Munchkin Moment (Tyler)

With the happy arrival of "birthday week" (where 4 of the 6 of us turn a year older), Tyler turned 7! We got him a scooter he's been dying to have for quite a while. It is actually pretty fun - I enjoy taking a turn on it too!

As you can see, the kids have made some concessions to Abu Dhabi's fierce winter weather - Tyler is wearing socks, and Hailey is wearing long sleeves. Pretty sure it was in the mid 70's that day:)

Tyler decided he wanted to take some friends bowling, so here is part of the crew! Friends from church, school, and the neighborhood. And of course, siblings.

Tyler got to go first, and got a spare. He was THRILLED!

Owen was happy to watch. He thinks they are all his friends too :)

Another little sister (Cora) stayed, and she and Hailey teamed up for their bowling turn. It was cute to watch them bowl together, trying to lift the heavy bowling ball between the two of them!

Friendly cheering.

Ken looked at this picture and said, "that's my son!" I can't tell you how many pictures I have of Ken with some piece of food purposefully hanging out of his mouth.

Party! (Cora, Hailey, Lily, Troy, Tyler, Will, Miles, Mimi and Andrew)

Plus the two crazy adults who somehow think they can pull this off without too much stress... Good thing our friend Jenny stayed too :)

Back at the house, for cake and presents. Everyone got in on the action.

I'm sure these two make life for their school teacher exciting! She introduced them to each other the first day of school, knowing they were both brand new, and they hit it off right away! Their family has become good friends of ours.

Sometimes you're feeling it, and sometimes the best you can do is tell Tyler to make you his favorite lego guys, and count that as adequate cake decorating. I am obviously not on pinterest, but I think it is for the better :)

Hooray for one year older!

This is early one morning, when I was still struggling to get up and get everything rolling for school (Ken was out of town) and the kids were helping Owen stay happy for a few minutes. 

Tyler was home sick with strep for a few days, and organized all kinds of fun games for the kids.

Owen liked this one, in which they all pushed him round and around the house. Tyler makes sure no one goes too fast, or lets Owen fall out.

My early morning book sale buddy. His school does a used book sale every month, & its like Christmas for us! With no library around, we make do with this. This morning there was tons of fog, which made everything look eerie. I'm sure glad for this little man who is the perfect example of an oldest child and keeps me on my toes :)