1st Annual Kid Fish & Mitchell's Birthday

Kim came up with the idea to have a fishing tournament for Mitchell's birthday this year, and everyone thought it was a great idea! (Especially Mitchell!) New poles were bought, and lot of bait. Chris even surprised the kids by buying trophies.

After the fishing stopped we cooked up some dinner...

...and made up some margaritas and strawberry daiquiris. (Virgin ones for all the kids.)

Do you see the teeth?

Then the awards cerimony began...

Gracie got the prize for "Most Fish" among the little kids.

Grayson got the prize for "Smallest, Fastest Fish".

Alli got the prize for "Biggest Fish". Did you see her catfish pictured above?

Lizzie got the prize for the "Coolest Fish".

BJ got 3rd Place.

Ronnie got 2nd Place.

and the birthday boy got 1st Place!

Congratulations contestants!!! You all did well.

Then...as the rest of us ate our blackberry cobbler for dessert, Mitchell, the fish-o-holic, continued to fish until he caught this monster carp!

We all had so much fun that we plan to have a kid's fishing tournament every summer!

Gracie's 6th Birthday

Gracie's birthday party was great. Kim invited us to have it at her house to take advantage of their pool. We had cold cut sandwiches, pasta salad, watermelon, and cucumbers from our garden.

The kids enjoyed swimming in the pool very much!

She requested just ONE thing for her birthday - a pair of boots. She went to a birthday party recently in which the theme was "Little House on the Prairie". Some of the other girls had prairie boots and she wanted some of her own. She was more than pleased when she pulled these out of the bag from Nana! Gracie is not one to hold back her emotions! ;)

She had a CandyLand cake! (Like the board game.) It was chocolate cake with homemade vanilla frosting, topped with as much candy as we could find! Just the way Gracie likes it! The more candy in her life the better, as far as she is concerned.

We sang our hearts out!

She blew out her candles.

Then the bickering began over who was going to get what piece! Jasmine and BJ played "rock, paper, scissors" to determine whom would get the large ice cream cone.

It was a great birthday party!

Mitchell's 9th Birthday

Mitchell wanted to go on a horseback ride for his birthday, and everyone thought that was a great idea. It ended up being a huge gathering of friends and family! I made rice crispy treats set in ice cream cones, then dipped in chocolate, and covered with sprinkles!