The weekend after we went to Chattanooga, grandma and grandpa were going to be in town for the weekend on their way somewhere else, and gran and granddad were available to come down, so we decided to have Brinlee, Kimball and Sawyer’s birthday party two weekends early. That meant I had to scramble, since I didn’t have any birthday presents yet. As we learned on our trip to Utah, our kids are crazy about Thomas the train and trains in general, so that’s what they got, and a few other things.
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/That morning Kimball and Sawyer actually got their big boy beds. They have been out of cribs for a while, and Brinlee’s crib came with the toddler rail. We could not find the toddler rail kit for the boys’ cribs anywhere (even the manufacturer was no help). We finally decided to stop the search and order toddler beds, but those took a few weeks to come in. So the boys were on mattresses on the floor. Kimball and Sawyer were thrilled to get their new beds. They weren’t supposed to be a birthday present, it just happened to coincide with the party. Adam picked them up from the store the night before, and he and granddad put them together before we all went to bed.
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/The day before the party they helped me make cupcakes. As you can see by the shirt turned around backwards, Kimball undressed and redressed himself during nap. Here they are, high on sugar, licking the bowl and beaters. Brinlee climbed up on the counter to gain a better vantage point. They spent an hour cleaning the bowl, and I finally stopped them when dinner was ready.
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/Grandma has a tradition of taking a picture with the birthday boy or girl or boy, boy and girl.
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/And she took a picture with the half-birthday boy (he’s 18 months now!).
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/Sawyer admiring his pile of presents.
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/Brinlee protecting her presents.
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/Kimball and Daddy digging in. Enough looking at presents, let’s open them!
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/Sawyer showing grandpa his new puzzle.
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/Brinlee pauses to be absolutely adorable mid-plunder.
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/Brinlee got a baby bed for her beloved Pink Baby. She’s tucking her in and kissing her goodnight.
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/Kimball checking grandpa’s heart with his new doctor kit.
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/Caisen immediately decided that was his big boy bed. Not quite Caisen. You’re going to be in a crib as long as I can keep you there.
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/Granddad helping Sawyer open a present.
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/Gran showing Brinlee how to play with her new wooden dress-up dolls.
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/Kim and I long ago played matchmaker. I have three boys for her three girls. We decided never to reveal the identity of this Guinn girl. When he marries one of them, we’ll show everyone this picture and say that whomever he is marrying is the girl in this picture, and her heart is beating, “Kimball, Kimball, Kimball.”
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/Kimball looking authoritative with his doctor glasses on.
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/Sawyer and mommy looking at all the toys they got!
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/Caisen and grandpa telling jokes.
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/We had pizza for dinner. The kids were thrilled to sit at their own special table. Caisen even got a cup with no lid, as evidenced by the water all down the front of his shirt. He quickly figured out his error and tried a new approach.
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/My cakes wouldn’t win any contests, but the kids liked their trains (yes, those cakes are supposed to be trains). This is a cupcake cake, so no need to cut.
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/Brinlee is positively giddy at the idea of eating all that sugar!
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/Singing happy birthday three times, once for each of them.
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/Grandpa and Granddad are BFFs. They make the perfect pair. Grandpa loves to talk, and Granddad loves to listen! 🙂
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/We took over the dining room to check out their new train set. They were ecstatic.
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/Kimball, Caisen and Sawyer helping daddy build a track.
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/Kimball enthralled with the trains.
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/Sawyer, Kimball and Brinlee hard at work.
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/The morning after, grandma reading books with the munchkins.
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/Riding their bouncy balls for grandma. They got these during their trip to Utah as an early birthday present, but didn’t master the bouncing part until we got home. They wanted to show off their new skills.
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