Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Last Friday was Andy's Mom's birthday!!!! We made a last minute decision to just 'show up' at her house, to surprise her for her birthday! So we packed, and packed and then drove 3 1/2 hours south and when we pulled into the driveway, Rebekah was outside. She took us in the front door and Andy's mom was coming up the basement steps when the girls said "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" What a fun surprise it was, for everyone!

The above picture was taken just prior to us leaving to go HOME to WI....(we didn't even think to take photos when we arrived!) The girls were all excited to have new headbands and we came home with a few handfuls of new bows for our collection!

For an unplanned trip, we had a good time! The girls did some jewelry beading with Andy's Mom, Ellie and Andy went to see Jimmy swim at the conference swim meet ("Mom...they were FAST swimmers!!!!") the girls learned how to play Skip-Bo, we discovered cool toys that Rebekah has.....and there was also some wii playing....

Above, Ava is playing boxing on the wii. As you can see, she gets very into it! :)

And Colin...he also discovered the Skip-Bo game....so THAT'S why it was suddenly so quiet....

Many of you know that Colin has never been a great traveler. He did not cry at all in the van this time (1st time we've trekked without crying EVER in 21 months!), but he still didn't sleep well. After the first night, we switched the room arrangement up a little--Andy had a "slumber party" with brother Jimmy and then Ava and I had a slumber party with Colin. At 4am, Colin's night was "done" when he lost his pacifier and we all cuddled in bed together. If you know our family, you know our kids don't ever sleep anywhere but their beds....so it was very fitting that I captured the above picture--this is what I woke up to--Ava and Colin snuggling!

This photo is of Sunday morning's breakfast--homemade donuts! YUM YUM. Ellie has never had a donut. I remember trying to make them from scratch a long time ago and they were nasty. She says she remembers something yukky from Wal Mart that was supposed to be a donut; it must have been so yukky that I've removed it from my brain! At any rate, we've never had success in finding something tasty that doesn't have milk in it. HOWEVER....Andy's Mom created safe donuts!!!! They were very tasty too! She found safe breadstick dough, made them into a circle, fried them a bit and then dipped them into cinnamon sugar. YUMMMMMMY. Ellie absolutely loved them!

And finally....we got home in time for Andy to un-pack, re-pack, and fly out of town....he's enjoying the 50 degree weather in South Carolina while we watch the non-stop snow fly in WI. And Colin? Well....his shirt says it all......Happy Valentine's Month, everyone!!!