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Celebrating Logan's 14th Birthday!

 

Seahawks Win Super Bowl LX

Emmett's Lego Birthday Party

After waiting three weeks, we hosted Emmett's birthday party today with ten of his friends.  Emmett agreed to go with a Lego theme for his party which I was so grateful for as this meant that I could use all of the decor and ideas that I had left over from Logan's party seven years ago.  We spent a fun-filled two hours hosting Emmett and his friends this morning.  We played several games, opened gifts, and finished off with cake and ice cream.  Emmett received a giant stuffed shark which he LOVES and several Lego sets that he has already started building.  I am so glad that we were able to find a Saturday during this busy month to celebrate Emmett's birthday with several of his friends.

Emmett posing for me on the front porch next to the Welcome sign and balloons.

A close-up of my cutie and the sign that he and Ella drew.

The kitchen table all decked out.

Emmett's Lego-themed cake.

Emmett and his friends coloring at the beginning of the party.

William, Emmett, and Raylan coloring their Lego pictures.

The first game we played was drop the Lego in the jar.

The second game we played was "Hot Lego."

We then divided the children into two groups to have them build the highest, standing Lego structure in five minutes.

We then played Lego Twister before finishing off the games with several rounds of "Hide the Lego."

Emmett holding up the massive gift bag that Cameron gave him with the stuffed shark inside.

Emmett and his dear friend. Clara.

Emmett holding up Raylan's Lego sets.

Emmett waiting to blow out his candles.

A group picture of the all of the kids enjoying cake and ice cream at the end of the party.

Ella Competes at the PDX Invitational

Ron and I drove to Portland on Friday afternoon with the three youngest children so that Ella could compete in the PDX Invitational in Portland on Saturday.  We were able to get there in a little over two hours which was lucky considering the fact that we were driving there during rush hour.  We checked into our hotel in downtown Portland and then walked to Smash Burgers for dinner.  We then had enough time to enjoy an hour at the hotel pool before heading to bed.  After a slow morning that included breakfast at the hotel and a little more time at the pool, we checked out around 10:30 and headed to Ella's gymnastics meet at the Oregon Convention Center.  We spent the next four hours watching Ella compete in her four events.  The judges were tougher at this meet than normal, so Ella did not score as high as she usually does.  She earned an 8.95 on bars, an 8.425 on beam, an 9.175 on floor, and an 8.35 on vault with an all around score of 34.9.  She earned a medal for her performance on floor and did a great job overall.  As always, we are so proud of Ella's hard work and effort she puts into every meet that she competes at.

Ella and Emmett standing behind the Oregon sign inside the entrance of the convention center.

Ella posing with the balloons before heading into the meet.

Ella's first event was vault.  Here she is preparing to jump to the higher bar.

Ella on the top bar.

Ella swinging around the top bar.

Ella looking directly at us after finishing up with the bars.

Ella's second event was the beam.  Here she is getting onto the beam.

Jumping in the air.

Doing one of her two cartwheels on the beam.

Ella's third event was floor.  Here she is starting her routine.

An awesome action shot of Ella doing her front pike.

A cute shot of Ella doing a shimmy in her routine.

Jumping in the air.

Doing a handstand.

Ella's final pose in her floor routine.

Ella's fourth and final event was the vault.  Here she is jumping off of the springboard after running down the runway.

Going over the vault.

And landing it!

Ella smiling at us after finishing vault.