Friday: The Last Full Day at the Beach

The last day at the beach was like many of the others.  I wish I remembered all the details of every day but, alas, my poor brain! :)

The only pictures I took that day were of some of my siblings and relatives in the pool:

Lydia normally doesn't like big bodies of water (she doesn't like getting splashed and she likes to have someone hold her) but the floats in the pool helped her be less demanding. :)

Weedels swimming around...

Justus trying out a float.

My cousins, Cadence and Justus, loved having me watch them jump into the pool with just their floaties.  It was cute to watch them go under water and come up smiling. :)

Yep, Hannah's a baby magnet. :)

Na-naw teaching Lydia to swim (which she wasn't too thrilled about! :).

Later that night everyone, but our family, went out to eat.  My family and I stayed home, got dressed up, and went down to the beach for our annual pictures!  I would show them all to you right here, but I've posted them here, so I won't. 

Well, here's just one picture of all of our footprints.

We took our pictures under the nearby pier...Daddy was a big help in setting up the tripod for me (so I could be in some of the photos :) and doing whatever I asked. 

After pictures were over we ate dinner together around the huge table (Mama had dinner cooking in the oven during picture-time..she always thinks ahead! :).  After dinner, everyone else came back from their dinners and we spent our last day at the beautiful beach!

The next morning (Saturday) everybody packed up and left...our family was the last to leave.  :)  We were used to 6 full days at the beach (instead of the 4 we had this year) so we couldn't bring ourselves to leave before 10 A.M. that morning.  So we packed up the car and went back down to the beach for another hour or two.  

Eventually we did have to leave, so we piled in and drove on home.  We did stop in Williamsburg for a rare and yummy meal at Olive Garden!  I think most of us wouldn't mind eating their breadsticks and salad every day!

When we got home, the electricity was on (woo-hoo! :) so we didn't sweat to death and have to lug in water from outside for the toilets.  (Ah, things we take for granted!)

I have to say a thank you to Mr. Jon who watched over the house for us, while we were gone.  He fed and cared for all our various animals, alternated plugging fridges/freezers to the generator, and slept here where there was no A.C.  Thanks Dowy! :)

So, the beach posts come to an end.  I loved posting the pictures, but, quite frankly, I'm glad I'm done with these posts.  Now I can post about everyday things (and post on my forlorn photo blog more often...)!

Til next time,

Kimber :)

3 Birthdays in 3 Days!

Two weeks ago we celebrated three birthdays in the Wassenberg house!  Judah turned 1 on September 7th, Lexi turned 14 on September 8th, and Caleb turned 12 on September 9th.  Yep...three birthdays in a row! :)

We started Judah's birthday by going in and singing to him. 

He was a little shocked to see us all!

But everything was better when Mama got him! :)

Mama rocking Judah during devotions.

After devotions, we had our breakfast of eggs and drop biscuits.  Since Judah's birthday happened to be on a Wednesday, we couldn't throw him a big party so we put a candle in his biscuit and sang to him! :)

As with anything Judah discovers, he wanted to touch the candle.  Thankfully Mama held it far enough away.  :)

When the song was over, Daddy blew the candle out for Judah. Then we put the bowl with the biscuit on his plate and let him go after it! :)

 Hmmm...

...interesting.

Soon Judah was stuffing the entire biscuit in his mouth.  Mama had to retrieve some of it so he wouldn't choke! 

Cleaning off the bowl! :)

Since we never really celebrated his birthday, we did a more formal party 9 days after his real birthday.  We invited Judah's best friend (a.k.a. his cousin, Asher :) and Paw-paw and Na-naw for a yummy feast!

Judah playing with a rainstick before dinner.

The "little guys" table.

Dinner was roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, greenbeans, and rolls.

After dinner Judah opened his presents!

Hannah got Judah a sippy cup and once he saw it, he didn't care about any of his other presents!

Judah got a toy hammer from his cousin, Asher, and Na-naw and Paw-paw got him some outfits! :)

Asher playing with Judah's tissue paper. :)

I guess Judah thought Asher was doing something funny!

Judah's cake was a home-made, chocolate-chip banana cake with fudge frosting.  Hannah helped me decorate with M&M's.

Judah didn't know what to think of everyone singing to him!

(In case you were wondering, that bright spot on his face is a reflection of the candle on my lens!)

 

After the singing, the eating began!  Every time someone turns 1 in our family, we give them a piece of cake and let them go after it!  It's so much fun to watch...Judah got icing all over his face!

Judah won't leave anything on his plate!

So there you have Judah's 1st birthday!

---

The next birthday was Alexis'.   We sang "Happy Birthday" to her that morning as she waited for us in bed (in our family, you're not allowed to get out of your bed on your birthday until we come get you!)...

Lexi all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed!

For breakfast that morning, Lexi chose Cream-of-Wheat and toast/pop-tarts.

We put sugar on our cream-of-wheat.  The recipe calls for salt, and we tried it once, and thought it was disgusting!  So, we go the "sweet route."

Lexi chose grilled chicken, macaroni 'n cheese, greenbeans and rolls for her dinner.

Seth and Mama set the table with our fanciest tablecloth, china, and glasses.

Lexi's dinner plate!

(The roses are just for decor, by the way! :)

Lexi read all her cards and opened her presents after the dinner was eaten and the dishes cleaned up!

 

Lexi got some candy/snack food that she likes and muck boots for when we get a horse (plus some more stuff I can't remember).

Happy birthday to you!

Lexi wanted angel food cake with cherries and whipped cream for her dessert.

The movie we watched that night (after eating the cake!) was The Fellowship of the Ring (a.k.a. the first movie in the Lord of the Rings set).  We had never seen the LR movies before but Daddy thought us older ones were old enough to see it, so we did! :)  The movie ended late that night, bringing Lexi's 14th birthday to a pleasant end. :)

---

Caleb's birthday was the day after Lexi's!  He has the neatest birthdate of us all...9/9/99!

Caleb picked out Egg McMuffins, berry crisp, and pop-tarts for his breakfast!  It was so yummy!

Caleb went to work with Daddy that day, and he didn't get back until late that night.  So, we ate our dinner of hamburgers and potatoes without the birthday boy...but we saved him some of it!

After Caleb ate his dinner, he opened his presents!

A big pixie stick!

A lovely card from Miss Lydia. :)

Caleb got some food (do you see a theme here?), a sweatshirt and cowboy shirt, and more!

Caleb's dessert pick was home made ice cream cake.  Seth surprised him with a cardboard Hummer on top!

That night (after the little ones went to bed) we watched the second Lord of the Rings series.  Once again, we were in bed late (they don't make those movies short!), ending the 3 consecutive birthdays in a row!

 

Kimber :)

K.K.'s 16th Birthday Party

Last Saturday we went up to my Aunt Stacey's house to celebrate Kaitlyn's 16th birthday!  We left around 6:30 A.M. and met up with my Aunt T.C. and cousins, Collin and Mason, in Mechanicsville.  Then we were really on our way! :)  Before we made it to my aunt's house we stopped in Stuarts Draft to pick up some feed and take a quick potty break.  :)  Then off we went again! :)

We finally arrived about 10:45 A.M. and gave everyone hugs.  It was a beautiful day outside so when we first arrived we spent some time out on the porch.  And who should be on the porch, but some of my adorable cousins?  As I'm sure you've guessed already, here come the pictures! :)

 This is Asher and he's 6 days older than Judah!  Don't you love his big, blue eyes?!

And you all know that this is Judah...my lil' brother.  Can you believe he'll be 1 year old in less than a month?

 This is Rachel, Kaitlyn's youngest sister, and she has the cutest smile! 

Around noon we ate Kaitlyn's special lunch of barbecue, chicken nuggets (for those not fond of bbq), veggies, and chips!

After lunch I was out on the front porch with my camera and Hannah came over and as she talked to us I grabbed two quick pictures of her:

The front porch of Aunt Stacey's house is so pretty and once I saw Hannah's two pictures I had to take some more! :)  So, Hannah and I brought our little cousin Cadence out and she became our first subject!

 The flowers in these pictures were totally Hannah's idea! :)

Isn't she absolutely adorable?!

After taking some photos we showed Aunt Megan (Cadence's mama) the photos and she came out for 2 pictures with her daughter.

Love, love, LOVE!!  Ah!
I love spontaneous, on-the-spur-of-the-moment pictures because they can be so much more "real" looking than posed photos.  Other than tell Aunt Mae-Mae to sit down in the chair I did nothing else!  Have I mentioned how much I love photography?  Capturing these types of pictures always make me fall more in love with photography!

Our next subject was Justus, Cadence's brother, who is so cute too!

Now you're probably wondering why, out of all 8 cousins that were there, I only have pictures of the younger ones.  Well, they were the ones available and easiest to persuade to come stand for pictures! :)

After the guys finished playing football and everyone else finished eating lunch Kaitlyn opened her presents.

Reading her cards (and don't worry about the face in the left photo...that's the "what-in-the-world" look not an unhappy one! :)

Kaitlyn's last present was from her parents.  It was a necklace with half of a heart hanging on it.  Uncle Mike read a few paragraphs about Kailtyn turning 16 and the significance of it before showing that he had another necklace with the other half of the heart.  It was a nice, beautiful 16th birthday present! :)

 The hug at the end of the reading. :)

Next came the cake and the "Happy Birthday" song!
 

 K.K.lit most of her own candles! :)

 "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear K.K., happy birthday to you!"

The birthday girl and her yummy Ukrops cake! :)

After all the festivities were over, everybody just "hung out."

Paw-paw rocked Asher (and himself!) to sleep...

Lexi gave Uncle Kevin his all-time favorite: a head rub...

...and the rest of us talked about memories from when were little, played games, and just enjoyed the family time. :)

Alas, the time came to leave and we gave lots of hugs and goodbyes.  The mountain views as we drove back to our house were exquisite!  I love the mountains!

Around 8 P.M. we stopped for dinner at a Cici's somewhere and ate a delicious meal (thanks Daddy and Mama!).  Then we were back on our way arriving home around 10-11 P.M. that night. :)

Happy birthday, K.K.!  We love you so much and hope you enjoyed your special day!
Love,
Kimber and all the Wassenbergs :)