The Rest of the Birthday Story...

Boy, where do we begin....it's been a full day!

We left the house at 9:30 to meet Jennifer at Costco to pick up Jason & Brooklyn. Jen & Brady are picking up their new trailer today, so it would be easier without 4 extra hands--plus, we love having them! We met at 10:15 and made a kid pass off without any problems in the pouring rain. The kids & I made the Costco rounds, and I was so thankful to have Ryan & Kristin along. It's been a long time since I've had little hands and help shopping! After our Costco trip, we hit the dollar store to pick up some extra things for our gift bags--Ryan felt there wasn't enough "Boy Stuff"--What I wasn't paying attention to was the things being put into the cart by Jason! We got to the register and I said "who put this in here"....Jason said "it's for Uncle Bill!"--We then headed to lunch at Burger King for Ryan's b-day lunch with Grandma Alice. I could tell the kids were hungry as well as getting tired. We finished up at BK, and then Ryan & Kristin went with Grandma Alice to go roller skating and Jason, Brooklyn & I headed to Walmart to finish up some grocery shopping for tomorrow's party. Oh my, did I miss Ryan & Kristin. The store was busy, and Jason was walking, running or jumping--after doing some puddle stomping on the way in to get me wet! We had a fun time picking out the "stuff" to go on the cakes and Jason has it all figured out how to put it all together, but he was a bit disappointed that Kristin doesn't want Diego on her cake! We finished up quickly, and were out of Walmart in a record breaking 30 minutes....10 of which was spent in the self checkout with Jason "helping" scan items...what was I thinking?!!! No self check with a 3 year old! We survived and ran out into another downpour, Jason stomping in puddles, trying to get me wet, giggling all the way. I opened the door, piled kids in out of the rain, loaded the truck, and jumped in myself, pretty soaked. We pulled out of Walmart, and made it a bit down the road when I looked in the mirror and saw Jason getting up out of his car seat. I said "Jason Lee--why did you unbuckle your car seat?" Fortunately, I was able to pull over and get out to buckle him. As I said to him never to unbuckle himself because I was afraid he would get hurt, and we would be so sad if he got hurt, he looked at me with a 'look' and said, "Aunt Shawnna, you are a goofball"

I said "why do you say that?",

He said "You forgot to buckle me!"

I almost cried and laughed at the same time. I sent up a prayer thanking God for his grace, and protection and for Jason's wonderful humor. The "car seat" fanatic messes up big time.

We rode the rest of the way home singing "Old McDonald" and having Jason make up the animals that we sang about. Brooklyn had great fun, and loved the "froggie" that Old McDonald had....yep, a Froggie! I only wish you could have heard the ribbit and the giggles. We made it home without anyone falling asleep (I still have that touch--no napping in the car to goof up the afternoon nap!), As we pulled in the drive, there were two doe at the apple tree, and they just looked up at us. Jason said "Aunt Shawnna--we need to shoot them!" I assured him that we weren't going to shoot them, but we did get out of the truck, and walked around the back of it, to get a good look at them to see the hop the fence as we were getting too close for their comfort. We headed in and got both kids settled and into bed. Brooklyn slept two hours and Jason slept a little over an hour. The kids arrived home just as Jason was waking up, and they picked up right where they left off.

We started dinner, and while dinner was cooking, we started on Kristin's cake. Jason, Ryan, Kristin & even Brooklyn helped put it all together. We had fun, and then while we ate dinner, the cakes (and a few small cupcakes) baked. The kids had a bath, and then Ryan, Kristin & Jason had a small birthday celebration icing their tiny cupcakes, and enjoying every bit of it. See Jason's picture to see how much he enjoyed it. Yes, he was wipeable and didn't need another bath!

Bill took this opportunity to give Ryan his "gift". Mind you, this gift was not my idea, I protested, but yet both Ryan & Bill got a great laugh, and we all know where Ryan gets his humor from.

We all headed to bed, and enjoyed our full day of fun. Check out the pictures...and I'm we'll catch you before the end of the weekend, as tomorrow is party day!