Brothers

Megan sure is at school a lot these days, but luckily Henry has his new brother to play with. They really do have fun together, despite the less-than-enthusiastic faces you see here. Henry likes to slip on his "blue steel" gaze every time we pull out the camera, and Eli seems to think the camera is a torture device.

Eli may not be very mobile yet, but that doesn't stop Henry from driving his car in circles around him, and picking out a truck for Eli to play with.

Golden Birthday

It was Megan's Golden Birthday this year.

For those of you who don't know what a golden birthday is, it is a very special birthday that only happens once in life time. Your golden birthday happens when the day of your birth matches your age, so Megan's birthday is March 6th and she turned 6.

GOLDEN.

And we definitely celebrated it to the max.

Aunt Crystal and cousin Hazel came to visit just for the event (it was pretty convenient that it was the same time Mike was going to Africa). A party is always better with Aunt Crystal and Hazel Jane.

GOLDEN

We started out our golden birthday celebration with Dad before he left on his trip. He was very sad to miss the official birthday. We had Megan's favorite dinner of fish, baked potatoes, veggies, sourdough bread and strawberries with fruit dip, sang Happy Birthday and opened presents.

Megan has been wanting a "science kit" for a while and we found a great one that is perfect for a 6 year old scientist. It was an instant hit when Mike and Megan did the volcano experiment. Mike shook the bottle for maximum effect and it erupted everywhere, and I mean everywhere: ceiling, walls, spectators. Luckily most of it was cleaned up before Mom saw the devastation.

GOLDEN

The next golden birthday celebration was a Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire party, and it was extraordinary. We decorated the clubhouse, read Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire, and the girls passed tests to become an official member of the Explorer Extraordinaire Club. They made an explorer notebook, went outside to explore and record their findings of nature, dropped bugs in a jar, played "bug bug who has the bug" and hot spider, and lastly planted flower seeds. All of this earned them a magnifying glass, fancy gloves, and an official club membership. After all their exploring they went to the clubhouse for a fancy lunch of butterfly sandwiches, fruit kabobs, cheese and pickles, pink lemonade and fancy tarts as the finishing touch. It was divine.

And GOLDEN.

After this party we just keep on celebrating -- at school, at church, the real birthday date, spa day with Aunt Crystal, etc.

Like I said it was a GOLDEN Birthday.

We love you Megan, and you are a delight to have in our family. Happy Birthday.

P.S. None of this could have been possible without the help of Aunt Crystal. Thanks for EVERYTHING, we miss you. You are a Golden Aunt forever.

Quick Post from Zimbabwe