Birthday Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend. On Saturday, we went to our friend, Logan's, 4th birthday party at Monkey Bizness. The kids had a blast. I always forget that there is an Air Hockey Table, and that Reece loves to play on it. Unfortunately, it takes quarters and I seem to never have quarters on me. Reece was sad I didn't have any money for the game. A few minutes later he was asking where Logan's Mom was? I showed him and he suspiciously, told me he needed to talk to her. Strange that a 4 year old needed to talk to another adult. I see them have a short conversation, and next thing I know, Reece is getting quarters from her. Oh, I have a long way to go in the manners department. I was a little embarrassed, but know that she didn't mind at all.

Right before cake and presents, Reece ran up to me in a panic, "Mom! Scott hurt my friend!"

"Well, who is your friend?"

"Riley!"

Only, Reece doesn't pronounce the "L" in Riley's name and it's more like "Ryee." It was so funny. Scott's mom was right next to me, and Riley somehow got hurt, but he was over it pretty quickly, and I'm sure it was an accident. After that drama, it was cupcakes, punch and presents.

Here is Reece breaking the rule, not going down the slide feet first. He only did this after the adult before him, went down this way.

We left the party a little early to drive down to Wichita. We stopped by Jody's house where some cousins were watching "Star Wars." Reece also refers to them as friends, not cousins. This was the calm before the storm. Colby, Aidan, Camryn, Riley and Reece. It wasn't long after this, we tried to put them down for a movie and bed, and all chaos broke loose. There was a storm of kids inside, and a storm brewing outside. I drove into town hearing tornado sirens and thunderstorms all around. I can't complain too much about the noise, because they were loud enough to wake up Owen, and I got to see him for a little bit, before we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's house to sleep. However, Jody probably wasn't too thrilled Owen made an 11:00 pm appearance. What can you do? When kids are excited, they are excited.

I was happy to fall asleep listening to the thunder. Oh, how I love Spring!! Thunderstorms are the best.

This was our 1st Birthday Gathering weekend, that I created. We have 20 grandkids, and it was starting to get expensive and chaotic celebrating all of the birthdays. We have always been good about grouping some of them together, but it wasn't always possible.

Here's what I came up with...Every quarter, we are celebrating 5 of the grandkids birthdays together. We are just making it a family dinner, cake and presents. Instead of buying gifts for everyone, I arranged it to where each kid gets 3 gifts, and it dramatically limits the number of gifts we purchase each year. We also seem to make it for family dinners only around the holidays, and this way we can gather a few more times. It was a big success. Almost everyone was able to make it and we had a good time. The weather was perfect too, so the kids got a lot of outside time.

This month we celebrated Cole's 12th, Brendon's 10th, Colby & Sydney's 7th, and Camryn's 5th. I did it in chronological order. It just happened to be 3 of Jill's kids, who are in Utah, and both of Shawn's kids. Even though Jill couldn't be here, I'm sure they had their own celebration. So Colby and Camryn were the kids of the hour. Joanna made 2 Cakes, so they could each have a cake to blow candles out on. She made a Carrot cake and a Rocky Road cake. (It was delicious, if anyone wants the easy recipe, ask...I requested it for future gatherings!)She did a great job, and we always appreciate her baking. Shortly after cake, it was time to hit the road. We unfortunately, lost 1 hour in Wichita, due to Daylight Savings.

Camryn, excited to blow out her 5 candles.

Colby, opening up his 1st gift from Aunt Jill.

Even though it was a short trip to Wichita, we sure had fun, and can't wait to do it again! Hopefully, we'll get to spend more time there next time.

A quick note, for myself: KU clinched it's 5th straight Conference Championship over the weekend, by beating Texas. It definitely made my weekend a little sweeter.