Here Comes the Bride - Hawaiian Style

Today we had the honor of attending Janelle & Eric's wedding, held at her parents house on Lake Wilderness. Her brother, being a Pastor, had the privilege of performing the ceremony.
She had a great kids table set up with all sorts of crafts for them to do.
And hula dancers! It was so much fun to watch both the Hawaiian dancers as well as some of the guests participate.
There was also quite the candy table that, once discovered, was frequently visited by a few of their smaller guests...

Lots of smiles all around!


The end of the evening was the best though - the siblings & their spouses jumped into the lake still fully clothed in their wedding attire. Priceless!

Surprising Stephanie

It has been very challenging these past few weeks keeping Stephanie's birthday dinner a surprise. Knowing that we were preparing to go out of town, Stephanie had assumed her birthday would just be brushed under the rug - as most adult birthdays do.

This morning was the start of her special day. Our two families met up at Bradley Park for a playdate/picnic. The kids had so much fun running around the playground and riding scooters.

We took a walk around the lake, but sadly Jordan had a terrible crash half way around. After several attempts to soothe his poor little wounds, it became clear that he needed to get home. So off Stephanie went to care for her little guy, apologizing that she wasn't able to stay for lunch. As my kids and I sat there eating our picnic lunch (on the Happy Birthday plates we had packed for Stephanie) I became all the more thankful for our friendship. These are those "real moments" that we get to share together. Those moments that don't go exactly as planned, but bind our hearts because they are the moments we shared together. Instead of singing Happy Birthday to her, the kids and I prayed for her and for her family. It was really neat.

Fortunately, that wasn't all the day was scheduled to hold. Several of her closest friends & I were able to surprise her at Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. She was completely surprised and slightly overwhelmed. It was so refreshing to get to hang out together and just be friends...not focusing on being Mommy's or anything else, just friends. What a blessing she has been in my life and what a joy to be a part of her big night. Happy Birthday Stephanie!

Scissors

Need I say more?

Happy 9th Birthday Abby

Today was perfect for Abby - exactly how she hoped it would be. Several of her closest friends just hanging out, swimming, doing crafts and sunbathing at Grandma's house. My little girl is definitely growing up. In fact, she even requested we skip the cake this year and just have Apple Pie - since she's really not a big fan of cake. (I certainly didn't complain, as it made my job much easier).

Happy Birthday Abby!

Firm Foundations Part 2

We are making progress on our house project. Today the kids (and several neighbors and friends) got to watch the cement being poured for our foundation.


They even let us jump down "into the hole" and put our handprints in the concrete before it dried. Although it will be covered up with supports and flooring soon, it's fun to know their little hands and our family's name will be permanently cemented into this home.

Celebrating August Birthdays

August is a big month in our family, especially this particular weekend. Both Abby and her cousin Juliana share August 15th as their birthdays, followed by Jimmy celebrating his the next day on the 16th.

This year we celebrated three birthdays with the Finnestad side of the family - Abby's, Jimmy's and Aunt Kimberly's (who's birthday is on the 25th). The morning started with Belgian Waffles (with strawberries and whipping cream, of course) and a breakfast casserole. After working up our appetite running around outside, we came back in for presents and Ice Cream Cake! What a sweet morning :)


That afternoon we were off to celebrate Juliana's 4th birthday Hello Kitty style. What a fun day full of partying!

Seiku

James got to experience his first big Seiku fishing trip on Grandpa Hirst's boat this weekend - and what an incredible experience that was! They landed some BIG salmon and even managed to catch a small shark while they were out there.

Neighborhood Carnival

There wasn't enough time this 4th of July to do everything we had hoped to do, so our neighborhood had to continue the celebration into the month of August. Today we had a "Neighborhood Carnival" for the kids. It began with a ticket-only entry (compliments of Conner Green). First event was a sling-shot/ball toss, followed by a hoop toss and then fishing for treasures.



Next, the kids teamed up for a potato sack relay followed by a cupcake walk.


Have I mentioned lately how much I love our neighborhood? We're counting down the days until our next big event!