A January Birthday

Lilly's birthday was a January Beach Bash!

The Crews were the only ones dressed for the occasion, as most people don't think about wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops in January! But with the fireplaces going, it was a warm 75 degrees and we were very comfortable in our attire!

Rachel planned the entire party and did most of the decorating. So a big thank you to my teen age daughter!

The Jolleys may want to get their piano soon! It sure worked for us today though!

Lilly with her special friend, and almost neighbor!

Lilly and another special friend, and sometimes camping buddy!

Yeah! A friend we haven't seen in a while!

Two great cousins!

Four more cousins!!!

Lunch was great - and if I would have remembered I'd have taken some spectacular pictures of our fare!

We enjoyed tuna and cheese sandwiches, blue jello with a gummy (soggy) fish, fishy crackers, fruit kabobs and carrots served on colorful sea shell plates!

Present time!

Lilly was getting a bit wild! I'm not sure how to handle these situations, as her sister was always shy -and Lilly, well shy is not a word to describe her!

She's excited about her new horses!

She's calming down a bit!

Lilly and her big sis - the party planner and #1 hostess!

A Beach Ball cake - didn't Daddy do a great job?

Happy Birthday to Lilly!

Enjoying the gifts, and enjoying being together!

No Beach party would be complete without a Treasure Hunt!!!!

Dividing the Booty!

Ahhh! Long day, party's over!

Hey, this guy wasn't on the invite list!

Grandma's 60th!

Mom and her three kids - Amy, John, Melissa

Grandma, Papa and all the grandkids!

Amy's - Michaela, Jeremiah, Emily, Moriah, Josiah, Javan, Maia, and Maris

John's - Maekinzie, Nadalee

Melissa's - Rachel, Bret, Garret, Lilly

Happy Birthday Garret

Garret had two days to celebrate his 8th birthday!  As we reminisced over the day he was born, words like rain, wind, stormy weather came to mind.  A far cry from the record breaking temperatures we've had the past two days!

Papa, Garret and the much loved, much wanted Nerf Sword!

They can finally have their duel!

Two swords, different colors, no confusion!  Thanks Papa and Grandma!

Yum!  This was Garret's request for Birthday Breakfast!  I turned it into a Sunday Breakfast Brunch with enough leftovers to make it to the actual birthday breakfast!  It was fun and delicious!

Present Time!

The school teacher in me couldn't resist another state and capital game!

Yeah!  If it's Nerf and it shoots - they love it!  This one is air-powered!  It makes enough noise to keep me out of site of target!!

Garret - will open this present...

anyway, he can!!!

Box cake - we weren't really hungry for anyway!

Sunday was a great day spent with Papa and Grandma.  Monday was school, but Monday evening we broke out in celebration again!  We ordered Pizza Plus and took it to Grandma and Papa's!  Garret and Lilly had their first swim of the year - in the freezing cold pool!  Rachel and Bret swam too, but they do that every day!  When swimming was over, and Wade had cut an old telephone pole down with the neighbor's chainsaw (must stay busy!) it was once more time for cake.  We enjoyed coffee cake this evening - yum!  The partying is now over.  I probably gained 5 pounds, but it was fun! 

It's nice to have an 8 year old in the house!  Garret is a special boy, we enjoy his intellect, his love for God, and his play by play computer game stories!!

Happy Birthday Garret!

Happy Birthday Bret

Two mismatched ones were atop Bret's coffee "birthday" cake!  We decided at the last minute to celebrate on Thursday, rather than Friday.  This allowed  his dad to be here for the festivities!

We enjoyed pizza from Pizza Plus, a movie and coffee cake!

Bret was a good sport about his mismatched ones, and unwrapped gifts.

This morning he enjoyed a pancake breakfast before hitting the books.

His newest cousin came to wish him a Happy Birthday!

This is Jeremiah Davis, born on March 7th.  Now there are three March birthdays!  Bret, Madison and Jeremiah!

Happy Birthday Bret!  The running suit is ok, but he really can't wait for dad to come home so he can open up the rocket!

A little celebrating

We celebrated Rachel's birthday throughout the day on Tuesday.

She woke to breakfast - pancakes topped with blueberries and peaches!  Yum!

She had one more gift to open.  Flip flops that Lilly picked out at Old Navy!  Need those for swim team!

After lunch, Rachel and I each baked a pie.  Hers was pumpkin, mine lemon meringue (not as good as Grandma Crew's - but Wade says I'm improving!)

After a dinner of Baked Potato Soup, (the absolute most fattening meal I make!) we sang another Happy Birthday to Rachel, and enjoyed our pie!

Here's Daddy celebrating - before he let us know how poorly he was feeling.  He's in bed with a fever!  Please pray for him!

After dinner, Wade had a meeting at church - so I decided to take all the kids to one of Rachel's favorite spots!!!  Grandma was in town - so she met us there!  How nice!  She helped Rachel make a few selections!!

I did say Rachel's favorite spots!!!  This guy was ready to scram after about 1/2 an hour!!

Here he is faking a smile for the camera :)!

It was a great day - a little school, a little play!  We came home and watched Rodger & Hammerstein's - Cinderella (1957).  Rachel enjoyed it!  Michaela would call it a gray movie (black and white!)   Grandma would say - too much singing!  The boys thought so too.  Garret conveniently left during each and every song!

Now on to the rest of our busy week.  Spelling Bee - Thursday, and skiing Friday!  We cancelled the ski trip last week, due to falling snow.  Has anyone checked the weather for this week?  Ha!  We're going to get dumped on!!!  All the dads tell me it will be great!  Most of the moms will be sitting in the lodge! I'm determined to at least take my lesson!  Brrrr!