The Fourth of July!

I know we are all still recovering from Maren's many birthday parties, but I thought I'd take a minute to blog the 4th of July. Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Elias and Ethan are ready for fireworks.


BUT FIRST... Uncle Phillip demonstrates the best way to shuck corn.


The corn shuckers!




Uncle Phillip has many talents... like doing this.


The kids got a brief respite from their chores.


But then it was back to hard labor... putting the leaf in the table.


Meanwhile, Phillip and Derek figure out the best rig for the home-made corn dogs.


A binder clip will work just fine!


Dunk!






Believe it or not, this was Deacon's first ever hot dog!


NO PICTURES


Cousins, after a swim.


And now... enjoy Derek's creative fireworks pics.


Maren


Derek - a self-portrait! This involved securing the camera, turning on the timer, lighting two sparklers and standing perfectly still.


The trail of a flying firework


Deacon


Elias


Derek


We had a great time with Jana and Phillip and Elias and Ethan. Thanks, guys!

Onward: we leave TODAY for Arizona. We're about to explore the wild west! Will be blogging and tweeting along the way. Happy trails!

Maren's Fourth Tenth Birthday

Sunday afternoon, June 29th. Maren's actual birthday!

It took a lot of parties to get to this point.

Maren, officially a ten year-old! On way to her birthday restaurant of choice, IHOP.


Deacon, recovered from his day at the beach with Carlo Andre on Saturday.


Maren and the famous Burbank IHOP.




Looking forward to a hearty breakfast at 3 PM.


Maren usually orders the grownup French Toast plate at IHOP, but all the partying finally caught up with her, and she was content with the kids' portion.


Back home...


Glad she picked such an UNDERSTATED ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. The Decadent Cookie Fantasy Cake?? Looks delicious!


Jeni and Kathy came over to help celebrate! Again!!


A present from Deacon. Hey, whaddya know, they can BOTH play with these guys!! How clever of him.


I guess I'm out of pics. Thanks for joining us on the journey through Maren's many birthday parties!

Next up: the Fourth of July!

Maren's Third Tenth Birthday

Well, the party couldn't just END in the morning. Saturday, June 28th... playing with the Wii-U.


Maren wanted to take her friends swimming... here are some file photos of the lovely Verdugo Pool.


Plenty of water fun for everyone!


Derek chaperoned the girls to the pool and was unable to get pics, but I think this clipart sums it up.


All done swimming. Time to pack up and go home!


Hope's mom sent me this pic at 5:10 PM Saturday. Zzzzzzzzz....


Maren showed no signs of slowing down all day Saturday, but she was uncharacteristically tired on Sunday, the 29th. HER ACTUAL BIRTHDAY. So she was actually sort of ready for a more low-key celebration. Check back for full coverage tomorrow!

Maren's Second Tenth Birthday

From June 27th, 2014... Welcome to Maren's SECOND Tenth Birthday Sleepover Party!

Did I say it was a sleepover?? I would normally make some comment here about how exhausting it was, how crazy it got... but Maren has a bunch of really nice friends who just had fun and helped Maren have a great birthday.

Reunited with Preschool BFF, PAYTON! So good to see her.


Grace, Hope and Jacqueline are happy the pizza has arrived!


Jazmin, Micaela and Grace.


Hope, Jacqueline, Grace, and Sydnee.


You're supposed to give the goody bags to the guests when the party's over... but why wait?


At last, Jeni has arrived!


Deacon has a getaway plans for later... for now, the kazoo and toy golf clubs are helping him to keep his sanity.


The Giant Gummy Bear Cake!! It really was a giant gummy bear. 5 pounds, 9 inches tall.


Maren blows out her candles.


Cutting the "cake" proved to be very challenging. Especially when the girls requested specific parts - feet, ears, belly button!


The girls enjoy their chunk of gummy bear!




Maren opens her presents.


Having the time of her life.


This is what Micaela wrote to Maren in her card...


GODZILLA!


The girls are impressed by that "Nugget in a Biscuit" video.


it's 6 PM! Time for bed!


Negotiations over who got the sofa bed were tense, but eventually everyone was happy.


Jeni got the little couch - and some ice cream!


Over on the air mattress, Grace, Jacqueline and Hope look ready for a good night's sleep. HA.


We can report that by 2 AM, everyone was sound asleep.

Next post: Maren's Third Tenth Birthday - SWIM PARTY!! Check back soon!

Maren's First Tenth Birthday

Maren's 10th Birthday was like the World Cup, or the Olympics. Many events, flowing from one venue to the other, over a period of weeks.

Come to think of it, every birthday is like this for Maren.

And so we begin to document this year's festivities!

10th BIRTHDAY PARTY #1: FAIR OAKS

Thank you Grammie for these pics from her surprise party on June 18th!



Grandma, Grandpa, Elias, Ethan, Deacon, Auntie Jana, Grammie, Gramps and Uncle Chris were on hand for the surprise.




Since Deacon & Maren stayed up north with the family after we came back to Burbank, we weren't even there! But there are more celebrations to come. Stay tuned!!