A shout out for my mom on her birthday!

Over the years, our birthday celebrations have changed a little.  Instead of getting together and going out for a quiet birthday dinner, we've had to come up with some more kid-friendly ideas.  When you get 14 of us together including six children, we can get quite noisy! ;-)  

On Sunday, we all got together to celebrate my mom.

Let me tell you a little bit about her.  Retired teacher of first graders.  Mother to three, grandmother to six.  Wife to a retired machinist and police officer.  Teacher of Sunday School.  Choir member.  Cappuccino drinker.  Beach lover.  Hard core shopper.  Lover of luxury, yet compassionate giver.  Child of God, lover of Jesus.  My mom is awesome.

This year, we wanted to try something new.  Being the fun and creative person I am {insert sarcasm}, I suggested that we all meet at a place in Columbus called The Commons.  They have a huge indoor play area for kids of all ages.

I'm pretty sure it was a hit!  I was really sad because Levi had come down with the flu, so he and Eric stayed home.  But, the rest of us put on our happy faces and settled in for some family time!

{Travis missed the memo about putting on his happy face.}

I do have to admit that it doesn't take much effort for us to have fun together.

Heck, we even caught this guy turning that frown upside down a time or two! ;-)

Let me tell you about this little princess.  She is glued to my hip.  All.the.time.  You see the bottom of this picture?  That's my hip.  Yes, all the time!

Aunt Jenny thought she would be fun and force take her down the slide!

That only produced tears.  Ha!

And, true to his form, Uncle Travis terrorized her for a while.  That produced screams.

The other kids could care less about their ol' parents.  They took off climbing to the top of the climby thing and made Aunt Tracey a nervous wreck.  Griffin...

Emmy...

And, Bailey...

And, buddies Emmy and Casey wore themselves out on the slide!

Eventually Maggie even joined in on the fun, too. ;-)

Silly girls!

While we do love to let the kids play and wear off energy, we also like to eat!  Next on the agenda was dinner and dessert at Zaharako's.

Zaharako's is an adorable old fashioned ice cream parlor.  Eric and I ate there two years ago and we fell in love with it!

We were blessed to have a private room in the back.  {Or should I say that the other diners were blessed?! Ha!}

The parlor was covered with Christmas decorations and I just loved it!

We settled in for some wonderful food and, as always, some light entertainment from the kids!

I can honestly say that I adore my family.  When we are all together, it's just easy.  Fun.  And, sure, we probably annoy each other, but we don't care!  We love each other anyway.

And, yes, folks...we caught my dad smiling twice in one evening!  You saw it here!  ;-)  We all know that my dad is a quiet man.  A man of few words.  But, when it comes to his family -- especially his grand kids -- he is passionate.  And he smiles...a lot!  You can't really celebrate my mom without celebrating my dad.  They are a package deal!  He loves and takes care of her in the most precious ways.  They are truly a great, godly model for their children.  I could not love them more.  Period.

After dinner, we were ready for some yummy desserts.  Sundaes, special ice cream cups with sprinkles, and large brownie sundaes for two...whatever we chose, it was wonderful!

I'm so glad that we had this evening together to celebrate my mom.  {This picture here made me miss my little Levi. :-(  I really wish that he'd been well enough to join us!}

MOM - I hope you know how deeply we love you.  You inspire us.  You love us unconditionally.  You challenge us.  You show us grace and you are always a good example to us.

My prayer is that we will leave a legacy behind that will make you proud.

Happy Birthday to the best Mom and Grammy ever!  We love you so much!!