Happy Birthday, LL!

Yesterday was LL's birthday! It just so happened that this year his birthday fell on a Thursday, which is his day off, so we had a whole day to celebrate! It also turned out to be a GORGEOUS day here, so we were able to spend a lot of time outside!

First order of business: hanging up Collette's swing! We didn't have any chains to hang it up on a tree branch near her play house, but she was so excited to swing that we used the chain hooks that had previously held up our bench swing in the grape arbor (before we moved it to our front porch). Collette didn't seem to mind!




After playing outside, we went down the the farm for lunch with LL's entire family-- all of his siblings, his parents, grandmothers, and all of the cousins were able to come! It was a fabulous meal and such a great time to spend with the entire family.

A typical sight at a family dinner-- LL's parents just got a new dining room set, and now have a long bench for the kiddos. We are just missing Autumn in this picture (she came later). And they are almost in birth order, too!

Isaac (4), Oliver (4), Karen (2.5), Tabby (2.5), Teddy (15 mo) and Collette (17 mo):


LL's mom made a fabulous Lemon Poppy seed Angel Food Cake for his birthday, and the kids helped him with the candles:


And, because of LL's deep love of (obsession with?) bacon, I made Chocolate-Bacon cupcakes. Oh yes I did. With real farm bacon in the cake and on the icing. And I must say, they were fabo!


Super tired, super serious Collette helping Daddy blow out his cupcake candle:


The girls love playing together, and now Collette is old enough to really join in the fun!
Tired girls watching TV in Pap's chair:


Playing "baby" in the play pen:


Since it was such a nice day, Niki got the idea to get kites for the kids so they could fly them outside. It turns out that kite-flying with dollar kites is a little bit challenging and perhaps beyond the skill level of some of the kiddos, but they all had fun playing in the(empty)cow pasture and trying to fly them!





After a much-needed nap, Collette and I gave LL his birthday present. Collette gave him a picture she had colored:


And she helped Daddy open his gift:



A Kindle! Hopefully he will get lots of use out of it on our upcoming trips :o)


We ended the day by going out to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant near our house. We were a little worried about how Collette would do after her long day, but she had taken a great nap and we decided to try it. And she was GREAT! She was happy and entertained herself (and everyone around her) the whole time. We don't have any pictures of our dinner, but it was a great way to end the day. Happy birthday, LL! :o)