17 (again?)

 

Birthday boy is 9

 

Happy birthday girl double digits

OH boy! My birthday girl is 10!!

We had a family party and then invited friends to join us at the swimming pool. The brothers picked out some sweet treats for gifts-- which is perfect because Brielle is a sugar-momma!

A traditional birthday card from Gma Gpa Platt with $5 inside. I wonder what Brielle will get?? more candy of course!!

Trying to the these boys to smile nicely for their sister was like pulling teeth, they couldn't look normal for one, so we had to keep trying... which made them look even worse and then I had to try again. GAHHH....

Okay... this one looks "okay".... but you can see the frustration on Cael's face. He was ready to be done.

The Carr girls came over after swimming for brownies and ice cream. An easy treat to have all ready and prepared when we got home from swimming. 

Birthday girl 9 Years old

We had such a good time celebrating this sweet spunky and sassy little lady. She requested crepes for dinner filled with cream and Nutella and powdered sugar on top, her favorite!

We have also had a tradition of getting pink frosting donuts for Brielle‘s birthday at least for the first couple of years of her life when there is a Dunkin’ Donuts nearby. This year We were able to run over to Jason‘s donuts hoping to grab enough to make her a donut stack and were able to snag the last three pink ones. That place sells out their donuts quick! She wasn’t too happy about the green pistachio ones, but at least they looked fun and tasted good too!

Ben and the boys really spoiled Brielle with the gifts she got this year and the amount of stuffed animals is suffocating to me but she loves them so much!

Wednesday is our ice-skating day and so is it’s always fun to be there with friends and have the whole skating rink to ourselves because nobody else comes for an hour and a half of skating....  but we are there and so are our friend. We are so lucky to have good friends that live close by — I’m so thankful-Brielle and Gwen have each other and are best friends!

 

Cael Sweet 16 Happy!

What can I say about this kid? He’s fun to be around, always the life of the party, and find ways to bring lots of people together and have fun! 

Cael has a job this summer working landscaping maintenance and upkeep on some apartments in town. He is also helping friends mow lawns as a side business— which is really nice that he is working and busy. So after a full day of work- plus some tennis with friends- we picked him up to have a little party in the backyard with our friend the Aiton’s and the Bangerter’s. 

We had mandarin orange Cake and vanilla ice cream, and long spanking machine, and a reverse piñata (Cael swung the piñata while the kids stood around in a circle into hit it) Thankfully no one was hurt and the candy flew out when it broke on its own.

Brielle's Birthday

IT'S GREAT TO BE 8... except when you can't have a birthday party with friends because of the social distancing measures and COVID-19 and it's one of the biggest birthdays of your life and you are excited but it's still a bummer...

ummm...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Even though all of that seems like it was a bit of a bummer, we tried to made it fun. Ben came home early from work and sent me to grab some *goodies from wal-mart (*essentials). The birthday banner, streamers, and balloons, and 2 exploding confetti cannons. A huge mess, but a way to add to the party atmosphere. Ben helped make the Funfetti birthday cake per Brielle's request.

Brielle says: What I like about my birthday is that grandma and grandpa Hoopes were there (on facetime) and I got my favorite kind of cereal- (Cap'n Crunch Berries.)

We had curry for dinner and watched the new Dr. Dolittle. It was a fun family party at home edition.

Halloween Trick or Treat?

Halloween is always such a fun holiday to celebrate- heaps of candy, dressing up in costumes and fun parties! Who could ask for anything more?

Well... since it is also Connor's birthday we try to really make sure he is having a great time- and he is so easy-going and happy with whatever is going on! Easy to please. So our first party was at the church a few days before actual Halloween- dinner and a trunk-or-treat outside. After the potluck  (and the massacre of spilled food and drinks on the carpet floor -ahh!) We stood by our trunk and shoved handfuls of candy into all the kids bags as they shuffled by. It was so cold... I have to wonder why we don't have the kids walk around the gym instead?

HALLOWEEN NIGHT- Bassett Army Community Hospital, where Ben works, has an incredible community event where all through the hospital kids walk around and are given more candy than is possibly healthy for any child to ingest! The time and effort made to decorate and coordinate for each speciality/group throughout the hospital was impressive. The memory I have now as I am writing this (4/1/20) so even 5 months later was the wait in line we suffered (nobody had their coats on!) and it was bitter (not -40 bitter) but a painfully chilling temperature and the kids were whining and poor Brielle with her thin black T-shirt with her arms tucked in to try to conserve her own body heat. We just thought we were going to walk right in and that's why we left our jackets and layers behind... but the gatekeepers were trying to space the people that were entering the building out so the place wouldn't be overrun! At the halfway mark there were some of the outdoor heaters which helped, but also hurt to leave behind when the line started moving along once again. 

The boys with all the loot. SO after their bags were full from the hospital, the big kids went out into the neighborhood to collect some more candy treasure. I put Cael in charge of the candy to give away at the door until we ran out - he set up a heater and covered himself with some coats as he sat outside on the porch so he wouldn't freeze! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOY

So after all the trick-or-treating was over it was time for presents and Connor's favorite- pumpkin pie!

That kid was excited about every present we had on the table.. even if he didn't know what it was. AP Biology study cards from Cael... "thanks Cael, I can't wait to read these"--Connor. We just love that Connor kid! He is sure fun to be around!