Birthday Party BBQ

We celebrated three July birthday's at Buck and Arren's yesterday!  Because of their horrible car accident last year Arren felt like Lily didn't really get to celebrate her birthday, so this year it was more than celebrated, it was a memory imprinted forever in her mind!  Lily's Auntie Jess planned a super fun treasure hunt for the kids that involved digging for a clue, doing a three legged race for a clue, having a potato sack race to get a clue and finally finishing with breaking open a pinata!  The birthday girl got to go first with three hits and then she chose her best friend Megan, who then chose her sister Hannah...there were five kids left to give it a hit but the flimsy little zip tie snapped before they had a chance!  No worries, the candy that was inside quickly replaced the thought of getting upset for not being able to hit it!  We had barbecued hotdogs, salads, fruit and vegetables.  And I brought cupcakes for dessert!  I was so happy Arren was too busy to bake a cake, because I love making cupcakes and Lily was so happy with her choice of birthday cupcakes...Monkey's!  I tried two new recipes and one was definitely a hit, the Key Lime Blackberry...so yummy that I am going to make more this week, so Jared and I can indulge!  The others were a Lemon Raspberry, and they too were good, but not my favourite, I didn't like the icing, I didn't find it be that sweet.  The recipe called for shortening as well as butter, the shortening did add substance to the icing and it held up really well, but I just didn't find the flavour all that spectacular!

The girl in the yellow reading the clue is Emma, Emry's newest friend!

Buck and Arren also happen to have friends visiting from Scotland, super nice people!  They have two daughters but only their youngest one, Emma, came with them.  She is nine years old and her and Emry hit it off like they had know each other for years!  Emry came up to me a little after we had gotten there and told me that Emma can speak English, very well, and that she can understand everything she says!  Emry came up to me again after we had eaten and told me "Emma is awesome!"  They became fast friends and will hopefully be able to spend a little bit of time together this week.  I told her to make sure and exchange addresses so they can always keep in touch, she was beside herself with excitement at this idea!

It rained quite heavy off and on while we were celebrating and Calum and Armin both did not seem to be bothered by the rain.  They would both walk out from under the protection of the pergola and casually walk around, getting themselves totally soaked!  Everyone got quite the kick out of those two boys!  As we were getting ready to leave Emma pronounced that she was the driest of the bunch, Calum answered with "I think I am the coldest!"  He was bundled in a towel walking away from us, we didn't even think he was aware of the conversation going on, but I guess he was!  Calum found the dress up box and to our surprise he didn't come out in a dress!  Instead he was Darth Vader, only he decided to "improve" the costume and added a hook to his hand!  I guess he thought it made Darth Vader a little more menacing than the light sabre!

My mom was looking through pictures of herself when she was a toddler and came across a picture of what could literally be Armin!  She then found a picture of herself when she was eight years old and it could be passed off as Emry!  It is crazy how much our children resemble their posterity!  It is quite fascinating actually!

My mom at a year old!

My mom at eight years old!

I had a wonderful day yesterday with family.  I am so thankful we all live so close to each other to be able to get together as often as we do!  I am thankful for my mom and my dad and for the love and support they give to me each and every day.  I am thankful for the integrity they have instilled in me and I hope I am instilling that same integrity in my own children!  It was a wonderful day of celebrating three wonderful people in my life!