Mary Beth at 8

 Mary Beth is loving life as an 8 year old!

She continues to be the joy in all our lives.  It's hard not to smile when this dancing, bouncing, singing, laughing smiling hilarious girl is in the room!

Mary Beth has grown up so much this summer...every single teacher and staff member at school couldn't believe how much she had changed since they saw her in June.  Yet, she remains the quentissential little girl.  Give her Barbies, American Girls, sparkles, glitter, pens and paper, and she's good to go!

 There is no smile I love as much as the two front toothless smile.  I think God was aware of this and gave me a bit extra time to savor the cuteness this last time around.  She has had a gap up front since April, and no signs of budding teeth in sight!  (We have seen them on x-ray!)

 Favorite color: red
Wants to grow up to be a: nurse
Favorite food: tomatoes, deviled eggs, pad thai, sweets
Favorite school subject: science
Favorite clothes store: Justice
Favorite activities: dance, singing, piano, reading, crafts, cooking with mom, golfing with dad, watching Disney channel, playing with friends like Whitney, Katie, Ellie, Megan, Avery Anne, Ashton, Mary Claire
Favorite thing about herself: being a Christian, her long hair, toothless smile, funny

We love our little girl to pieces!  We are so proud of her and are blessed to be her parents!

Mary Beth's birthday

Hip Hip Hooray for Mary Beth's birthday!  Poor, poor summer birthday Mary Beth.  She is the last of her friends to turn 8, so she was THRILLED to finally be able to be the same age as her friends!  Her friend birthday party was a Zumba party!  Two of my friends are Zumba instructors, and they did a great job of conducting a Zumba class to some of our favorite 8 year olds.

 Mary Beth got to help lead a song or two.

 Matthew got his school hair cut right after the party!

 For her family party, we had a bar be que theme.  Lots of yummy bbq favorites, including brisket and deviled eggs...one of MB's favorite foods!

 Thanks Nana for making the eggs.  I wouldn't go near the stuff!  Yuck!

 Showing off her new birthday duds.

Cape Cod 2012

Well, our fun trip to Cape Cod is in the books!  We had a fabulous time, and are enjoying the memories this week.  

 Mary Beth and her second cousin, Emma, were two peas in a pod the whole week!  They are both going into 3rd grade and are just two months a part in age.  What cuties!

 One of the first days we were there, Aunt Carolyn came up for the day.  We enjoyed a nice relaxing day at the beach behind our family's house.

 The traditional jumping from the dock.  I have pictures of myself doing the same thing many years ago!

 Running back to the cottage after a fun swim.

 Matthew spent the week sailing, and we did lots of resting, but decided on one day trip to Woods Hole.  The National Oceanographic Institute is there, and there were lots of fun activities for the kids.

 The Alvin vessel that discovered the Titanic in the mid 80s was launched from here.  I can't imagine how claustrophobic the divers must have been in this little thing!

 My family is famous for making up random games with balls.  Whether it be wiffle ball skee ball, or this game that resembled football, there is lots of ball game creativity in our kids!

 The end of the week was cloudy, but still nice for a day at the beach!  Lots of boogie board action in Nantucket sound!

 I told the kids that my one birthday request was for a few nice pictures.  They begrudgingly assented. They should be grateful that I take a tenth of the pictures of them that I used to!

 One of the teenage cousins offered to take a few pictures of us.  I was happy with how they turned out!

 My birthday dinner...lobster on the patio.  Nothing better!

 Corn shuckers extraordinaire!

 Poppy giving the kids a lesson on perfect lobster boiling.

 MB was ready for a fabulous lobster dinner!

 The kids loved throwing lobster carcasses into the river after they ate!

 Second cousins/cousins/siblings.

 Matthew had a wonderful week of sailing.  He is now a registered skipper of 420 sailboats! Unfortunately, the boats are too big to dock next to the yacht club, so they have to ride a boat to the middle of the river.  Therefore, there are officially zero pictures of our skipper.  He had bruises all over his legs and chest from the experience, but he couldn't have had more fun!

After a fun filled week, we made our trek home.  I would like to document for the record that Bryon drove 18 hours and 1200 miles in a single day.  He becomes a man possessed when it comes to road trips!  Fortunately, the kids are perfect in the car, and I loved (nearly) every minute of our close quarters!