Happy #14 Colten!!

{catching up - May 2016}

Can you believe it? We have a 14 year old in the house. 14. Not 10. 11. 12....14!! Before we know it he'll be graduating HS and going to college!

Every year I ask him what he wants to do for his birthday. And every year this guy has an answer for me. I am waiting for the day he makes a ridiculous request for some crazy expensive off the wall birthday party. But. So far. So good.

This year he decided to celebrate his birthday with his few close friends at Gatti Town. Secretly {for memories sake} he was like. " mom. Am I too old for Chucky Cheese?"

 lol. I said yea buddy. You so are. He's like "Ok mom. Can I have my birthday at Gatti Town??"

Yes! Because Gatti Town kinda rocks :)

So we did. And it was a blast. Between all you can eat buffet. Laser Tag. Friends for Colten and their parents who are also really good friends of ours. Cake. Games. Tickets. Prizes. 14. It was good.

We celebrated Colten's birthday mid-may so that his friends could join him. His birthday is June 19th and he would be at his dads by then.

A few of his good friends came. Alex, Kenneth, Austin and Jace. Kenneth stayed behind after everyone left to help Colten cash in his tickets :)

I decided to make Colten's cake this year at his request. He really wanted an ice cream cake. I could have purchased one from Dairy Queen and kinda wish I would have now. It was a pretty cake. It had ice cream in the middle. But... it did not turn out the way it was supposed to...of course!

Cakes were fine. Perfectly baked and moist. I bought a spring form pan and put ice cream in the middle of the two cakes. I stuck it in the freezer and when I pulled it out and tried icing it... the icing wouldn't stick to the cake. So. I froze it again and the icing finally went on but it would freeze before I could spread it! Cutting the cake at the party was a nightmare. Ice cream was spilling out through the icing. I think the next time my kids ask for an ice cream cake I will leave it to the pros next time :)

It sure was tasty though! Colten even said mom, the cake looked terrible but tasted SO good! Thanks for trying.

It was a good party. A good day.

~ Our Shank Family

Colten | 8th Grade

Age: 13

Height:  5ft 1/4 in

Weight: 91.4 lbs

Clothes: 12/14

His Favorite Things:

 Xbox Live
Guitar
Running with mom
Friends

What he wants to be when he grows up: 

Game Inventor - xbox, psp, etc.

 Anything You want to Say?

Why?

lol. ya know, I totally expected those answers :) I'm seriously surprised he answered at all at 13! Oh and just to add for memories sake...HE DID NOT want to have his photo taken! I got lucky he gave me a half grin in this pic!!

Our oldest Turns 13!

Well, Colten is almost and officially 13! It's seriously hard to believe that my first born is a teenager!

We decided (for this milestone birthday) to ask Colten what HE wanted to do for his birthday this year. He gladly dreamed up his very own birthday.

His requests:

Burdette Park

Sleepover

Invite all of his friends

North Huskies Cake
Oh and he wanted me to smash it in his face

So we did just that! Here are some pics of our time out at Burdette :)

I mean you could definitely caption this!!

He LOVES his sister!

Those black circles...welcome to your teenage years son! Staying up late! Not enough Sleep! Welcome to 13!

Me right before walking out to smash colten (as per his request by the way) with cake!

I don't seriously think he THOUGHT I would DO IT!

I mean you see him leaning into the cake right!!

It was definitely a fun filled day (even though the weather didn't cooperate) with birthday fun, cake and we finished up the day with a game of baseball :)


Happy #13 Colten!!!

Spring Break 2015 {Part 2}

We took off down the road for Spring Break this year. It was a 10 hour trip to Kansas for some country side fun.

The truck was loaded full of kids, a dog, luggage and don't forget the bikes!

 We had a blast! It was SO nice to just getaway, visit Grandma and Grandpa Shank and see the beautiful sunsets out in Kansas :)

Here's a photo-recap of some fun times :)

Kale named them T-bone and Ribeye!