Happy 60th Meemaw & PawPaw

This past Saturday we celebrated Meemaw & PawPaw’s 60th birthday with a surprise party. Candy, my sis-in-law, came up with the wonderful idea of throwing a surprise party for both of them. Stuff like this is very much out of my comfort zone but since it is for my fabulous Mom & Dad….why not! It turned out fantastic! We invited them to meet us for dinner at a quaint little restaurant and then said we would come to our house afterwards and play cards. Little did they know that we had also asked their friends and family to join us in the surprise!

My parents are great gifts I cherish given to me by God. They have been supportive, caring, and loving throughout my entire life. They continue to be great examples of Christ’s love in their marriage together. I am blessed beyond measure.

Here are some pics of the evening!

I made Italian cream cupcakes along with dulce de leche cupcakes.

We put old photos and recent on the tables.

Matt & Candy also got them a strawberry cake and carrot cake. So there was plenty of sweets to go around. =)

Candy “the party planner” and Meemaw!

Jean got Mom this glass. It is an inside joke. Years ago before Lil knew Mom & Dad she made a comment that Mom must be Dad’s trophy wife (2nd or 3rd wife) b/c she looks younger than Dad. In reality Mom is only a couple weeks younger. Lil really stuck her foot in her mouth and is reminded of it to this day…=) & Mom is Dad’s first and only wife might I add!! This was hilarious!

Christian made a great card for both of them. It had all the prices in ‘51 and today’s prices. Very clever idea and Mom and Dad loved it!

Mom with her sister, Betty.

Of course a pic of my great kiddoes! The party was a great success and a wonderful way to celebrate two fantastic people! I am thankful to Candy, for the great idea and helping make it possible! Happy 60th Mom & Dad! I love you guys. I am thankful that God blessed me with two dedicated, loving, devoted, hard-working, Christian parents!

Catch up again…camping!

Well...I am AWFUL!  I just stink at keeping up with the blog!  I am going to give it another go and try to be more consistent.  Life is really great around here but also very busy!  School is going well and we seem to be on track.  We will be doing summer school as we have not accomplished as much as I would like.  I also want to focus on some weaknesses outside of the regular school year.  The planning can be a bit stressful but a lot of me enjoys seeing what our next year will hold. 

This past weekend we went camping.  Friends of ours got their first camper.  We had planned to camp out Thursday through Sunday.  Well, Clay got us up there and set up but Wanda was having problems trying to tow the camper.  She had never towed anything before and they got a BIG camper!  I ended up by myself with the kids Thursday night.  Clay had not planned on taking off of work on Friday so he had to go back into town Thursday night so he would not have to get up so early and drive to work.  I was not real happy about not having transportation but we made do.  Clay left work early Friday and Wanda & family finally made it in the evening.  They ended up having to get air brakes put on the truck so they could tow the trailer safely.  So after a rough start, we had a fantastic weekend of camping!  The kids had a great time hanging out, riding bikes, exploring, playing in the lake, hiking, and hunting down our letterboxes.  We ended up finding 5 letterboxes.  It adds so much more to your camping to be able to do a scavenger hunt type of activity.  If you want to learn more about letterboxing and/or go to www.atlasquest.com  Here are a few pics from the trip. Evan and Clara playing in the lake. From left to right: Evan, Chandler, Christian, Clara, Cullen, and Levi.

Clara always passed out on our hikes. 

Love this shot of Christian up in a tree.  He is growing up!

Playing games and cooking smores around the campfire.

Daddy & Clara are definitely a pair! They are so wrapped around each other’s finger…Daddy more so than Clara.  It is an honor to watch the bond these two have.  Nothing like a Daddy and his girl! 

We are already looking forward to the next trip!  We just love it!