My birthday week vacation 2013-part 1

My birthday week started out VERY early Saturday morning when the shuttle came at 5:20 a.m.  I arrived in CT about noon their time.  My friend Becky and the three kids, Bethany Grace (6), Emily Faith (3.5) and Titus Aaron (18 months) picked me up at the airport.  After a very unwelcoming reception by the curbside passenger pick-up rent-a-cop,  I was greeted warmly by my loved ones with hugs and beautiful handmade pictures.  We went to Cracker Barrel on the way home.  The kids had fun sitting in the rocking chairs and playing with the oversized checker board game.  Here they are individually.  Notice the double dimples, blonde hair and blue eyes.  Cuteness x 3!!

Bethany Grace, biggest sister!  She has lost her 2 bottom teeth and the adult teeth have come in, and she is proud of them!  She is very thoughtful and sweet.  She donated her bed to me for the week and slept on an air mattress.  Because she wanted me to have something purple in my room, she gave me her stuffed purple My Little Pony.  She was adamant about putting more than 6 candles on my cake, because I am MORE THAN SIX!  Mommy and Daddy assured her that 4 was enough!

Emily Faith, big sister.  I can't tell you how much I love her curls.  Her brother loves them too.  He will touch them and pull them, which, as you can imagine, does not delight Emmy!  She is a mini Mommy and very girly.  She doesn't leave the house without a baby doll or a purse or both.  She will pretend a waffle or any animate or inanimate object is a baby!  She loves to play Mommy to her little brother and tries to pick him up.  This never ends well because #1, he's too heavy for her and #2, he doesn't want his sister to hold him (he's too busy for anyone to hold him unless he's tired!)

Titus Aaron, little brother.  He was 3 months old the last time I saw him and had dark hair.  Now look at him!  He is 18 months and talking up a storm and running everywhere!  He is super polite, too.  No matter where you are in the house, or who you are talking to, if he hears you say "what do you say?" he responds in his cute little voice "da-doo" (thank you).  So precious!

Here's a little example of sweet Emily's personality.  After eating, Becky let the kids look around at the toys at the Barrel.  I went to the bathroom and after I came out, I saw this:

She had set up an entire tea party with their toys and dolls.  She has done this before, apparently, and the previous store loved the set up so much they left it for the other kids to play with.

While little sister was having a dolly tea party, big sister was shopping for Mommy (Mommy went to the bathroom to change the baby).  Bethany picked out everything Mommy's favorite color.  She also showed me all the purple things because she knows that is my favorite color.  This was the look on Bethany's face after coming out of hiding (it was a surprise) to show Mommy what she picked out:

This was my room for the week.  It belongs to Titus.  His crib was rolled into Mama and Daddy's room for the week, and Bethany's bed was moved into brother's room.  Because she thought the room looked too "boyish", Bethany picked out the 4 throw pillows.  And, the aforementioned My Little Pony is because she wanted me to have my favorite color on the bed.  She is a very thoughtful little girl.

After some rest time for everyone and a light dinner, we went to Coventry Fest, the local town festival.  Daddy had been at the church's booth all day with a mission team that had come to town from MS. Bethany used the money she was allotted to get her face painted instead of riding rides or jumping on bounce houses. She looked so cute when the guy was done.

This was the view before the fireworks started.  It was a beautiful night weather-wise. The fireworks display was the most impressive and longest I had ever seen - and it was free!  True to his 3rd child nature, 18 month old Titus responded to his first experience of fireworks in a very relaxed way.  He just laid on Mommy's chest with his blanket and watched and occasionally said "wowwww".  He wasn't scared at all!

Around 11:00 that night, I finally got to bed.  It was a very long but very good day.  Being with people you love and that accept you just the way you are is absolutely priceless and very relaxing and encouraging.  It had been 15 months since I had seen Becky and her family.  It had also been that long since I had taken an entire week off work, and I was more than ready for this vacation!

More about my birthday week in the next post...