Minion 4th Birthday Party

We recently saw Despicable Me 1 and 2 at the movie theater. So, for their 4th birthday, the boys wanted a minion party! We've taken the boys bowling a few times this summer and they really enjoyed it, so I thought a minion themed bowling party at Main Event would be fun this year.

I needed a picture to put on their birthday invitations, so we had a little photo shoot in front of their playhouse one morning. This was the picture that ended up on their invitations...

And, here are a couple more that I ended up printing to put in frames for our wall...

Of course, no minion party would be complete without minion birthday cakes! Ben picked chocolate cake for his minion and Bryce picked vanilla.

The boys were so excited when I brought the cakes home the morning of their party...

And, these are the minion cookies that we gave out as our party favors...

 Here are all the little minions dressed in yellow and blue at Main Event!

Time to sing Happy Birthday to the birthday boys!

They couldn't wait to blow out the candles!

Sam was ready to help Ben blow out his. :)

It was really sad to watch the cakes being cut!

After the party, on the way out, we saw the boys' names on the monitor...

They couldn't wait to open their presents when we got home!

After we finished opening presents, we took their new ride from oma and opa Berg to a nearby empty parking lot...

I hope this is no indication of the kind of drivers they will be at 16!

They also tried out their new super hero launchers from their buddy Jett...

The birthday minions with opa minion...

What was left of the cakes... so sad!

4 Years Old!

Well, we made it to 4! We thought the 2s were tough, but man, the 3s kicked our butts! The lady we met on a trip a couple of years ago was so right when she warned us that it's not the "Terrible 2s", it's the "Testy 2s and Terrible 3s"! But, even with it's challenges, we certainly had a wonderful year full of fun adventures and big milestones. Our babies grew into big boys! Super heroes replaced monkeys on their bedroom wall, big beds replaced cribs, big boy underwear replaced diapers, and quiet time replaced naps! They even learned how to swim! I can't imagine what the 4s has in store for us!

Of course, we couldn't let the big day pass without our annual giraffe photo!

But, as usual, it took a lot of patience, bribes, and threats to achieve our one "official" 4yr photo! Here are just a few of our failed attempts...

But, it was worth all the sweat to get this shot of our handsome big boys...

They were super excited to add another mark to the door frame. The difference in their heights is becoming more and more visibly obvious when you see the two of them standing next to each other!

Summer Trip to Oma's Beach

Ever since our last trip to Sunset Beach back in early December, the boys have been begging to go back to "Oma's Beach". So, we took them again this summer. We had originally planned to stay for 4 nights, but ended up staying for 6. It's always hard to leave our favorite beach!

Here we are all packed and ready to go!

Unfortunately, our flight out of Houston over booked, and we ended up stuck in Houston for about 6 hours. I was so ready to go home, but we knew that would break the boys' hearts! So, we waited and waited, and Evan searched and searched for a route that would get us at least close to our destination. 6 hours later, we boarded a flight to Atlanta! Unfortunately, all our luggage was already on our original flight to Greenville-Spartanburg, SC. Oh, the joys of non-revving!

With the help of modern technology and lots of snacks, the boys were actually quite troopers during our long wait in Houston...

7 hours after the above picture was taken, we strapped the boys in a rental car and drove from Atlanta to Greenville-Spartanburg to pick up our luggage! After picking up our luggage, we had considered continuing our drive to Sunset Beach, but the boys had had enough of traveling for one day, so we checked into a hotel for the night.

The next morning, we jumped back in the car and finally made it to Oma's Beach! We didn't wait long to throw on our bathing suits and head to the beach...

All the stress of traveling quickly disappeared!

The boys hung out on the balcony after a fun day on the beach and a nice warm shower...

Then had a little bit of quite time before dinner...

After dinner, we walked to Sunset Slush for dessert. I asked the boys to take a picture with me, and one was obviously more in the mood than the other...

The start of a new addiction... yum!!

After our slushies, we bought a bag of candy and walked back to the house and sugared up the boys even more...

The next morning, we walked back to the beach after breakfast...

This is their heaven...

Life is good...

After the beach, we relaxed a little bit at the house...

...before going out for some seafood.

The boys played with oma's stash of beads before bed...

We had a rainy morning the next day, so we took the boys to an arcade for games and pizza...

By the time we finished lunch, the rain had stopped so we went back to the beach...

Somehow, the boys ended up feeding sea gulls in their underwear...

The next morning, Bryce decided he'd rather go nude...

They found the boogie boards in opa's shed...

So, they got their first boogie boarding lesson from dad... and LOVED it!

The next day, the boys put on their new Sunset Beach glow-in-the-dark t-shirts...

And, we went to the local planetarium...

Somehow, they always manage to get something from the gift shop!

Later that afternoon, we put on our bathing suits again to enjoy the beach one last time before heading out the next morning...

Of course, we couldn't go without the boogie boards! And, the boys also brought nets that they just found in opa's shed...

On the way to the beach, we had a little scare when Bryce fell over the side of the boardwalk. Luckily, he didn't get hurt, and we continued on to the beach...

Our little surfer dudes...

Ben gave oma some lovin'...

And, oma gave Bryce a high-five after some great boogie boarding...

We'll see you again very soon, Sunset Beach! Hopefully before the year is over!