The rest of Birthday Happenings

The much-anticipated weekend had finally come. The weekend we had talked about since Christmas - Granny and Papa were coming for Hopey's fourth birthday party!

Hopey was being my helper and holding Philip so I could get things ready for the company, as we were expecting six overnight adult guests.

Hello cute child.

You are so adorable!!!!

Hope was trying out Uncle Ave's sleeping spot - on the floor of her bedroom! Luke's girlfriend, Pilar, and my Grandma came along with Mom, Dad, and the boys, so my brothers had to sleep on the floor as the bedroom guest spaces were given to the others. :o) 

Granny and her little Philip boy, checking out things on her iPad mini. :o)

Lots of people to look at too. :o)

Granny and Joy playing Hide and Seek.

Meanwhile, Hope had no trouble finding an available lap. She loves her letter pad from Talullah. :o) Yay!

Philip with his Papa, and yes, Philip has taken to sucking, or chewing on his thumb, or as the case may be, both thumbs at the same time.

Hope wanted chocolate ice cream for dessert, so Pilar was kind enough to mix up the ingredients for me in the morning, and then we got it running in the ice cream maker. Joy was being very cute, and climbed up right beside it to watch it mix, and she stayed there for at least ten minutes!!!

Great-Grandma came along to check things out too.

Hope finally got to play the game she had received for her birthday.

And she enjoyed lots of activity time with Granny!

Meanwhile, in the absence of her favourite "Auntie Chloe," Joy found a new big person to lavish her affection on, and Pilar was gracious enough to let Joy hang out with her all weekend!

Love it!

Sheesh - you can tell they are photographers - they pose so well! :o)

Love the look on Joy's face.

Their naptime story was to be read by none other than Pilar!

Meanwhile, a freshly-fed and napped Philip spent a wee bit of time with Great-Grandma.

The birthday party crew!

A couple more smiles here... but not the dear overwhelmed birthday girl! :) Isn't that always the way it goes?

Adorable Ave! LOL!

Among Hope's gifts was this cool toy auger, and a John Deere front-end loader, complete with a hay bale! She thought it was great!!! So did I. :o)

Pretty lace gloves for Easter Sunday - Hope was enchanted.

Granny bought some clothes for both the girls...

Oh yeah - me, I guess I was at the party too. :o)

Love the smudge of chocolate ice cream on her lip. :o)

Trying out the belts that went with the outfits from Granny.
Dear sweet Joy, she got the flu right after this, and was up late that night getting rid of everything in her little tummy. Thankfully, once she went to bed around 10:15 she was done with all that, and got up better in the morning, though it took half a day or so for her appetite to return.

Saturday morning strums from brother Luke.

Jotting down song ideas....

Saturday morning stories with Papa.

Saturday morning snuggles with Daddy. :o) Dear Josh has been so busy, Philip snuggles are not something he gets a lot of.

Granny took over when it was time to dress the little chap.

And Joy was quick to help with the un-dressing part. :o)

Later on that day, Luke and Pilar babysat Hope and Joy while the rest of us went into the city to take in the first draw of the 2013 Tim Horton's Brier. It was a great time to make memories, as curling has always been an enjoyed sport by the Collin family.

Bedtime story with Papa.

The next day we had Philip dedicated at church, and it was so special to have family here with us for that significant event in our son's life. (Pictures may follow in a later post if I have time to figure out how to work with Luke's raw images. :o))