Sam's Birthday

For Sam's birthday we decided to go on a little hike since it was such a beautiful day. As we went to back out of our driveway, there was this weird sound and the car wouldn't move. We thought we were running over something, but when we got out to look, we saw that Nathan had put a rock in the wheel. Awesome.

And it was pretty big, too!

I didn't get any good pictures from the hike, but the kids had fun running around, and once we got to the top they loved putting their feet in the water.

When we got home, we put the kids down for naps and we took a nap too! How nice! 

When we woke up, we did some yard work. While we were out there Sam said "If anyone had told me when I was younger that I would want to spend my birthday doing yard work, I would have thought they were crazy!"

We took the family out for dinner, and after only one spilled cup of water we were back home and frosting the cake. When I asked Sam a few weeks ago what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said "I want a really rich chocolate cake, like Bruce Boggtrotter." (From the movie Matilda)

I don't think his cake really rivaled Bruce's, but it did the job.

Ellie kept telling me that we had to have hats for Daddy's birthday, so we got hats. And they were pretty cute! 

We did cake, ice cream and presents, and we all went to bed completely sugar-buzzed. Happy Birthday, Sam!

An Obsession

I daresay we have a rock lover in the family. And I don't use the word "lover" lightly. I think there may be a slight obsession, actually.

It's this girl:

Miss Ellie Rose.

On Saturday we took a little hike up Cress Creek Trail. Do you know how long it takes to hike a mile on a gravel road with a 2-year-old that is obsessed with rocks? Let me just say - it takes a long time.

Exhibit 1:

Admiring the rocks next to the part of the path that was paved. She was saying "Rock! 'Nother one! 'Nother one rock!"

Exhibit 2:

Carefully putting the rocks in a straight line. "One, two, one, two."

Exhibit 3:

Looking at the "big rock" with daddy.

I can't tell you how many times she stopped to pick up rocks and stick them in her pockets, or to stack them, or to simply point them out to us. 

Oh, hey! Nathan and I were there, too.

Last night on our after-dinner walk she stopped at every flower bed along the way that had a single rock in it. She also bent down in the middle of the road and tried to pick up the rocks that were mixed into the asphalt. She would have brought home every rock we encountered along the way if we would have let her. 

Silly girl. We're so glad she is in our family.