We had such a lovely evening with family celebrating Meghan's birthday this year. Mema and Beverly came over, in addition to the usual crew! There was Richard's homemade smoked brisket (the theater of it all!), potato salad, corn, cornbread and a cake a la Tonya! The littles were all at their mom's house this weekend, which is always hard when you're trying to wrangle everyone's schedules, but that's why we take pictures and video so we can all share. :)
BIG EMBARRASSING PARAGRAPH: We are SO PROUD of Meghan and the young lady she is turning into. She's a complete rockstar at beauty school and being the best older sister her siblings could ask for. She loves her family and friends more than anything and gets so frustrated when her theatrical displays of affections (gifts! parties! hair care!) aren't perfectly executed, lol. She's just one clean room and a salad short of being 110% perfect, and that's pretty much every parent and step-parent's dream. We love you, Meggie!
My mommy loves pools so much that sometimes she'll rent hotel rooms just to have access to some water! ;) A few weeks ago, she rented out two rooms on a Friday night for us to have some FAMILY pool time (with Dan, Brenda, Dana, Tonya, Stephen + me and R!). The good news is that we were all together and watched Olympics, ate pizza, had complimentary breakfast in the morning and did some epic lounging. The bad news is there was a RAIN STORM the evening we were there, so it took us a hot minute to get into the pool... and when we did, it was sprinkling! (Hence the few pictures, haha XD) But fortunately, the next day was just overcast, so all of us hopped in again before check-out.
When R and I got back to Dallas, we stopped for a matinee showing of "Florence Foster Jenkins" (SO CUTE) and ate dinner at Henry's Majestic (where I had the most amazing mahi!!!). It was sooo lovely and chill and wonderful.
Our sweet Meggie turned the big 1-8 this year! We are so incredibly proud of all the things our little stinker has accomplished this year. Getting her driver's license, helping plan our Oklahoma vacation, her first job, her second job! ;P She's grown up so much and we just couldn't be more obsessed with her. ;)
For her birthday this year (and Juju's!), we had our favorite bowling + pizza combo in Ennis with the family. It was such a blast! (Literally - we blew up stuff.)
All the boys! (Bowling alley lighting isn't really the best lighting... I do my best! ;P)
A SMILE FROM NICK. (I act like that's a big deal, but I really say, "I'm not taking the picture until you BOTH smile!" because I'm 100% mom.)
Emily brought her drawing stuff - you know, just in case!
This picture is AMAZING because Tonya was doing an impression of Sadie in an earlier picture (that didn't make the cut... bowling alley lighting! :X) where Sadie was holding a kissy-face for as long as she needed to pose for the picture. ;P Plus, Tonya is adorable. ;D
Sisters!
After a few rounds of bowling, we went back to the hill for pizza, cake and games! Tonya made this amazing fruity cake, which was almost like a bread. It was as yummy as it was beautiful!
(We didn't have candles -- oops! -- but the cake was too purdy to put candles in anyway!)
Meghan got the best present from Stephen (of course!) - her own arrow holder and more arrows!
After dinner, the grown-ups took a little break to Skype with Auntie Marion and Donna! It's always so fun to see them. Technology is amazing! :D
Emily (forever drawing), Richard (playing with Legos, a late birthday gift from Stephen - the Grand Master Uncle, if you ask me) and Sadie (playing with a... coconut?) -- (She went to the grocery store with Dana and Brenda, who were kind enough to indulge her "I wanna coconut!" ;PPP)
With his finished product!
Then everyone moved outside for archery and... blowing up stuff! (See video below... ;P)
I don't know what exactly was going on, but there was a thing with gas (?) against a brick wall, and then the boys shot at it. I'm a girl! (For explosion, jump to the 1:55 mark. ;P)
