Random, prep, and party!

Dad caught this little bird that was trapped in our patio. Don't know how long it had been in there, but I'm sure it was happy to finally get out! 

In preparation for winter, Dad and Gabriel split some logs this past week.

Mom picking up leaves with the leafer! 

Gabriel doing school on one side of Dad's recording shack.

Friday I took off of school to help Mom prep for Gabriel's birthday party! 

Here I'm mixing the homemade cake batter. :) 

If y'all haven't ever eaten or made a homemade cake before, you are missing out! WAY better than cake box mixes!!

Making cupcake filling

Cupcakes are done!!

Laurisa looveess her chickens.

Friday night, I filled the cupcakes with the cream we had made earlier that day!

After, Laurisa got home from work, she frosted the cupcakes so that they looked camo and Mom helped her..

Whilst I organized them on a tray so that they formed a camo pattern. :D

Mom making her homemade hamburger buns! 

If there is one thing Jay is terrified of, it is balloons. (He doesn't look near as scared in this picture as he gets, but whenever I went to take a picture of him, he'd already relaxed some!)

Saturday morning--me blowing up balloons...like a boss! ;)

After I had a bunch blown up, Esther and I tied ribbon to the balloons. 

Me again ↓

My version of tying the ribbon on "the smart way." hehe

Mom and I hanging up the Happy Birthday sign! 

Dad and Gabriel left shortly after 6:00 a.m. to go fishing so that we could decorate for the party without Gabriel knowing.

Gabriel and David--the lil' fishermen! :)

Happy birthday boy back from a successful fishing trip!

Esther 'modeling' the camo-ishly themed balloons.

I ended up blowing up nearly 30 balloons...by myself... :P..and let's just say that those balloons on the wall? Fantastic decorating skills I have there, thank you very much. ;) To get them to stay that is..because they fell....I put 'em back up...and then they fell again..and *through clenched teeth* put 'em back UP..and...whaddaya know...gravity decided to take it's toll on them again! (And so on, depending on where the balloons were.) Finally got them stable enough to last! =D

The finished rolls!

The birthday party was supposed to be a surprise, but after they got back from fishing and Gabriel saw the decorations, as well as heard a slip-up of his uncle telling Dad they'd stay for the party instead of going home and coming back, he knew something was up and kept prodding about who all was coming over, ect., so finally Mom just told him. 

Mom putting Gabriel's name on the cupcakes before getting ready for the party.

Looks good! 

Being on the water for some hours definitely wears one out! 

Dad and Gabriel taking a nap together. (:

David's dad had ran to Wal Mart to buy Gabriel's gift after he got back from fishing..so since it wasn't wrapped, David hid it in the bottom of the china cabinet. 

A picture of my cousin Brianna with Esther in the background! 

After dinner

My brother who's happy to have turned 11! :) 

Getting ready to light the candles! 

Soo..we all know how awkward the Happy Birthday song is for the person to whom it's been sung...Gabriel was definitely feeling it. ;) 

Come on...no hiding behind your hands.. ;) 

After what seemed to Gabriel longer than it really was, the song ended, and he blew out his candles! 

Before anyone dug into the dessert, gifts were opened! 

Gabriel LOVES legos!! 

A gift from the Brays...Hmm..now what might this be..

An army set! He had been wanting one for a couple years!

Then some gifts from Dad. 

Ear protection..

*shakes gift* What might be in this one... 

Alright! Some bullets! 

(Why do I get the feeling this is leading up to something?) ;) 

Ooo.. a big gift! :D 

He was clueless as to what it could be. haha

After he got the package open he then had a pretty good idea of what it was. ;) 

Yep!! A  .22! 

Dad putting it together for him.

Then it got passed around the room..

Til it ended back up in the hands of it's new owner. 

Dad testing it out again.

Decked out in camo for a reason! ;D

Jonah about to devour his cupcake! 

Mom made an awesome autumn apple cheesecake! Put some hot caramel on top of it and..oh. boy. ;P

Laurisa spending a little bit of time with her younger cousins. 

The men enjoying the cheesecake! 

The party turned out very nicely and everyone enjoyed themselves. Gabriel especially enjoyed it, so that's what matters! He loved getting to celebrate his birthday with his cousins over and two of them (Jeremiah and David) spent the night!

 I'll try to post often so please keep checking back! :)