Luke's actual Birthday

It can be hard to have a birthday right in the middle of the holidays...but if you are Luke then spread it out over several days.

Today was Luke's actual birthday, turning 10 years old.

Off the church then to the movies where you order food right from your seat.  We all dined on milkshakes and burgers.

Then back to the house for cake but Luke doesn't care for cake so it was mocha brownies.

Time with cousins

Time to celebrate a cousin's 1st birthday, which means time and lots of laughter with the cousins.

Cut down the Tree

A must have for Christmas time...a fresh cut Christmas tree!

 

What I always imagine to be a perfect family day cutting down the tree, never quite works out.  It was brutally cold, awful wind.  The snow had just melted and the ground was a mushy mess, so Brayden could not go...never a good idea to attempt pushing him through that.  But we always end up with a great tree and still having fun.

Surprise for Luke

Luke's birthday was just a few days after Thanksgiving.  So we decided to through him a surprise party.  After dinner, we sent the kids to play in the basement, a scavenger hunt with clues for Luke.  When the kids finally came back to the kitchen, all signs of Thanksgiving were gone and we had lots of birthday decorations up.  Luke was so surprised!

 Even the dog had "fun".

Thanksgiving

In Maryland for Thanksgiving.

 Carter, Luke and Mekayla had a Thanksgiving show, script, props, music and all.

 The captive audience.

 All the fun.