Birthday Camp Out

Our little Ricky turned 3 years old yesterday! Months ago he'd requested to go camping for his birthday so that's exactly what we did over Memorial Day weekend. We all had a great time. How can you not when there's a camp fire with marshmallows & hot dogs, a four wheeler with a plethora of jeep trails, a baby backpack with lots of ground to walk, a wall tent & a camper with tons of delicious food, friends & family, & an adventurous, energetic, superhero birthday boy?!

Yesterday we spent some lovely time with grandparents, Ricky got to open quite a few birthday presents, & we went to Burger King for dinner so the boys could eat ice cream & play at the playground. It turned out to be a nice day for our boy! So, a BIG thank you goes out to ALL the grandparents for their contributions in making Ricky's birthday quite grand. You are all simply wonderful!

Cedric has grown so much in the last year in many ways. His speech has improved immensely & he is getting quite tall. He loves to do EVERYTHING his brother does to a point where it rather irritates me at times. This next year Ben will be starting preschool & I think it will be really good for Ricky as well to hopefully start developing a bit more of his own interests. Ricky loves to play baseball & catch & has become quite good at riding his balance bike. He is an awesome helper to Brian & I when we do projects around the house & is a hard worker (when he's in the mood). He can be a bit fussy at times but is usually surprisingly good at controlling himself when we ask him to stop & take a deep breath. And more often than not, he's very willing to share his toys (even his new birthday presents!). One of his greatest struggles this past year has been staying seated in his chair while we eat... this boy can NOT sit still!! He's always got to be moving! We are incredibly thankful for our sweet boy. He brings so much joy & spunk into our lives!

Happy Birthday, Cedric! We thank God for you every day.

Now, before you scroll down any further, I'll warn you that there's a good possibility of your drowning in pictures!

Grandma Parker visited yesterday!

So did Grandpa & Grandma G!

The camping trip:

The whole crew.
Some friends of ours from church came, too.

"We love our Grandma!"

"Sooo big!"

Papa & his girl.

Our birthday boy

Dad Schultz was quite the chef with his dutch oven!

The boy's quarters

We were singing "Happy Birthday" to him... he was thrilled!

Ricky requested a train cake... so he got one!
The boys made sure that no details were missed.

The boys enjoyed the cake.

Mmmm... Cake & ice cream for Evie!

Opening gifts

A real super hero!

Evie had a ball crawling around in the dirt.
She didn't care one bit how cold or dirty she got!

Ben resting on the cot. He thought it was quite cozy!

Roasting hot dogs & mesmerized by the fire.

Even Evie got a ride on the four-wheeler!

"Oooh... Not quite long enough for me to pull. "

The boys loved climbing the rocks.

"Here I am!"

This girl was a mess, but boy did she have fun!