The day started with some cake making!
And hours later we celebrated our not-so-little boy.
Twenty years ago tonight we were in the hospital waiting for him to go to ICU…
Tonight – it’s cake and presents! God is so faithful!!
Nigel wasn’t interested in fireworks, and Stewart was in NY. The rest of us headed to downtown Fountain Inn for a while.
it was hot
not everyone was patient
But then the show began
And they were actually better than Magic Kingdom’s!
This jewel is twelve years old.
And I am sad.
I can’t find any of the other photos from that day.
We went to church and swam in the afternoon. She’d requested pancakes for dinner and a homemade lemon cake.
As we were leaving the pool, her friend Rebecca was arriving, so she stayed to swim with her family. When John walked over to the pool to pick her up, he invited her friend and her parents to join us for pancakes, fruit salad and sausage. It was some impromptu fun. ♥
Her gifts from us were a necklace of Toothless and his girlfriend from How To Train Your Dragon, as well as some clothing and art supplies.
Mama and Tab were out of town – so the kids gave Daddy some cards and brownies.
Then on 4/24 we made a dinner for Daddy and had cake.
We didn’t do a great job taking photos. But we celebrated Tabby’s birthday with a feast of fish and shrimp and asparagus.
And presents.
And strawberry cake.
Tabby received fewer gifts than normal, because we worked things out so that she and I could go up to NY for the week for Flower City Work Camp. ♥
Some days, it feels like there is nothing new in this parenting gig.
Other days, you have amphibians in your house.
As Katriel’s birthday approached, we weren’t sure how to handle a party. She’s been making friends both in the neighborhood and at American Heritage Girls. As always, her friends are both boys and girls, and the age range is pretty large. We weren’t about to do a princess theme…
What does Katriel like best?
Frogs.
And my mind started spinning.
A web search turned up the Critter Keeper Not only does he bring crazy creatures into the homes for facts and fun, but he is a born-again believer and He shares scripture as he shows the animals.
I had just printed invitations and had the kids hand them out on the street, when we got an email that the AHG troop was going to do a hike that day. Sigh. So we only invited our neighbors and some non-AHG friends.
We laughed. We screamed. We had a blast.
I told our neighbors that we aren’t always this kind of party animals.
Her day started with the birthday wake up song.
And yummy cinnamon rolls.
While her siblings did normal school, she only did a few things. And she had a few deliveries from friends from church.
She picked pasta Alfredo for her dinner meal. Stewart had to work through the supper hour.
Sweet girl does love The Chosen
Nigel gifted her junk food. Her mind was blown!
Marie gave her a lizard.
She was a little happy to get a The Chosen t-shirt.
And a sweatshirt from the movie How to Train Your Dragon.
Nan gave her two new dresses for church.
And Mama and Daddy gave her a dress to be Mirabel from Encanto.
Our last single digit birthday.
and so we get prepared!
I decorated this cake to look like the fish logo at the beginning of The Chosen episodes.
It’s not *quite* her birthday yet, but we let her open the package that came from Asher. What a cool board!
When I say it was a tight week time-wise, I am not kidding.
My 50th birthday was Thursday and it was only from 5PM-7PM we could do dinner and celebrate…
Because I really wanted to go to the Christmas Tree lighting and fireworks in the Fountain Inn Commerce Park.
I got some yummy peppermint coffee. There was some live music. It was balmy and dry and festive.
After the mayor read from the Book of Luke (really) the tree was lit and then the fireworks knocked my socks off. They were every bit as nice as the ones in Busch Gardens Williamsburg this summer. Just wow.
We headed back home and had some of the most amazing hummingbird cake ever. John made it this year.
Dayspring Disciples 