Birthday Boys ~ Jan. 6th & 7th

As happens every year, the celebrations go on, and on... :) Scott started his birthday off at work with wearing this lovely hat, compliments of the preschool... 

We enjoyed a family dinner out at the Olive Garden, where our teenagers were able to eat those huge portions of pasta that we usually take home...

 Always three decades apart...

Looks like Scott has two bodyguards!

Trying to coax a smile out of Nora...

Lewis has more success!

We're just happy we get to enjoy the benefits of someone else's birthday... delicious!

 Scott opened his gifts after we got home... like we had room for cake. :)

Nora was very excited to give Daddy her very own card.

So excited that she climbed onto the table...

Lewis continued his recent trend of creating original gifts. This one is basically Lewis' version of a Magic 8 Ball, which he has no prior knowledge of. It is a "B.O.A.M"... "Balloon Operated Answering Machine". By inflating the balloon and releasing it, the air will turn the labeled fan of words, which will then give the answer to whatever question you asked by where it stops at the arrow. The BOAM was quite technical in how to set it up, so Lewis was happy to explain it. James finds it all quite amusing and doesn't seem to appreciate Lewis' genius. He can't see that he and Lewis are more alike than they are different in how their minds work. Lewis is a good sport though... and he has his revenge prepared for James the next day. :)

Better patent that one soon...

Happy Birthday, Scott! Hope you felt especially loved today.

Saturday morning, James turned 18. Before he headed off to work, he opened a few gifts. Lewis and Grandpa had been hard at working creating a "mousetrap" car, as the ongoing taunt from James is that Lewis and his best friend entertain themselves by playing with mousetraps. So now James can play with his own!

Can't you see the excitement on his face?

A quick demonstration is again required... well worth the effort for the laughs we all had. :)

Nora gives James an Italian phrase book for that upcoming trip to Europe. James fails to see why he would need that to visit Italy, but you never know!

Charles is not awake yet, or very enthused. I'll let you decide.

After work James treated his friends out for dinner at Red Robin's. They all came over later to hang out and eat more food. :)

It would seem that they had a fun time... we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Happy Birthday, James!