Birthday WEEK continued

He has been saying for weeks that he really wanted to eat at a Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you for his birthday. So, after church on Sunday, that's what we did.

They even sand to him and brought him his very own piece of cake.

He liked that they gave him his own photo to keep as well.

Then that afternoon, Linus and Emily came over and we went for a walk.

We found some trails...

...and a really cool leaf

Then we had movie night together and watch Wild Hearts Can't be Broken. Linus made himself right at home.

Linus couldn't decide between the two couches :)

Benjamin decided that he wanted to take taekwondo with his sister.

brother and sister sparring ;)

I love the beautiful fall skies. They are different every day.

And the leaves are starting to fall.

A friend invited me over for dinner. I was greeted by this cutie. It made me miss Shadow and Scout so much, but I enjoyed loving on her fur baby.

She made a great pumpkin soup, wedge salad, and croissant sandwich.

Hudson loves eggs and has started making them nearly every morning.

She looks so grown up. That look is a "why are you taking my picture" look. She just seemed so grown up with her earbuds in and sitting on that bench.

Minecraft Party

This birthday party was a family effort :) Hudson was surprised to find Minecraft cereal for breakfast (I have no idea what the taste was just the theme), Regan made TNT Coke, and Katherine put together the TNT Twizzlers.

Lauren helped roll out and cut the brown squares for the side of the cake. I actually had her make them too big. So as I was putting the cake together, I had had all the girls cutting them smaller for me.

I really don't know much about Minecraft except that you build stuff with blocks..haha! He seemed to like his cakes.

He was super excited that 2 of his buddies could come over, Knox on the right and Drew on the far left.

He was super excited about the Doctor Hudson name tag from Auntie Em!

Minecraft Panda from KNox

This was from us, but I just loved his smile in these pictures.

"I paused my game to be here, but I'm still thinking about it" shirt.

Regan made a super cool pop out Minecraft card. I should have gotten a video of it or something...really really cool

A stethoscope from Regan (and Ms. Tina, aka Knox's mom) was there to show him just how to use it.

Hudson wanted to play a fun game, so we splurged and bought a piñata.

Benjamin

We really didn't need ANY more candy after Halloween, but it was still fun...and the weather was great!

Auntie Em, Harper (Knox's little sister), Knox, Hudson, Drew, Regan, (top) Lauren, Katherine, Benjamin

The birthday boy...ELEVEN!

 

Ozone Falls

On our way back to Knoxville, we stopped to visit some dear friends. It was a great time for our families to visit. We played a few games, grilled hotdogs, and then went on a hike.

We started with the easy short trail to the top of the waterfall since Isaac was on crutches.

Group selfie

Then some of us went on the more rugged trail to the bottom of the waterfall.

Hudson and I were a little slower getting down the path, so we got some pictures along the way.

Regan was there waiting to help Hudson down the big jump.

The other photographer :)

Regan and Hudson

Katherine hasn't stopped asking to go back. She wants to do more exploring. She loves being out in nature!

I headed back up since the sun was setting in 15 minutes, but these crazies went behind the waterfall before coming up.

Benjamin stayed back with Isaac to keep him company. 

Good friends

Always finding little things along the way

school and party prep around the space heater

my 11 year olds

Katherine, Taylor, and Lauren