we had two parties.  one for each side of the family.  one party i focused on yummy food (since there were no little cousins)

and the second party had more games and decorations for all the little cousins.

boone received perplexus epic the morning of the party.  this toy is definitely on my list of favorites.

highlights from party #1:

dancing.  dancing on chairs.

rody.  he holds up to 400 pounds.  so there.

hank received the razor riprider 360.  this bike is loads of fun!

and a special john deere silky that grandma made for dubs.

donuts on a string ready to eat.

no hands allowed!

red velvet cupcakes.  yum.

plenty of green and yellow candy.

this was a fun game.  can you believe there were over 500 legos in this bowl!

carmel apples.

since all the games and activities were outside i decided to have the whole party outside.

food was set up in the garage.

time for a hayride.

this was a highlight!  the kids all wanted daddy to take them around again.

my handsome birthday boys.

dinner was yummy and fairly simple.  homemade cold chicken salad, potato pie, fresh fruit, and layered salad.  i also ended up putting a big bowl of tortilla chips in the middle.

the cake was so fun to make!  its always a highlight for the kids to see how there cake turns out.  i use betty crocker super moist white cake mix for this one.

the little bar like treats were a huge surprise for deanie.  they are almond pasteries from a dutch bakery about 45 minutes away that daddy picked up in the morning.  she has had them at my sister’s house before and never stopped talking about them.  she was so excited that we remembered!

i still think solid colored balloons are the easiest way to decorate!

the day before the party dancy and boone cut out paper tennis balls and rackets and hung them from the chandelier.  they love being involved in the planning and i thought they did a stellar job!

boone wrote out some simple rules that every party-goer should acknowledge.  i didn’t even know signs were being created until they were hung up.
1. no shaking presents
2. don’t go outside barefooted
3. obey! (i cut that off the picture)

dancy made an agenda.  she did ask from the schoolroom while i was in the kitchen,

 “how do you spell adenga?”
 “you mean agenda?”

i love it.  i love the british spin on the word ‘outside’ as well.  or whatever oteside sounds like to you when you say it.

ready for the family!

we did a penny hunt….fun!  we hid a lot of plastic eggs around the yard. they each had a penny in them.

we had a pinata!  this is a big deal as i think i have said “no” to this for the last 10 birthday parties.  we filled it duggar style.  little plastic bags prefilled with each person’s name on it.  so when they all fall out everyone just finds their own bag.

the pinata eventually fell off the tree.  they didn’t care……the beating continued on the ground.

present time.  deanie received so many fun gifts!

walkie talkies with an 8-mile range!  the kid’s have been determined to try to communicate with each other with walkie talkies while one person is running errands with mom and the other person is home with dad.  🙂  they also use them in the yard.

such a great gift!

an archaeologist kit to dig for treasures and bones on the property.  lovely.  really though she has an interest in archaeology and this has been a fun gift!

more books from the ‘dear america’ series!  yay!

her first tennis dress.

and an official junior sized racket.

during this moment when she was blowing out her candles i just watched her and ingrained that memory into my brain.  she didn’t do one huge gusty blow this year.  she them out in three soft breaths.  on purpose.  so calm.

growing up. able to explain her feelings. determined to finish what she starts.  loves planning surprises for other people.  i love you more than the stars in the sky sweet girl.  i love that you love Jesus, you love others and are such a big helper.  you are so smart and i pray that you will always give God the glory for the gifts He has given you.

dancy is a very creative free spirit!  she had so many ideas for a “theme” that we just did all of them 🙂

for the “candy” theme we made a candy cake.  yummy duncan hines.  adorned with mike & ikes, skittles, and gum drops.

for the “american girl doll” theme, we lined all the dolls up on the couch.

for the “pink and white” theme we rocked pink and white balloons.

she loved all the decorations! 🙂

i usually set up an extra table for the kiddos.  i used two table cloths from my collection, over our card table.

these pictures are blurry but i love the excitement of answering the door to welcome guests!

the menu was s.i.m.p.l.e.  sun chips, stouffers lasagna, homemade mac n cheese, clementine oranges, juice and water.

enjoying the food together!

the kids all ran to the window to see the deer crossing the back yard.

dancy, you always think of others before yourself.  you prepare meals for others, offer to clean up, you always show concern when someone is sick, your heart aches for the children who are suffering in uganda and around the world,  you pray with no inhibition…often leading the prayer when someone gets hurt or is hurting.

i know God will continue to grow these characteristics in you and i pray you will always use them to His glory.

present time!  breyer horse books.  perfect for dancy 🙂  i am really pleased with these books.  hard cover, illustrations, easy chapter reading……great for transitioning from picture books to chapter books.  and there are a lot of them to collect!

my sister made this cute shirt and headband for her!

i love this picture.  look how happy she is waiting to blow out her candles……

make a wish!

sweet 8 years old.  the next day we continued to celebrate!

hank gave you pictionary jr.  this will be fun for family nite!

here you are showing your love.  dubs wanted to open a present so bad….you didn’t even hesitate and pulled him in the chair to help you.

we moved on to the jump house place and had fun bouncing on all the mega bounce slides and houses.

our family had the entire place to ourselves because of the looming snow blizzard of 2011.  nothing stops us from celebrating!!  we bounced and played silly arcade games.

dubs was enamored by the trains that catch tokens…..

i’m not sure how all these tickets came out at once but i had the lovely job of counting them 🙂  576.

we rounded out that second evening, braving the snow and going out to dinner with the other side of the family.

kanani!!

deanie and dancy.  best friends.

happy birthday dancy.  your smile lights up my life. 🙂