Change of Command party

 We had a party for Brendan's Change of Command at our house this afternoon.  So many friends and family visited to celebrate with us!

Brendan's Change of Command

 Brendan's Change of Command was today.  He took command of 12th Aviation Battalion at Ft. Belvoir. So many of our friends and family came down to celebrate with us and it was a very special day. I'm so proud of hime.  he has worked tirelessly for 18 years to make it to this place.  This achievement  is very well deserved!

C&O half marathon

 Brendan got up an ran a half marathon on the C&O Canal path this morning in the pouring rain!  He wanted to get a qualifying time under his belt for the Disney marathon in January so he wouldn't be stuck at the back like we were the last time we ran it!!  He did great and beat his goal of 2 hours.  He came in 10th overall with a time of 1:46:45!!

Brendan's Promotion to Lieutenant Colonel

 Today we had a party for Brendan's promotion to Lieutenant Colonel!  It's a huge deal and something that he has worked towards for 17 years.  We are all so proud of him and we wanted to celebrate!  We had a taco truck come to provide the majority of the food and it was a major hit!  The food was fantastic and everyone loved it.  It was so much fun - not something that you get to do everyday!!!  I made some side dishes and cakes - of course!  One was filled with lime filling and one was coconut. The lime cake was entirely eaten at the party - I don't know if I've ever made a cake that disappeared that fast!  We had guests come in from all over!  Mimi, Dan, Nora, Clinton, Grama and Daddy Jim came down from Massachusetts and Justin, Brody, Chase and Bryna came up from North Carolina.  We were so happy to celebrate with so much family and so many friends - both from all of ours years in the Army and new friends from Arlington as well.
We got a bouncy castle for the kids and we were able to make use of the tent that we bought years ago in England and it was a good things too because we were able to squeeze the party in between rain storms!  It did rain a little on us during the actual promotion ceremony but no one seemed to mind.  MG Funk came to promote Brendan and it was a really special ceremony.  I only wish that Declan had been able to stay awake for it!
We were also celebrating Brendan and Aoife AND MG Funk's birthdays - Brendan and MG Funk have the same birthday - totally crazy!  So I made one cake as a birthday cake and one cake as a promotion cake.  The seals and the rank are made of white chocolate and painted with luster dust!  It worked out really well!!

Brendan's 40th Party

 We had a busy day today!  Emmy's 1st Communion this morning, a baseball game and then Brendan's 40th Birthday Party!!  I did a Cinqo de Mayo theme and we had lots of Mexican inspired dishes and a pinata inspired cake.  It turned out a little more pastel than I had wanted but it was still delicious!!  We had lots of friends over and the weather totally cooperated - it was a beautiful night. We got to use of beautiful backyard that we have been working so hard on over the past year.  It was so nice to be able to have a party outside!!