Best Buds and Bekah's Bday!

We just returned from a few days in Houston visiting the Burkharts. Vaughanie, Ava, Brinley and I loaded up the car and headed there to celebrate Bekah's first birthday. We had sooo much fun, I will try to let you in on it with TONS of pictures. Woopee!
After we got there and took a power nap, we loaded the girls up in the stroller and wagon to head to the park. Aren't they the cutest in their hats?!

Brinley and Bekah headed to the swings...


While Ava used her walking feet to explore the park.


I spotted the prettiest hill of clover calling out for none other than a photoshoot!!

I love this child...seriously.

We're teething again!


Sweet Bekah

And while Brinley and Bekah stayed in virtually one place because they are still crawlers, the resident walker, Ava, headed back out to explore the wood chips. She doesn't stay in one place for very long!

Pretty soon all the girls were in the wood chips exploring together. They were so interested that they wouldn't even look at the camera- despite our songs, clapping, and high pitched squeals. I think we definitely got the attention of everyone else at the park that day!

After we got the girls fed, bathed, and tucked in their beds, we slipped away to have some dessert and a bottle of wine to celebrate Vaughanie's birthday. Don't worry, Zack was home with the sleeping babies!

The next day we just hung around the house, worked on party stuff, and did lots of playing outside.

The girls took the inaugural dip in Bekah's new sandbox.

And, you can be sure that there was time for some more photoshoots! I LOVE this picture of the Burkharts...Bekah's face is hilarious!

The party day arrived and all the Mommies had lots to do to prepare. So, Grandmommy Nora came over to help. She was so good at entertaining all the babies.

Brinley was also highly entertained by her 2 favorite things of the weekend-

One was Charlie, of course. Our dog loving little girl followed Charlie around and talked to him in her special "puppy voice" the entire time. How can OUR child love dogs so much??

And the second was this plastic stroller. She loved it, but not to practice her walking or anything. No, she didn't even have it right side up, she flipped it over and studied it intently for long spans of time like some grease monkey working on his classic car. Too funny.

Here are some of the fun elements of the party:

Jenny wanted to do a cupcake cake in the shape of a weiner dog, so I did my best and I think it turned out well. I have to admit I was highly doubtful at first but it ended up being a big hit!

Vaughanie and I made this scrapbook paper bunting, or flag banner, to decorate. Such a fun and cheap decoration!

Jenny purchased a dog bowl for each child to eat out of. She used the extras to serve the food- corn dogs, hot dogs, puppy chow, mac and cheese, and fruit salad!

Nora made the CUTEST dog house for the kids to play in...

So we had to fashion some little dog ears for the kids to use as a fun photo prop. This is the best pic I could get of my little puppy, but she looked so cute!

Here's the birthday girl blowing out her candles. I think the party was a huge success!

I am so grateful for my best buds and our gals. While we were at the park a woman commented on how lucky we are to all have girls the same age. And she's right, we are so blessed. I can't wait for many more birthdays as we go through life together!