Busy Times

There are several dates in February that are significant to us. Of those, a few fall in quick succession. There's Valentines Day which is coincident with Cousin Kayden's birthday. Then, a few days later, there is Desmond's birthday, and then a few days after that it's Emma's birthday. Oh my.

For Valentines Day Desmond and Emma painted a nice big card to supplement Pop's flowers as gifts to Mom.

This was Emma's first time painting on this easel, so we gave her some time to get acclimated.

Desmond stood by and waited for his turn to help, but it was often too hard not to stand quietly. He always has an opinion about how he feels things should be done, and Emma got an earful.

Eventually though D was allowed to paint alongside Emma, and he showed her the "proper" way to do things. I was expecting there to be a big fight about who's side was which, or this person is touching the other too much, or this person is using my paint, etc. You know...the sort of thing that usually happens when these two try to share something. But they did very well painting together, and whenever things started to escalate I just suggested that they switch sides. This worked pretty well, but the paint started to get a little thick in places. So thick that it was hard to resist putting your hand in it...just to see what it feels like.

And that is paint on Emma's nose...not blood. Yeah, no blood; a testament to how well things went.

Jen was given her flowers and her card, but didn't get much time to enjoy them because we had to head north to celebrate Kayden's birthday. Originally the plan was to attend Kayden's party, and then later that same day, we were going to have another small party for Desmond and Emma. This was because none of the Nebraska folk were going to be able to attend the other party that was being held for D and E in Kansas. Anyway, poor Kayden got sick and couldn't have his party, but he started to feel better enough to come to the other party that day. Confusing? Well, in the end we had one party at Grandpa and Grandma's house for all three kids.

It was dog-themed.

I agree with Desmond...dog themed? What's the reason for a dog theme? Well, originally we had tossed the idea around of getting D a dog for his birthday. That idea was scrubbed, but it seems that the theme was carried over.

First we had a nice, fun meal. I wish I could remember what Emma and Desmond were talking about when this picture was taken, but it looks like Emma is holding her own. After the meal there was to be cake...but not soon enough for Emma.

Soon there would be cake enough for everyone.

D and E even had dog costumes for the party. I know, it's too much. But they had fun, and they are excited to wear the costumes for next Halloween.

Kayden brought his cake over so that he would have some candles to blow out. As the evening went on it became pretty obvious that he was not feeling well, but Kayden was a trooper. I seem to remember that he blew out his candle two or three times. Unfortunately he has not perfected the act of blowing, and some little kid sick germs made it onto the cake. After that it really was Kayden's cake...all of it.

D and E blew out their candles too.

After cake Diamond D tried to give an impromptu concert. He was told that he was singing into a speaker, but he had to spend some time convincing himself that it was not in fact a microphone. He tried and tried, but, alas no microphone.

Of course there were presents.

And balloons.

But this post is long enough now...stay tuned for details on the other party and the ski trip!