Choir Concert with a Birthday Surprise

The evening of Violet's Birthday, we were treated to a concert!  This is the fun concert our high school choir performs to start the year with lots of solos and ensemble groups singing whatever songs the kids want to sing.  

 

Violet's group sang "Everybody wants to be a cat" -- how fitting is that for our cat-loving girl??

When her smaller group was done, the full choir came out for a surprise song that wasn't in the program.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO VIOLET!!  Our sweet girl was so excited to hear her friends sing to her.

Her choir concert was the perfect finish to a wonderful 16th birthday. Thank you to family and friends who came to support her!!

Violet's Sweet 16!

This morning Violet woke up as a 16 year old!!  I honestly can't believe she can be this old, and I'm daily in awe of the amazing young lady she is. She couldn't wait to open her gift, which was a fun new sweatshirt Evelyn picked out for her.

 

Then Oliver cooked up some yummy pancakes for our birthday girl and we started the day with the birthday song.

I tried to get her outside for some pictures, but she insisted on a pic with Kitty first.  Always wants Kitty in the pictures.

Look at my beautiful 16-year-old girl!!

She wore her sash and tiara proudly to school!

I asked her what she wanted for her special birthday lunch and she requested Las Catrinas.  When Russ and I took it to school, we caught her hard at work in the Snack Shack.

She was excited to see us!

I was surprised to learn that the kids don't have to eat in the lunchroom anymore. Violet and her crew eat lunch in the student lounge each day.  What an awesome group of sophomore girls! 

Love getting to have birthday lunch with my girl!

We headed back at the end of the day for her classroom party. She requested cookies, so we brought a couple of options. Ms. Melissa made brownies, too, so we had a sweet feast!

Violet served all of her friends and family and we enjoyed our treats.

Big Brother came to help celebrate, too. He has the last hour off each day, but stuck around for his sister's party. Violet is so loved.

She opened gifts from her teachers -- look how cute that cat shirt is!

She was twinning with Mrs. Taylor, so I had to get a picture of them before we headed home.

What a wonderful day celebrating our wonderful girl on her Sweet 16th birthday!  She is such a gift to all who know her. God really outdid himself the day he created this masterpiece we call Violet Joy.

"For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10

Nacho Average Birthday Party!

For months, Violet has been requesting a "nacho" birthday party. I'm not sure where she got the idea, but I was definitely on board!  As I was finishing the cake decorating, I told my mom, "Just when I think we can't possibly come up with another birthday party theme!"

This "Nacho Average Party" fiesta theme was so fun! I was going to make it a "Nacho Average Sweet 16", but figured we should keep it more general since we were celebrating three other birthdays also.

Beautiful birthday girls!

All of the party-goers arrived and we started down the nacho bar food line.  It was a simple -- and delicious -- theme!

After we'd consumed all of the nachos our tummies could hold, we let the girls tear into their gifts.  What could possibly make Violet smile this big, you ask??

Why, a cat cup, of course!  Her family knows her too well.  I wonder if she'll ever outgrow her love for cups?

She also got this Taco Cat blanket -- how perfect is that?!

The other girls got lots of fun stuff, too. They just don't get quite as animated about their gifts as Violet does.

We had a good cousins' crew to celebrate! (Just missing our Shipley cousins)

Singing "Happy Birthday" before we let the girls blow out the candles.  And don't miss their adorable little sombreros that Grandma Cheryl found.

Even Kitty was lucky enough to have a turn wearing a sombrero.  She's thrilled, as you can see.

A couple of important pictures. . .First, Vi with her twinning aunt Sara -- no, they didn't plan this!

And Vi with her godmother, Aunt Dana. So thankful she was able to make it down for the party!

Also got Evie with her godparents, Aunt Becky and Uncle John. What a gift that family lives so close and makes it a priority to be at these special occasions!

We had a great day celebrating our September birthday girls -- what a gift they are!!

Wellsville Days!

 Wellsville Days fell right between the Homecoming football game and the Homecoming dance this year, so it was a really busy weekend!  We made it uptown in time to get a spot to watch the parade. It was an 80s theme this year, which was really fun.

 This is the last time I'll ever have a son on the football float :(

The band and cheerleaders also made their way down the bricks.

The nursing home's float said, "We're in our 80s, Dude!" A great way to keep with the theme! Grandma Shirley was on this, but you can't see her in my picture.

The Methodist Church had some fun 80s songs going as they traveled down Main Street.

Once the parade finished, everyone began checking out all of the booths.  There were so many this year!

My girls quickly found some friends.  Evie ran around with hers all day long. Violet said a quick "Hello" and then started asking to go home.

Evie and her BFFs rode plenty of rides and got some pretty tinsel in their hair.

It was a really warm September day so we were all glad to see the sun go down, along with the temperatures.  It was about the busiest street dance I've ever seen -- tons of people uptown! Ty came down in the morning to go golfing with Grandpa and Calvin. Then he stuck around for the evening's festivities. I love how close these boys are; even when they are away at college, they still find time to hang out.

It was another AWESOME Wellsville Days!  I'm so thankful for all of the volunteers who work tirelessly to make this such a great community event each year!