Celebrating Grandma and Paige's Birthday (Early)

Grandma was turning 80 this month and so we made it a priority to celebrate her birthday early. Don had me talked into buying a cake this year, but Kayla talked us back to making it. The kids all decorated it. 

The finished product:

Up close:

Then the Youngs, except Paige all headed towards Greenfield while Rebekah, Paige and I waited for Don to get off work. We all met up again, with grammy, at Steak 'n Shake. Apparently it's a Walker family tradition.

We start 'em young.

The crew:

After dinner we headed to grammy's and took lots of snuggly pictures.

Henry fell asleep in the car, so we skipped him for the time being....

And went right to Rebekah.

Henry woke and we went straight to the party. Rebekah decided we should get grammy the Disney Princess Cup Cake Game. She assured us all it was what she really wanted.

We got Paige (whose birthday was actually closer than grammy's at this point) a Disney Princess create your own necklace set. It was well received.

Grammy went for the card

And the money. I think Paige truly gasped how much money that was.

Kayla and family gave grammy some picture frames, complete with pictures of the cute kids, and an UNO game.

Then there was cake.

Complete with the "80" candles.

Happy birthday grammy!

Then we ate cake and sat around for a long while.

But eventually it was time to go. Kayla and family were staying at grammy's so there was much cuddly goodbyes in store for Don.

Rebekah could not be left out.

Henry takes a lot of warming up, but Don still had a nice one on one with him before we left. 

More Young Time

We did an early trip to the park Monday morning. It's crazy how every parent is different. While Don or I would never have done this with Rebekah, Paige and Josh seemed to have a great time. 

Every piece of equipment was tried out.

Henry's quite the climber.

I had promised sweet rolls. The girls were kind enough to assist.

The results were fabulous.

After lunch, Don took the rest of the day off to play with us. We all went to Kid's Commons. It was pretty entertaining. Who wouldn't love being inside a giant bubble?

Apparently all this action tired Don out. He found himself a nice tree and took a quick nap.

Such a cutie.

These girls had a great time.

Upstairs there was a grocery store. The kids when shopping.

Grandpa played the part of the cashier.

Josh couldn't resist the pipe building station.

Then we had to return to the bubbles.

I headed home earlier than the rest of the group to make dinner. My mom's mac and cheese recipe did not disappoint. After dinner the kids picked up where they left off.

And then all the girls sat with grandpa / dad and read The Essential Frozen book, all the while explaining who everyone was to grandpa / dad. He was a very patient student.

After all that girl time, grandpa still had time to play cars with Henry.

Such a wonderful time!

Kayla and Family Visit!

Kayla and family came out early July and stayed with us for a few days. Bless them for making that drive!

Mom / grandma came down the day they were due to await their arrival. While she was waiting she  made her famous spaghetti dinner. They finally arrived and there was much food and rejoicing.

After dinner, mom left and the kids played and played. Soon it was time for bed. They all piled in the one room and hoped for the best. Looks pretty snuggly to me.

Sunday was church followed by dinner and more playing. I tried to get come action shots to capture the fun moments.

After a while we went took the party outside to a park.

Then we all realized it was way too hot and brought the party back home. Makenna practiced her climbing skills.

Which apparently tired her out just enough for a book with grandpa.

We ate left over spaghetti for dinner. Makenna has this eating thing down.

Then we went on a walk / run to work off dinner.

There was even some sprinkler action thanks to our newly acquired lawn.