Avery's Big Day(s)

This year, Avery's 10th birthday happened to fall on the date of Maren's baptism.  She was a little less than enthusiastic about having to share her "big day".  We smoothed her ruffled feathers by letting her have a friend birthday party this year (I only do them every other year).  She wanted to do a tie-dye theme.  My sister, Monica, was in town with her family, so they were there to be a part of it.
For the week before, we worked hard on a pinata, which lasted through every child's getting a turn to beat it.

The kids played balloon popping games and decorated tie dye cupcakes.

See, I told you Monica was here.

And, of course, we tie-dyed shirts.

Oh, and we dyed flowers.

Somehow I didn't get a single picture of the shirt tie-dying process.  It may have been because I was dealing with 13 children and permanent dye.

The next week was Avery's actual birthday.  In the morning we had Maren and Eliza's baptism, and then after a big lunch at the church, everyone headed back to our house, where we had a bounce house waiting!

I had wondered how to keep 18 + kids entertained for an entire day at my house, and this thing definitely fulfilled its purpose.  The kids (and adults) never tired of it and we had no major injuries.  They played on it almost non-stop until we had to take it down at 9 PM.  We paused the bouncing mayhem long enough to celebrate Avery's birthday with a BBQ and cake.  I think we had close to 50 people that stuck around that day.  We love our amazing family and friends!

She wanted a cake with chocolate frosting (a bag of chocolate chips, to be exact) with gummy bears around the side. My kids were very easy to please this year.

Avery is a great helper in our family.  She loves to organize everything (her day, her piano chart, her headboard, etc.)  She is a very obedient child and always tries to do what we ask her to do.  She recently reached a milestone-she passed the 4 foot mark on our wall! She is a great student-at the top of her class in grades and the bottom of her class in height.  Avery has a great ear for music and although I am teaching her piano right now, she has taught herself to play many more songs, just by listening and knowing what it should sound like.  We just finished swimming lessons and Avery has finally figured it out and can swim around like a little fish.  She loves it!  We are sure thankful for Avery being in our family! We love her!