BIRTHDAYS, FATHER'S DAY, & SUMMER PROJECTS

My birthday - The kids and I had a great day at home! They all got along splendidly, I baked snickerdoodles with Devon (it was also his birthday and he wanted to take cookies to Bible study that night), we all watched a movie together, and just enjoyed each other's company.  I got to take Devon to Cold Stone that evening, which was fun for me, even though it was technically for his birthday.

We have two double birthdays in our family and choose to focus the bulk of our attention on the birthday kid, not the parent, but I still had some birthday stuff for me.  Tim gave me a cheesecake, which is one of my favorite desserts and something I very rarely get a chance to eat, and each kid ended up giving me cookies, which I also love.  Two of the little Ws sent me on a scavenger hunt through the house and yard to find my gifts.  We had Bible study that night and a few people dropped by the 1yo class we were working in to bring me birthday gifts or greetings, including a new "W" that I'll have to show you later.

There was one bummer, though.  For the first time in my life, I didn't get a birthday card from Granny.  She's pushing 90 and has become quite forgetful, so she must have simply forgotten to check her calendar.  That's totally out of character for her and makes me kinda sad. 

Anyway, it was a fun day and I'm thankful for that.

Boy birthdays - Silas and Devon had their joint birthday party on Saturday, which is always fun.  Friends and family came over to celebrate and we had a great time.  The kids played chicken (the balloon popping game) and wall ball, ate a ton of lunch, raided the berry patch, and decorated cupcakes.  Our boys were showered with all sorts of fun and thoughtful gifts, the adults mingled with each other, and the sun was out for the entire party.  Good times!

Father's Day - My dad, sister, and their families came to town for the boys' party.  I have no idea when the last time was that I spent Father's Day with my dad and my sister never gets the opportunity, so she asked if we'd be willing to go to a later church service on Sunday so that we could all have breakfast together.  It worked out for everyone, so 14 of us had breakfast together and gave cards to the dads before everyone headed home or to church.  I didn't realize it until they were walking out the door, but that was our last time seeing my sister's family before they go back overseas, so I was extra glad it worked out to spend that morning together. 

Summer - Today was the first weekday of Tim's summer vacation.  There are so many things that need to get done around here, some because Tim's been gone a ton the last 6-7 weeks and I just can't keep up with everything on my own and some that have been waiting since we moved in over 8 months ago.  So today was a work day and it was great to get some things taken care of.  I love productivity!! 

My goal is to have everything crossed off our list by the end of the weekend, but I'll be happy if most of it is.  Especially the garage.  It's been a disaster since we moved here.  Tim and I have both worked there a few times on our own, but it had reached a point where we needed to work on it together to make sure the things we were organizing were going to work for each other.  We spent a chunk of time working on it after the kids went to bed tonight and made a huge dent in it.  One more evening and the job should be done. 

The project I'm most looking forward to is painting the kitchen and dining area.  Well, I'm looking forward to having it done, anyway.  We'll do that in phases, though, and won't even start this week.  I need the quicker projects out of the way first.

And that's a little glimpse of our last few days.