Surprise!! Happy 11th, Lucy!!

First, I went even more picture crazy than normal here, because 11 year old girls with paintbrushes and palates are just terribly photogenic.

Now, all year, Clyde has been saying how he wishes he could have a surprise party.  So one day, I decided that I was going to do surprise parties for all of the kids this year just so that they can all say they've had one.  I was a little torn about Lucy, because she really loves to plan.  I didn't want to take that away from her.  But it was very easy to get her to talk about what she'd like, so it really wasn't a problem and made things very simple for me.

She wanted a painting party and she wanted to have sorbet and toppings from Menchie's. She told me who she wanted to invite.  So the day after Christmas, her best friends' mom invited Lucy to come play, so that Bobbi, Stephen, Iris, Clyde and I could get ready for this....

Here surprise face had Stephen and I worried.  It was just a blank expression.  But she said when she saw everyone and we yelled "Surprise" it made her light-headed.  She was actually quite excited after that, but even so, 'excited' on her face looks different than excited on most kids faces ;)

Us singing and Lucy blowing the candles out on her Honeydew Sorbet :)

Everyone digging in :)

After eating our Menchie's creations & opening presents (pictures of opening presents didn't turn out so wonderfully) the painting began!!

First we paint the canvases blue...

 I took many more pictures of this stage, but I'll spare you ;)  Had to check on Handsome, of course :D

 Then they did a chalk outline of what they would be painting.  The girls were most studious and concentrated!

Ok, I know I'm biased, but this is just sheer CUTENESS!

Checked on Clyde.  He was melting into the couch best he could, hoping I would not realize how much screen time he was getting ;)

Had to include these 2 pics!  What ARE those two talking about?

Then they started the "real" painting!

 I love this shot!

 Clyde's melting-in-to-the-couch technique was really quite skilled.  He earned a record 3+ hours of uninterrupted screen time for being so well camouflaged.

Stephen's finished product.  For some reason he didn't want to paint the pretty flowers!

The girls in all their artistic glory!  Finally got Lucy smiling :)  That makes me happy.  Is it me or does Iris look quite tiny here?! Meg might want me to inform you, in case you're looking insanely closely at the paintings, that she was not quite finished here.  They did let her finish :)  I very rudely interrupted her artistic talents to get a group shot.

Happiest 11th, my darling Lucy!!  You are an incredibly thoughtful, pleasant, and precious girl!!  I love you SO SO much!!

Christmas Afternoon

Christmas afternoon we drove to our house to have Grandad & Grandmom, Aunt Dyan & Uncle Brent, Uncle Bobby, Sherry and David again, and David's parents, Tim and Yvonne come over to celebrate with us.  We all poured into the house pretty quickly.

Some of us prepped the food and some hung out with the kids until it was time to eat.  Stephen, Bobbi and I had made some turkey, green beans and pork roast ahead of time, but our family brought everything else.  Easy and delicious meal. We spread it out all over the kitchen table...

But everyone had to carry it downstairs..We borrowed tables from our church, and everyone fit quite nicely into our playroom!!

Afterwards we hung out and had fun...

I adore this picture!!  But it is rather conspicuous how John is not there.  Left to right, Sherry, Bobby, myself & Dyan.

Then I remembered that we needed to open the gifts...and not just leave them under the tree!

Kids opening gifts from Mr Tim and Mrs Yvonne...

Them opening Christmas money from Nana...

and from Grandmom & Grandad...

trying to figure out the riddle to their big present from Grandmom & Grandad (Splash Country season pass!!)  They can't wait for winter to be over!

Aunt Dyan, Uncle Brent and Uncle Bobby gave the kids an easel with a chalkboard, dry erase board and paper roll along with art suppllies!  They were way pumped and have used this in a number of ways already!

Grandmom & Grandad passed flashlights and utility shears to EVERYONE, along with other special gifts for their kids ;)

Then they passed magic erasers out to everyone in honor of John...he had told Janet about how wonderful they were and showed her what you could do with them. :)

Then the adults started opening gifts from the kids...I couldn't get a picture of each one...they were either blurry or my camera wouldn't snap, but here's what I got...

Uncle Bobby opening colored pencils w/ bark on them from Clyde..

Grandmom opened a Julie Andrews Sings Broadway cd from Iris & Clyde and some fuzzy socks from Lucy...

The kids put their money together to get Nana some green patio lights...

Dyan hugging Iris for her soap.  All the kids got her some form of soap (Lucy got her purple soap rose petals) and this became a joke that they were hinting to Dyan that she needed soap :)  Which, of course, she DOESN'T!

Uncle Brent got a stylus from Lucy and his hollowed out book from Clyde and Iris...here Iris is showing him how he could hide Aunt Dyan's soap ;)

Grandad got a gardening magazine from Clyde and Iris and a custom sharpie-drawn coffee mug from Lucy.

All the "kids" went in together to surprise Grandmom & Grandad with an ipad :)  It was very fun!  They seemed truly surprised!

Stephen telling them about the ipad.

After Stephen returned the ipad to Grandad, Clyde suddenly decided Grandad's lap was the most comfortable place to be ;)

Then we celebrated Bobby & Lucy's birthdays!

Then we sat up David's tripod again, right outside my front door and took some group shots on the stairs.  :)

Everyone nibbled a little more food, chatted a little more then left.  We had a beautiful time celebrating the birth of our Lord!