happy birthday to daddy!

yesterday afternoon, nana arrived from visiting her mom in indiana and then papa, uncle derek and miss ashley (soon-to-be "aunt") arrived late night. (matt and i grabbed an impromptu anniversary date while we could!)

since everyone had arrived so late, we left the morning open to be at home. papa was the first one of the guests to join us in the morning and he was totally into pbs kids with the boys - so cute!

did i mention that it is daddy's birthday?! i got up and made him pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes and let him sleep in. after breakfast, "the boys" went downstairs to hit some golfballs in the indoor driving net - one of daddy's favorites.

madelyn was at school so we didn't want to do anything too much fun without her. so we went to do something she has done before - chocolate factory tour! none of the guests have been before and, hey, there are free chocolates!

manning loves horses and was excited to see this one.

"look how long i am" - mason

when madelyn got home from school, she said hello to everyone since she hadn't gotten to see anyone yet. now for some presents! the kids were pretty excited about their presents for daddy - i was too!

the kids parading in daddy's load...

all of the kids selected a tie they liked for daddy - always practical gifts for daddy (as is his preference).

the kids made daddy a book of all the things that they like to do with him. this was one of his favorite gifts.

i made daddy a t-shirt quilt. he asked me to do this over a year ago and i had almost all of the supplies so it was going be easy to keep it a surprise because there would be very little expenses for him to notice. but then there was the time... i have been setting everything up and putting it away every day for a few weeks. and since i have never made a quilt, and had almost no time because i was working on it while the kids were awake, i had to rip it apart over and over. i didn't think i was going to finish it on time and it isn't perfect (there is a lot i would do different) but i was so happy to have finished it in time and to have TOTALLY surprised him!

then we went off to get some dinner at a new restaurant - baja pizza fish - to get daddy some fish tacos. we were pretty pleased with the meal and look forward to eating there again.

daddy really wanted pumpkin ice cream cake but that was for thanksgiving - tomorrow. instead he chose brownies and peppermint ice cream.

we love him so much and enjoyed getting to spend a day celebrating him! love.