Saturday the 27th, the girls arrived home from our Tea Party in Idaho to the aroma of ribs cooking on Bayles Mountain. Dan was in charge of dinner for our birthday x4. There was a happy birthday sign up and a helium balloon for each of the 4 along with presents for each. Laura and I got busy decorating the little bundt cakes that were baked the day before. Each cake had it’s own unique twist.

Applesauce Spice cake for Katie who turned 40 on this epic day, the 27th of December.

Jamie’s birthday will be the first of 3 family birthdays in January. Her cake is lemon with lemon frosting.

Dan’s follows the day after Jamie. His cake is Applesauce Spice cake.

Three days after Dan comes Joshie’s birthday. He is our firstborn. His cake is chocolate with chocolate frosting.

Lots of birthday love all around.

Our birthday girl with dad.

After dinner and before cake we had each one open their gifts. Josh is reading a hilarious card he received from Andrew and Katie. We were all laughing.

Photo Fail: I did not get photos of each of the birthday kids sitting in the birthday gift chair.

The brothers got matching jogging suits. The girls were each treated with a very special gift from Tiffany’s from Josh and Laura. Fortieth birthdays are treated with special flare in our family and I’m sure in other families, too. There were other gifts for the four like, hoodies, coats, a massage certificate, and a Buck Skinning knife. There is one other special event planned for our two fresh forty year olds, a trip to Maui in October of 2026. There will be 12 of us making that trip, Lord Willing, our ten and Jamie’s mom and granny.

The four with their individual cakes and balloons.

When it was time for the oldest in the group to go home, another surprise was lit!

We all went on the front porch for some unknown reason and there to our surprise was an epic fireworks display preplanned by Dan! What fun that was. I wish I was able to share the video here.

It was a wonderful day from beginning to finish.

After all our birthday celebrations on Saturday we were all in church taking a full row for the last Sunday of 2025. Addy played a special number, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, on the piano.

Addy does not have that common fear of performing in front of a crowd. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in her life.

The last sermon of 2025 was excellent and we all were challenged and encouraged.

After the service, Andrew and Katie started their long drive home. The rest of us gathered again on Bayles Mountain for the day. Table games, Prime rib sandwiches for lunch, hearty soup for dinner that the two oldest of the crew had ‘to-go’.

The Grands helping gramps get up off the couch. He made it more fun by being a ‘dead weight’!

On Monday morning after Josh and Laura left for home, I changed up the table linens and pulled out this puzzle gift from Josh and Laura.  I finished it on New Year’s Eve. It was a fun one to put together.

The last days of 2025 at our country bungalow were quiet with little accomplished and that was okay.

New Year’s Eve we spent at home. We got a photo of our local kids enjoying the fireworks in town.

Those sun roofs come in handy!

Moving on to 2026 and trusting God for what He has in store for us.