We were surprised when we went to the door and my first cousins, Jerald and his sister Sue had sent these balloons. So sweet. Jerald is a retired school principal. What is even sweeter is we've never met, but have become friends on Facebook!!! My entire family was shocked and amazed to see he looks so much like my Dad, his Uncle. He looks much more like my Dad than my own brothers or his own Dad, my Dad's brother. I'll put pictures at the bottom of this post to prove it. : - )
I didn't really get many pictures of our family or friends, because I was too busy enjoying the party (I had fun!) and someone told me they would take pictures, but... they didn't. This is my niece Darby and I got this, because she came early.
Waiting on the people.
Come on people.
Lael with her cousin Cara.
Arden worked really hard refilling the food and drinks. She wasn't happy, because a lot of her cousins were not helping her. Her Dad told her, "wow Arden, next year it will be your turn." She dryly responded, "yeah, I'll probably have to do all the work at my own party." : - ) I did tell Remi to make sure we didn't run out of cupcakes, and she took it to heart. Cokie told me every time someone grabbed a cupcake, Remi went and got another one so the plate was always full. LOL
The guy on the left graduated #3 in their class which is a big deal because our schools are some of the best in the state. And check out his amazing youtube after my song stops. It has had over 30,000 views. He is awesome!
This is about all the pics I got of Lael's guests and I wonder why? Could it be someone was taking one of Andrew?
These are my girlfriend's girls. Apparently you had to be little and cute to rate a picture.
This is another girlfriend's daughter.
Lael said she really hadn't cried until her 2nd grade teacher, Mrs Winters (left) and her 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Ousnamer walked in. Mrs Ousnamer had Brady, Lael, Arden, Remi and some of my nieces in her class. This year Stafan has her. She had Arden and Remi when they knew zero English. Mrs. Ousnamer is one of our school's very best teachers. She is strict, but the kids really like her.! Last year she battled cancer and is now cancer free. The man is our neighbor and the younger kids' principal. He worked really hard getting Shepard caught up to grade level since Shepard was 7 y.o. and knew no English. Now I'm doing it to him again. : - )
At the Open House Mrs. Winters told me Lael would be out on recess and all the girls would be crying because of the mean boys, but Lael would run in and say, "I'll take care of it!" I've had teachers tell me when they couldn't get the class to quiet down Lael would stand up and tell them to hush and they would.
And before the party:
Lael was in the choir. I looked at Mike and said, "I didn't know Lael was in the choir." Mike just shook his head. I'm not trying to be mother of the year. : - ) I do know she sometimes sings with the teens in the church choir. LOL
All the kids were there except for Brady who is in Germany and the two still in China.
My nieces, Jenna and Erin play in the band... whether they want to or not. My sister and her husband LOVE the band. Erin -- not so much.
Remember the balloon story?
The picture above was my Dad.
And this is my cousin.
And my brother.
