party!

The Hunk & I practically share a birthday.
He is 364 days older than I.
And looking at this post,
clearly I am the queen of our birthdays
by how many photos I have
and by how not many photos he has.
Sorry, Bri, the youngin' takes the stage.....

My special day started early with
my morning walk with friends.

This is one of the highlights of my MWFdays.
Pumping arms & shredding concrete
with my sweet friends as we take on the hilly roads,
sharing labor stories & mothering approaches
and how we need to get out more often.
Aaaah! So refreshing!

I took the babes to the mall.
One of my favorite stores was having a sale on skirts.
I'm kind of a skirt-wearing freak
(what?! the air flow is fantastic!).
One of these purties came home with me.
Maybe for an up-coming date with the Hunk to Bear Lake...???!!!!!

We squished into the photo booth
and got pictures done.

And got our lips made up!
Then we met up with friends at the park.

These dearies!
They planned a celebration at the park
with treats.
Don't be fooled:
there's 14 kids between us!

Among other festivities:
I took a nap.
My sister, Kylee, came down for a slumber party.
We went out to dinner.
Went swimming.
Did sparklers in the driveway.
Awesomeness!

And Brian gets a whole TWO pictures:

He always wants Red Velvet cake.
Is Bugg not so cute in a diaper?

And his birthday present ~
Let's Go Fishing.
Hours of fun, I tell you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So.....
I like to float my cake for my birthday.

Wyatt says:
My mama is weird.
She drags us out to some body of water
so we can light her cake & float it & then eat it.
Oooohhhh-KAY.

It's kind of tricky, for obvious reasons.
But so worth the efforts.
The goal is to set the cake in the water,
all lit up.
Then receive it on the other side,
still afloat,
while I get serenaded by the birthday song!
(from my favorite childrens' book)
Kooky, perhaps.
But one heck of a show & a special memory
for our family to have,
most importantly.

The styrofoam raft worked perfectly last year.
But this year's float was kind of last minute
since there was a storm going on.
However, last second, clouds parted
and the pond beckoned.
So we were off!
Brian had the idea to use the little inflatable pool upside down.
The cake is on a plate,
which is on a bucket lid,
which is on a strawberry flat,
which is on a crate lid,
which is on the pool.......
which we set afloat in a merky pond.
And saran wrap is so important!!!
Those nasty water bugs.
And just as I was leaning over to light up those pretty candles.......

.....Ella took a dive!

Thankfully, it was shallow water
and
thankfully, we didn't lose the cake!
This fiasco was not captured on the Nikon
but was caught
on the video camera by my friend, JoAnna.
We are working on a youtuber!
So hilarious!
Oh, I mean, sad,
the poor dear!

Call me a goofball but it is a magical scene
to see my luscious lemon cake gliding across the water
at dusk.
(Stripped her down, no problem!)

Because there was no flow in the pond,
our friend, Ben,
pulled it slowly with fishing line.

I dream about this moment
all year long.
Where we'll float my cake.
What kind of cake.
How we'll float it.
Dream come true.

Watch for a video soon!