Brinley's 10th Birthday Party

Brinley has unleashed her passion for Lego's, hence the

Lego themed 10th birthday party!

We made these simple Lego party favors (above) together.

 Brinley created the fun table centerpieces  (below) on her own.

During the party the children enjoyed a variety of fun games that Brinley had decided upon.

They included:

Pass the parcel

 

Doughnut on a string eating game...

 

that quickly morphed into doughnut on a plate eating game.

 

Tomato on the tower of flour game. 

Each player cut a slice of the tower away and whomever made the cherry tomato fall had to plunge their face into the flour. This was a hit and so we played several rounds.

 

 Make a mummy game...

which ended in make a huge mess game,

and last but not least they played a Lego memory game, but no pictures for that one.

It was a good time with gifts, treats and fun with friends.

I remember often times holding little baby Brinley in my arms wondering what kind of person she would become. I could have never imagined what a sweet, responsible, compassionate, driven and creative person she would turn in to.

I am ever so thankful for 10 priceless years with this wonderful child. 

Happy 10th Birthday sweet Daughter.

Dance Days

 Last week I had the privilege of putting the girls wigs on not just once, 

but twice, and what a fun experience that is!

On Thursday their performance team did a 

show at a local library for one of the libraries special summer events.

Here are a few of them dancing the two hand jig.

 They had a small space but did a great job and all of the kids in the audience were memorized, especially when they changed into their hard shoes and made lots of noise.

On Saturday the girls were able to compete in their long awaited First Feis,

which took place right here in our city. 

A Feis is an Irish dance competition and they take place  

every weekend of the year all over the world.

This is yet another occasion when I am sad that I can't get my video's to upload because 

I could add their dances here for you to see.

They each competed in three separate dances, the light jig, 

the reel step and the slip jig...all soft shoes dances. 

We were so thankful that First Feis dancers competed first because with hundreds of dances at every Feis many families end up staying there the entire day.

When the results were posted it was so fun to watch the girls reaction as they learned that they each scored first place in every dance! It was just fun to finally be able to attend a Feis.

Nana, Popie, Staci & Scout Visit

Last week Nana, Popie, Staci and baby Scout flew in for a visit.

It was so fun to have them here with us!

The day after they arrived was Popie's birthday and 

Cody took them for a half-day ziplining tour to celebrate.

We were lucky enough to be able to take care of baby Scout on a few occasions.

As you can see, the girls LOVED holding her, especially Brinley who hardly put her down for the entire six hours of time when her Mama was ziplining. 

She is a little Leah in the making in more ways than one.

Even Avery slowed down a bit to spend some one on one 

time with her newest (8 weeks old) niece!

One evening the rain stopped just long enough 

for us to enjoy a trip to Graeters Ice Cream! 

Staci is a very comfortable and laid back mother,

  which was so nice because the girls were given the opportunity to really love on Scout.

The 4th of July brought more rain...but we all sat through, utilizing four umbrellas, 

 for the sake of the parade.

I still think the parades here are somewhat hilarious. 

One of the "floats" this year was a snow plow...

I am pretty sure it's a part of the parade every year.

Other fun things we did:

*Swimming

*Riding rides at Jungle Jack's landing

*Fireworks

*Bowling

We are so glad that Nana, Popie, Staci & Scout were able to spend the week with us!

We love you!!

Swim Lessons

A couple of weeks ago the girls had four mornings of swimming lessons.

They did a great job and had fun!

Here is Reese insisting on eating yogurt BY HERSELF!

 

Unfortunately it's been raining here for the past two weeks straight, before that it was cold for several days, and looks like it will be raining for the upcoming week at least, so we are not getting 

quite the use out of our pool passes as we had hoped.