Hannah's Claire's Party!!!

Hannah had her 9th birthday party at Claire's in the Champaign mall!  She has wanted to do this ever since they handed us a brochure about it last year!  I had no idea they did this, but it turned out really cute and fun, and I would definitely do it again! 

I limited it to 4 friends so I could fit them all in my van.  It would not have been an easy place for parents to drop off / pick up, and riding together was really fun!  She had Morgan, Maddie, Anna, and Lily.  Hannah and I went a few days before the party and chose everything we wanted to do and paid for it.  

We started with dinner in the food court, which was Hannah's choice.  She loves the teriyaki chicken from Sarku Japan.  However, I ended up in 3 lines to please everyone, and I'm not sure that I still did, but I tried, ha!

She opened her presents after dinner.  Her friends got her so many cute and thoughtful gifts!

 "Anna Banana" got these pajamas for "Hannah Banana."  It was so perfect!

 Lily got her the puppy she really wanted!

 They started with facemasks.  If I had to do over again, I would skip this with the 8 year olds.  They did not love the feeling, and the washing accommodations were not great.  But live and learn. 

 Then they got to paint each other's nails, do eyeshadow, and lipgloss.

 The Claire's ladies were super nice and helpful!

 

 We finished the night riding the mall carousel.  We were definitely a walking Claire's ad by the end of the night!  Hannah said it was the best party ever.  She totally loved it!

 

Swimming and Summer Fun!

We were determined to use our swimsuits A LOT this year, and we sure did!  We had a membership to Sholem and made it there about 7 times.  We also went to Darrs, Sanders, and the splash park several times each.  

Strawberry Festival:

Landon's b-day party:

Something about the pool made Lucas just curl up in a ball and fall asleep on me many times this summer.  That or I was always dragging him out during naptime, ha!  

Lucas was a little cautious at the beginning of summer but definitely gained confidence at the end, doing the little slides by himself over and over again.

S'mores on our firepit with our neighbor Jack:

Aleah got to go to the Indy Zoo with her cousin Hazel:

I got to have a fun girls night in Springfield with Jennifer before she moved to Dallas:

Fun in the front yard:

Painting and hiding rocks was a big thing for our town this year:

Josh and I took Lucas to an Illini football practice:

What a great summer!  I love having my kids every day!  I'm always sad when it is over.

Hannah's Baptism

Hannah got baptized on Sunday, August 13th.  It was a great day, a day we have prayed for since I was pregnant with her.  She has been talking about wanting to get baptized for awhile now.  We looked at the calendar and saw that August 13th was a Sunday, which was the exact same date I was baptized, 28 years ago!  We thought that was pretty special!  

I'm thankful that so many others took pictures of her on this day for me!  Here she is in Sunday School, before her baptism:

She wanted her daddy to baptize her 💗

We had her write her "testimony" down, and she chose to read it at church before she was baptized.

Sandy took pictures backstage for me!

Papa Ed did her first communion:

We had LOTS of family there.  We didn't get a picture until many of them had left, but this picture has ALL of my siblings, their spouses, and their kids!  My parents were also there, as well as my Uncle Art and his girlfriend Letha.  Also, Josh's mom and step-dad and his brother Jordan and his family all came!

After church, we had a baptism / birthday party for Hannah, and my sister Betsy graciously made the cake, which was carrot, by Hannah's request!

We pray that this is a day that Hannah will ALWAYS remember, and that she will ALWAYS follow HIM!