Mom's 60th Birthday!

My Mom turned 60 years old earlier this month. It's kind of strange to me because I remember her 40th birthday party pretty well (I was a teenager), and now she's 60? It seems to me like my parents should still be in their late 40s! 

My Dad turned 60 about a year and a half ago, and we had a small celebration for him. By celebration, I mean that my brother and his family, my sister and her family, and my family all came to visit for the weekend and went to a special lunch. We decided to do pretty much the same thing for my Mom's birthday. Only this time, my Granny was also able to join us. 

We ALL live in a different state than my parents, so when we all come to visit at the same time the house is pretty crowded and busy. My parents have a four bedroom house, so each family gets a room when we're all there together. Well, since my Granny was also there this time, that meant we were one bedroom short for Friday night (my sister and her family had to head home on Saturday evening since my BIL is a preacher). As a solution to the bed/bedroom issue, Chris and I brought our air mattress and slept in the living room with our kids. It was pretty crazy, and not really something I think I want to do again :-).

Chloe Jo and Brianna before bed Friday night

On Saturday, we headed to Lambert's Cafe for lunch. This place is a fun experience and the same place we ate for Dad's birthday. JT had actually been at a camp until late the night before, so he and Shawna met us at the restaurant. Due to the size of our group, we sat at two tables. 

Brenson insisted on sitting at Grampy's table (which is not where Chris and I were sitting). Here he is with Uncle Jeremy and JT.

And now on the other side of the table with Grampy, G-Jo, and Granny Tiger.

One of the most fun things about Lambert's is that they throw hot rolls across the dining room to whoever wants one. Unlimited hot rolls? Yes,  please! I always let Chris catch my rolls for me (because if I was trying to catch them they would undoubtedly end up on the floor!), but it's still fun to watch them being thrown!

This photo is too funny to me! I love these girlies!

After lunch, we went outside to take a few family photos. It's photos like this that remind me so harshly of Pappy's absence. We certainly missed him, but were so happy that Granny was able to be with us!

This is not the best family photo we've ever taken (it's kind of terrible, actually), but that's life with littles for sure!

My sister's little obviously wasn't feeling photos, either!

My brother and his wife now have two teenagers!

We all headed back to my parents' house for cake and gifts after lunch. We had ordered a cake for the occasion from a local grocery store bakery. When we picked up the cake that morning, we were less than impressed with how it turned out. I mean, look at the writing on the cake! You can't see it in the photo, but the words were actually written (scrawled?) in white icing, then traced over (sort of ) with purple frosting. It was also smashed on the front side when the bakery gave it to us. They ended up not charging us for it, but we were really disappointed in it anyway. AND, to make matters worse, it didn't even taste that great :-(.

We sang Happy Birthday to my Mom then had her open some presents.

She doesn't love being the center of attention, but she deserves it :-).

My sis and her family headed home not long after this, and the rest of us just spent the afternoon hanging out together. Brianna got some quality reading time with Granny.

When it takes years and years and years to have children, yearning to see your parents or grandparents interacting with babies of your own is something you think about often. These moments truly warm my heart because they remind me of God's faithfulness to my hopes and dreams.

Sunday ended up being a very busy day, as well. Shawna grew up in a super small, rural Missouri town about an hour from where my parents live. She has lots of family that still live out that direction, so when they are in town my brother generally preaches for the small country church where much of her family are members. This Sunday, my nephew JT was preaching part of the service, so we all decided to go to church with them to hear him preach. 

Jeremy and Bren before leaving for church:

Of course, we had to take some photos before heading to church.

Isn't this a great photo of my Mom and Granny? Their inside beauty just shines through them as outside beauty.

This is kind of a different grouping of people. Sometimes we have to change things up a bit!

We are so glad we were able to see my nephew preach and be at the little country church with our family. However, the church we attended is a little over an hour further from home for us, so we had a long afternoon/evening of driving after the services were over. The kiddos were tuckered out after our weekend!

Our sweet babies napped almost the entire way home (about 4 hours!)

I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to spend the weekend celebrating my Mom! Even though our family doesn't live close to one another for the most part, it's wonderful to be together several times a year.