10 Years Ago. .

This little critter. .

was the 3rd arrival of our little male clan!!

AND. .

the end of the line for adding children to our world. .

we thought!!

He spent a whole week partying it up!

Opening some gifts at Grandma's over Thanksgiving. .

A local family birthday party over the weekend. .

And a friend's party after school last Thursday. .

I may be a mean mom. .

but Devin had to pay ME for a large part of his new ipod. .

the remaing portion; his birthday gift from his mom and dad. .

Thank goodness for lots of grandmas and aunts to send him money for his special day!

He has been LOVING that. .

and promptly learned how to text his brothers from his ipod while they were in Denver. .

He is also fond of playing race car games anywhere in the house he wants to relax!

On the way home from mom's; we stopped at the little local grocery store that makes it's own REAL German sausage. .and we L-O-A-D-E-D UP on it. .and then decided to fix our own version of a "cream can" dinner in our huge Dutch oven. .We had German sausage, cabbage, carrots, red potatos, corn on the cob, and onions that simmered in the pot. .and everyone gobbled it up. .seconds and all!!

If you'd like to know how to fix it yourself. .

let me know and I'll gladly share!

Grandma Pat fixed a super cool baseball themed cake. .

(who's birthday was it?? You can't tell by the photo!)

which was ALSO gobbled up by this bunch of little turkeys!!

We were excited that our second cousins, Hazel and Drake could join us (along with their folks)!

The weather couldn't have been any nicer for the end of November. .

or for a bunch of boys to play outside!!

While we are enjoying the gorgeous days in the high 60's and 70's. .

you can see how brown our world is. .

and the fact that there is not even vegetation as far as you can see in our back yard is still quite disturbing to us!

Devin ordered his mom's homemade pizzas for supper. .

and hot dogs for lunch. .

which they grilled themselves in our fire pit. .

By this time. .

they had run off 5000 calories on the trampoline, the zip line, playing flashlight tag in the dark, building a fort in the tree row, and playing hide and seek. .

that they looked exhausted as they cooked their own lunch. .

but they insisted. .

and enjoyed the experience!!

I know that the next 10 years will be gone. .

in what will no doubt feel like 10 MINUTES. .

But for now. .

I'll remind myself to enjoy the crazy jokes. .the new braces. .and the silliness!!

May God bless you and keep you. .

Little Boy!!

Coming soon. .

The adventures of turning FIVE. .

Starring. .

Miss Thing!

Come back soon!!