Brother's First Birthday

The whole story of August's birthday party is here and here. Oh yeah, also here.  But these are some favorite Madelyn Moments from his special day.

 Madelyn wanted to create her own party decoration. She came up with the idea and created the entire thing on her own. I think it's awesome and we put it on one of the picnic tables for the party.

 

She's been a big sister for a whole year! And such a good one!

A very good protector - keeping August from grabbing the candle (like she did on her first birthday!)

Look how much she is enjoying watching him. 

One of my favorite photos from the whole day!

This lovely young lady is Sydney, the 13-year-old daughter of my good friend Amy, who used to work with me at Curves. Sydney and Madelyn have formed a very special bond, and it's a joy to see them together.

Sydney braided Madelyn's hair and it looked so pretty! This was a turning point for her, now she sometimes allows us to pull her hair back into a ponytail!

They were practically inseparable during the party.

What a lovely young lady!

 

Sydney and Madelyn again!

Cousins n Cupcakes

Fun with cousins at one of our many family birthday celebrations (on June 21 - pictures are late).

Coloring with Audrey

Cupcakes with Shelby, Lucy, Daniel, Jimmy, Jack, and Kaden

More cuteness with Audrey!

School of Magick

 

Second camp of the summer was "School of Magick" through Portland Trackers Earth. This seemed like a really neat concept where the kids explore nature through the context of wizardry and magic.  Part of the reason we chose this camp is because it was a good location to meet Madelyn's best cousin Jack, so they did the camp together!

I believe Madelyn mostly enjoyed this, but she actually got a little scared one day when they spotted "The Empty One" in the trees, dressed all in black and a white mask. I tried to help Madelyn understand that everything was for fun and pretend, but she is convinced that this kind of magic is real. Oh boy.  She did overcome that fear and understood that The Empty One is actually good, she is only pretending to be bad to help them practice casting spells. Okay then.

Each day the kids found a special object they needed to defeat The Empty One and help her turn good again.  These objects included a jar of sylph breath, a dragon's tooth, and a water sprite's necklace. So that gives you an idea of what this camp was all about!

Creative Camping Set

 

It's one of my favorite things to see Madelyn create.  This Calico Critters camping set was one of her big Christmas gifts last year.  This day she made grass and standing trees out of paper and feathers, plus a campfire out of torn tissues, leaves, and sticks. I believe Madelyn has more fun creating her settings than playing make-believe stories so far.

Big Fourth of July Day

Our day began with a red, white, and blue breakfast!


Then we participated in the neighborhood parade, and this time we weren't dragging dead last like last year when I was about to have that baby!

Everywhere we bring Loki and Kezia, they get a lot of attention from kids and adults alike. 

Ready to go!

After the parade, Gary and Madelyn read the Declaration of Independence together and discussed what it means to live in a free country.

Next on our agenda of Independence Day Fun: Oaks Park!

Gary and I haven't been there is ages, and it was Madelyn's first time. 

Of course she had a lot of fun.

 

Except neither of us enjoyed the Octopus ride, we both got motion sick. :( I've enjoyed this ride before, so I guess I must be getting old! We spent the whole time staring at our feet and trying not to lose our cookies.

Hi!

Lastly, we decided to skip viewing a big fireworks display so the kids could get to sleep earlier (especially August). Instead, we picked up a small package of street fireworks on the way home and after putting baby in bed enjoyed these in our driveway.  This was actually Madelyn's first time lighting our own fireworks and she was absolutely delighted. So that made it really fun!

Summer Tubing Hill

When we did these tubes last summer, I was WAY too pregnant to haul my large self and a heavy tube up this giant hill. :(


But I got to try it this year, and...it was sort of fun. 

 

 

Woo-hoo! It was very hot, so we only went down a few times.