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 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!!

A Bowling Party & Torpedoes Basketball

 Saturday afternoon was pretty busy!  After Aoife's Saturday morning basketball, Declan had a bowling party at Ft. Myer and Aidan had another basketball game.  Since we were up late last night with Emmy's game, Declan was pretty much a mess for the entire day.  He was so excited to go to his friend's party but fell off of a chair while wrestling with said friend about 10 minutes after we got there and nearly knocked out his front teeth.  Seriously so much blood - I was pretty certain that when I looked in his mouth there would be no teeth but they were there.  We will see if they turn gray in the next few months - hopefully not!  After he recovered from the tooth trauma, Declan enjoyed bowling for about 45 minutes.  He started to get a little bored and decided that he was going to move bowling balls from one rack to another.  Seemed like a good idea until he turned around with a bowling ball in his hand, bumped into another kid, slipped (because he was wearing bowling shoes) and fell right into the corner of the bowling ball rack - cheek first.  His eyes were fine - thankful for small miracles BUT there is a giant welt on his cheek.  I decided that it was time to leave the party - it was almost over and there was no way that Declan was going to come back from a second injury in time to enjoy the rest of the bowling.  Sometimes you just have to know when to give up!

Declan LOVING the singing - this is post tooth injury

Having fun bowling - temporarily

Declan disappeared and I found him back in the party room - grabbing a snack

Pre-face injury - moving bowling balls back to the rack

We went over to Aidan's game just in time to watch him play the last few seconds of the first quarter. He played most of the second half so I got a few pictures! The Torpedoes won and played really well together.  I love watching the kids play - it's incredible how quickly they improve!  I also love watching them having fun!

Baseball Party

 We hosted the AAA Red Sox for the end of season party!  It was really fun to get everyone together.  The boys played basketball and baseball in the backyard and played on the slidepool.  Everyone brought a side so it was so easy to just grill and make dessert!!  It's so nice to be able to enjoy summer in our beautiful backyard!!

Aoife's Kindergarten End of Year Party

 Declan and I went to Aoife's Kindergarten party today at school. There were bouncy castles, slides, water, bubbles and pizza!  It was super fun - Declan and Aoife had a great time!!