The BIG 5!

Austin and Zack have been waiting FOREVER for their birthday to get here! They almost couldn't believe it when the day finally came. They both woke up to 5 balloons in their bedroom which they were so excited about.
(I on the other hand must recommend to never buy balloons from Smith's! I went to All A Dollar first where I found out they don't put air in latex balloons anymore. So I figured I would try to save money and it would be cheaper to go to Smith's than to just buy all mylar balloons. I was wrong! I drove up to Smith's just for the balloons where they charged $1 for each latex balloon so I was already paying the same amount plus more for gas and my time; especially because the lady at Smith's was SLOW and I was in a big hurry. The balloons from Smith's were on the floor in under 24 hours as well whereas the All A Dollar balloons were still floating a month later when we just popped them because we were tired of them. Needless to say, Smith's sucked! It was a huge waste of my money and time and their customer service was awful when I called about it. Tangent over. :)
Then we opened presents. They both really wanted scooters and they were in luck.
ZackAustin
They really wanted cinnamon rolls for their breakfast so I stayed up way to late the night before making them, but they are worth it! After breakfast they got ready and went to school. It was their spotlight day at school for their birthday so I went during school and brought posters all about them and talked about them. We also brought Aaron's delicious rice krispy treats. Red per Zack's request and green per Austin's. I thought it was kind of ironic that they picked Christmas colors.After school we came home and I made Beef Stroganof for lunch for Zack. (Aaron felt like he really scored with their food choices.:) Which is just fine by me since it's our anniversary as well.)

Then the boys both really wanted to go to Boondock's for their birthday so we went and played for at least 4 hours. Their main requests were to shoot dinosaurs and do the mini bowling. That place gets more and more fun the older they get! It was so nice because they both got in to the kiddie playland for free so we only had to pay for Gavin, plus they got $5 to play arcade games and all of the mini bowling that they wanted for free. The mini bowling normally costs like $3 a game so we felt like we had really scored especially because that's all Gavin wanted to do. So while Zack and Austin were doing all of the stuff they wanted to; Gavin was over mini bowling, he played at least 20-30 games by himself. We didn't take any pictures because we were too busy having fun and just enjoying our family and we didn't want to worry about the camera. Just picture lots of smiling and laughing.

After Boondock's we went to The Pizza Factory for dinner because Austin wanted pizza. By then the boys were all too tired to eat, but we still had a great day!

We celebrated their birthday with my family a couple of days before which is when we did their cakes. Austin really wanted a blue dragon cake with wings and fire.Other than the frosting disaster I had (my favorite frosting recipe which is very finicky, but I've never had a hard time with decided not to whip up for me. I was having a bit of a freak out when my awesome husband came to the rescue for me. The frosting he made was a bit soft, but it worked and that's all that matters.) it came together pretty easily.

Zack wanted a spider cake. I still am surprised he picked that because he doesn't really like spiders, but I'm glad he did because it's the easiest cake I've ever made! Now I just need to convince all of my kids to pick that for their cakes. :)
Austin is such a good big brother! He is usually willing to help his brothers with anything and he is really good at helping Mommy and Daddy. He is very affectionate and loving and still likes to cuddle with me which I'm grateful for! He loves to play outside and has loved playing soccer this year. He is still very in to dragons and dinosaurs and knows a lot about them. He is a smart little boy. He can quote movie lines like nobody I've ever met. He only has to watch a movie once and I swear he can tell me half of it. His teacher Mrs. Addie just sent home readers for him to work on because she said he's ready to start learning to read. We are so grateful he's a part of our family! I don't know what I would do without his sweet little smile and his frequent cuddles. We love him more than that!!! (He tells me all of the time that he loves me even more than that. He's just learned how to skip the game of "I love you more than this", "No, I love you more than that.")

Zack is also a very good big brother! He's very patient with Gavin, most of the time. Zack has such a fun loving personality. He makes us laugh all of the time with his silly faces and the things he does. He loved playing soccer this year and was really good at it. He also loves dinosaurs and dragons. He loves riding his bike and tells me all of the time how he wants some running clothes so he can go running with me which I think is the sweetest thing ever. He is a really good helper to Mommy and Daddy. He is also a smart little boy. He has such a good memory! He can beat Aaron and pretty everyone he plays at the game Memory. His teacher also sent home readers for him and said he's ready to start learning to read. We love his smile and his hugs and we are so grateful he's part of our family! We love you to infinity and beyond!!!