A Week of Fun

First, I got sick and was sick all week, but the rest of what happened was really good! We had a wonderful visit from Cary's parents. The kids were thrilled to have them here from the very first moment, and loved every minute of it! They got to blow giant bubbles with Grandma, wrestle with Grandpa, and have lots of great play time with both grandparents.

We started out the week with a little bit of work amidst the playtime. Cary and his dad turned over our garden plot and mixed in some mushroom manure for me, so it's all ready to go! They also worked out a plumbing issue. Linda (one of Cary's sisters) and her little Lydia joined us on Thursday evening bringing our numbers to ten, and the child tally to five under five. If you think about that for a minute, you'll see that Cary and I were not outnumbered this week! We had one child to every adult the whole time! Sam arrived on Friday to complete the party. Lydia loved playing with her cousins, but didn't want her mom out of her sight for long until Sunday when she didn't mind so much.

We got to celebrate Cary's birthday with a nice picnic at my parents' house. The girls may have been mildly confused having two sets of Grandmas and Grandpas there, but one thing's for certain: they've been surrounded by lots of love! We had more bubble-blowing fun, some pantomimes by Cary's mom, and a sock hunt. (In case you're wondering what a sock hunt is: Cary had asked for just one thing for his birthday--new socks. Since I thought that was a pretty lame gift, I figured I'd make it into a fun activity for the kids. I rolled them up, stuck a bow on each one, and hid them in the yard for the kids to find and deliver to Cary. They had a blast! I also hid some small things in some of the socks for Cary to find.) Here are some photos from the picnic:

Uncle Sam and Everett

Gramma C's Pantomime

A "Captive" Audience

The Sock Hunt

Precious Children (Lydia, Gwyn, Maddie, Lana, and Everett in back)

Party Time!

On Saturday we finally celebrated the girls' birthday. Everett and I had a lot of fun preparing the cake and decorations, and at the party he said, "This is the best birthday ever!" I'm glad he had so much fun on the girls' special day.

We made tissue paper flowers for our decorations and as favors.

I put three little bears on the cake, since the girls have been little bears all winter in the coats I made for them.

Lana, Gwyn, and Maddie had a great time. Grandma and Grandpa were there, our neighbor Amy, my Uncle Dale and Aunt Mary Jo, and Uncle Jordan and his wonderful family. The girls loved having the special attention and were just thrilled with all their gifts. Grandma had the wonderful idea of helping Everett make bead bracelets for the girls, so he was really excited to give his gifts. And he got gifts as well! Check out these new shoes:

Ka-chow!

Grandma Campbell made adorable shirts for the girls.

They got a new set of books and some sweet cards from their cousin Grace and her family. ;) They have enjoyed dressing up in their new hats too.

Maddie

Gwyn

Maddie and Lana (We'll post a better picture of Lana later.)

For now, here's one from today:

The Big Day

Today was the big day, and then again, maybe not so big. The girls are officially two years old!!! We sang "Happy Birthday", but they really have no clue what that means. It's not a song they've heard much of, so they weren't even really excited about the song. I'm sure they'll have a lot more fun next weekend when we actually celebrate. Grandma was at a music festival all day, and I was at a reception tonight so the celebration had to wait. Everett is really looking forward to decorating and making the cake with me.

My musical numbers went well, which I was really glad about because at least for now it seems like "me practicing" = "kids screaming". I just wish Cary could have heard it (meaning the playing, not the screaming). He stayed home with the kids. It's interesting just how different the priorities are between moms and dads. They had pizza for dinner, and when I got home the dishes were still on the table, and toys all over the floor. BUT, he bundled all the kids up and played with them in the backyard and gave them baths, so I'm not going to complain (just raise my eyebrows a little and smile).