Celebration Weekend

The past weekend was truly one of the most perfect of my life. This morning, I've been trying to think of how to summarize it, and as I've been looking through the photos, I realized the smiles do it for me. I suppose the best way is to just begin at the beginning.

First, I was (finally) excused from jury duty Friday! When Brad got home from work, we headed North with the first stop being Grandma Pat's and Grandpa Kevin's:
There was a polka dot party to be had!

I would say her wishes came true. Look at these three girls:

Issa loves her big cousins, and she also loves jamming out:

In case you were wondering, we were singing along with her new Journey cd on the way to Papa Don and Grandma Nancy's. We arrived to find the basement decorated for a princess party:

Yes...Issa is trying to catch the ribbon in her mouth. The kids had a great time playing basketball, too, before there was more cake and more wishing:

And then ribbons became Rapunzel hair:

And cousins tried to create a secret handshake:

Evan wanted to be as big as his cousin, and my heart melts when I see this big boy (who I remember being Evan's age) play so patiently with my little boy. And then Papa Don taught all of the kids to play marbles:

It was proclaimed better than video games and now everyone wants their own sets of marbles.

We then headed further north to Nana and Papa Rich's, where Evan got a lawn mower ride:

It was almost too much excitement. And Granddaddy and Grandma Judy came for a visit:

I will probably be in trouble for posting these pictures, but it was one of the highlights of my weekend. He brought gifts for each child that I remember from when I was little (although I wasn't allowed to touch them):

I never get tired of listening to his stories, and I am so grateful that he shares them with my children. There is a book there, and it may be my next project.

A pink poodle in Paris party was next, and Issa was in all her glory. Aunt Shannon made sure she was extra sparkly for the occassion, and we brought our stuffed poodles to help decorate:

This one doesn't need explanation:

Love it--love them. Nana and Papa Rich also gave our little rock star her first guitar:

It was the first thing she reached for this morning, and she has a very natural strum. She made me promise I would start teaching her chords tonight. And of course, there was one more cake and a wardrobe change into poodle pajamas:

That smile says it all: perfection.

It was the simple joys this weekend: snuggling Grandma Pat, playing marbles, singing and playing guitar with Nana, laughing and telling stories, crowding the whole extended family into the kitchen and barely fitting while we prayed, family traveling hours to celebrate with us. Issa proclaimed it the best birthday ever, and I have to agree. She is so loved, and we are so blessed.