Happy Birthday Kate!

Kate's birthday is February 11th... although her celebrations started two days earlier on a Thursday.  Julie, Kate's teacher, arranged for her first celebration at the place where the kids take karate during the day.  Kate thought it was VERY cool that her cake was cut with a SWORD!!!  We laughed because Kate probably thought that all cakes are cut with swords.  :-)

Kate's celebration continued on Friday when Kate visited my school before her Friday babysitter picked her up.  Kate opened several presents from my co-workers and then celebrated with Erika!  By Friday afternoon Kate had opened five gifts already!

And time to cut the cake...

 

The kids were so excited
to see Aunt Wendy and
Uncle Dan on
Saturday morning!

Kate opened a few
presents when she woke up
on her birthday.

We had a big surprise in store for both kids for the weekend...  my sister, Wendy, and her husband, Dan, were flying in at 11:30 PM Friday for the big weekend.  Wendy had come for Brennan's fifth birthday too.  The kids went to bed and woke up Saturday morning to our special visitors!

Kate helped set everything
up before her friends arrived.

We headed over to Kenney's Gymnastics at about 9:30 AM for the party.  Brennan also had his fifth birthday party at Kenney's four years earlier.  Kate was SO excited!  Her friends arrived at 10:00 AM and everyone had so much fun bouncing, climbing, jumping, balancing... and finally eating some cake!

After the party we headed home to drop everything off and let Kate open her presents.  She was one happy little girl!  By the time the last gift was opened, we were all so hungry so we headed to Manchesters to eat lunch.  We rested at the house for a little while after lunch before heading to Frankie's Fun Park.

Getting ready for some gymnastics
fun!  There ended up being 17
children!

The theme was Hello Kitty!

Julie just climbed right in to
help the little ones across the
balance beam!  Thanks Julie!

We were very impressed with
Jeff's balancing skills- he and his
son made it across without falling
into the cheese pit!

Fun at Kenney's

The birthday girl gets a
trophy from  Kenney's!
FYI- we're trying to grow Kate's
bangs out... too bad they fall
straight forward!

Can you find Kate
behind all of her gifts???

Julie knows Kate well-
she was so excited about her
cheese puffs!

Kate loved her birthday girl shirt!  Thanks
Aunt Kim and Uncle Spyros!

Frankie's has so many things to do!

At Frankie's we played games, rode some ride simulators, exchanged our tickets for prizes, and then watched Wendy and Brennan play some Laser Tag.  Wow!  We had such a fun day!

On Sunday Kate wanted to go to Sunday School so we dropped her off.  The rest of us were a little lazier but we headed back to church to listen to Kate sing at the 11:00 AM service.  After that we headed to El Rodeo for lunch and then to Monkey Joe's Bounce House.  I think Wendy loved it even more than the kids!  We are so lucky in Raleigh to have so many fun options for entertainment. 

I actually think Wendy may
have had more fun than the kids!
She didn't want to leave!

After Monkey Joe's we headed to the Dollar Store where each child got $3.00 to spend. They had fun picking out more treasures.  We were all sad when it was time for Aunt Wendy and Uncle Dan to leave for the airport.  Wow!  We certainly had a lot of fun during their 41 hour visit! 

We gave Brennan a few quarters
to play the Claw machine at Monkey
Joe's.  He kept winning so we
gave him a few more quarters...

And here he is with all of his
winnings... plus he already had
given two stuffed animals to
some little kids.

Friends!

I have been wondering what to give up for Lent this year and then at church today the message was not "what to give up" but "what can bring you closer to God"?   The message was perfect...

Let me explain:
Anyone who knows me well, knows I am horrible at keeping in touch- I love them for understanding that about me.  There are also some friends that I have really let down because of my own stressful times and time restraints. I love that they can find it in their hearts to forgive me!   I always care about my friends and family but don't always show it well.  

The message at church this morning was perfect!  I don't have to give something up- I need to do more to show my friends and family how much I care!  So for the next 40 days I am going to do 40 things to SHOW everyone how much I care!  So many people are in my heart and on my mind every single day... but showing how much I appreciate them is something I need to do better!

I am so excited about Lent this year!  It means so much more to me than my previous 40 days of giving something up, which have included french fries and Oreos in past years (difficult at times but I was successful).  I hope the next 40 days will become a lifetime of me becoming a better friend!!

I do want to say thank you to so many people that hang with me no matter what!  You all mean the world to me and your guidance, support, laughter, and memories truly mean everything! God has blessed me with all of you and I do thank Him everyday!  With that said, I hope you all forgive me for my shortcomings... I always say my kids are a "work in progress" and the same is true of me!

As I said in an earlier post... one of my daily mantras is "Let me be patient, kind, loving, and sincere..."  I promise that my 40 days of "showing" truly comes with sincere and loving thoughts!

Thank you to all my friends and family! I do love and care about all of you!

Happy Lent!
Love,
DeAnna