthday card. (Thank you for the money)

Cake--which Michael doesn't eat

Presents---who doesn't like presents?

Abercrombie sandals from Jacob

Certificate for window tinting

US with our birthday boy! We looked ALOT younger 18 years ago!!! Happy birthday Michael--we love you!

Michael and Jacob -- 6 years apart