Happy Birthday, Jake!

Last weekend my grandnephew Jake celebrated his fourth birthday.  Jake is into super heroes now, and his cake reflected it.  The cake, by the way, came from Clay's which makes really wonderful cakes!

When it comes to blowing out the candles, Jake has his own method.  Blowing from far away didn't make sense, so he just got up close and personal with it.  (It didn't help that unintentionally the candles being used were trick candles, so when he blew them out they just relighted themselves until Jake's mom worked her own magic and extinguished them.)

Jake and his guests (mostly his siblings and three cousins) had fun entertaining themselves with pumpkin decorating.  No carving was necessary, and the results were cute!

Jake's family has a new puppy.  Daisy is an adorable lap full of wiggles and fur, and she loves to play tug of war.  Emily was all too willing to oblige.

Cousin Mason was intrigued by both the puppy and the tug of war.

On another day, Daisy came with the family to visit the grandparents, and she was practicing being a good pup while wearing her Halloween costume.  She's going to be a ladybug.

While the children were visiting the grandparents, we took on a couple of craft projects.  Abby is just getting old enough to join in the fun.

 Elizabeth, Jake, and Ava are old hands at it, but Jake was willing to have a bit of help from Auntie Em.

 Emily was very proud of her door hanger.  Ava is an excellent overseer for projects by the younger ones.

 Ava also got into the decoration of the smaller pumpkins and was very pleased with her creations.

Even children with lots of energy wind down, and then it's handy to have a mother's lap for rest and soothing.

A boost from dad was welcome, too!

It was a great trip!