Happy Birthday, Mr. William!

Today after church, we came home & got some finishing touches done for dinner. Yesterday I had told Mom & Dad to come over for Sunday dinner since their house is all torn up. I had done some creamy crock pot chicken before we left for church and just cooked some rice and broccoli to go with it. I also decided we needed to have a cake for dessert, so I got my best little helper to assist me w/ the cake making. I love that she is wearing mismatched princess shoes (one is Cinderella’s glass slipper and the other one is a Snow White high heel). What could be more of a highlight in a kid’s day than to get to lick the spatula? I am so glad that Mom always let us do that and that I can do the same for Autumn. I hope that will always be something fun we can share together.

I was happily surprised when Mom called and said to set a few more place settings b/c we had 3 more guests coming. We got to have Nate, Nick M. & Mr. William come over. I can’t even begin to describe how happy it made me to have the formal dining room table surrounded. My philosophy is, “the more the merrier,” and even though I hadn’t planned on three more mouths to feed, there was plenty of food to go around. And at first there were the 6 of us and we ended up with 8 once Dad & Nick got there. An even better surprise was when Mom said it was Mr. William’s birthday, and I had just happened to bake a cake before everyone had gotten there!

He really didn’t want us to sing to him and doesn’t like to be the center of attention, so he kept rolling his eyes while we sang, but that just made us sing louder and we even harmonized at the end of the song. We were glad that we could share his birthday with him. We kept joking that we may not be much, but at least we’re better than him sitting in a hotel room alone. We said it’s good to be around friends and he said, “you’re more than friends…you’re family!” That made me so happy b/c we feel the same way about him and just wish that Mrs. Liz & the puppies could have been with us, too.

Mr. William let Autumn “help” him blow out the candles. They got it in one shot. I wonder what they wished for? I could not believe how old Mr. William was turning, b/c he does NOT look that old at all!

Here’s the happy crew. I wish Lex & Jon & Andrew could have been there, too. After we ate and got everything all cleaned up, we all went in the living room and a few of us took a cat nap and then we watched America’s Funniest Home Videos and Extreme Home Makeover. It was a great Sunday afternoon and my heart was so happy b/c my home had been full of good food and good company. We need to do things like this more often b/c it brings me so much joy. I hope people will always feel welcome and comfortable and at home when they’re here.