Na-naw's Birthday

A few Friday's ago our family threw a little surprise party for my Na-naw (Mama's mom).  Paw-paw and Na-naw were coming by to drop off some tables and chairs we needed, so we decided to try and throw a mini birthday party! :)  We asked Paw-paw what Na-naw's favorite color was, what her favorite ice cream was, etc.

I picked up the grocery items since I was already out, and everyone else prepared dinner and set the table beautifully.

 

We had Na-naw close her eyes until she walked into the kitchen and, voila, when she opened her eyes we said "Happy birthday!!"  She was very happy and excited. :)

 

The table with the lovely fine china and glasses.

 

Dinner still wasn't for another hour or so, so Paw-paw finished painting one of our kitchen soffets (Mom had been using a paint brush for the wall, and Paw-paw took over with the roller :).

 Hannah and Lydia colored some pictures...

 ...and Judah was his little cute self. :)

Meanwhile, the boys were trying to get a fire started so we could cook our hamburgers.  We tried to use coals from our Central Boiler, instead of KingsFord briquettes.  It worked!

You know my obsession for roses, so I really don't think this picture needs an explanation. :)

After dinner was ready a little later than planned, we sat down to eat!

We had hamburgers, au gratin potatoes, and green beans.  It was all delicious!

Home-made seltzer was the drink of the night.

Na-naw eating dinner. :)

As we sat around the table after dinner, we brought over Na-naw's favorite cake (Ukrop's pound...amazing!) and ice cream (Turkey Hill All Natural Chocolate!) and sang Happy Birthday!

If you've never tasted a Ukrop's pound cake, you are severely deprived.  They are beyond amazing!!

 

After the candles were all blown out we just sat around and enjoyed each others company.  Family is a great thing!

Kimber :)

Spring 2012 Home School Night

There seems to have been a long string of addition posts, so, to break up the monotony, I decided to post about our recent home school night! :)  (Hopefully there will be another addition update up here next week.)

Last week, on the spur of the moment, we had our "end of the year" home school night!  Na-naw and Paw-paw were able to come over, eat dinner with us (Paw-paw arrived a little later due to traveling), and listen to everything we had to share.

The night started off wonderfully with one of our favorite meals:  Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes (whipped to creamy perfection!)!

We also had some sort of veggies and some awesome rolls but I didn't get them in the photo. :)

After dinner, we shared some of our school stuff starting with the oldest.

Hannah shared one of her WriteShop papers.

She also played one beautiful song on the piano!

I was able to get away with sharing only one thing (WriteShop) from school!  :)

 

 Lexi read her report on Charlotte Moon, played a lovely song on the piano, and shared some of her artwork with us.

Paw-paw and Na-naw admiring Lexi's creativity.

Lydia quietly colored while we shared our schoolwork.

 This is what Judah looks like when he's hiding something. :)

 

 

Caleb shared a paper on Orville Wright and played his guitar for us...

I just couldn't stop taking pictures of this little guy! :)

Oh, don't you want to just swing him up in your arms and give those chubby cheeks a big, fat kiss?!  His cuteness overwhelms me sometimes!!!

 Seth recited some Scripture and played a song for us on the piano.

Josiah being silly (far from abnormal).

 

 

Eden played a piano song also and showed off her Draw Write Now handiwork.

Josiah recited one of his character cards.

After Josiah was finished, Lydia said she was going to play a song on the piano.  So she went over, sat down, and started plunking any and every note (sporadically) on the piano! 

After she displayed her piano creativity, she recited one of her character cards.

Then Mama ran through all the other character cards, closing the night with Scripture (what could be better?).

After everyone had shared, we ate some delicious chocolate pie with home made whipped cream!

Thus ended our homeschool night for the 2011-2012 school year! :)

Kimber :)

P.S. - In case you were wondering, I'M GRADUATING IN 9 DAYS!!!  Okay, excitement over just thought I'd share. :)

Christmas #2 with Na-naw and Paw-paw

So, two posts ago, I recorded our Christmas with Na-naw and Paw-paw (Mama's parents).  Well, we had another Christmas with them!  My Aunt and family live out of town so we don't get to celebrate Christmas with them on Christmas Day.  They usually come down and visit a day or two after Christmas, staying through the New Year, so we do another Christmas with them when we can get everyone together again. :)

This year our "second Christmas" took place the Friday after Christmas.

Everyone pitched in for dinner and we had a delicious meal of sausage casserole, tuna casserole, chicken nuggets (for those who don't like the casseroles ;), vegetables and yummy desserts!

Uncle Sean fixed the sausage casserole.

Aunt Mae-Mae made the tuna casserole...

 ...and Aunt T.C. brought the chicken nuggets.

The very delicious corn! :)

Everyone else brought the vegetables, desserts, or whatever else was needed. :)

 My Aunt Amanda made the delicious Dirt Pudding for dessert.  It was gone in a very short amount of time!  That stuff is almost heavenly (how can you go wrong with Cool Whip, pudding, and lots of Oreos?)!

After dinner, Na-naw and Paw-paw, and an assortment of kids, grandkids, spouses, etc. filled the living room.

Na-naw and Paw-paw started off the evening festivities with the opening of their presents to each other.  (They do their presents when the whole family is together.)  Then they opened the presents from their children.

Then if Mama and her siblings had presents for each other, they opened those. :)

After those gifts were opened, it was time for a game of:

Some people watched a movie while the adults played the game.

I stayed and watched the game and there were quite a few hilarious moments!

White Elephant was the last game of the night.  Before everyone left, though, Mama and her siblings had to sit on the steps like they've done every year before. :)

As usual, Uncle Sean and Aunt Mae-Mae were hilarious!

I think that this picture was the most "normal" picture out of all the ones I took! :)

We normally end the night with their picture on the steps, but this year we did something new!  We got a picture of all of Na-naw and Paw-paw's grandchildren on the steps too!  (Actually we missed the youngest Nash grandchild, Cameron, who was sleeping...)

Thanks to Mama for taking this picture!  We tried to organize it so that the children descended down the steps in age order.  It was quite a squish to fit all 21 of us on the steps but somehow we made it!  (My cousin, Asher, was not at all happy about being separated from his Mama.  Can you guess which one is Asher? :)

So, our last Christmas celebration ended with lots of fun and family!

Kimber :)

P.S. - Here's one last Christmas picture for you: