Mouse in the house!

This morning Caitlin woke me up saying that Tigger was batting at something under her bed. I begrudgingly got out of bed to see what the problem was. As I came out, a mouse came flying out from under her bed. That woke me up! Our dear little Tigger brought in one of his catches, but he forgot to at least kill it first...or even wound it to slow it down a little. Needless to say, we chased the stinking thing all around the house for probably an hour. We ended up tearing the whole place up, trying to move stuff so Tigger could get in and chase him out of places.

He finally got by the door and I opened it. Off he went!

Then the dogs got in on the chase!

The dogs got the prize!

Fun with Uncle Justin and Nicholas

The kids always have so much fun playing with their uncles Justin and Nicholas(my little...well not so little anymore, brothers)

Caitlin's Pirate Birthday Bash

Caitlin's 7th Birthday

Our Caitlin has been infatuated with Pirates of the Caribbean for months now. So, she had to have a pirate birthday party. I know, not to girly, but what can I expect from Caitlin! We ended up with a few more kids than we expected. I think we totaled 20! Yes, an all day adventure with

20 seven year olds. It was a crazy day!

Getting all "pirated up!"

Caleb even got in on the tattoos!

Caitlin couldn't get enough of "yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!"

Notice the finger on the cd player.

The big boys even got into the pirate spirit.

Papa was brave enough to let Caitlin do his beard!

Captain Jack!

Playing pin the patch on the pirate

They were quite focused, while making their own patches.

~The whole gang ~

~Walking the plank ~

They even got in on some air hockey fun.

The Treasure Hunt

We burned off some energy with a treasure hunt!

Trying to find the hidden key on the map.

~The Map~

Ryan always amazes me with his artistic ability!

Caitlin finally brought out the big shovel.

Ryan burried the chest, in the middle of the night. It was pitch black,
so, he didn't realize how deep he burried it. That thing was in over a foot,

just to get to the top of it. The kid's finally gave up and we had to

dig it out!

Are we done yet?!?!

~The prize~

~Divvying up the loot~

The Water Balloon War!

~The ammo~400 water balloons and 40 splash bombs

Papa built a little more than just ship cut outs. We ended up with full blown ships with launchers.

Thanks papa!

I think that Ryan had just as much fun as the kids.

He got wet!

The battle is on!

Caleb was a little scary with the hose.

Then they were off into the pool!

Ryan, being my 3rd child again!

Yee haw!

The Cake

This stupid cake seemed to have taken us all day to make. The night before the party, I took one last glance at it, as I stumbled to bed, at 2a.m., and it had split in half, right down the middle. I was pretty much in tears at that point, but at least I got a picture of it first!

This is the "fixed" version, with a little added support!

This one was a little tricky to blow the candles out on.

~Opening presents~

It was a long day for Caleb!

~The Aftermath~

Caitlin got to have her friend Georgia spend the night. They went out for another water fight.

Caleb and Ryan were fierce opponents!

Are they coming?

They got a little wet!

Here's Captain Caitlin!

Aargh!