Pokemon Partytime

yes, I'm months behind. I know.

We did have another birthday though!

Porter is Nine!!! Yikes!!!

(and sporting broken arm #3 in all the pics. poor guy. that is another post though)

 My baby is disappearing and turning into an amazing boy! 

This was his last birthday in the single digits.

 Not going to lie, I'm very upset about this.

We celebrated with cozy decor and treats on the day of,

 and then had his big Pokemon Party on the weekend.

 He was thrilled for both. 

Since we are in Japan, and he and his friends are basically obsessed with POKEMON, 

it was an easy choice for a  Pokemon themed bash!

the Cake

the Decor.

Also, a huge shout out to my awesome friend A who made all these awesome posters and Pokeballs. 

She's my hero, and I totally took these from her back in DC and brought them all the way to Japan with us, just for this occasion! Now that's thinking ahead!  They looked fabulous!! 

I think Porter had more fun helping me pick out the goodies for the goodie bags than almost the rest of the party! He handpicked Pokemon for each of his buddies. He was so proud.

First up on the party agenda, was a giant Pokebattle. 

Sure made my life easier

 having that be the main thing on his agenda. 

I didn't have to do anything for this party game. Win. Win. 

Then we ate lunch, to fill their tummies...

before some hardcore Pokemon BINGO!! 

It's no secret that Porter loooooovvees BINGO. 

(Thank you Oakwood Bingo nights)

And really, who doesn't love a good round of BINGO? 

All the boys had a blast! It was also quite the scene as I barely sounded out each strange Pokemon name, they all instantly knew what I was saying and found the picture before it was even out of my mouth. I will never understand the world of Pokemon. It is a whole different world, and a whole different language. These boys all apparently speak it fluently! 

My big showcase was the Bingo. After that we just went for straight fun, not necessarily "theme". I chose a couple of Minute-to-Win-It games to round out the afternoon. 

They were awesome, if I do say so myself!

We did the Oreo on the Forehead game next.

They had to get the Oreo from their foreheads into their mouths using only their facial muscles. It was hilarious! I think I will employ this again when I'm needing to occupy them during summer or Christmas break!

We also did the Spaghetti game. They had to string at least 3 penne on a piece of Spaghetti using just their mouths. This was pretty hard actually, but totally worth it. It helps build their concentration skills, that for sure!

My beautiful birthday boy!

Now, special mention to the fact that we are in Tokyo,

 and have access to such places as the Pokemon Center.

Yes, that Amazing pink bag, courtesy of his cute friend K- 

had some super awesome exclusive Pokemon gear in it, 

that is sold no where else in the world but the Pokemon Center. 

Porter was SO excited about that! 

He absolutely loved everything else he got too,

and we feel so lucky that he has such a sweet group of friends. 

Thanks so much again guys! Porter is one lucky boy!

And a classic group shot- Japanese style!

Now this cutie gets a special shout out-
both to him, and to the wonderful Japanese culture.

After lunch, when all the rest of the boys hurried into the other room,  K stayed and insisted on cleaning up the entire dining room with me! Needless to say I was very impressed. I made sure to tell Porter that he was a friend I wanted him to keep forever! ha!

(if you want to know more about this awesome cultural trait, just google how the Japanese team acted at the most recent World Cup. so awesome!)

Porter and his buddy K. 

They opened up the loot bags at the end, and enjoyed some trading card time to finish it all off! 

Happy Birthday Porter!

We love you so much- Pokemon obsession and all!!

Kindergarten Graduation

We have a Graduate folks!

And it was a fantastic day. Mom cried. A lot. 

People noticed. I didn't care.

 I was SO incredibly proud of my amazing little Ronan, for not only completing his Kindergarten year, but for also doing so great in the Graduation Ceremony! He marched, he sat, he performed, and most importantly of all- he just participated!!!! This was the first time he did something like this without getting upset and truly tried hard to do his best. He made SO much progress this year, and the Graduation Ceremony was just icing on the cake. They had practiced for weeks, and he knew that he did a good job! I was SO HAPPY for him! He also snagged the award for most improved this year, and even made his teacher choke up a little while awarding it. We feel so grateful that he had such incredible and loving teachers this year. They were angels sent straight from Heaven.

Crossing his tassel from one side to the other-

receiving his diploma

and he even sat nicely for TONS of pictures

Ronan was all smiles!

what a good sport.

TEAM RONAN

we couldn't have come this far without them.

there are no words

thank you doesn't even begin to cover it.

Congratulations Ronan!!!

We love you so much and couldn't be more proud of you!


and on one last separate note:
I'll leave you with this pic of Ronan in his terrifically cute giraffe costume that the aforementioned teachers made for him for the Spring Concert. They are so talented, and it was such a cute costume. Ronan was not so much in the mood at the moment to participate that night- but he did put the costume on and smile for me at home. We'll take what we can get. It was too cute not to mention.

Ronan Rides

 So this little man had a major milestone this summer.

He learned how to ride a bike!!!

(parking garage style)

This was a HUGE accomplishment for him, and we couldn't be prouder!

The pictures are terrible. The lighting was bad. 

But Ronan was awesome!

Great Job Buddy!

Sir Miles the Knight

So, a *while* ago, Miles turned THREE! 

I simply can not believe time has gone by so quickly. I know I say that with all of my boys, but seriously. This time, it has really thrown me for a loop. He will always be 6 months old in my brain I guess. That's what happens when you are the "baby"!

We celebrated with a Knight themed party
 and couple of his best buddies.

It turned out so cute, and I pulled out my Cake skills again, 

after having last year full of more simple frosting productions. 

He had a Shield Cake, complete with grommets

Now, the cake took me forever- but I love how it turned out!

I just made some simple Knight's Tunics for the kids to wear,  and they enjoyed some balloon "swords".
We also had a fantastic pizza "feast'!

I carried this incredible wrapping paper around the world from Turkey, and have been saving it for just this special occasion!
 It was totally perfect!

He was SO excited to blow out his candles....

And SO proud of himself after.

Teamwork. That's what brothers are for.

And for the big surprise gift from Mom and Dad- he was completely over the moon!

Finally his own "big boy scooter"!  

This kid now can't live without it. 

Three little Knights. Miles is being "tough" here.

Happy Birthday Sir Miles!

We love you SO, SO, SO much and are so happy for the amazing imagination, giggles and spunk you bring into our lives. 

MILES AT THREE:

-Loves popcorn,popcorn, popcorn

(and "nilla" ice cream)

He will ask for one of these two things without fail if you ever ask him what he wants to eat.

-He has an incredible imagination. He loves to play pretend and dress up. He will role-play for hours and absolutely loves to be with his friends. Definitely the most social, and imagination focused of our boys at his age. 

-He makes us laugh all the time. He is definitely a performer, and will try any new word of trick to make us laugh. He absolutely loves the spotlight.

-He talks all the time, and uses hilarious catch-phrases that he has picked up on.

-He loves to sing and dance. 

-He is very kind and sweet to all of us, and likes to give compliments about how "great" we are at things. 

- He likes to sleep with a small stuffed skunk (courtesy of our last trip to Boston).

-He has no fear. We will have to keep a close eye on this one.

-He is a Daddy's boy!

- He has the best pouting face ever. When he gets mad, he frowns his best frown and does a low "growl". I will miss this I think, as it is actually very cute. It takes everything in me now to giggle every time he does it. 

Love you buddy!

I also had a birthday I guess...

I also had a birthday, and though I am not loving inching further and further into my 30's, I decided that I couldn't leave out this stupendous Ice Cream Cake that Noah got me from BR this year!

When in Japan, huh?!

Thanks Sweetie, I love it! It was perfect.

We heart Hello Kitty!