Happy 4th Birthday Brielle!!!!

My baby girl is 4 years old!!! Brielle celebrated her 4th birthday with a Fancy Nancy theme birthday party with 8 of her friends. The Fancy Nancy books are favorites of hers. It was the perfect theme for the party. All of the girls and moms came dressed fancy (like Nancy). They were so darling.
I made a fondant cake (with the help of Susie-friend and neighbor). I wanted it to be fancy and we loved how it turned out. Fondant is actually really easy to work with. It's just like playing with playdough!

I read the original Fancy Nancy story to the kids and talked about what is plain and what is fancy.

We took plain bags and made them fancy!

Fancy girls!

Brielle dancing with her friend.

Presents!

Frenchy! Brielle's eyes lit up when she opened this. :)

Hugs...

Make A Wish

A group of us walked in the first annual Make A Wish Walk-A-Thon on Sunday. It was a fabulous day, lots of sunshine, yummy food and good friends. Our team was Team Blake. We walked 5K to help raise funds for this great organization. It was good to honor Blake by giving back to something that blessed our life. It was also bitter sweet remembering Blake's Wish trip to Maui.
Hurray! We made it!!

Blake's Wish trip to Maui-April 2006

My little athelete...

Brielle is such a great little athelete. I guess it helps to have big brothers to show you the way and make you tough. She loves jumping off the diving board and doing 180's. She was so close today to doing a 360*! She also loves to dive for things and swim and swim and swim until she is exhausted! I love spending our days at the pool enjoying the laughter and the sunshine. :)

So relaxed!...

Brielle is quite the soccer player as well. She plays on a 4-5 year old team even tho she is still 3 till Aug. 21. It's so fun seeing her challenge these much older kids. I of course enjoying cheering her on just as I do for the boys. (once a cheerleader, always a cheerleader!) :) I got so excited as Brielle almost scored, the camera went crazy.

Yes, the grass is terribly brown. We have had FABULOUS weather this summer, but no rain!

Hillsboro Mission Trip 2009

It has been a week since we got back from Hillsboro, Oregon and I'm finally catching up! We had a fabulous trip and exhausting too. We went with a group of 50 teenagers from our church. We all slept at the church (Brielle, Drew, a friend and I all slept in the library!) Each morning we would go to the community park to weed, plant flowers and bark the park.

One morning a group of us went to a retirement center. We got to spend time with some of the Alzheimer's patients. I fell in love with Henry...

He was such a hoot! We were chatting and he just said, "lets dance!" and he started to sing Oh what a beautiful morning! He had a lot of great one liners that made me laugh. He really made my day.

In the afternoons we led VBS (vacation bible school) for children in the area and from local migrant camps. Our teens were the leaders we just were there to watch over them. I was so proud of my boys as well as the group of girls I worked with. Fun with shaving cream...

Brielle had so much fun. I loved how Brielle just blended right in. Only her hair bow gave her away.

Daniel and his friend...

In the evenings we would go to the migrant camps in the area. I really enjoyed the ride to the camps in the bus as everyone was silent as we listened to worship music, prayed and enjoyed the amazing scenery. There is something about farms and fields that is just so peaceful. It is just something magical.

My very favorite thing we did was my group of girls all donated $ to buy Hispanic looking dolls to give to the girls at the migrant camps. We were able to bring 25 dolls.

This little girl was so sweet. She didn't speak any English so she didn't seem to understand what Brielle was doing. I had another little girl come over to translate for me and as soon as she understood her face just lit up!

A group of boys (including mine) also donated $ to buy soccer balls, playground balls and frisbees for the kids...

Each family lives in 1/2 of the white house you can see in the photo.

I coundn't resist this one...She must have had fun berry picking with her parents all day!...

On the last day we got to have a 'fun day'. We all drove out to Canon Beach to enjoy the beautiful sunshine...

We topped off the 'fun day' with some shopping. Brielle had a sugar drink earlier and was crazy in the mall...she just kept hiding in clothes and running wild!

I just wanted to add that although I love these teenage girls, their drama wore me out! Everything said and done has drama. Not looking forward to that with Brielle! Boys are MUCH easier as teens.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!! Here's a look down memory lane of past 4ths (at least since we have had a digital camera!!)...

2005


Snuggling Blake while watching the fireworks...

2006

Our WHOLE family...(well, I guess we didn't have Riley yet!)

2007...




2008...

2009...

Drew and his best buddy...

R
4th of July parade...

Silly 4th fun with best buddies...