Happy Birthday Ian Thomas!

Day 1
Finally 5!

The long and winding...birthday

And on the 7th day, we rest. Almost. 7 days later were are almost done celebrating being 7. Nate had a very, very small birthday party yesterday that was like a breath of fresh air. I took he and 2 school friends, and Ian, to see Diary of a Wimpy kid. 6 bags of candy, 2 jumbo tubs of popcorn and 4 Slurpee's later we brought this week long celebration of being 7 to end. And tomorrow - tomorrow everyone goes back to school. Whew!

A Whole Day - Nate's Way

• sleepover at grandmas
• open presents - new skateboard!
• get your name and picture on the morning news
• see friends at church and stay after for doughnuts
• wii
• basketball
• baseball
• bike ride with dad
• playdate with lifelong friend
• dinner at Red Robin with friends - complete with singing and ice cream
• cake at home
• more playing with friends
• sleepover in Ian's room

A whole day - Nate's way

The Early Bird gets the...Bike?

Technically speaking, Nate's birthday is tomorrow. But we Shuster's really know how to drag out a birthday celebration. Yesterday it was school celebration day with balloons and cookies. And today, well, it's Saturday and they are predicting 7o and sunny. We couldn't help but roll out Nate's birthday gift one day early...a new bike. A Diamondback Cobra - 20", 6 speed, handbreaks. To me, this means nothing, but Dave assures me that every little boy wants a Diamondback. Who am I to deprive an (almost) 7 year old boy? ;-)

Happy Birthday Nate!

From Elmo to Pokemon. Chubby baby to skinny grown up little boy - Nate is 6 today. Happy Birthday Kiddo!

An interview with an 6 year old:

Name: Nathaniel Stewart Shuster

Age: 6, exactly

Shoe size: 12

# of teeth lost: 2

Favorite Color: Orange

Favorite Food: Shrimp and corn dogs

Favorite Movie: Spongebob

Favorite Sport: Basketball

Favorite team: The Saints

Favorite Player: Reggie Bush

Best Friend: Matthew

Favorite vacation: Log Cabin

Favorite Show: Man vs Food

Favorite thing to play: Wii

If I could have one wish: $1000 dollars

What is your bedtime: 7:30pm

What's time do you think is late: 12:00am

What job do you want to do when you grow up: Sell houses

Party On!

Big Birthday Bash 2009! Nate and 2 friends, Nicholas and Cole celebrated their 6th birthdays Friday at Chuck E Cheese. Nearly the entire kindergarten class came to celebrate with the boys which was a lot of fun - and crazy! Check out all those boys in the group shot (I can't imagine why the girls didn't want to get it in - wink!) I think this is the first party I've ever been to that we've consumed almost the entire Costco cake!

Happy St. Patrick's...er, Early Birthday

Nate and Red
Wii NFL Madden '09 - the best gift ever, says our almost 6 year old!
Pokemon shirt, #2 on the list

One of MANY silly pics we took with Daddy

Ian and mommy sporting the green for the day

We've got such a crazy week ahead of us we decided to celebrate Nate's birthday family-style tonight. (Never mind the fact that he got his free birthday at Red Robin email.) Between karate, Dave's work, Kelli's work, a class birthday party on Friday and the beginning of spring break, tonight was perfect. Red Robin himself was even on hand to sing to Nate.

In other news, a mischievous Leprechaun visited our house today leaving gold coins for Ian, peeing green pee in the toilet, and rearranging the bedroom furniture in Nate's room.

Happy Birthday Dave!

They have this building thing down to a fine science.

What does every 37 year old man want for his birthday? Why, a gigantic Lego Star Wars ship, of course!

A little late in the day but better than never! Happy Birthday Dave!

Happy Birthday Grandma Sprenger

The boys and I took a quick trip to Idaho (Moscow/Genesee) this past weekend to celebrate Great Grandma Sprenger's 90th birthday (my dad's mom). While we were only there 1 full day and 2 (of the worst ever) days of driving, the boys had plenty of fun playing at the farm and mostly at the hotel pool. I think we logged at least 4 hours a day in that pool. Cousins Sam and Andrew were there with Shan and Al, Grandma Rita, Uncle Tom and Aunt Janet, and dad's cousin Betty were all on hand to celebrate the day.

Ian's Birthday BBQ

Saturday we had a birthday BBQ for Ian. The Shuster's were in town and several of Ian's friends from school and family friends came over. Ian loved to play with is harem of blonde's! We had relatively good weather, bbq'd hot dogs and chicken, and hired Ian's babysitter and her friend to run games and activities. The kids had a blast. He picked puppies as his party theme but we should have picked golf - Ian got 3 golf sets as gifts! Guess people know my kids like to hit things! ;-)

Happy Birthday Ian Thomas!

Today we celebrate Ian Thomas Shuster born June 2, 2005. 7 lbs, 14 oz. at 3:03pm. Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Party on!

Nate had a small party at Chuck E Cheese today for his 5th birthday. Friday's are a great time to go because it is pretty tame compared to the weekend. I was happy to not have a mess to clean up at home. Friends Collin, Carson, Joe and Finn (plus siblings!) joined Nate for fun and games and pizza. Nate chose to have a 'cookie cake' since he isn't a big cake fan but a huge chocolate chip cookie fan. He's loving all of his gifts. So far since we've been home we've built one of his new lego sets (let's just dub this year as the year of the lego, shall we?), the boys launched a zillion rocket balloons off the stairs and are now playing walkie talkie around the play room. Whew!

Happy Birthday Nate

No longer our baby boy...