Happy Birthday Brooklyn

Twelve years old. Wow. I remember being twelve. It was the roughest year at school by far. Now my first born is twelve. It is surreal. Brooklyn is the most helpful daughter I could ask for. She loves to do kind things for everyone in the family. She prefers to be with me or her brothers or pop rather than sit alone in her room doing things. She loves to hang out with her friends and get chocolate or vanilla bean fraps at Starbucks. She is so easy going and laid back and creative and fun. I think she is turning out to be an amazing young woman! I'm so proud she is my daughter.

Brooklyn insisted on having her cake a day before her birthday. She also insisted on making it.

Dillon climbed on a chair and got his own cake while we were in the living room.
She got a curling iron, a back pack, money and a charm bracelet. We went to the mall on her birthday where she bought a couple of shirts from Aeropostle and some jeans.
On her actual birthday we had her choice of hamburgers, watermelon and rosemary new potatoes. She helped Bobby make the burgers, her choice. What can I say - she loves to cook. The burgers were amazing, her birthday was fun.

Happy Birthday Seth

Okay, so it's very late, blame it on the laziness of summer time if you must. We did celebrate Seth's birthday on time though and I need to share all the details!

August 6th was completely devoted to Seth! He wanted to go to breakfast with just me in the morning but, unfortunately, I had to take my car to the shop. Yuck. He was ok with that though and we stopped at McDonald's on the way there so he could get the cinnamelts. We were at the car place for three hours! Seth was a trooper and we got to spend some time together. We even went for a walk and bought the candles for his cake and rented a DVD. Pop came and picked us up at this point and we picked Seth's cake up from the grocery store. We ran right home and celebrated with birthday cake and presents. Dessert first on your birthday, what could be better?
Seth opened his gift from Brooklyn, a big new lunch box, and his card from me and Pop. We decided to give him cash this year because he is saving up for an iPod. We went out to lunch to Cici's Pizza and everyone went to Friendly's for dinner. That place is insane! We enjoyed it immensely and I forgot the camera. He said it was the best birthday ever, he says that every year though. Seth got money from his Aunt Noreen, money from Papa and Grammy, Eragon on CD from Aunt Holly and Uncle Brian, and the second and third books from the Eragon series from his dad and Merritt. He could not be more pleased with his haul. The iPod savings went out the window when he found "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" on DVD though. He also bought a video game, another DVD, the Owl City CD and an MP3 player that looks very much like an iPod nano. I think there may have been some candy purchases in there too.

Seth is my sensitive, creative, cuddly soul. He loves being a big brother and wants to help with the little ones more than the older kids allow. He loves to say the prayer at meal time and bear his testimony on fast Sunday. He has no fear when it comes to speaking to a crowd, in fact, he loves the attention. He loves music and movies. I think he is a lot like his Papa Mills. He looks a lot like Papa so that makes sense. He is such a quiet, important part of our family and I love celebrating him on his day!