Birthday Party Time

I know…I’m behind, LOL…I’ll get my Thanksgiving pictures up later :)  I’m keeping things chronological!

Ethan had a bowling party for his birthday. It was a blast for him and (hopefully!) his friends, too!

Taylor

Curtis (the kid was in perpetual motion…I’m just glad I got as good of a picture as this one, LOL!)

Uriah

Jayden

Trey

Cameron (and Dad)

Rachel

AND….

Ethan!

Ron bowled some when Cameron was just too tired to bowl any more (he and Rachel had been at a lock-in the night before and were up all night.)

Ron gave some bowling tips,

but it backfired when Rachel beat his score!

 

Pizza

presents

and friends

make for a GREAT Birthday party!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

Guess who has a birthday today? 

An ELEVENTH birthday!

At 8:31 (ish…I know…bad mom….) on November 19, 1998, Ethan Andrew was brought into our family.  He completed us.  We were so thrilled to have him be a part of our lives.

In 11 years, a great deal has changed for all of us.  We still live in the same home, which is awesome!  We have many of the same friends. ..  But lots of changes.  School colors/song/mascot have changed.  We now whole grade share with our neighbors from grades 6-12 (big move for Eman next year!) We’ve traveled to different parts of the country.  A grandma has died.  Mom has gone to work at the school…Ethan has 3 older siblings that can DRIVE (and one that has left home for college!  (blessed child…Caleb caled his little brother tonight to wish him a happy birthday…what a kid!)

Ethan is greatly loved.  He’s loved by his siblings (even though they might disagree at times…they really are good big brothers and a sister!)  He is loved by his school and church classmates and friends.  He’s loved by his cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents (and we can’t wait to see some of them next week and the rest of them next month!)  And of course, he’s dearly loved by his old mom and dad!  He is one of the joys of our lives!

Ethan has a personality that just makes you grin.  He almost always has a grin on his face.  He’s a jokester and enjoys being the life of the party.  He has a helpful spirit (when he isn’t being pulled away from video games, LOL) and he likes to have a bit of friendly competition in the sports field.

I can’t begin to express how blessed we are to call this boy “son”.  He jut makes me smile!

I baked and frosted the brownies…big sister, Rachel decorated with icing and sprinkles!

 

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY, Ethan Andrew!

You are LOVED!

Go Hawks!

Last weekend was family weekend at Iowa. We all went down on Friday night and ate ate Buffalo Wild Wings…a family favorite!  Cameron spent Friday and Saturday night with Caleb in his dorm room, and then Caleb got him a ticket to the big game on Saturday.  It was a sad day for the Hawkeyes as they lost their first game all season (AND their quarterback…ack!)  But the two boys had a great time together at the game.

oh the MASS of people in black and gold!  Cameron thought it was cool on the walk back to the dorm that it was just one continuous moving mass of black and gold.

Rachel

Rachel often doesn’t care for her school pictures and usually wants me to take some for her.  We had a few minutes of “mostly” daylight left on Thursday after school, and here are some of the better shots of the day.

I think this is my favorite.

of course…I love her giggle/grin in this one…

but then there’s this one…

oh and I love this one!

ok…so maybe I don’t have a favorite…I can’t just choose one!

THEN, after I got them all uploaded…I started playing . I love the B&W look…(It’s difficult to see, but I left the blue sparkles on her necklace blue.)

And I really like  the way this one looks with just her shirt in color…

Then I started in with my Virtual Photographer.  It’s a great little toy to play with.  It puts filters on your pictures.  And…the program is FREE!

Oh, and then there is this next one.  But don’t tell Rachel I showed you this one.  It isn’t her favorite picture :)

but this one is!

I just love this girl and her enthusiasm for life!