Birthday Girl Meets American Girl

Last night we celebrated Evie's birthday at Ba and Opa's house. The birthday girl was all smiles and laughs, surrounded by lanterns, decorations and birthday balloons. 

Evie was so excited to get an American Girl doll - Emily who hails from Britain in 1944. She took over mommy duty right away, asking others to baby-sit when she had to leave the room and sleeping with her that night. We are all thrilled to have the fourth "E" join the family: Evie, Ellie, Baby Ellie and Emily. 

 Evie gives a big kiss to Ba to thank her for the amazing gift...

...and a hug to Opa, too.  

Ellie too was enthusiastic when Evie opened the new Wiggles DVD - and this one with the new Wiggles (and Anthony) themselves.  It'll be good prep for the upcoming concert in October (Daddy's birthday gift to himself).

Ellie rocks out with her new Dora guitar.  She wants to be a Wiggle in 20 years or so, and practice makes perfect!

We sing happy birthday and Evie blows out the candles of her ice cream cake before it melts. 

Aw, look at those four beautiful girls.  Happy Birthday Evie!

Ooh La La, Darling! Celebrating 5 in Style!

Everyone came out in their finest to celebrate Evie's fifth birthday!  The girls and Mommy had a great time decorating the house with beads, tulle, and all things fancy! Mommy was particularly proud of her chandelier decorations.  

The girls show off their matching purple toenails while Auntie Mel and Amelia display their beautiful pedicures as well.  

Look at those girls - have you ever seen anyone so fancy?  The party began by Evie greeting people at the door with a "Bonjour!"  Then she led them to the living room where everyone got accessorized up with a variety of bling: necklaces, bracelets, rings, boas, and body glitter.

Everyone got into making tissue paper corsages, including Amelia, Aunty Mel and Molly. 

Bryn models her beautiful purple necklace.

 

Lia and Riya know how to accessorize. 

After practicing our Explorer Extraordinaire skills by making sunprints, we even had some time to go outside and get our T-ball on.  The girls watch patiently and wait for their turn as Mason hits a grounder. Later on, Evie was very impressed by Mason's wii skills, cheering him on through a game of frisbee golf. 

 

Mommy reads "Fancy Nancy and the Mermaid Ballet" while the girls nibble on a variety of snacks. We had made sand-and-glitter filled bracelets to go with the mermaid theme of the book as well.

Evie demonstrates her own beautiful ballet moves like Nancy's weeping willow tree.

Daddy's cake creation this year was a pink teapot, as Fancy Nancy loves tea parties, of course. It was Daddy's first foray into fondant - not too bad. 

Evie was extremely excited as Mommy rounds the corner with her cake and everyone sings Happy Birthday.

 

The teapot is ablaze with candles!

 Evie takes a deep breath and gets ready to make a wish.  What will she wish for? Maybe a new two-wheeler?

Someone enjoyed some chocolate macaroons!  Such a sophisticated palate!

Evie digs into the top of the teapot cake. Strangely enough, she really liked the taste of the fondant.
  

Amelia and Evie share a big hug.  I sense that this picture will become an annual tradition.
  

At the end of the night, Evie runs outside to check out her big present from Mom & Dad... looks like those are some wheels peeking out from the sheet...

She gets on her bike right away and takes off down the block after a push by Uncle Wally! What a great way to end the night.  Thanks to everyone for celebrating with us! 

Birthday month begins!

Evie began her birthday month celebration up in New Jersey with cousins Stan and Julianna. The morning was beach time and in the afternoon pool time at Bebe and Popi's house. While the cousins had fun playing in the pool, Ellie took some time to supervise Dad's ditch digging.

After digging ditches it was time for cake!

Evie is thinking really hard about her wish.

And blows out the candles with one swift breath!

Ellie looks on with Dad and her best friend George.

Next it was present time!  Evie received two of her favorite (and her parents' favorite) movies: Beauty and Beast and Ratatouille. Plus, Bebe and Popi gave her a Lego Friends house (which took four hours to put together the next day at home and was worth every minute!).

After presents, time for thank you kisses with Stan...

...Julianna...

...and Bebe. Thanks for a fun birthday party!

Virginia Girls... We're Unforgettable, Water shoes, Tankinis on Top!

We had a fantastic time at Bethany Beach with Ba and Opa on Saturday.  The girls loved building their sand castles with Ba, searching for new shells, and jumping in the waves.

Evie helps bring water to Opa to build his sandcastle. Opa takes his castle-building very seriously, to build the masterpiece below.   Of course, Ellie was a bigger fan of destroying it at the end of the day. 

 

The girls even loved going deep into the ocean with Opa and Daddy - being on tall shoulders means you can avoid most of the waves! Ellie cuddles up to Opa to get warm after a cool dip in the ocean.

On the way home, we stopped by our favorite crab restaurant by the bay, and the girls couldn't resist this photo opp despite how disturbing it may look. What a perfect beach day!

The next day the weather was perfect to bring out our new sprinkler - an elephant with a looooooooooong trunk.  Evie and Ellie loved running through the yard. 

Evie teaches little sis how to crawl under the water for some extra fun.  

Ol' McDonald visited a farm... e-i-e-i-o!

The girls were excited to have the opportunity to tour a real farm at South Mountain Creamery on Friday.  We learned all about how the cows were milked and got to see where they had baths, drank water, ate and slept.  It was quite interesting for everyone, including Leah, Bryn, Ellie, Evie and Caroline above.

Mommy and Ellie get a closer look at the cow at the drinking well, although Ellie looks a little intimidated. All the cows wore tags and the female cows had necklaces to monitor their vitals and so they could tell they were pregnant. 

Ellie and Evie check out the silos where they keep all the grains to feed the cows.

Ellie and London check out the baby chicks and duck that are actually famous due to their starring role on Animal Planet.

Then the best part was seeing the baby animals in the farm next door. Evie insisted Mommy pet all the baby sheep and goats and cows, and here the baby cow licked Ellie's foot.

Well, maybe the best part was eating the delicious ice cream at the end! We all got some huge scoop to enjoy - and the girls all shared so we got to taste mint chocolate, cookies & cream, orange & pineapple, and raspberry.  Delicious!

The girls all dig in - we were all a sticky mess by the end but couldn't be happier!

Mommy could not resist this photo opp with Ellie. Tractors are the coolest.

Evie also had a blast at the playground slides. What a great experience for all!