Dad's Surprise 60th Birthday!

April 6th of this year Dad turned the big 6-0!! At first Mom was going to throw him a party at Brookstone Country Club, but dad really didn't want anything big...SO, we took that to mean, "let's throw him a big surprise party at the house!" With all the spare time we have (mom is a full time special education teacher AND was finishing her Masters on the weekends!! And I am constantly with 3 kids 4 and under...), we put together the whole party and had a lot fun doing it!

 The cute invitations! We went with a red, white & blue theme to celebrate dad's Delta colors...and because he's a pretty patriotic guy :)

 You can't have a 60th birthday cake without F-15s!!  Dad has had a pretty awesome career/passion in aviation from F-15s to B-757s to Cirrus planes...he's done it all.

 Here's a HUGE SHOUT OUT to BETHANY (& KYLE)!!  She's the event director/coordinator at Brookstone Country Club and without her and Kyle, the food would not have happened!  They were awesome at setting everything up, which is not an easy task with a one month old :)

 We had a nice spread of salad, scalloped potatoes, green beans, shrimp & grits, pork loin and rosemary chicken.  We also had hors d'oeuvres of cranberry chicken salad on cucumber rounds, a salmon display and chips, salsa & cheese dip :)

 The salmon display along with the chips

 We had two full bars with bartenders that served anything from tea (gotta have tea when you're in the south!), coke, wine, beer and a few liquor drinks.  One was up by the food and the other one was down on the "tree house" deck.

 Some of dad's friends!

 Dick & Denise Bierie...longtime neighbors down the street.  Tommy & their son Nick have been friends forever.

 Seesha & Say ready to party!

 Cute, cute boys

 Mike & Cathy.  This was their first time holding Kensi!  They already love her :)

 Sweet baby girl!  Kensi Lucille

 Mom saying hi to Ron & Anita Thomas (I've known them FOREVER!!  Laurie, their daughter, is one of my best friends so since 6th grade Ron has been making me pancakes after a sleepover! It's always fun to see them.)

 Dad's friends!

 Lauren, one of the bartenders.  Aidan was in love with her and kept her company most of the night!  When we asked him about it he got very shy and told us to "stop!!!" Haha, they start young I guess....praying for us to be able to handle TWO boys when they get to their teens!

 SURPRISE!!!  Tommy took Dad to golf at Barnsley Gardens that day, so this was right after they got back!  Dad thought we were just having a family birthday dinner, so we was very surprised that over 50 of his friends were there!

 They are so cute!!  Definitely blessed that Josh and I both have parents who have been married over 30 something years (I can't keep up once it gets that high lol!)

 Watching dad hug and say hi to all of his friends was really sweet.  

 Dad had friends from all over his life at his party...neighbors, old friends, new friends, pilot friends, work friends, family, you name it :)

 He's pointing at me saying, "you bought this crazy 60th necklace didn't you JC?!"

 More friends...

 Ron & Anita! So cute!  The older we get the more I can see Anita in Laurie!!

 Say didn't get the memo that this wasn't her party and she shouldn't cry...

 Me and Saylor girl with Dad!  She wasn't very happy...

 Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!! Gabriel's Bakery did a fantastic job on his cake!

 Singing Happy 60th Birthday!!

 Blowing out the candles

 Dad loved the F-15! It was made of fondant

 Dad was telling me that Dick ate a wing of one of the F-15s and it wasn't very good haha!  I said it was edible, but probably not great!

 The fam!  Roman, me, Josh, Dad, Mom, Aidan, Shelley, Saylor & Tommy

 Bethany and Miss Kensi! 

 Hanging out around the firepit

 Bethany, Kensi & Kyle!  I love these three :)

Siblings!

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY DAD!!  

Overall, the party was a huge success!  We surprised Dad, had beautiful weather, and spent the evening celebrating dad's life with all of his friends.  He is very blessed to have so many special people in his life and it makes you realize how precious this life that God has given us truly is.  Jesus, family, friends and all those people in your life, whether daily or those that you meet just for a day...that is what is important in this life.  We're thankful that we got to meet and see some of those people in Dad's life this past Saturday.  It was a GREAT party!  

We love you Dad!!

Easter 2013...eggs, fancy clothes & Jesus

Easter this year was a lot of fun and extremely eventful...both boys had Easter parties in their preschool classes, we colored eggs at Granddaddy's, we did an Easter egg hunt with Nana & Pappy, we had Easter morning, Church celebrating our Savior is Risen, lunch at Grandma & Grandpa's followed by dinner at our house.  Whew!  But is was fun!  Easter is one of my favorite times of year because of the obvious reason that Jesus was resurrected, but also that Spring is about to be here!

DYING EASTER EGGS AT GRANDDADDY'S

 Emily, Samantha & Aunt Joan (Joanie)

 Excited to be dying eggs!

 The usual gang at Granddaddy's (minus Big Em)

 You can't dye eggs without some Easter candy :)

 The final product :)

 My crazy little man

EASTER EGG HUNT

 We went to the Easter Egg hunt at Brookstone with my mom and dad, and this year it was really good!  They had the cutest baby animals!

 Such a diva...

 Honestly, I cannot believe that they let in a ton of little kids to "pet" all these poor animals!  Roman is chasing the bunny to pet it...would this be considered animal cruelty? Poor things!

 But, since we were already in there we pet a few bunnies :)

 Romie petting a bunny....our boys did really good to be sweet to the animals and we were only in there for a few minutes.  Those poor, poor animals and all those crazy little kids!

 Aidan loved the Easter Bunny...

 Smiling!

 Roman was not too sure of the Easter bunny and this was as close as he would get...

 no hug for you Mr. Bunny!  

 My sweet babies

 Nana, Pappy, Josh and the kids

 Our snuggle baby

 All the eggs!

 When the boys first started to run for the eggs they crashed into each other...

 but then they got into the rhythm!

 Aidan got a golden ticket in one of his eggs so he got a special prize!

AIDAN'S EASTER PARTY

 All the classroom eggs for Aidan's preschool Easter party

 Twins maybe?

 Aidan & Ms. Kelly....she's an amazing teacher!!

 Aidan and his best bud Gavin!  They're both wearing ties...too cute

 Reading the Easter Story and learning about Jesus

ROMAN'S EASTER PARTY

 Roman's class did a little dance for the parents...it was really cute.

 Kisses for Say

 Roman's class wasn't as organized as Aidan's so it was a free-for-all on getting eggs...guess who ran around and picked up 90% of them?

 He's fast!  They split them up evenly afterwards lol

 Cookie time...this kid loves desserts

EASTER DAY!

 The Easter bunny (who Aidan already thinks is me...smart little guy!) brought Easter baskets!

 Can't go wrong with CARS toys

 Lunch after church at Grandma & Grandpa's.  Say was being a diva...she was really happy 2 sec before this picture!

 Our sweet family!!

 I love this little girl!!

 Saylor and Grandma

 All dressed up for Easter!!  She loves fluffy tutu dresses, huge bows and necklaces ;)

 Take 1: fail...Say's mad again for Roman even touching her

 Take 2: Say's pushing her brothers out of the way to get the toy car, which she is obsessed with

 Take 3: Saylor is saying, "give me some room!!"

 Granddaddy and Aidan

 Grandpa!

 We did Easter dinner at our house with my family (well, just Tommy & mom!  Dad was flying and Shell was in Honduras) and The whole Rogers' family!

 Aunt Jill holding her granddaughter Kensi

 Roman is obsessed with Kensi

 Say and Kensi talking about how they're going to be best friends!!

 Uncle Jim, Tommy and the boys

 Kyle & Bethany...family of 3 :)

 The Rogers clan!

This man has had lots of practice with babies!

Easter was so much fun!  The boys loved decorating their eggs and finding them, they especially loved eating all the candy, and we loved spending time with family.  We are really blessed to have so much family so close to us, and it was extra special to have Jim, Jill & Kelli down here!  

We love and believe in our Savior Jesus Christ, so Easter is extra special because without His Resurrection, there would be no Christianity.  There would be no point because the proof that Christ's death was an effective substitutionary sacrifice for sins lies in Jesus' resurrection from the dead:

"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins..." 1 Corinthians 15:17

But there is GOOD NEWS:

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 20-22

Jesus is fully God and fully man that came down from His Glory into His creation so he could lead a perfect, sinless life and be the perfect, spotless sacrifice for all mankinds sin.  He died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected 3 days later, showing himself to many people before ascending into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God.  I know for some this sounds like a crazy, made up story...but Jesus is alive and working in peoples lives today.  He's working in ours. Start digging into the Bible, ask questions, ask God to show Himself to you and you will be amazed by His power, love and mercy.  

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11

I hope that everyone had a blessed and amazing Easter!!!