Week of March 13 - Part II - Celebrations!

Thursday was St. Patrick's Day, and we went to our friend Megan's house for a party. The gorgeousness of the weather that day surpassed even that of the previous day, and we got some great pictures. The boys had a great time playing outdoors, and Henry made a new friend, Sam, who we are excited about. He seems temperamentally similar to Henry ("He's quiet like me, Mommy! I quiet sometimes.") Henry reminded me of his dear old Dad, clowning it up to impress the ladies that day. The girls were attempting to play jump rope, and he kept running headlong into the rope, disrupting the game and making them giggle (then making them giggle more by flopping down dramatically on the ground).

Friday was Charlie's big day...one year old! We didn't do a lot of celebrating that day; mostly we prepared for the party we had planned for Saturday morning. We went to Publix to buy provisions for party, and while we were there, we did tell every single Publix employee we encountered that it was Charlie's birthday. This won us A) lots of congratulations and B) a balloon for each boy from the man in the produce section. An hilarious moment came when he went to inflate the first balloon with helium and it burst with a loud bang. Henry and I laughed, Charlie looked startled, then laughed, too, and I screamed, "I'm hit!" when a piece of the balloon landed in my hair. The Publix man looked embarrassed but was good natured about it, as all Publix employees are about all things. It's kind of scary, actually. Friday night, Uncle Matthew, Aunt Carrie, and Baby Dylan arrived, having driven 300 plus miles just to attend the party.

Mamaw and Papaw Moore came Saturday morning in time for the party, having made the same journey, and our Sumner County friends arrived at 10:00. The weather was glorious, for an incredible fourth day in a row, and the kids were able to play outdoors after we ate. We sang happy birthday to the baby of the hour, and he seemed pleased. We gave him his own little cupcake to make a mess with, and he did, smearing it on his tray, on a little ball he had been holding, on his shirt, and in the general vicinity. He tasted the cupcake but did not eat much of it, giving me hope that Charlie did not get the sugar-is-crack-to-me gene that Henry and I, but not Russell, share. All in all, I think he enjoyed having a birthday party, and we enjoyed celebrating him. Here are the pictures: