celebrating uncle john!!!

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Uncle John's birthday celebration was actually 2 fun gatherings. a fun lunch on his actual birthday and then a big dinner several days later. we often like extend birthdays into several days....ive noticed this in our family and i have to say...i like it:)

i also liked these pictures with the cousins and uncle john. please note the fabulous display of expression on meredith's face....i have to say they are outstanding:)

john thanks for being such an incredibly fun and loving uncle to all our kids. they all adore you!

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we had dinner, ice cream and cake and then swam and the boys come up with a fun game. it is actually a fun phenomenon i've noticed. anytime several guys get together they have this outstanding ability to make a game/competition out of virtually nothing. and its actually really fun, challenging and always creative. it must be in the male wiring. so the night of john's birthday celebration the guys made up this game, probably inspired by the world cup:) of trying to kick the soccer balls into the small hole in the trampoline net. you will notice that john was jumping the fence over into our neighbors yard (which will soon be our good friends, the jenkins yard...we are so excited) when someone kicked their shot a bit high. i have to be honest that was probably my shot:) yes, i too got lured into the game....i was not very good unfortunately. i proved to be more than a bit rusty. blair on the other hand was quite good scoring more than a hat-trick worth. followed closely by john and maddie....liz was probably in the running too. not sure mike, bryan, zach, maggie, al...they probably did i just missed it. all i know is i never did:( i guess the good news is all i have to do is walk out the backyard and i've got a great new game to practice. i think i'll wait till the jenkins move in so i can have henry throw me the balls back over the fence:)

**************************************************************************stella bear made the fun celebration:) she's always a good-time. im not sure anyone likes her more than little annie:) she gets soo excited to see stella.

*********************************************annie sat in maggie's lap, we said it was annie's nest, for what like felt like forever...she was so peaceful to watch the game and stella....soooo cute:))

we love you so much uncle john. we hope this next year of your life will be full of fun adventure and joy. we pray that you will be able to experience more and more of our God's amazing love. You are an amazingly talented guy. God has tremendously good plans for your life. Thanks for being such a wonderful brother:) we love you so very, very much.

"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Romans 11:33