Party Time Take 2

A few days after Jacob's party, it was time to celebrate this precious girl turning 4!

She got a couple of packages in the mail from some sweet friends. She was so excited and I had to grab the camera, Ava could hardly wait to open her gift!

I love this face!

All the Mashburn men + 1 sweet baby girl

We love having outside parties, but the bad thing about our back porch is that it gets direct sunlight after 6:00. I'm hoping our new house won't have this problem! ;)

Ava asked for a puppy dog cake and she picked out a cake pan at the library. She even picked out the colors. This was the best her Momma could do, but she didn't seem to mind.

Nanny and Arynn enjoying themselves at the party.

Her main request for her birthday was a ring like Momma's. Daddy picked out a ring for her and she loved it! We had to get it sized down to a 2, but she has not taken it off since she got it back!

Showing off her gift from Daddy.

Enjoying her cake and ice cream!

We partied so late, we had to move inside to eat cake. She had a wonderful night with her family. It was so fun to watch her excitement for her big day. Ava later told us it was her best day ever!

The Zoo

Back in April, (I know this is June!) we went with our friends to the Memphis Zoo. We spent the day seeing some animals, did lots of visiting and then met up for dinner after leaving the zoo. It turned our to be another late night getting home, but we had a lot of good fellowship with our friends. Here are some pics from our zoo trip.

Most of the kids checking out the meerkats.

Austen

Ava was very hungry at this point and not very cooperative.

Aiden

Addy and her Daddy

Ava's holding on tight!

 

Everytime we go to the zoo, we have to get a picture of the kids on the cow.

2010

 

2012

2013

 

And of course, who wouldn't want to attempt a group shot with 17 kids?

 

 

Arynn says, "Enough with the pictures, Let's go home!"



Dixie Cafe

Before we went to Garvan Gardens, we met our friends for what was supposed to be a lunch date. Somehow we ended up crashing their party and tagging along with them to Hot Springs.

Daddy and his "Baby Dog"

Ava is proud of her ice cream and the fact she is sitting at the "big kid" table.

Aus always has smile!

These two boys get mistaken for brothers we when go out, I have even overheard someone ask if they were twins. I agree they may look alike, but their personalities are even more alike!

 

We love Dixie Cafe and eat there way too much! On Saturdays from 11-4 they have Family Day. You can order an adult entree for $6.99 and add a kids meal for $1.99, this includes a drink and free dessert for the kids. Since the girls don't eat a lot, we just order two kids meals and they share with the boys. We can eat at a sit down restuarant for the same if not cheaper than what we pay for fast food. Not a bad deal for a family of seven. We even have our favorite waitress who knows our drink orders if that tells you how often we visit! 

17 Kids and Lots of Fun!

The Friday before Easter, we had plans to go to the Memphis Zoo with our friends the Tims and Witchers. We woke up to lots of rain at our house and were unsure if we should make the drive just to be rained out. Thankfully our friends suggested the Children's Museum and the drive to Memphis was worth the sweet time of fellowship we had with our friends.

Who knew checkers could be so much fun?
Austen is making big plans.

The first stop was at the checkerboard. The kids were excited to see each other and get some energy out, so no one actually played a game of checkers. It didn't take long for them to make up their own game of making a tower with the checkers.

Austen and his hula hoop.

Madisyn finally got to hold Arynn, I know she was wondering if she would ever get a chance! When they came to visit, I sat and rocked her all day. It wasn't until they left, that I realized I hadn't offered to let Madisyn hold her! You can tell just how much Madisyn loves babies! 

Madisyn holding Arynn for the first time.

I didn't get near as many pictures as I would have liked, but it was pretty hectic that day at the museum. So to see more pictures of our fun day visit the Tims' and  Witcher's blogs. *Disclaimer- My goal is to become as efficient as these Mommas, so one day they can link to my post!!!*

Aiden, Griffin, Ben, Grady, Lee and Austen

Altogether we had 17 kids, ages 1 month to 11 years, and 5 adults. (Mr. Kent met up with us a dinner time.) It is funny to see other people's reactions to our group as we walk by. Lots of people count, some shake their heads in disbelief, but it is such a joy to receive compliments. At dinner that night, multiple people (including the manager) commented on how well-behaved our kiddos had been. We had a wonderful visit with our friends and a great start to our 3 day weekend!

Old Washington

What do you do with a new vehicle? Make plans for a road trip! Actually Daddy had planned this trip for awhile, the new van just meant we had extra seating and could take Mimi and Nana with us. We headed to Historic Washington State Park for the Jonquil Festival. We were hoping for something a little more old fashioned and it wasn't exactly our cup of tea but we made the best of it and got some cute pictures. We are looking forward to going back in the fall when they have Frontier Days for Homeschools.

 

It's hard to take a road trip without stopping for breakfast at Cracker Barrel! We tried to see my cousin Cody who manages this CB, but he didn't come in until 2 that day.

Mimi & Ava

The Jonquil Festival is a major event with lots of crafts, music, food and games. We didn't know how big of a deal it was until we arrived. It reminded us more of a fair atmosphere, and the music was super loud when I was trying to take these pictures. Which explains the distracted subjects...

Our 1st attempt at a group shot

One more try, nope still lost one!

Aiden, Arynn and Ava

Away from all of the action, there was this huge magnolia tree which the boys really enjoyed seeing. I forgot the exact age, but is over 100 years old, so neat to think of the changes the town has seen in that time frame.

The Big Magnolia Tree

My new favorite pic

They offered rides in a surrey, (which made me want to burst into song) and we were glad to have the horses give us a tour around town, or maybe just a block!

Waiting patiently on our ride



"In that shiny little surrey with the fringe on top" 



Addy was excited about our ride, probably because she was so tired of walking!

Arynn did so well on her first road trip!

After our ride

The best family pic of the day

Can you believe she's almost 4?!

Such a proud big sister!

I so wish I could go back and move that flower out of Addy's face, but these were the last pics of the day and we were exhausted.

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of the boys, now I have a new one to compare. I hope they are always close friends.

2009
Our sweet boys

2013
Still just as sweet

Overall we had a good time, but we sure did sleep well that night!



The Boys' Party

Aiden and Austen's birthdays are 10 days apart, we split the difference and have a family party on the Fourth of July. They still think the fireworks at the end of the day are just for them!

Addy provided the entertainment, she was so funny jumping around!

Two peas in a pod, they both like to talk to their food.

Daddy fired up the grill and we had Nanny, Papa, Nana, Poppa Kenneth and Mimi over for lunch, cake and homemade ice cream. YUM! Poppa Gary couldn't make it because he had to work. But we met up with him later for fireworks.

Aiden and Poppa Kenneth, I am sure they discussing a hunting/fishing story.

The weather was actually not too hot, we started around 11:00.

Since we were on the porch, we put the ice chest under her feet so she could touch. She would walk to the edge and hold on with her little monkey toes. It was pretty comical.

The boys holding up their new shirts Mimi made for them.

The boys were very excited, (obvious by the looks on their faces) they received clothes, books, fishing poles and of course toys!

The dragon cake. 

Nana gave me the instructions on how to fix this, it turned out pretty cute. I told if it did not turn out well, it would be all of her fault ;-) Next time I will do things a little differently. I am by no means a cake decorator, and have no desire to be one, in fact this was my first attempt. Talk about stressful!

My brave knights! 

I know swords, shields, helmets, bad idea!?! So far no bloody noses or broken bones. These swords are used to reenact Chronicles of Narnia on a daily basis. This was a gift from Nana, not Momma and Daddy. We opted for a safer gift, bikes! We had a great day with family and enjoyed celebrating our boys!