Re-organizing Bedrooms

The girls' rooms got a little makeover today in that we added additional shelving in each room in an effort to organize things a little better and give them more floor space ... they love the changes!

Happy 10th Birthday!!

Their friend party was yesterday and today for their birthday we celebrated with daddy right away in the morning before he had to leave for work.  We woke the girls up singing with their birthday torte candles lit!

Then in the afternoon we headed over to celebrate at Granny M's with the family.  We even ordered some pizza and had a great family dinner.

I think Alyssa was very happy to receive her Stitch doll from Grandma and Grandpa!

And ... I am not sure, but I think Madison was happy with her big unicorn from them as well!

They also got the monster high dolls they had been hoping for from Granny M!

Of course, they loved their special smelling lotions from Sherrin too ...

Birthday Party at River Valley Ranch

The girls celebrated their 10th birthday today with four friends at River Valley Ranch.  This was what they really wanted to do, as they had such a good time back in August when we took them on a trail ride.  They each invited two friends to join us and it was pretty much the first time riding for all of the friends.

Alyssa:

 Mia:

Tawnie:

Madison:

Lilly:

Michael:

We enjoyed an hour long trail ride with just a little bit of horse shenanigans along the way.  Michael ended up with what Madison termed "the reigns of shame" and had to lead by the guide as the horse didn't want to cooperate with Michael.  Daddy's horse give him a few bruises from misbehaving and Lilly got a little scared when her horse started to trot and she couldn't slow him down.  Otherwise, all was good and they all had a great time.

We opened gifts and had dinner at Clancy's after the trail ride.  It was a great afternoon filled with friends and fun.

Canterbury Downs

We spent the afternoon at the horse track with Grandma and Grandpa today.  It was a lot of fun to watch the horses race and the girls had fun helping me pick the horses to bet on ... we didn't do too bad considering we were basing out selections solely on their name or coloring ...

First Day of 4th Grade

The first day of school has finally arrived and although we loved the extra long summer due to the construction work at JMS, the girls were ready to get started and see all their friends again!  Here they are ... the big 4th graders!!

Arriving at school ... obviously Madison is enjoying something with her friend Natalie!

Loving their Mussels

Madison requested mussels for dinner and, of course, daddy was all in ... back at the Cov for some of the good stuff!