Happy Birthday too!

Tuesday was our last day to enjoy together as our journey home had to start early Wednesday morning. One of the special things that lined up with this trip was Jul's got to celebrate her birthday with Aunt Sus again. Phi got in on a little of it too as his birthday falls at the being of the month.

When we were at Walmart the day before Marcus happened to think of flowers,

And made sure that Aunt Susie got some birthday flowers just for her. :)

 First thing Tuesday morning we headed back over to the shop to see what was happening there.

 We took the snowy back road that passed Grandpa and Gramma B's place with no problem but I was glad for the 4X4 just in case.

 Ethan hadn't gotten in on the tour but he got to enjoy some tractor time this day.

 Teaching little brother the ropes.

 Ethan learned to make engine noises, only he does it with his tongue sticking out. :)

 Inspite of the beautiful sunshine, the weather report was correct and it was something like 12 degrees outside.  But, Phi was still tempted by the snow drifts and gravel pile and a bike. He only lasted 5 minutes though and then was back in the warm shop.

 They were soo excited, when Barry gave them the job of sprinkling some dust inhibitor on the floor and sweeping it up.

 A perfect job for them, they love scooping and dumping and piling in general so this was awesome.

 Learning something about the radiator in the semi.

 

 We left the guys in peace after about an hour and went home to prepare for the party later on.

After a delicious meal we did gifts first while things settled.

Phi was excited by a remote control car that you charge by winding in manually.

Jul's got the majority of the gifts

Including this baby doll which we named baby Lori to go with her middle name.

 She also got the pack n play which she loves. She got the privilege of sharing Gramma Jo's bed the whole week since her brothers where in our room on the floor. She took this quite seriously and could hardly wait to get in there every night. Once she had opened all her gifts I noticed they started to disappear.

 Come to find out she had them all neatly tucked away on the night stand in 'her room".

 These cupcakes ended up being fun and very easy!

 I had seen the wrappers before but never tried them, but I thought they came out very fun.

 Happy Birthday 3 year old!!

 And Happy Birthday to Aunt Sus too.

 Picking off the M&M's and whip cream, of course. That's always the best part. :)

One other fun event that happened while we were there, Aaron lost his third tooth. It had been loose for a long time and I usually just pull them out for them. But this time he wanted it to fall out by its self. I had forgotten it was even loose and I think he had too, when, one day at lunch he was eating an apple. And with a "hey there's something hard in my apple" he discovered it had indeed come out by its self. :) I didn't remember to take a picture of it until we were at the airport and he bit into his cheese stick and noticed the funny bite where the tooth was missing.

We made a bit of a late night of it trying to squeeze all the last moments out of our time that we could. :) Knowing we had a long day ahead of us to make it home the next day, but so thankful the Lord had given us this special time together!

Sunday and Monday...

Sunday mornings there are slow and relaxing, as their meeting schedule starts mid morning instead of the 9:30 that we are used to at home. (Which really isn't that early if we get to bed Saturday night.) :)

"Good morning Bubby" :)

 (I love the soft light in this one)

Some time for stories :)

And snuggles...

And enjoying a large herd of about 11 -13 deer that meandered through the back yard. Only got two of them on camera, as they did hide down in the brush when they noticed us in the windows.

Sunday was a lovely time of fellowship and fun as we happened on a fellowship Sunday that included their annual Sunday school treat!

As we left after the gospel meeting we were treated to this amazingly huge fiery orange full moon! Of course pictures don't capture it well.

 

 Monday we awoke to a beautiful morning that actually felt like Spring!

 

 The kids enjoyed a slow start after a busy weekend.

(One of our bookworms.)

Before we kicked them outside to enjoy what they could of the lovely weather as the forecast said the next day was going to have an almost negative wind chill!

 Jadon having a chat with his Mommy.

 Such little tiny hands. :)

 And then a chat with Gramma Jo ...

 Gramma's are so funny sometimes. :)

And pretty special too! :)

Sadly a trip to town was in order, inspite of the beautiful weather calling us to come outdoors and enjoy. SO with 6 children and 3 adults we piled in the Suburban, dropped off lunch for the guys at the office, and away we went to the "big town" about 20 minute away. I had the camera but there are no pictures, speaking to the slight absentmindedness such an occasion brings on. :) It was fun, really, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch and of course frostys. Then Aunt Sus directed us over to the Walmart where all shopping is done in those parts. (not entirely, there are a few other options, but not really for groceries) :)  Then between nursing babies and energetic children, and birthday shopping, we made it through Walmart and back home,

and we all survived to tell the story. :)

That evening, of which I once again failed to get any pictures, we enjoyed the hospitality of Zac and Michelle and family again. It was a fun time of food and fellowship and that ended with hymn singing with two instruments to accompany us. A very fun time!  

So that was days 4-5 with one more to go!