'til the numbers end...

I couldn't resist putting up another picture of Selah just happy to be enjoying someone else's birthday. She's just happy to be there getting yummy food and lots of entertainment. Here she is eating everyone's pizza crust. When we were done with our pizza, we would throw her the crust. She loved it!

Here we are at the after party. Little did Eliza's friends know, after they left is when things really got going!!! Pretty motley crew, eh?

Here we are celebrating another birthday! This time, however, we invited friends other than our brothers and sisters. Eliza had a wonderful time with her school friends. They played every game you could imagine and ran around the house screaming half the time. One of my friends came over and took the boys so we could have a girl pajama party with no silly boys hanging around. For her "cake" she requested mini brownies from Costco. I made frosting so they could frost and sprinkle them. We also had pizza and soda. Tomorrow is the ward Halloween party. I don't think we are going to be getting enough sweets these next couple of weeks!

Here is Ira putting sprinkles on his cake. The cake was still warm, so they had to frost them individually and add the sprinkles themselves. Of course they loved that! They are all now showered/bathed and sleeping snug in their beds. Time to clean up the mess!

Grandma and Grandpa Smith sent some balloons that the children couldn't get enough of. There are so many birthday's that happen around here, and we never get sick of them. There is always so much good food and fun!

Here she is eating as fast as she can.

Selah is very happy to be celebrating Ira's birthday. Mostly because she gets cake that will soon be all over her.

She loves smiling for the camera. She is walking all the time now. She prefers that to crawling. Matt will be surprised when he gets back.

Things have gotten a little crazy since Papa has been gone.

Emma and I decided to take a picture for papa before we left for church. We don't want him forgetting what we look like! We don't know when he's coming home, but we hope it's soon!!!

Matt and I are on a coed softball team right now. I was playing third base and a guy was up to bat. He hit the ball a little over my head a million miles an hour. The ball hit my ring and pinky fingers and gave me a fat hand. This all happened in the first inning. I did manage to get up to bat three times and hit them all out to the outfield...only one of them was caught. I am paying for it today. I am in a lot of pain and our next game is tomorrow. I am going to play though! I'll never get these rings off!

Happy Birthday!!! Papa and Selah are eating cake in this picture while our own personal Budah sits in the middle of the table. Look at that belly! We had a fun day of church and lots of food. Matt requested eggs and sausage for breakfast. I made that, grits, and toast with homemade bread. For dinner he wanted enchiladas. We are all very full and ready to relax.

Selah is enjoying her opportunity to shove cake in her face as fast as she possibly can. I think she's afraid that at any moment I will take it away. She loves all kinds of food and she doesn't often get much of the sweet stuff. I made a spice cake with whipping cream for icing. The birthday boy and girl devoured all that they could while we all watched.

After Selah licked her plate clean, she saw me with my cake and started toward me. Her expression is that of longing and impatience.

Papa came home a day early from his work trip that lasted a week. We decided to make it a surprise for the children. The children and I were sitting on the front porch, watching the fire flies and wishing on the first star of the night when Matt turned on his car siren and approached the house. The children were confused at first and then realized that papa was home!!! They all ran to the car yelling, "Papa's home, papa's home!" They gave him hugs and came promptly to our bedroom for their "prizes". Every time Matt goes on a trip he comes back with something for everyone. This picture is of them waiting for Matt to open his bags and call each one to him to give them their prize. They were all very happy. Eliza got a box of High School Musical Cereal, Savannah got some chocolate breakfast straws, Emma got some much needed jeans and shirts, Brower got an iron man action figure, and Ira got a cool airplane that shoots off a gun and flies around. I must ...

I think Brower is pretty much over the phase of letting the girls dress him up to look pretty. Ira, on the other hand, thinks it's pretty cool to be the center of attention. I don't think he gets that we are laughing AT him, not with him. At least right after he got the pink gymnastics uniform on he went straight to the back yard, filled a cup with dirt, poured water on it, and started playing in the mud. I guess I have nothing to worry about. So what if he likes pink!