Carterman is 10! Laney sadness...

Waking up these bums in the morning is always amusing. They usually end up cuddled together.

We went up to Skyline Park behind Hillcrest one windy weekend. The playground is for kids much littler than mine, but they still managed to have a little fun. Teague's head fit perfectly in this thing!

They said this felt like they were on a roller coaster. Teague's face kills me!

That's pretty cute. My Teagie Pie is in need of a haircut I think.

We went over to Hillcrest for some bigger playground stuff. This slide is ridiculously huge and fast!

We all went down it a few times.

I know this is hard to read, but this is the note Papa wrote to excuse Carter from school. They went on a little road trip to North Dakota when Dad had a long weekend off track. He used to send these to school with me...from 5th grade (for Taco Tuesday!) all the way through high school. Carter's teacher loved it. I'm glad she has a sense of humor (and she knows that my Dad is not actually insane.)

We have been reading my really old "Wizard of Oz" book at night. It has my name childishly scrawled in purple crayon on many of the pages. Teague absolutely loves it!

When Carter was in ND, we made a trek to Missoula. We went into Cabella's just to walk off some lunch before we hit frozen yogurt (we always eat well when we are there!) This is Callie and Teague's " 'Merica" picture. Patriotic guns everywhere...not my thing.

Mmm...frozen yogurt is delicious.

We hit up our favorite breakfast diner in the morning. Nothing goes with breakfast quite like a chocolate milkshake!

We always have the best time with Callie. It's such a short trip. We should head over more often!

Kyle bought a cooler and three containers of Cold Stone. This is why he really wants to go...

More books! I've saved all my favorites from when I was little. Ave and Carter are getting started on a few of these.

Time for some incredibly sad news. I knew my Laners had not been feeling well. She seemed tired all the time and just not herself. She was born with a heart arrhythmia and had started doing this cough all the time. When I looked it up, it was a sure sign of heart failure. I took her for a short walk one night, and she started walking all crooked. I carried her for a few blocks, and Kyle picked us up. When we got home she perked up and ate her customary piece of lunch meat while I made the kids' lunches. She didn't want to sleep with anyone though, which was not like her at all. I woke up at 2 and heard her make a little sound in the hallway. She was laying down and didn't want to move. I woke up Kyle, and we pet her for a few minutes until her poor little heart stopped. I miss her so much. 13 years is such a long time to love something. I miss her greeting us at the door, cuddling with us, and just always being there. She was the best first dog I could have ever asked for and the absolute best big "sister" to our kids. She adored them from the first day she met each of them, and we are glad to have so many pictures of them together. We will never ever forget her.

We buried her in the backyard with her blanket we took on road trips, her two favorite toys (her rubber duck and her Bobo), some treats, and a picture and charm from her leash that Ave made for her. We washed some stones and made an L. Teague added two of her "favorite sticks." We say hello to her often before we head to school. We loved her. Thank you so much for the card Carl and Jenny. I know you guys loved her too, and you know what it's like to lose a dog. They are family.

On to a happier note, my Carterman is somehow 10 years old! Double digits! He had his party at Bounce off the Walls, and this was the second group of laser tag competitors (Liam, Austin, Connor, Nicole, Abbey, Teague, Ave, Madisyn, and Mason!)

Carter doesn't like cake, but likes cupcakes. Who knows? Anyway, we made three different kinds. I was pretty proud of my homemade cream cheese frosting (thanks Martha Stewart recipe!) They were all a big hit.

It's tough to fit ten candles in a cupcake!

Some of his family and friends from around the table: Connor, Austin, Tre, Danny, Colby, Teague (the tip top of his head), Nate, Prestin, Kenny, Carter, Ave, and Karstyn.

It was almost impossible to get a normal smile from him!

No girlfriends yet!

I love this picture of Teague!

Time for some present opening.

He got very spoiled by so many people. Thank you all for making him the happiest 10 year old around!

Teague was showing Kyle how cops should shoot. I'm hoping Kyle brought this pose out when he had to qualify at the shooting range last week.

Our present to Carter was a Nintendo 3DS. He had been asking for it for a long time. He seems to really like it!

His actual birthday was on Tuesday, which was Mackenzie River Pizza Night for Emerson. They brought him a free dessert, and he loved it!

Jordan had her senior prom before Easter. She looked lovely as always, and I'm glad we got a picture with her. It's a tradition!