Dual Birthday Party

Today started early, but not too early. Brooklyn went down at 8:30 last night, and slept straight through until 7am. Ryan got up with her and came down to let us all sleep a bit more. I woke at 7:30 and came down to help him get a bottle ready for her. Jason slept until 8:30, and we had a great morning with breakfast. I had a special treat, and a had a call from my aunt who just had surgery. Cec & I chatted for about 30 minutes, and it was a great visit. Thanks Cec, for calling...it was great to hear from you, and know that you're on the mend.

At 9:30 we got busy making Ryan's cheesecake. I had baked the chocolate chip cookie base before bed last night, but needed to do the actual cheesecake part. Since I couldn't find the recipe, we "made it to taste" until it seemed right. After two layers, and some piping and decorating, we started getting the frosting ready for Kristin's cake. We had it in the mixer, and I grabbed the green food coloring instead of the red (to make pink) by mistake. Kristin was great about the whole thing, and her green cake looked great after it was decorated. Jason wanted to lick his fingers while frosting so badly, but he was great until almost the end...when he decided he was done decorating, and had a great taste! He just watched until we were finished then.

After cake decorating, the kids ran off to play, and we had a kitchen to find! After two cakes, breakfast, and baking--there were lots of pans, dishes and "what was I thinking that I washed the kitchen floor on Thursday night" before having a baby and a toddler for the night. We had lunch, and put Jason & Brooklyn for a nap at 1:00, and then got busy getting things rid up for the party. Ryan was stressed because he didn't think we could get it all done, but we had done a good cleaning on Thursday, so just had to get out from under the clutter. We were about done, except re-washing the floor, and vacumming the upstairs hallway when Jen & Brady pulled in for an early visit. We decided that if anyone didn't like the floors not finished, oh well! A visit with good friends is far more important than clean floors!

Bill & Brady caught a nap on the couch, while Jen & I visited and planned meals for camping next week. She & I will pull the trailer over on Wednesday morning, and the guys will head over after work on Wednesday. It was nice to relax a bit before things got busy again.

At 5:30, the rest of our Oregon family started to arrive. Besides, Jen, Brady, Jason & Brooklyn, the rest of the Nida clan showed up (except for those Transplants that live in WA) Mike & Kathy, Rod, Lissa & Brandon, and even Eric surprised us...it was a huge thrill for Ryan to have him there. Nate, Katie & Audrey arrived, and then the O'Hara clan, Sean, Tracey, Alyona, Tanya, Declan, Alexis, and Kimberley, along with Sean's sister Jamie, and her son Ian rounded out our head count at 21, plus us for 25. My how our Oregon family has grown. God has blessed us with loving families that we call our own. Bill asked how long we do kids' birthdays--I told him family birthday's never end...it's just how we choose to celebrate them. Brady suggested a Keg for Ryan's birthday next year...I told him we should wait a few years for that one!

We had a great evening with family, and our kids said after everyone left how lucky we were to have such great friends....most of this family has always been a part of our kids lives, and they (and we)appreciate that. It's neat to us to see our kids helping to take care of those kids that belong to those that used to take care of our kids. What a neat family we have. We appreciate all of your love and support to our family & kids....We Love You All!

PS. Tracey--thanks for getting all the great shots while I was busy! Love you! We're so blessed you have you guys as family!