Happy 22nd Birthday // Birthday Weekend

 Our oldest turned 22 years of age this past weekend!

Her birthday was actually on Saturday, May 9th, but her college friends wanted to host a birthday party for her on Friday night so she went up to Emmaline and Anna's new apartment earlier in the day and they celebrated Morgan's birthday through an "Era's Tour" theme.  

Because someone was feeling 22, of course!

Marissa and I stayed up a little later on Friday night to make sure that the traditional birthday decorations were all in place for when Morgan arrived back home on Saturday.

We added the banner to our decorations here at the house after Morgan got home and asked me to hang it up.  Her friends had it made for her and she wasn't ready to just throw it away yet so it may stay hung up here at the house for a couple of weeks.  LOL

For her birthday gift, Marissa had bought tickets to the Morgan Wallen concert that was at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night so as soon as Morgan got home from the party with her friends, she quickly changed and got ready for another evening of fun.   

Since I knew that it would be a late evening for those two, I went ahead and went to bed at a normal time, but I admit that I didn't really sleep well until almost 3:30 in the morning, when I heard them come back through the door.  Thankfully, except for a deer running into them just a couple of miles from the house, they had an uneventful trip to Indy and back and I'm so thankful for the time that those two had together.

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Later on Sunday night, we were finally able to celebrate Morgan's birthday as the family.  She opened her gifts from Noel and I and then we enjoyed the ice cream cake that she had requested.

Happy 22nd Birthday, Morgan.  You are such a beautiful and strong young woman and I am so blessed that I get to be the one to call you daughter.  I cannot wait to see the good plans that God has for you in the days ahead.  

"When God is within her, she cannot fail"  Psalm 46:5

An Update on Noel's Birthday

 Noel's actual birthday fell on a Saturday this year so Noel thought he had avoided any public recognition, but he was wrong.  His hurdlers remembered that it was his birthday over the weekend and they made sure that they celebrated with him very loudly on Monday!  LOL

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As I mentioned in a previous post, Marissa bought 3D puzzle for Noel that he could put together.  It was a little girl and her Dad riding a bike.  

When the JV meet was cancelled on Friday night, he was able to sit down and work on it and it he finished it on Saturday.  It turned out really good!

Noel's 49th Birthday

 Noel's 49th birthday was on Saturday the 18th and this was the first in many years when he wasn't gone for a track meet.  Morgan and Marissa both came home on Friday afternoon and then stayed until Saturday afternoon so that we could celebrate him all together as a family and that was probably his best gift, just in and of itself.  Since they both had to be back for other things on Saturday night, we decided to take him to brunch on Saturday instead of waiting for dinner.

Marissa and Morgan helped me decorate late Friday night so that he would wake up to the traditional balloons and other decorations.

After Melayna and Morgan woke up and Marissa got home from her long run, we all headed out to Maria's Restaurant (one of our favorites) and we enjoyed a great brunch together.  It was a great time to hear about the track meet from Melayna's perspective as Noel had gone with the boys to a different meet and wasn't able to watch her run and we also caught up with Morgan and Marissa and heard about their upcoming exams and year end projects, etc. and even the summer classes and internships that they were signed up for.  It was definitely a time great food and even better fellowship!

After we got back to the house, we made Noel sit in the "place of honor" while he opened his birthday gifts.  He received a tin of popcorn from Nolan that we got from the Dutch Kernel. Nolan helped to pick out the flavors.

Then he opened the gifts from me, which included a magnet and a puzzle that I had made from a picture of one of his previous bike rides.  

He was pretty excited about the puzzle and actually had it together by the time that he went to bed later that night.

And then I bought him a t-shirt about bicycles that made him laugh.

Marissa bought Noel a 3d puzzle that is a girl and her dad riding a bike together.  I didn't get a picture of the opened gift, but he will work on it soon so hopefully I will remember to take a picture of the finished product.  It was a really neat gift and very meaningful for them both.  (Marissa said that it reminded her of the time (many, many years ago) that he took her for ride on his motorcycle and she fell asleep and almost fell off!  

And then it was time for dessert, which was both pretzel delight and warm monkey bread.  Yum!  Of course we had to serenade him in our bestest singing voices...

...and then he blew out all of his candles.

Yay!  He blew them all out...and the smoke detector didn't even go off!!  LOL

And then there is Nolan, who is always up for being the party entertainment!!

Happy Birthday Noel.  We love you and we appreciate how hard you work for our family.  You deserve the very best!!

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Noel worked on the puzzle off and on through the rest of the day...

...and since it was only a 250 piece puzzle, he had it all finished and glued together by the end of the day.