On three consecutive days we have birthdays!
It actually happens twice a year for us!
July 20th, 21st and 22nd!
Then,
March 31st, April 1st and April 2nd!
This is what we did for Ellie's Birthday!
She really, really, really, liked it!
We went super fast and over lots of choppy waves!
Both Sarah and Mia fell off!
It was extremely funny!
They were hysterical the whole time!
I did take videos but I don't know how to put them on here?
I think they are too long...
Most of the children had a chance to go tubing
and those that didn't were able to do it the next time!
As I have said before, I am a bit of a safety nut
so we needed to try it out with a few kiddos before
opening it up to everyone.
And it went VERY well!
We had dinner out on the lake and then went home for showers and the rest of the festivities!
HaPpY 14th BiRtHdAy,
ElLiE!
You are such a blessing to us!
Ellie has been home for 6 years!
She has blossomed in every way!
She has a heart of gold!
Birthday's are a big deal around here-
especially when you don't get to celebrate them for the first 8 years of your life!
And presents are
the bomb!
Writing your birthday list is an event!
New bath and body wash!
Ellie chose a DQ oreo blizzard cake!
It's fun for Sarah to light the candles!
Pure joy!
She loves her mermaid blanket for TV and reading time!
Emma's Birthday was next!
We went to the movie
"The Secret Life of Pets"
We all enjoyed it!
Emma was very excited for her day!
I can't believe she is 16 years old!
Happy Birthday sweet girl!
I love the little smirk on her face as she opens her gifts!
Clothes from Justice and jewelry were on her list!
It was her turn to get a boogie board!
She picked her favorite restaurant and wanted everyone to dress up!
So we did!
We sang and she got the special birthday dessert!
Notice the fork in Joey and Madeline's hand-
They were ready to dig in!
I saw that coming so I announced that Emma would get the first three bites!
What I didn't expect was that she would eat
the whole thing in
THREE BITES!
Oh my goodness was that a surprise!
Chalk it up to survival skills!
Auntie Barbie joined us for Emma's special day!
Emma chose red velvet cake!
And since we had three b-days in a row we went with the smaller one!
I often have to take many pics of Emma to get the right one.
She does this a lot!
There was nothing special over there to look at, she just does this.
Contemplating her birthday wish!
We didn't have 16 candles so we improvised!
The star candle was worth 10!
Happy Birthday to our treasured daughter, Emma Joy!
And the next day it was his turn!
Happy Birthday, JOEY!
(The parents are getting a bit tired! But we didn't show it!
No sirree, not for a second!)
For Joey's Birthday we went swimming at the pool!
Sometimes birthdays can be hard for adoptees.
In our family they are NOT hard for the birthday child.
Everyone of our kiddos loves to be celebrated and immerses themselves in the moment.
But for some of our children it's hard celebrating their sibs...
especially when there are three birthdays in a row.
We had plans to go out to dinner but we changed those plans and ate at home.
We needed to make the change for one of our kiddos.
Joey is a go with the flow kinda guy.
Plus this gave him an opportunity to play with his new birthday presents!
So he was very agreeable with the change!
Some kids wanted to look nicer while others were very casual.
I told Joey to go change his shirt, since it was his birthday!
So there he is in a wrinkled polo, nice move Mom!
Oh well, who cares!
I'm probably the only one that noticed it!
Big brother Johnny and his friend Abby joined us for Joey's birthday!
It was so nice that another family member could make it to each of the celebrations!
Please, can we be done with this picture taking?
I need to open these presents!
Joey loves life!
He loves having a family and his energy knows no limits!
Enthusiastic is his middle name!
He is after all, Sam's little brother!
He loved the star wars legos!
He loved the turtle puzzle!
He loved the remote control car!
He loved that everyone wanted to play with his gifts
BUT
he was the boss of them!
And he used the upper hand to his advantage!
Luke could only play with his toys if he was really really nice to Joey
and then it was for only about 5 minutes!
Sorry Luke... your done!
Revenge comes in November,
when it is Luke's birthday!
Look out world (or at least siblings)!
Joey has a nerf gun!

A happy birthday boy and his photo bombers!
Joey you have made incredible progress in every area of your life!
You are so happy to have a family and you love life!
We are so thankful that you are our little boy!
Happy 8th Birthday, Joey!
Each morning the birthday child would go with Daddy to get donuts,
a special drink from the coffee shop and pick up their cake!
When Joey and Dad were in the car,
Joey said, "Let's sing Dad! Let's sing Happy Birthday to me!"
I love the look on his sweet face in this picture!
I think he is happy!
OH NO!
You have a lot of girlfriends!
Three cakes in three days!
I'm going on a diet!