daddy's 52nd birthday

On Friday, my sweet daddy turned 52!

We went through SOOOO many different plans for his birthday...

First, we were going to surprise him with a deep sea fishing trip to Destin.

Then we changed it to Panama City.

THEN, we decided to just take a day trip to Lulu's.

Then we thought we would take him to the Wild Animal Safari and spend the day in Pine Mountain, GA.

Then we decided we'd just cook him a good old birthday supper & spend the night at home with him. :)

I took the cake-baking duty & Sara was very excited to help!

yes, I made a boxed cake....shoot me!

Let's just say the cake turned out.....interesting.

Miss Sara got a little slap happy with the spatula when she was icing it...

But it's the thought that counts, right?!

The girls loved crawling all over their Papaw,

& then we enjoyed a supper of grilled ribs (thanks, CJ -- your grilling rocks my socks!), green bean casserole, roasted corn on the cob & deviled eggs.

Sorry it's blurry....they wouldn't stay still!

I took a picture of everybody sitting around the table, BUT...

I'm 1000% positive they would not appreciate me posting it.

My sister's mouth was wide open because she was arguing with someone

Sara looked mad as all get out because I said no cake before she ate her supper

June was about to do a somersault out of her daddy's arms

CJ (my little sisters boyfriend) was rolling his eyes

Daddy looked exasperated

and my other sister was mid-chew

Hahaaaa......blackmail!

In our family, we put the exact amount of candles for however old the person is.

So this year, my daddy got FIFTY TWO candles on his cake.

We got 20 magic candles and there were SO many candles on the cake,

 they were starting to spark against each other.

We turned the lights down in the kitchen & he literally saw the glow coming down the hallway

before he ever even saw US!

Sara spent the night there with him & she had a BLAST.

Dear Daddy,

I hope that year 52 of your life is so much more than any other year of your life has ever been. I hope that you continue to live your life in a consistent, loving, kind manner in which you glorify God and your family. Year 51 was quite a struggle -- many, many stones were thrown our way, but through it all your faith and love shone and you supported us all in your gentle way. Thank you for being a great Papaw to my girls! I am so proud God saw fit to use you for their grandfather. He couldn't have chose a finer man.

Here's to 364 days of fun, laughter, memories, cookouts, spend the night parties, lawnmower rides, bubbles, tug-of-war games with the dog, using you as a jungle gym, hellos, goodbyes, see-you-laters, squeezing on the couch with you & my sisters, and most of all....unconditional love. We love you!