Fall Break 2010- Spring Mill

We love camping at Spring Mill in the fall. This year, we camped with Alex's brothers and families. The weather was perfect, and we had a fabulous time.

Braylee took this cute picture. :)

Friday, Alex still had to work but I took off since it was Braylee's fall break. We headed up to the campgrounds with Mandi & Andre around lunchtime. We set up camp, rode bikes, cooked over the fire, and then waited for the rest of our crew to arrive.

Saturday, we ventured down to the village. Aunt Mandi snapped some family pictures of us and also did a 4-year photo shoot for Miss Brynna. We love exploring the village, and Braylee even got to dance with her daddy.

Here are a few of the family pictures Mandi took for us.
We are so blessed to have a photographer in the family!

Saturday evening, we topped off our meal with some birthday cake for Uncle Andre'. Unfortunately, we couldn't have a campfire due to the dry/windy weather so after putting the kiddos to bed, all of us adults climbed into the tent and played Taboo next to the space heater. Great memories. :)

Sunday morning, Alex's parents and Abbie, Gabe, & Max came to visit. We enjoyed a huge breakfast and then started out on a hike.

I'm so thankful for our family. The weekend was great! 

Autumn's Arrival

Braylee's birthday marks the arrival of autumn...probably my favorite season of the year! While my girls' birthdays were over, we continued to celebrate with friends the rest of the month. The last three weekends in September, we had 3 birthday parties to attend each weekend! We managed to find time for some fun fall activities too though. I'm behind in updating, so to make this quick, I'll just share a few pictures of what we've been up to. (Sorry for the quality. Some of them were from my phone.)

Brynna, Emma, & Caleb enjoyed the gorgeous weather
while Greta & I canned homemade applesauce.

The girls had their well-checks at Dr. R's office. Healthy little girls!
Both are still sticking to their same growth curves.
Braylee is tall and Brynna is small to average.

The girls painted pumpkins.

Braylee with some of her best buds at the bowling alley.

Ready for a pony cart ride and hayride at Willow's party.

Picking out more pumpkins at the Farmers Market when mommy went to get fresh produce...to can homemade salsa! Yummy!
Girls' Game Night...Abbie has more pics on her blog.

Braylee brought home her first report card and earned "Straight A's." In Kindergarten, they give grades differently but she scored the highest she could in each category so I guess that counts as "straight As." She also went on her first field trip!

We just got back from a weekend of camping, so I'll try to update with those pictures soon!

Minnie Mouse Party

We've known for months we were going to have a Minnie Mouse party for the girls' birthday. The party was a success, but I have to say I was a little bit of a slacker this year. :) I made some cute decorations but I didn't make any type of game for the kids. I thought about making a "pin the bow" on Minnie or a Minnie pinata, but there is too little time! I also had big plans of making Minnie-shaped rice krispy treats with ears dipped in chocolate like we saw at Disney, but well...two bags of botched marshmallows later, I decided to toss that idea too!! haha.

I also struggled with trying to decide what to get the girls this year. It's probably a sign that they have entirely too much stuff already, but I always want their birthday gifts to be special. Thanks to my smart hubby, he thought of a super fun idea. We immediately started spinning ideas since we didn't decide to do it until a week before the party!

The weather was cool on Sunday, so we set up tables in the study instead of out on the deck as we had planned. It worked out well though because then we didn't have to worry about things blowing away.

The kids had a blast, the food was yummy, and the girls were spoiled with lots of love and gifts.

The big reveal of Mommy and Daddy's gift was saved for the end of the party. Our basement is mostly unfinished, so we actually had to put up some drywall to complete the project. :) Since we did it the week of the party, we didn't get a chance to have the drywall finished yet...which means I couldn't paint or really decorate either, but the concept is there and the girls loved it. It's a little dance studio! We put up two large mirrors and a ballet barre. We hung bright curtains along the other wall so they would have a pretty background. They immediately went to the barre and started doing their dance stuff.

It's hard to believe my little ones are 4 & 6! I love every minute of being their mommy. Happy Birthday, girls!!

Click here for more Minnie Mouse Party Pictures!

(Scroll down for blog on Braylee & Sydney's lollipop party!)

Sweet Shoppe Party

Braylee and her cousin Sydney are best friends and share the same birthday! We decided to have a friend party for the two of them. They had the best time! My sister-in-law Mandi took pictures for us which saved us a ton of stress.
To start the party, the girls painted frames and decorated them with candy sprinkles. Then we sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed some goodies. After opening presents, we played a quick game and then took the girls outside for a little photo shoot. We ended with the girls filling their treat bags with lots of sugar! :) To be fair to the parents, we did put a cute toothbrush in the bag too! You can see all of the photos on Mandi's Photography Site. So cute!!

Later that evening, the older girls attended their friend Elle's party...which left the little cuties at home with us. :)
It was a great day!