Seven!

I can hardly believe it. 

They're seven.

That is SO much older than six, right?

It's probably no surprise that we talk about birthday parties year 'round. They had already decided they were going to have "separate" parties this year and after seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Brynn knew exactly what she wanted: A parade in her honor. Who wouldn't?! She's pretty convinced she's a princess anyway (not the sweet Disney kind, but the kind who gets stuff done), why would we not bring out all the bells and whistles to celebrate her?

There were several jokes about her getting what she wants, but come on... it's her BIRTHDAY. It doesn't hurt to make a girl feel special every now and then. So, a parade she got. In the middle of January. And she loved every second of it. 

Her friends brought over their bikes, scooters, ride-ons, etc. We decorated them downstairs and lined them up in the driveway. We were outside maybe a total of ten minutes, but it was cheerful ten minutes!

I thought it was cute and she was thrilled :)

Inside for glitter, hot chocolate, and more glitter with 50 of our closest friends (it was pretty packed burning up cozy).

Cale has known for six months that he wanted a "Boys only" sleepover. So all the boy's at Brynn's party just stayed over. First of all, I knew he'd loving having a bunch of boys here. And he did. He was the happiest boy! We were worried that other people touching "his" stuff, going in his room would upset him... these things are pretty important to him. He was amazing. He offered up everything he could think of, mediated the occasional GI Joe tug of war, and never ever stopped smiling.

Second of all, how come nobody told me that boys are so much fun?! This was seriously the best group of boys ever. Love them all!

The cookie pizza... So I baked the cookie that morning, but didn't have time to decorate before Cale's basketball game, Brynn's dance class, and the parties. I put all of the TMNT/Cale's party stuff in a corner of the kitchen for later. I was a little worried about my (precious) 4-yr-old niece getting ahold of it, but figured she'd be too busy with the parade. I come in from the parade, and there's my TWENTY year old brother cutting himself a piece of "pizza" and pouring a cup of "Leonardo" Sprite. Bless it.

By the way- Cale thought it was the coolest thing ever that I made it look like a real pizza with a slice missing, so joke's on me!

At bedtime, the ninja turtle party became a glow in the dark party. This is when C came over and said, "Okay, I'm tired. They can go home now." Um... sorry, Buddy. That's not how a sleep-over works. Once he got his spot on the couch, he was good to go though.

I still can't believe they were all that good.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO MY BEAUTIFUL BABIES WHO ARE NOT BABIES ANYMORE (But as Brynn says, will always be MY babies)!