On her actual birthday day, Jillian invited friends over for a kids party. Her friend Morgan from school, along with neighbors Hazel and Ila, joined Bridget and Tor for some fun. Mommy had them make a flower/emoji craft. Then, they had brownies and ice cream for treats. They spent much of their free time playing "school", a Jillian favorite.
With the cash and gift cards that Jillian received for her birthday, she bought a new bed spread set for herself (with a little contribution by Mommy and Daddy). Here she is posing with her new Gift 'Em Girls, which she also just purchased.
Bridget and Tor were fascinated by their new baby cousin Paxton, and couldn't wait to hold him.
Jillian had her family party this Saturday to celebrate turning 9 years old. She was nearly crawling out of her skin all day with excitement, knowing that so many of her young cousins would be there. It was a packed, and loud, house. Mommy's "emoji" cake was delicious, as always, and Jillian loved her gifts. Daddy realized afterwards that he had taken mostly videos, and very few still pictures. But the pics were of one of Jillian's highlights of the party ... holding her new cousin, Paxton.
Grannie gave Bridget a trim the other day. Here's what her new hairdo looked like.
Finishing up our short but relaxing trip to the beach with a trip to Frite & Scoop in Astoria. The kids love trying out all the different flavors.
After raining in the morning, it cleared up enough for the kids to go out biking. Jillian practiced on her new beach bike (donated by Auntie Greta), Bridget continued making it look easy, and Tor showed he can ride all by himself, without anyone running alongside.
We made our token trip to the beach, knowing it would be short since it was very cold and windy. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we nearly got knocked over by the wind. Sand was getting in everyone's eyes, and we were all freezing. We got back in the car quickly. Total time on the beach: less than 5 minutes.
All of us played the Game of Life, one of the kids' favourites (mostly because they can get married and have lots of babies). It took a while, as always, and Jillian came out the winner.
While waiting to go to the beach, the kids played some UNO Splash with Daddy. Tor teamed up with Jillian and Bridget, since he doesn't know how to play quite yet. Jillian won twice and Daddy once, which made for a very unhappy Bridget.
We've been at the beach cabin for less than a day, and the kids have setup and played several games of scavenger hunt already (thanks to Tierney for the inspiration). Here's Bridget and Tor reading one of the clues written by Jillian.
The weather has been nice enough the past few days that the kids have been able to play outside quite a bit. Here's Tor climbing a small tree at Grannie and Papa's house. When Mommy saw this, she said "Oh, boy!"
The kids celebrated Aunt Julie's birthday at Grannie and Papa's house. This photo was the best of the bunch ...
We picked up the Valentine's cards and treats for the girls to give to their classmates at school. They worked on them as soon as we got home.
Aunt Dany and Uncle Jason gave Bridget her final Christmas present ... a sleeping bag with her name on it. She was so excited because she now matched Jillian, who had the same thing. Bridget slept in the bag last night, then brought it out in the morning to lay in it during morning cartoons. Here she is pretending to sleep for the camera.
A typical evening wind-down, with the kids cozying up to Mommy on the sofa while watching their show.
Here's Tor at Jillian's basketball practice. For only 3 years old, he has a pretty good handle, doing mostly a crossover dribble.
It took awhile, in between retakes and mistakes in the order and having to go to Rainier to pick up the pics, but we finally have Jiilian's 3rd grade school picture and Bridget's kindergarten school picture.
