Cohen's 10th birthday: a party at National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics. It was a wild fun time and Cedar nearly lost a fingernail, but much fun was had! ;) He did lose the nail a couple weeks later, but it was not a big deal. :P The kids had tons of fun, as expected. Such a cool space to play! Happy birthday, Cohen!

birthday #5: part 2

 Finley & Cohen chose a gymnastics birthday party at Gymnastics Northwest.

 They started the party with an obstacle course.

 Most of the activities ended in the kids having their own free-for-alls.  :P

 They played parachute games.

 Cat & mouse.

 Sharks & lifeguards.  Lifeguard Sadie is saving Kenton from a shark.

 Shark Tyler was trying to pull me under!  :P

 They birthday boys also got to be twisted up in the parachutes & then quickly spun around as everyone pulled it back in place.  :)

 Making balls float in the air!

 Finley & Cohen had lots of family & friends at their party!

 Biggest cousins with the littlest cousin.

 Finley was excited that Casey, his old teacher, was one of the helpers at his party.

The birthday boys got a special surprise from Gymnastics Northwest.  They each got to take a turn in the bungee harnesses.

 Cohen on one side.

 Finley on the other!

 Finn had no idea what was about to happen & was pretty freaked out at first.  He still tells us that it was too scary, but he was smiling & laughing the whole time.  :)

 They pulled the boys back & shot them at each other,  like they were in a sling-shot!

 It looked so crazy; I'm still shocked that they didn't even hit each other or the walls.  :P

 Great Phineas & Ferb ice cream cake, by Becca!

 Thirsty boys.

 Make a wish!

 Happy Finn!

 Griffin.

 Sadie & Ethan.

 Emma.

 Cedar, Kenton, Stephanie & Prescott (our neighbor friends).

 Cedar likes ice cream cake!

 What a great turn out for two very special boys!

 Time to open gifts!

 Legos from us.

 Giant Bakugan from the Ruddicks!

Finn had such a great time at his party & was so excited to play with all of his new toys!  Thanks to all for helping making my son's birthday so wonderful!  I think he's pretty great & I loved getting to watch him have a day filled with things that he loves with people that he loves.  There's no greater joy!  :)

haley's birthday party

Finley was invited to his classmate, Haley's, birthday party at a fun gymnastics place.

Griffin was there too! Look at their red cheeks - they played hard!
Finn has been such a good sport with his cast. He got it off the very next day!

The birthday girl opening a gift from the Ruddicks & us - a Tangled play set. :)

The babies:
Ismari, Tate & Korbyn

With their mamas:
Erin w/ Ismari, Gretchen w/Tate, & Lindsey w/Korbyn

the jump that broke his arm

Today, I took the boys to Open Gym to meet up with Gretchen & her boys + several other moms & kids from our church. Unfortunately, we had to leave early because one of Finn's jumps into the foam pit led to a broken arm. Ouch. I took this video & ended up catching the jump that broke his arm without realizing it. It's the second jump & you can see that Finn landed the jump face first. He must have landed on his wrist badly because I knew it was broken the moment I saw it. It looked crooked & swollen right away.

I am so thankful that Gretchen & so many friends were there to help me gather myself, my kids & all of our scattered belongings so that I could drive to Urgent Care. Kenton's dad & brother drove him to meet me there & helped by taking Cedar so that he didn't have to wait with us. So helpful! I'll post more pictures from the hospital in another post.

gymnastics

For his birthday, Finley received a month of gymnastics classes from our friends Carolyn & Jesse. This has been such a fun experience for him!

The classes are through our local community center & take place at Gymnastics Northwest.

Finn really loves learning new skills at his class & really wants to impress his teachers. He's often one of the only boys & it's so interesting for me to see him in this environment.

He's definitely been more nervous & timid than I'm used to seeing. He's even a little less impulsive & quieter. I think it's good for him to be in a learning environment that is a little out of his comfort zone. :) Keeps him on his toes!

This was on his first day & he's improved so much already. We've been able to keep up the classes for a few months & plan on continuing for the time being. We'll see if this is something that he really wants to keep working on or if it's just fun for now. Either way, it's been so fun for me & Kenton to watch him experience gymnastics. :)