Sunday, October 17, 2010

My birthday and more!

I heard Felicity calling me one day and found her in the shower with
her clothes on and freezing cold water running!

Here's Ben and Nathan practicing together.  Ben taught him a bass part to Happy Birthday that they played for me on my birthday.  They made me breakfast and sang, and played!!  It was so great!


Here's Ben.... he made my delicious birthday cake which is cooling on the back of the stove, and he's preparing to make an amazing chicken parmesean.  Yummy!!

Gary and Felicity playing!

Nathan and Hunter playing!

Too much partying!  She fell asleep right in her high chair!

Happy Birthday to me!

Hunter picked our a beautiful fingernail polish for me!

New shirt.  (Hunter was really enjoying taking pictures!)


We finally got Zepherin's crib set up.  Until now he's only been sleeping in the cradle that my Dad made for him.  He's starting to need a bit more room, so we took the doors off one of the closets in our room, and made him his own little "nook"!

Here's the other side of our room.  The master bath is in between the two dressers!

Monday, October 4, 2010

One more adventure...

Later in the day on Saturday, we drove out to Ben's Uncle's horse ranch.  I got to ride a horse for the first time!  A bit scary, but overall fun!  Gary and Felicity rode also.  Felicity rode with Uncle Steve on his horse, and he led a smaller horse by the reins which Gary was riding.  They both just loved it!  Unfortunately, I don't have those pictues on my camera... so we'll have to wait to see them!

However, there was also a zip line out over the lake!  We all borrowed swim-wear, and had a blast!!








                                So much fun, and the water was wonderful!

A Memory House

I've always heard stories of Nana-lee's house.  Ben has so many fun memories of being there, and playing there.  I was excited to finally get to be there, and see for myself all the places and things I'd heard about.  He was right!  Her house is so fun!!

                                      Papa and Gary playing together.


                                                Part of the backyard
 Everything seems to have stayed with the fashion of the years when her children were younger.  So here's her bedroom.
 Each room in the house is equipped with an intercom system.
 Chrissy, Ben's sister, had fun exploring closets, and came across some old wigs that Nana wore when she was younger!
 Stairs...and if you see the white wrought iron (spelling?!) that goes on the 2nd floor ... One of Ben's memories of this house is climbing out along that the whole way across when he was little.  I'm so glad that Nathan and Hunter didn't think of trying that!
                                The old radio built into the kitchen.
                                 Anyone who likes "vintage", will love this old oven! 
                       I can't even describe the way the door opens.  It's really cool!
 Another part of the back  yard.  This thing the boys is on is so awesome!  It's like a swing, that goes left to right as they push on it.  Really really neat!
Another part of the back.
Playing hide and seek in this house was amazingly fun!  So many doors and rooms and closets.... the options were limitless!

The second (and 2nd!) (on the 2nd!!) birthday party of the weekend!!

Again, the pictures are not in order, but we also celebrated Felicity's 2nd birthday on Sat.  She loves anything and everything that is pink!! So of course we had pink cake with pink frosting and pink ice cream and pink candles!




 Opening her tea set from Grandy & Papa! 
                                                     Lots of helpers!
 Dressed in her finery.... a tutu made by Nathan, and wand made by me, and Hunter made some hair bows to match, however (as you'll see below) she wasn't as keen on the hair bows.
                                                           4 of 5!

                                  Eating cake and ice cream on her new tea set!
                               Gary really liked all her presents, too!!
                   Dancing in her tutu!  Nathan did such a great job making it!!
                                       Our first tea party!

Auntie Annie was more than happy to wear Hunter's hair bows!!

Suprise 80th Birthday Party!

Ben's Nana turned 80 this past Friday and we were able to attend her surprise party down in TX with a whole bunch of family!  These pictures aren't in order, but you'll hopefully get an idea of what a wonderful time we all had.
 Gary waiting for food on the boat.  It was a dinner cruise party!
 Gary using the camera.
 Lots of family and close family friends.
 Musical entertainment was live....  Here's Ben, his Dad and his sister performing
 Felicity fell asleep after awhile, and she slept under a table behind Ben as they performed.  She never woke up, even with all that music right next to her!
 Here's all of us as we waited at the hotel for Nana-lee to arrive. 
 Nana arrived by horse and carriage!  Cowboys seem to run in this TX family (!!) so one of her sons is driving the team, and another is helping her out of the carriage.  One daughter is with the horses, and a son in law is behind the carriage!

 Here she is greeting us all; escorted by her oldest son.  When the carriage picked her up she also recieved 100 pink roses, and a tiara and royal robe to wear.  She was so surprised, and loved it so much!  It was really fun to see her so happy! 
 Hunter with the horses...
 Everyone getting onto the boat.
So much fun!  Happy Birthday, Nana-lee!