More Reasons to Celebrate

Today we celebrated two family birthdays.

pic from here

My nephew, James Harrison, was born one year ago today.

Happy Birthday, 

sweet baby James!

(Though not so much a baby anymore, you are still sweet! :)

Despite some circumstances during my sister-in-law's pregnancy

- which caused us to intercede more fervently and indeed trust God supremely -

James arrived safely.  

He was beautiful and VERY healthy!  

As I've mentioned several times before,

James and our Claire are just one week apart.

Claire made her arrival first, and James quickly 

(to his mother's relief at that point, simply because he was such a big boy!)

made his entrance exactly a week later.

Here are a few pictures of James and Claire throughout their first few months together.

We headed to James' party this evening, and the kids were excited to get to watch a movie.

I actually let them watch 2!

 Because we got stuck in 5 o'clock AND "game day" traffic,

the normal 25/30 minute drive took a whole hour!

Though hungry, the kids were - thankfully - very patient. 

We finally got to the party. 

And unlike his female cousin, James thoroughly enjoyed his cake.

 Though eager to devour, 

he was very polite throughout the delicious ordeal. :)

And I wish I had a picture of the ice cream cake that 

Lynn made for the rest of us.

It was deee-licious!

Then , after bath and ready for bed, came time to open presents.

 Claire was showing James how to work his new toy.

She had actually gotten one just like it the week before.

So of course, she's a pro now! :) 

And along with our nephew,

today is also my father-in-law's birthday.

 Around here, he's affectionately known as "Pappy." 

Pappy is very talented; 

he sings, plays the guitar, writes songs,

 and can even beat you in checkers without looking!  

That's right, he can face his back to a checkerboard and WIN, 

simply by picturing the board (he uses a numbered one) and remembering the moves made.  

Pretty amazing, I'd say!

Below are some pictures of Pappy with his two grandsons.

His two sons joined the photo here.

Happy Birthday, Pappy!

Thank you for being a great father to my husband all these years.

You've also been a blessing as my father-in-law, as well as a grandfather to our children.

We love you very much.