thanksgiving break & a lovely belated birthday

we had a fantastic thanksgiving break with Ryan's family - it was such a fun week to realx and recharge the batteries.

one day we went to this mini indoor water park - which totally rocked!

bel loved it and played for hours past her nap time without lunch and was happy as a clam - as were her parents - we all enjoyed the water slides and splashing around in the middle of winter - so fun!

the next day we went to the science center, which has all sorts of neato stuff...

a 5ft pin head wall - this is bel's handprint in mine a giant ribbon dancer suspended from the ceiling

bubbles

building rockets, with a little help from bel, mine was superior - what some might call a crooked top cone placement was really what created the extra lift to get to make it go farther, faster - thanks babycakes!

one of these electric ball things

of course her favorite things were free - the escalator and the lockers. (we had to drag her away crying)

where are bel & benton???

here's benton

oh no you don't cousin - here comes the diva

i didn't document my favorite part of the week, which was just sitting around chatting and playing games with everyone. I love it when we are all together in the same space just enjoying each other's company - it's what life is all about - thanks everyone!

This year Ryan's birthday landed on Thanksgiving - I feel bad that I hardly acknowledged this on his special day so tonight we had a little family celebration.

pretty cake (unfortunately it looks better than it tasted)

make a wish!

to celebrate - here are a few of my favorite things about my favorite friend...

-he wants to rasie chickens someday too

-he eats peanut butter with a fork straight from the jar

-he makes me smile and laugh when i don't want to but desperately need to

-he makes time for his girls everyday

-he's got a soft heart and a firm caboose

and oh how i love him so!