Happy Birthday, Uncle Chad

Uncle Chad turned another year older last week. The family had to postpone his birthday celebration, because a nasty stomach bug had taken up residence in Grace's tummy. So today, we took advantage of all six kids being at Grandma's house (she braved another sleepover with all of her grandkids so the parents could go to a fundraiser at the school) to hold a special birthday lunch for Chad. Complete with decorations!

We decided to forgo the kiddie table and all sat together to enjoy Grandma's famous lasagna.

Chad has been craving a cookies 'n cream ice cream pie so I did my best to oblige.

Afterwards, it was time for presents. The kids had been busy at grandma's house making a map to lead Chad to the hidden present, making cards and banners, and whipping up a gag gift, a bunch of paper scraps wrapped in tissue paper. I can't tell you how funny Taylor thought this was. I just love to see her laughing like this.

It was a nice Sunday afternoon spent with family. These kids don't know how lucky they are to have built-in playmates. But we do, and the blessings of this family never go overlooked.

Finally we decided to take a picture of all the cousins and, through the magic of photoshop, I was able to transform this:

Into this:

Let me know what you think. (There's room for comments below this sentence.)