Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays (and the rest of our summer so far)...

My sister-in-law and I have a propensity for birthing babies in the summertime. Not really sure how it happened (well, I know HOW it happened; the timing remains a mystery), but 5 out of the 6 grandkids on Joel's side of the family all have summer celebrations. Which, especially for us, makes the summer "break" not so "break-y" (yeah, that sounded better in my head).

In June, we celebrated three birthdays (my niece, Kate, turned 2; Natalie turned 7; and Maddie turned 4). In July, we celebrated two birthdays (my nephew, Luke, turned 6; and Grace turned 9). To say we're about partied out at this point would be a slight understatement. But, it's been fun getting together with everyone.

7

On June 10, Natalie turned 7. She celebrated with friends and family at the local bowling alley. She loves going bowling - I think this was the third year in a row she wanted to do that for her birthday. The theme was Barbie, and she LOVED it! Can't believe she'll be going into the 1st grade...

4

On June 29, Maddie turned 4. She celebrated at home with friends and family. We had tacos and went swimming. She is really into cows right now, and she will tell everyone she can that she had a "cow birthday." She's going to be starting pre-school in the fall...

9

Grace turned 9 on July 26. She had a gymnastics-themed party. Her "cake" was by far the easiest to make. She celebrated at her gym with friends, then had a few come back over to swim and spend the night. We also had family over for dinner. She will be entering the 3rd grade this year...

And, just because I think she's getting left out of this post, here is a picture of Sydney swinging at my nephew's birthday party:

She's so full of life and getting so big - almost 21 months and wearing 3T (and some 4T) clothes. She and Maddie can interchange outfits and car seats. Not sure what to think about that...

As for the rest of our summer so far, the girls have been busy with gymnastics and swimming lessons. Sydney, of course, has been relegated to observer duty. She'll get her turn one day soon. We also took a short trip out to Western Kansas over the 4th of July to see my uncle...

I had to get those last couple of pictures of our Teddy Bear in there. He's been having a blast this summer, too! Ha!

The rest of our days have been filled in with many trips to Great Plains Nature Center and the Sedgwick County Zoo. We've spent several hours at various libraries for summer reading programs, the older two girls went to church camp, and Grace went to Girl Scout camp. All in all, it's been one crazy, busy, fun, exhausting summer!

Now, time for a nap...  ;-)

~A