Birthday party, church picnic

So many pictures to share just since my last post on Friday!  Saturday was Elizer's first birthday party!

Dick and I left home around 8 am and arrived at Destiny and Alex's place about 10:15.  

Destiny was at work.  Dick and I had fun with Elizer, giving him breakfast and playing with him.  Dick and Alex carried all the party stuff out to the van.

I left to pick up Destiny from work.  She had permission to leave at 12 noon.  We then went to the nearby Giant supermarket to pick up the cakes - a little cake for Elizer to "smash",  cupcakes for all the party guests, and a surprise cake for her maternal grandma, who was turning 60 that day.

I took her home to get herself and Elizer ready.  Dick and I left to buy a helium tank at Walmart near Lancaster.  They were out of them (even though I was told on the phone that they had them in stock.) 

So we went to Target, which was not far down the road, but TRAFFIC!!!!!  Lord!  We are not used to that kind of traffic congestion.  My nerves were really on edge until I found the box with a helium tank and balloons at Target.  But finding a checkout (out of the 18!!) that did not have a LONG line was was another frustration.  When I found one that looked short, the lady ahead of me was ready to check out about 500 pieces of clothes.  UGH!!  

I was never so glad to be in the car and on the way to our destination.  The thing was, I had made the arrangements for the venue - Teen Central in Manheim where her baby shower had been last summer, and I had asked them to have it open at 2:00 to set up.  I was so afraid they would not want to unlock it and just leave if no one was there yet. As we drove the 20 minutes to Manheim I was able to reach the contact person by email to assure her that we were on our way.  She replied that it was no problem.  And then I could breathe!

My friend Linda Roser, who has been such an angel these past few months, providing Destiny with rides home from work sometimes, rides to the grocery store, etc because she lives near Destiny's job, was already at Teen Central when we arrived.  Here she is holding up the piñata!  And those are the cupcakes we had picked up.  Destiny added the sprinkles and decorations when she arrived.

I thought she and Elizer looked adorable when they got there. 

The tables and chairs had already been set up, so we put table cloths and centerpieces on them.  Destiny hung up banners.  Dick put helium in balloons, I knotted them, Alex cut string and helped me tie it to all the balloons.  

Here's Grandpa Frank with Elizer!

All the aunties were excited to see him!

Here's Frank and Lauren's family - all except J'von who was not able to be there.  

We were exclaiming how much Jada is starting to look like Destiny!  She's having her 9th birthday today!

The youngest little auntie - precious V'anni!  She'll have her second birthday next week!

Destiny's maternal grandparents, Abraham and Agnes, were there.  Some of you may remember that he had a very long, hard fight against COVID in February, but he recovered!  Destiny's aunt Perla (red dress) was there too, and her adult children and their little ones.  Her daughter (the one in yellow) is near Destiny's age.  Also Destiny's sister Keshila was there with her little guy - she's the one in the white shirt.  

Destiny's grandparents prepared all the food for the party!!  It was the BEST!!  Good Puerto Rican food!

Sam and the kids were there too!  I was disappointed afterward that we did not think to get a picture of Dick and me together with Frank's and Sam's families.  

The kids spent most of their time in the rec room.  They had so much fun.

I wanted a picture of Sam and Frank together.   These were our two "Reading boys" back in the day.  That's pronounced "redding" and is the city in which they each were born and lived until they came to our home in rural Manheim in 1994 when they were teens.  We have stories!!  I'm pretty sure they were reminiscing about something when I took this picture.  (No, they are not biological brothers.)

Frank's Jada and Sam's Sammy are both 4th graders this year, even though they are almost a year apart in age.  September 1 is the cutoff date in most school districts in PA, so Jada's August birthday makes her one of the youngest 4th graders and Sammy's September birthday makes him one of the oldest 4th graders.  

Alex's family, except his mother who lives in Florda, were there.  Here are his sister with her little guy, his step brother, his dad in the middle holding Elizer, and his little brother.  Looks like Elizer was pulling Ozias's long, curly hair!

After we ate the scrumptious food it was cake time!

How cute is he with that dab of frosting on his nose??

Agnes was completely surprised by the cake for her.  Destiny thinks of everything!

Then it was piñata time in the rec room.   Destiny told the kids to line up in order of age, youngest to oldest.  The most hilarious part of this video is when it was Bianca's turn!

Next was gift-opening time.  Elizer was not into pulling wrapping paper off the gifts.  He was just interested in playing with some of the things they had unwrapped!

The last thing was Elizer's "smash cake"!  We had forgotten to bring his high chair, so we put a tablecloth on the floor.  Someone thought to wrap his cast in foil!   Alaya was so excited to see what he would do. (By the way, please notice my cute Crocs, haha!  I got them on FB Marketplace last week.)

Here's the short video of him trying the frosting.  He was getting pretty tired by then and didn't really get into the cake itself.  

A few more adorable pictures of Destiny, Alex, and Elizer.  

Destiny worked that morning and then ran that party like a pro!  She had thought of it all.  What a girl!

Lots of people stayed to help us clean up.  I had been told that a church meets there on Sunday mornings and that no one would be there to clean in between.  So we really tried to leave everything the way we had found it.  What a wonderful location for a party!  I'm really impressed with it and their ministry to teens in Manheim.  

Both of us were tired!

Afterward we went to Destiny and Alex's place to unload some food and gifts.  We left for home at 8 pm and were home before 10:30.  Bed felt good!

On Sunday after church we had a potluck/hot dog roast at the parsonage.  The weather, after the extreme heat and humidity we had had last week, was PERFECT!!  Very low humidity and temps in the low 80's.  We had a really great time.  

I enjoyed becoming better acquainted with a woman who lives here in our community. Last summer she and her husband had walked past our place when Dick and I were outside.  They asked about our blue salvia, and we ended up talking for at least an hour!  Recently she started coming to church.  

This is the stage my hand is at!  Stitches that are hanging on "by a thread" but haven't fallen out yet.  And they hurt if I pull, so I don't.  Yesterday I was making meatballs and decided I'd better wear a glove.  We wouldn't want to find a piece of stitch in a meatball, hahahaha!!  

I don't want to end on such a gross note, so here's a good laugh.  Pastor Lynn has such a great sense of humor and is very self-deprecating and humble, in a funny way.  Last Sunday she did an impromptu solo in the middle of her sermon, which cracked me up!!  (As you'll hear in the video.)  I'm such a loud laugher - it just bursts out.  

Lots to do now - we're going camping this weekend for the first time in two years!