Birthday!

Luke turned 26 last Saturday, October 30. Last year, when he turned 25, I had wanted to surprise him with a big quarter-century party, but with a new baby around it just didn't happen. This year, however, I pulled it off. Our dear friends the Niles agreed to host, and last week was spent in secret phone calls, visits and much conspiratorial discussion. It was exhausting! Luke gave us quite a bit of trouble trying to actually get him to the party - he wanted to come home and stack firewood instead. Silly man. ;) But we managed to get him there, and he was completely surprised!

Don't worry, no harm came to him, though there had been some talk of throwing a pillowcase over his head and beating him with wiffle ball bats. But no one tried anything violent. Instead, he was decorated with leis.

 

The ribbon says, "I am 2!" Apparently there was also an "I am 6!" ribbon but it was misplaced before the party. So Luke got to be 2 all night. Our friend Scott thought that was a good idea, as he told me beforehand that he thinks Luke is getting self-conscious about his age. Again, silly man.

Luke enjoyed his thoughtful gifts, as well as the wrapping paper. I don't know why he thinks he's getting older. Maybe he really is 2. ;) (This is only the last in a long line of pictures of Luke with gift wrap of some sort on his head. I think we have a picture from each of the Niles girls' parties of Luke with wrapping paper, bags, or bows on his head.) For the third time... silly man. ;)

 As usual, Clara was the belle of the ball. She got to stay up late playing with friends, stole some of her Daddy's decor, and got her very fashionable beads from somewhere, I have no idea where. She loved walking around the house swinging the long necklaces back and forth.

It was so much fun to celebrate my wonderful husband with sweet friends that have been such a blessing to us over the past year. We had a huge, yummy dinner (7 lbs of pot roast, 11 lbs of sweet potatoes made into casserole, and 4.5 lbs of roasted broccoli, along with crusty bread and a big green salad), watched a hilarious slideshow of Luke, put together by Lauren Niles (I'll try to see if I can post it later), and enjoyed each others' company.

Happy birthday honey! I love you more than anything and am more thankful for you every day!