Macy's third birthday party

Macy's birthday party was the day after we went to Burch Lake.  I don't have many good pictures from that day, but I do have a good (SAD) excuse.  First, Cooper slipped between the top two rungs on Macy's new play structure.  Before falling to the ground, she whacked her chin on a rung and bit deeply into her lower lip.  It bled like crazy, and I felt horrible.  She'd been doing so well climbing up, but was wet from the swimming pool that particular time.  :(  Then, not even an hour later, she fell off Morgan and Anna's brand new deck.  It wasn't a huge fall, but she was exhausted from not having a nap the day before and she'd already had a serious crash that day.    I felt like the worst mom ever.

Other than that, the party was great!  Anna and Morgan (and my parents) had all gone to a lot of work to get the deck and play structure done, as well as food and whatnot.

After the party, some of us moved over to my parents' yard and pool (including the Nelsons and Anna's sister's family).

At the end of the day, I attempted to get a good picture of both kids to use for our birthday invitations.  I wasn't successful, but will include a few here since Cooper wasn't in any of the actual party pictures.

A day at Burch Lake

The first Saturday of August was spent at "Burch Lake," a pond on the Burch family's farm near Corvallis.  (Justin Burch did the George Fox/Oregon State engineering program with Nate.)  I didn't know most of this group during college, but wish I did.  We sure enjoy our time with them when we get together! 

Some of the families camped out for the weekend, but we had camped the weekend before and were going again the following weekend, so we just spent the day there.  All of the kids played amazingly well together, despite not having naps.  It was so much fun for me to just sit back and watch...and not have to be involved in the play for awhile.  :)  We ended our perfect day with s'mores around the campfire.

I didn't get any pictures of most of the adults and I didn't do that well on the kids either.  We were too busy enjoying ourselves.  :)

Claire Brownlee and Judson, who are just three weeks apart in age

Judson spent hours jumping off the dock and swimming with whoever was swimming at the time.

Judson and Claire were on Joel and Merrick's team for the "fishing derby."

The guys and kids during their fishing competition.

Cooper just hanging out while the big kids fished with the dads.

So very tired...

Maren Burch putting on a show for Cooper.

Siblings

These two definitely have their moments (good and bad), but wow, is it sweet when they're playing together and enjoying each other!  They had some toys out last night right before bed that they hadn't played with in awhile.  When I went to get Cooper out of her crib this morning, the first thing she said was, "I wanna play Judson."  Love it!  (For the record, she usually says, "I wanna get dressed," and then proceeds to choose something purple, preferably with a kitty on it. :)

I took these pictures two Sundays ago because I got to pick out their outfits and it was so refreshing to see them in something they don't usually wear.  I didn't get a really great picture, but these are fun.

Our Birthday Girl

I am always sad to see summer go, and this year is no exception.  However, this year I will relive summer with all of the posts I have yet to write. ;) We had so much fun!  For now, that will wait while I mention our most recent happenings. 

A certain little character turned two on the ninth and I can hardly believe how grown up she's seeming!  We had a fun day planned with Anna, Macy, and Rowland, but unfortunately Cooper woke up with a fever.  She was chipper all morning, but was completely lethargic by naptime.

Since Anna and her kids were halfway down here by the time Cooper woke up, we still met up at Gilbert House Children's Museum.  It was closed for the week (presumably to get ready for their preschool to start).  So much for all of my planning! ;)  We played at the playground and rode the carousel instead.  Cooper was perky during that time.  It was during our picnic lunch in the shade (it was a GORGEOUS day) that she started shivering and looking slightly blue.  Poor baby. 

We realized the fountains were still on, and I just happened to have the kids' swimsuits and towels in the car.  Since Macy and Cooper are the same size, it worked perfectly.  Cooper slept in my arms while Macy and Judson played in the water.

Birthday breakfast

You can't really get the full picture of Judson's outfit here, but it was a John Deere shirt with a tractor on it and the ever-popular fish swim trunks.  When he came out wearing this particular outfit that morning, I told him he needed to change either the top or bottoms.  He instantly said, "But sometimes guys on the farm cook fish for dinner!"  How could I argue with that?!  I let him wear it.  :)

Judson always rides in one of the wagons on the carousel.  Somehow he convinced Macy that she should too.  :)

These two love each other so much and have such a great time together!  It never ceases to make me smile.

And somehow I convinced Anna to ride with Cooper so I didn't have to. ;)  That thing makes me so dizzy!  Plus then I could take pictures.

Once we got home, Cooper slept for four more hours, until I finally woke her up at 7.  She seemed to be feeling better, but I was glad I'd decided to postpone our dinner with the Renningers, Comptons, and Paul Moody.  Judson was SO SAD that we didn't get to have our little party. :(  

The good news was our guests could all come the next night and everyone at our house was feeling good.  (We opted to do things differently party-wise this year.  We're having a combined birthday with cousins and a few friends at the Mollala Train Park next weekend.  Our house is just too small to pack a bunch of people in comfortably.  For the kids' actual birthdays, it's a much smaller group, which is nice for many reasons.  :)

Dinner

I shouldn't even show these.  I've never had to make a cake for my kids before (thanks to Bridgett).  I ended up having very little time and not finding the supplies I was hoping to find on my one errand night without kids.  Oh, well.  Cooper loved them, and I'm hoping to do better for our train park party.  :)

She blew both candles out the second we set the plate in front of her, but then couldn't get them out for the life of her once we sang to her and it was actually time to blow them out.

All in all, we had a great couple of days celebrating our sweet, SPECIAL girl.  What a blessing she is to our family!