It is officially Birthday Season in the Young Family! Actually, it has been for some time... but like Fall, our Birthday Season is late to the party this year. Cue the stereotypical hurry music: da-da-da da-da-da da-da-da!-da!-da!....
Ethan and I began prepping for his Daddy's 28th birthday early in the week. This was E's first time exploring paint - what a mess we made!
We used a string of paper shopping bags that I taped together (recycled art!) and I let Ethan walk and hand print all over it. This was tempera paint (teacher's staple) so it washed off the little guy and our garage floor super easy!
Thank goodness for deep sinks!
After some scrubbing:
Water on the head!
Ta Da!!
Dollar Tree Happy Birthday Decorations to compliment ;)
Mark was a happy Birthday Boy!
This was a surprise for Mark on the day of his real birthday, October 1st. This also happened to be the day that his older brother, Eric, was coming home to visit. Eric is the Hero of our family. He has joined Special Forces in the Military and served as a dentist most recently in Afghanistan and before that, Egypt. We are all so proud of him and respect his servant's heart. We are also grateful that God has brought Eric home safely after each deployment. So! You can see why this was an extra special birthday for Mark!
Here is Uncle Eric playing with his newest nephew:
In honor of Katie, Christie, Titus, and Mark's birthday (going back to the birthday season...) and Eric's return home, the entire Young Family (minus Eric's wife and two daughters) gathered to celebrate. This means.... a full house.... which also means, lots of love (Ethan benefited greatly!).
Love from Auntie Christie
Grandma Kisses
Cousin Andrew gave hugs... Ethan tried to taste his face just prior to this (hence Andrew's reaction)
Father-Daughter pose. Dad and his zin :)
Christie, Scott, and Jennifer
Butterfly Hannah and Katie (the artist)
Love birds: Christie and Nate
Jeremy and Andrew
Uncle Scotty blowing bubbles on Ethan's tummy! *squeek*
The boys indulged in childhood memories of video games that night while the rest of us got some sleep. We needed our rest for the big day after all... 4 birthdays and a surprise!
Mom and Dad bought a brand new ping pong table and the boys... well, they were boys :)
Ping Pong balls flew everywhere!
Ty-Ty playing around
Mom and Katie
Mother-Daughter picture
Mongolian BBQ for lunch!
Andrew handling the chopsticks
And now for the moment we all prepared for... the birthday marathon.
First course: Appetizers - Cheese and grapes. Soft, aged 24 years, and sweet. Who else? We celebrated Christie's birthday!
And then we toasted to our Hero
Appreciation in the form of a gift card :)
Second Course - House Salad: Why skip the healthy stuff when it is SO good and good for you! That's Katie :) Fresh, crisp, and healthy! We celebrated Katie's birthday next...
Fourth Course: Entree - Roast, Green Beans, Potatoes... and to be honest, I'm not quite sure what else we ate because I hardly ate any of it running in and out of the house trying to put Ethan to bed. Oh well. As is the story of Mark's birthday this year. Shoved to the side because......
Dessert: CHRISTIE GOT ENGAGED!!!! I'll bet you're lookin' for these pictures, right? Well, too bad! My camera died! No joke! Right at Mark's celebration/course, it died. This is exactly what ran through my mind: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Whatcha gonna do?
So you'll have to let me paint a mental picture for you....
We're all still sitting down at the table finishing our main course and Nate stands up. He wanted to thank everyone for welcoming him into our family and tells us what he has observed thus far in the "circle of trust" (I added that part in). He spoke from the heart about how he can see the genuine love in our family, etc. Christie in the mean time was holding this little guy...
... and looking at Nate with a loving and proud expression on her face. Nate went on to say that it was really important for him to finally meet Eric as he knows how important he is to Christie and to our family. He admitted that is was kind of intimidating meeting all of her older brothers at first - two Harvard grads and one in the Special Forces! But he was very glad he did... then the focus switched to Christie. He then talked about her... then to her about how much he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her and then..... can you guess?..... drops to one knee and brings out the bling! She said yes!! Really when you think about it, the moment was priceless and my camera couldn't do it justice (especially if I was taking the pictures anyway). We celebrated with bubbly, cake, and presents. More to celebrate!!
Here are pictures of the card that I made for the newly engaged couple with my Cricut! The bride and groom boxes are for favors, but they work well for gift cards too :)
APPLE HILL
(recharged the camera!)
The following day, the fam went to Apple Hill! We had a great time walking the shops, eating baked goods, and for Ethan - running down the hill!
Finally, pictures of the soon to be Mr. & Mrs.
And a picture of Eric taking pictures...
Now for some apples!
In the background, picture a kid saying, "Hi Apple Maaaan!" while waving...
that's what I heard while taking this picture :)
Our favorite was the Jonathon
This is Dad's favorite place to buy some baked apple goodness!
An apple a day keeps the doctor away....
... but in this family, it's not that kind of doctor...
in fact, have more than one! have two...
...then bake some in a delicious, sugary, warm pie and let it marinate on your teeth :)
just kidding! (sort of).
With satisfied bellies, we headed home. Nate and Christie had a long drive to Los Angeles ahead of them, Scott and Jennifer had exams to study for, and we had some dirty feet to clean...
Love it Allie!! I managed not crying when Nate proposed, but you did it to me- tissue in hand, smiling. It sets in more each day. I am so excited and so blessed to have such a wonderful fiance and a wonderful family supporting us!!
ReplyDeleteThank you :)