Howard Family, Party of 5

Friday night we went to the Christmas Dinner @ our church; Arissa brought her friend Vanesa along:

(Arissa had a parade the next morning, hence the hair-do)

Mallory wasn't there because she chose to go to Movie Night at school....they showed The Polar Express & had pizza and popcorn. Mallory loved it.

Then M&M had a girl scout's Christmas program on Monday night. It was too cute:

And then the other night we had a wee celebration for a big occasion:

Nana's 89th Birthday!

We surprised her with a visit. We tried to ring the doorbell and started caroling, but her sweet 89-year-old ears couldn't hear it so we just walked in and sang. :o)

The girls gave her their hand-made cards, and her gift:

A new pair of shoes.

(Why is Arissa sniffing the old slippers? No idea!)

We brought cupcakes that the girls and I had made that morning:

Gathered 'round the table, Jesse presented Nana with the cupcakes:




We sang happy birthday:

Nana made her wish and blew out the candle:

While we got plates and napkins ready, I caught Mallory eyeing the cupcake display....no doubt wondering how she could manage to sneak more than one:

The aftermath:

It was a lovely celebration. We sat at the table and talked about birthdays....the girls love to remind Nana that she's EIGHTY NINE, which she'd rather forget! Every time they say "happy birthday" it's always accompanied with "you're 89!".

I thought it was cute till they started telling me "you're 30!". :O)