Brielle's 3rd Birthday!!!

Can't believe it, but it's true!

Brielle is now three!

We were very blessed to have Rich, Janet, Grampa Jerke, and Richie and Lydia celebrate with us!

Thanks so much to Lydia for helping take some pictures! 

This is one of hers! : -)

 We started the party with a warm breakfast of an egg, sausage, bacon, cheese, potato scramble;

heart shaped biscuits with strawberry jam;

Caroline's delicious raspberry Danish;

and a fruit salad!

The next three pictures are Lydia's! 

So thankful for these! 

Love this one especially! : -)

 

AWWWWWW . . . . 

  Timmy bought these three helium balloons for Brielle! : -)

Then, the great present opening!  

 

This is one of Lydia's pictures! : -)

(The "scrunchy face" is Brielle's "Smile!" right now!

Kyle had ben asking and asking Brielle what she wanted for her birthday,

and she said a doggy!  So he got her a doggy of her very own! :-)

Joe-Joe bought her favorite snack for her . . . Cheetos!

  Rich and Janet also remembered Cheetos are her favorite snack and put a couple bags in this amazing treasure box that Janet specially made for her!

Each of her sisters picked out and gave her a pretty outfit or two! :-)  

We are all having way too much with having a little girl to buy for again! : -)

Papa Bob and Meemom sent some birthday money,

and so we had fun shopping for these pretty things too!

I think she's set for the summertime!

Richie and Lydia gave her this adorable bunny hat, and an adorable pajamas set. 

Aww . . . it has her favorite thing on it . . . a doggy!

Victoria gave her these two horses . . .Bree and Bubba! : -)

Grampa Jerke gave her the sweet little bear in the photo.

No, a real puppy wasn't given to her as a present! ;-)

It is just her favorite thing to do . . .hold the puppies! 

Timmy also gave her this new cowgirl hat.

She asked Victoria if she could go and ride Bree right then and there.

But since it was still in the middle of the party,

this little horsie sufficed for the moment.

(This little horsie was given to Lydia at her one-year-old party! :-)



Playing with these really cool coloring tablets that Papa and Grammie got for her.

The "markers" have water in them,

and when brushed over the paper,

it turns into a colorful "watercolor" painting! : -)



Thanks also to the thoughtful friends and family
that sent sweet cards and gifts in the mail during the week!
That was soooo sweet of you!!! 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Four sweet sisters visiting  . . . 

Then, on Brielle's actual birthday . . . .

we woke up to a wonderful exchange of gifts and cards and another wonderful breakfast.

And after church, we sang Happy Birthday to Brielle,

and enjoyed her yummy chocolate cake!

 

Double Cuteness . . . on the Farm!

Yesterday, we had a very enjoyable visit to see Lydia and all their adorable, newest arrivals!

 These are her quadruplet lambs, and their newest new addition . . . Ruthie, an 8 month old Alpaca!

 And then . . .there's her adorable triplet Finn sheep! 

Oh my!

Love their coloring!  

 The boys were all there too.  But they were a little busy for pictures.

They took it upon themselves to herd the chickens back in the chicken enclosure.

I think I heard they were successful with two of them! ;-)

 

Our Daily Dose of Cuteness!

Giving Baby a bath . . .

Practicing for worship . . .  

 Pushing Timmy on the tractor . . .

 Lovin' on a new puppy . . .

Hiking with the Family!

Yesterday was a gorgeous, spring-like day! The sky was clear, and beautifully bright blue,

and the temperature hit right around 65 degrees! 

So, what are us soggy Pacific NW folks to do on such an unusual mid-winter day?

Take time off work and school, and go hiking, of course!

So glad that Valerie had her camera along too!

I'm so grateful for her help in capturing this fun and lovely day!

(Especially near the end when my camera battery died!)

We chose a trail that is not far from home . . . only about a 40 minute drive or so! 

Once we got to the turn-off on the gravel road to the trail, the latter part of the road had been washed out by the winter rains.  So we had to park a ways from the start of the trail and walk that latter part of the road.

 As you will see in the photos,

there was lots of teamwork going on to get us all safely to the end of the trail!

 "Here come the dogs!  Strong and brave!"

 Big and little . . .

 

 There were several little waterfalls that we had to cross along the trail.  For this bigger one, Kyle and Victoria worked to bring this log up to lay across the trail.

And another one . . . .

And then . . . .

we came across THIS waterfall! 

(All the pictures from here on out are Valerie's!)

 

And now, for the hike back!