Birthday Weekend with the Litwillers

This past weekend, we went down to Illinois where I celebrated my birthday with family. We did so much that I think I'm going to separate the story into two separate posts. The above picture is of the kids at Rader's farm. The cutie in the back in pink is my niece Makenzie, beside Ben's head is nephew and new walker Zach, and my sister is carrying the next one. So, six cousins in one shot isn't too bad!

We left on Thursday morning to head down to Normal. The kids were rather well-behaved on the trip, which is good b/c I had a terrible tension headache that day. Anna cracked me up...she was so excited to go to Grandma's that she had her shoes on as soon as she woke up. Rob packed her into her carseat holding all kinds of stuff as a joke, but she didn't care. She was headed to Grandma's! The kids all had their own lunches to eat as they got hungry and Anna said she wouldn't eat hers until she arrived. She did eat some on the road, but did indeed finish the rest after arrival.

The next day, we headed out to Rader's farm. The weather was predicted to be cool, but there was no wind and lots of sun, so it was perfectly fine. The kids had a ball running around the place and exploring all of the neat things to do. Matthew's favorite was a giant jumping...thing. Can't really describe it, but it was very large and he could bounce and flip all over the place. My niece was pretty brave up there and held her own quite well. Anna would only go up if Daddy was with her. We went inside for a snack, played some more, and then headed to a hibachi grill for lunch.

The kids just loved watching the "show" at the hibachi grill. None of us had ever been to one, so it was a real treat. Anna didn't care for the fire shooting up from the grill before the cooking commenced, but I think she found it interesting otherwise. My mother-in-law got a little sneaky and told them it was my birthday, so before too long, I had a headband on complete with chopsticks. Then a few staff members came out and sang a song in Japanese while banging on a drum. They wanted me to dance with them, so I made Anna get up and dance too. She loved it and on the way home said, "I got to dance with Mommy and nobody else did!"

We had a big family party that night so that all of us could meet Davis, the newest addition to the family. He's a cute little guy and we sure enjoyed playing with him. We had a great time visiting and playing around with all of the cousins. Rob's cousin took a bunch of crazy pictures, along with some nice full-family shots.

The next morning was more low-key and I even found a few minutes to steal out and spend a gift check I had. Then we went out for my birthday lunch at Avanti's. I hadn't been there in years and I always enjoy their sandwiches. Afterwards I did my best to help Rob pack, then he dropped me off at my sister's for a cardmaking class. There were four ladies in attendance and we had a great time making some cards. Rob and the kids had already left for Pontiac so I rode to town with my mom.

I'm trying to get pictures onto Facebook, but it keeps kicking me off the internet, so hopefully they will get loaded soon. Next up, Birthday weekend with the Fulkersons.