Hardy and Tirzah's Double Birthday Party!

Hardy turned six on July 14th and Tirzah turned 8 on July 21st. Because we were going to be on vacation during their birthdays, we decided to throw them a double birthday party the Friday before we left on vacation. We decided to have a cookout, and about 35 people came to the party. I made Hardy a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling with two transformer toys on top. Tirzah's was a strawberry cheesecake cake (with real cheesecake in the middle and fresh strawberry filling) with cute little garden creatures. Those cakes took awhile to put together, but they were so delicious--it was worth it. :)

Here Selah and I are in the living room, watching Tirzah and Hardy open up the gifts. After presents, we played some ring toss and then went outside to play to spray silly string over the front yard. It was such a fun night!

Acarith was great at the party. I must admit, I wondered how she would handle Hardy and Tirzah getting blessed with so many gifts, but she was so mature about it. Before bed that night she said, "Mama, I remember my party at the Rice's house and how I got lots of presents."

No doubt about it, we are so blessed. All of our friends and family showered love upon us, and we are so thankful for all the friendships the Lord has given to our family.

Happy 4th of July!

Our Fourth of July was wonderful! Normally we would have lots of people over for a party, but this year we decided to just have it as a family affair. After our barbequed chicken meal, we headed to play at the park. The kids had a blast and were able to play with several other kids there. The weather was breezy and cool--perfect for being at a park. Acarith really wanted to wear her princess dress (she pointed out the colors red, white, and blue are on it!) and I agreed. She is the little fashion bug of our family.

Selah loves to do everything at the park: the swing, the slide, and even just rolling around in the nice green grass! This time it was fun for her because now she can walk and climb the whole swingset play area (much to Ruth Ann's fear at times!). Hardy let her borrow his little blue ball that lights up and she held it almost the whole time while she did everything! She had a ball (pun intended)!

Hardy and Tirzah love playing on the monkey bars. Though they are older, they still really enjoy going to Garrison Park. Now we pack up scooters and bikes for them to enjoy at the park also.

I did Tirzah's hair in this star hairstyle. It was so easy to do and looked so cute!

Tim had a ball too! He discovered going down the hill with one leg on each of the kids' scooters was a blast! He never fell one time in all his daring tricks he tried!

After the park we went to a friend's house and watched the fireworks from his patio. I think Selah enjoyed them the most! She was clapping and saying, "Wow, whee, yay, oohh, ooohh." It was adorable. Everyone really enjoyed hearing her exclaiming over those fireworks! From our house to yours, I hope you had a happy 4th of July!