Nicholas' Birthday

Well, today was Nicholas' birthday, and we had a nice time celebrating with lots of family. Here's the photos I took out on the deck. You may want to jump to the bottom and scroll up...

Happy birthday, little brudder!

Who wants some more food? I do, I do, I do!!!!

Malachi is interested solely in the food. That's an all-stars hat he's wearing, but the post season officially ended for them today. They played well at times, but struggled down the stretch, and suffered their second (and final) defeat in the tourney today. Ouch. Oh well, pass the corn on the cobb, please...

Hey mom! Look at Dad's cool new hat that I get to wear!!!!

And that's his little big sister, Hannah. Hannah is an absolute sweetheart, giving me big hugs and telling me she missed me every time I see her.

That's Sam's big brother Korban standing next to him.

Let me out, let me out!!! :-)

Yes, little Samuel (Jake's son) is simply aghast. And he'd like very much to be out on the deck with all the others, thank you.

Remember that neighbor's dog that Nick was aiming at? Well rumor has it that he's buried in this flower pot...

Here's Rebekah, hoping we never try and take her back for a refund...

"See Mia, this document here is our 'proof of purchase' from Walmart. It means that if you are ever a bad girl, we can take you back for a full refund." Wait a minute... can you see Nicholas saying something like that? Me either. I'll bet its just a plain old birthday card...

...and her daughter Hailey. Nice teeth, Hailey! :-)

Carrie

At least I'm not the only one taking photos

Somebody's looking a little tired...

Matt and Carrie...

Look at those blue eyes?

Nice shot of Marilyn w/ Owen...

What's that in her hand? Why a Malamute puppy, of course!

Here's another shot of Mia (aka "Moo")

And this is Nicholas and Ciarra's little daughter, Mia! Mia is a bigtime cutie...

So how about some shots of everyone else. Here's my stepmom Clarice, trying not to look alarmed...

And remember, don't fire until you can see the whites of their eyes...

You're probably wondering why on earth I included this picture. Well, if you haven't guessed it by now, our replacement camera has finally arrived (along with a memory card that finally works), hence the whole slew of pictures. This one here is a shot of my brother Jake, sitting about 10 feet away, zoomed all the way in. Pretty impressive, me thinks (I'm using the new Canon S3 IS)...

Doing our part to help save the environment...

At this point, casual readers who have stumbled across this blog are probably thinking "WHAT ON EARTH ARE THESE PEOPLE DOING, WITH GUNS ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS?!?!?!?!"

Don't worry. We have beer too. Plenty of it, enough for the kids even. :-)

This is my sister Carrie, her husband Matt, and their young son Owen.

...like that neighbor's dog that just won't stop barking. Easy boy, hold still for a sec!

Oh, what's that? Its Nicholas with a gun! (At which point my brother Jacob will inevitably pipe up with something to the effect of "Its a RIFLE! (not a gun!) 270 Winchester, ...." and then he'll proceed to tell you all about the ballistics of a 270, and how you can use it to kill all sorts of things)...

And here's Nicholas' wife, Ciarra! Hmm... wonder what she's gazing at?

And here's the Birthday boy himself, my brother Nicholas!

And here's another shot of Barb!

Here's another shot of Grandpa Balster...

Speaking of Balsters, here's my Grandpa, Cliff Balster, along with his second wife, our adopted grandma, Barb!

That pie looked good, didn't it? Well here's a closer shot of it. See the bubbly gooey part over there on the right? YUMMMM! We are talking, "taste of heaven" (and I snagged a piece of it baby!). Gooseberry pie is extremely tart, and very VERY good! I was first introduced to it by my Grandma, Norma Balster.

So today was my brother Nicholas' birthday, and we had a family get together to eat, and celebrate, and eat, and eat some more. And then, we had desert! Here's a scrumptuous homemade chocolate cake (courtesy of my sister Carrie) in the background, along with a fresh gooseberry pie (courtesy of my sister-in-law Jen), right there to my fresh roasted coffee (courtesy of Marilyn).

And its mine, all mine! Yes, my precious, we wants it we does.... :-)