Homecoming and Wellsville Days Weekend

 Homecoming wasn't quite as exciting this year as we didn't have a candidate in the house, but the girls were still excited to participate in Spirit Week.  I only got a picture of them on "Not Your Sport" Day. In case you're confused, No, Oliver didn't come back for the day.  It's actually Violet wearing Oliver's golf clothes.  I know, it's hard to believe.

I got some fun videos from Emily and Ashli of Violet dancing with the Junior class at the pep rally. My girl knows how to boogie!

The dance was on Saturday night and Grandma Jo did her magic getting our girl ready, since most of us were at Luke's wedding in Missouri. Doesn't she look beautiful??

With her bestie (and cousin), Nora:

I also got a few pics from the dance. Usually she hangs out with the teachers (and the cookies) at dances, but she was out there on the dance floor this time!  I love to see her confidence.

She even joined in on the "Fishin' in the Dark" sitting line dance that Oliver & Friends brought back to Wellsville prom last spring after they learned it at State FBLA. You can tell she's loving life!

Wellsville Days was the same weekend as Homecoming, and this was the first time in as-long-as-I-can-remember that I wasn't there (but for good reason, we were at the wedding).  Evie wasn't about to miss the best weekend of the year, so she stayed back with friends. I asked her to send me pics and received exactly ONE.  I guess I shouldn't complain.  She and her friends look pretty darn cute, especially in their new matching sweatshirts.

It ended up being a bit of a rainy Wellsville Days, so the girls ended up going shopping with Meghann, and didn't stay on the bricks all day like they usually do.  I know they still had a fantastic weekend though!

Evelyn & the Eagle News

 Evelyn was excited to be invited to be in "Publications" class this year. This is a class reserved for 8th graders who excel in English, and they are responsible for the Middle School Yearbook as well as a monthly newspaper called the "Eagle News." The September edition was just published and the kids did such a great job!

Evelyn's article for the first issue was on the new cell phone ban that went into place this school year.  I love how she is learning how to compose a newspaper article as well as photography skills.

I can tell this class is challenging for her, as she is always talking about their next deadlines (both for Yearbook and Eagle News).  But it's definitely a good kind of challenge, as she is really enjoying it.  Her teacher, Heather Adams, does a really great job of making it fun, in spite of having high expectations for their finished product.  (It also doesn't hurt that all of her best friends are in the class with her.) I'm excited for the October issue to come out!

A Fantastically Fruity Birthday Celebration

 

We had our big birthday bash for the "Sweetest Fruits on the Family Tree" on Sunday after church, Evelyn's actual birthday.

We went with a fruity theme since Evelyn has been the "smoothie queen" lately. I know, I know, fruit-themed birthdays belong in the summer. Well guess what?? September 20 is technically the last day of summer, so I snuck it in just in time. I had a lot of fun with this theme, as you can see by the cake table.

Evelyn requested a strawberry poke-cake for their birthday cake, which I thought sounded perfect.

And I had ChatGPT help me make these adorable smoothie menus.

Chat also helped me really up my game on the fireplace signs I always make. Didn't these turn out adorable??

The signs for my girls were especially fitting. Violet is certainly "one in a melon" and I've always called Evie my "cherry on top" -- SO SWEET.

Here are the beautiful birthday girls with their cake table! (Or at least 75% of the birthday girls; Brynn had a practice round of golf that afternoon, so sadly wasn't there.) Notice Violet sported her apple dress to fit the theme of the party.

The party guests began arriving and Violet was only too happy to carry the gifts for them.

As Russ grilled the chili-lime chicken skewers (an awesome Aldi-find!), I got started on the smoothies.  We had 3 options, as listed on the menus above, and they were all delicious!

Violet was a fan of the Peachy Keen!

The best birthday gift of the day, hands down, was when the boys pulled in the driveway! I didn't know if they'd be able to make it, so it made my whole day when they did!  Violet was THRILLED. All she does is ask when the boys are coming home.

Violet led us in prayer and then we chowed down. We kept with a very fruity-themed dinner and it was all delicious. 

After dinner, we rounded up the troops to open their gifts. Such gorgeous girls!

Violet received all of her favorites, including Dr. Pepper and Reese's.

Evelyn got lots of new clothes, a weighted Dino, candle warmer and new sandals.

Becky got the girls really cool "self-care" bags with lots of goodies. Violet was probably most excited about the bag itself, though. She got an awesome cat duffle bag that I'm sure she'll get plenty of use out of. 

Her love of all-things-cat hasn't lessened a bit over the years. Joy's gift was perfect and Violet couldn't stop laughing about it. It was a hoodie with a pocket to HOLD your cat! It has a big zipper to put in the cat and a little zipper for the cat's head to come through. Oh my goodness, it was hilarious.  For Violet, anyway. Not so much for Kitty.

I absolutely love having all of these amazing men in my house at the same time. Family birthday parties are the best.

And I love Violet's joy in singing Happy Birthday to herself! It's truly contagious.

It was a smaller-than-usual cousin crew, but I'm always thankful for any who can come celebrate with us!

And I was mostly thankful to have these 4 treasures together for the first time in almost 5 weeks! My heart was SO full.

I love birthday parties and I love celebrating my best girls! What a gift they are!

Evelyn's Happy 14th Birthday!

Evelyn's 14th birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we did some weekend celebrating of our baby girl! Saturday evening she requested to use her free birthday drink from Dutch Bros, we we found the nearest one.

 

Of course, Violet couldn't be left out. Her birthday is coming up, you know.

Then we did a little shopping at Old Navy and tried to decide where to go for her birthday dinner. Ultimately, Noodles and Co was the winner.

Violet couldn't have been more pleased with the decision, as she got some yummy mac-n-cheese.

Once we'd finished all we wanted in the city, we headed back home for an abbreviated movie night. Just one movie this time, but it was a classic: "The Princess Bride." It had been decades since I'd seen this movie and it was better than I remember.

Sunday morning -- Happy Birthday, Evie!! -- she woke up to presents and pancakes before church.

Only a couple of her gifts were a surprise, new blankets and earrings. The rest were clothes she'd picked out over the past month or so.

Only a sister to sing Happy Birthday to her this year :( We miss the boys so much.

14!!

She also requested to use her free birthday drink at Starbucks (which has to be used on the actual birthday), so we left for church plenty early to accomplish this.

We had a VERY busy day with church, then the girls' birthday party (see next post), then our annual church picnic, then the Chiefs game! During the game, Evelyn snuck away to the office to complete one more birthday task she had assigned herself: taking her Driver's License Written Exam. We just learned from Kyla that this can be taken online (with webcam on and plenty of restrictions on where your cursor has to be on the screen). Evelyn had been studying for the last several weeks and felt ready to go.  She was right! Passed it on the first try in only about 15 minutes!

So now we take this certificate to the DMV to get her actual Learner's Permit. I can't believe we'll shortly have another driver in our house!  What a wonderful birthday for my youngest. I couldn't be more proud of my baby girl. She's more than I could ever deserve and I thank God for her every day!