July 20th

Ryleigh's actual birthday was a few days after her party, on the 20th. I know this because I looked it up on her birth certificate a few months ago. Yes, I actually forgot her birthday. I called the insurance company about something for her and they asked me to confirm her birthday. I gave them a date, they said "that is not what we have here". "Well you have it wrong" I told them. I know my daughters birthday. Or at least you would think I do. They told me I would have to go into the insurance office on base with her birth certificate to have it changed. So, I dug it out to do just that. That is when I noticed I had it wrong. Oops. Maybe I should start taking Ginga Biloba or something.....

We started the day off with hot chocolate with whipped cream on the deck. A favorite with our kiddos and a treat. She is just a little bit happy. Notice the princess pj's from Megan and Sarah. :)

We saved a few presents and gave them to her that afternoon. She now has Barbies and she loves to brush their hair. :)
She also got a piggy bank. The boys each have one and she is very excited to have one of her own. We gave her some change and she had fun putting it all in her little bank.

We made pink cupcakes later on that afternoon and decorated them with purple frosting. The boys refused to eat them. Too many girly colors.

We spend the evening outside on our deck with a dinner of hot dogs. That was her request! :)
Looking cute in Daddy's John Deere hat.

Time for another singing of Happy Birthday. She sang along. :)I think she likes them. The icing at least. She just licked all the icing off and said she was done. Could have saved myself some trouble and just given her a spoon with a bowl full of icing.

She is Three!!

Ryleigh turned three last week! She is pure sunshine. Sure, she is strong willed, head strong and more independent than the boys, but sunshine none the less. :) Her smile could melt snow. Her eyes twinkle and she has more than one person wrapped around her finger. How did God know we needed just this person in our family? I don't know, but thankfully He did!

Ryleigh's Birthday Party

My camera is not taking inside pictures very well at the moment, so all the pics from Ryleigh's party did not turn out very well. So, I had Ashleigh send me some from her camera, still waiting on a few (hint, hint Ash!), but I decided to go ahead and post what I've got. Ryleigh and her gal pals all dressed up. Ryleigh's friends and family know her well. She got lots of dress ups and adorable dresses. Thanks everyone! Opening her presents. She was very methodical about it. :)

Focused here.

Happy girl!

She was very excited about her princess cake. It was so fun to have a princess themed party. For so many years now it has been one superhero after another with the boys and frilly stuff is a nice change!

Kyle and Lindsey

Ryleigh, Kyle and Lindsey hamming it up. Sarah and Ryleigh

Lindsey and Ryleigh

She has fun with her aunts!

Wonder where she gets that attitude from?

The umbrella from Mom Mom was a favorite gift.

Yay for Princesses!

These photos were all taken by Aimee.

Ryleigh's friend BrooklynTime for cake!

Looks like we are about to be invaded by pirates......

Cake on the deck.

The video of us singing Happy Birthday!

The BEACH

I didn't take near as many pictures as I thought I did while we were at the beach. Everyone else was taking pictures and I guess I thought I did too! But looking through them, this is all I have. We had a really good time even though we missed everyone that couldn't be there. Getting a family as large as ours together is difficult with so many work schedules involved. But, I have faith it will happen one day! Here is the crew that made it this year: Rainbow taken from the porch of the beach house.

A row of girls. :)

Hanging out with Granddad in the waves.

A row of girls with Jason in the middle! Jason only got to come on Saturday.
A lot of reading was done on the beach last week. How do you like Aimee's hat? :)

Ryleigh singing and dancing in the water. She watched a Hannah Montana episode one day with the kids and she heard one of Hannah's songs called "You could be the one". She sang it every day after that. Only she sang it like this "He could be the one, he could be the one. My dad could be the one." All on her own. No one said anything to her about daddy, she just started singing it about him. Jason hopes to keep it that way for many years to come.

More fun with Granddad.
Aiden running down the beach!

Kyle is absolutely hysterical to watch at the beach. He does some crazy stuff. All week long he would run to the water and actually dive, like a belly flop, into the waves. It couldn't have felt that great, (in fact, someone said "I tried that and it really doesn't feel that good!") it actually looked like it hurt. But he did it over and over and over again. Should have got it on video....

There he is behind Lindsey, diving straight in.
Luckily, for now, Ryleigh is content to stay on the edge of the water and just play in the surf. That way I only have to watch 2 in the water, not 3. No reading books for me on the beach!

Jason throwing Ky into the waves.

Our row of chairs.
A popular discussion this week was Ashleigh's wedding. I think we pretty much got it planned! :) After a day at the beach we were checking out some bridal magazines.

This was towards the end of the week and as you can see from every ones faces, I think everyone was worn out! Too much sun, late nights and junk food! Ahh vacation!Our fabulous sand castle!
Aiden working on the bridge over the moat. The moat was huge!

Kyle in his own world, just sitting in the surf. Would love to know what goes through that boys mind sometimes!

I know this boys mind goes at rapid speed. You can tell by the questions he bombards you with.Looking for sea shells for our castle.
A closeup of our creation.
A "tent" I made for the kids one day when they wanted to get out of the sun for a little while.
She is not asleep. :) That would be too good to be true!
A lunch time break. Since the house was just steps away from the beach it was nice that we didn't have to pack anything. We just took a few small coolers with water and Capri suns and came back to the house for lunch or snacks. Lunch on the deck.Fun in the water! Josh and Aiden making something on the beach. I don't know what it was, but it was some kind of game.

The Mrs. Steven Garrett to be. :)

Lindsey and Kyle.

Annah and Ryleigh jumping in the waves. Thank you guys for making the trip down here! We LOVED having you here and having you at our house and at our beach! We loved spending so much time with you, even though it is never enough. We look forward to the next time!