A Week of Activity - Parties, Parade, Etc.

This last week started off with lots of excitement and ended with a little bit of fun.

Last Sunday we celebrated both the girls' birthdays with all the grandparents and uncle N. We were excited to have them here, even though a few of us weren't feeling the best. Both the girls had a great time playing, opening their gifts, and getting all of that attention. While the grandparents were here to help entertain the girls D and I were also able to get some projects done: yard work, canning tomatoes, making birthday cakes.

Grandpa S played bears with Bria for a while.

Bentley eating her cake for her first birthday. She enjoyed this better than the cupcake she tried the week before. It was only because the frosting didn't make such a mess of her fingers. Bentley really doesn't like having messy fingers.

Bria couldn't quiet blow out all her candles in one try. I think I put them too far apart. She didn't mind having to do it twice.

Grandpa helped Bentley open her gifts. She lost interest pretty quick, but came back to it after a while. Of course, she enjoyed playing with the boxes and the paper after the gifts had been opened.

The tradition for the grandkids to get a John Deere tractor on their first birthday as continued through all 7 grandchildren. Bentley really loves her tractor. We keep it in the garage and every time we go out there she points to it and gets all excited. She know it moves, so even if we just set her on it that isn't enough. She wants to actually take a ride.

After the parties were all done and everyone had gone home, we had to finish up some work on the yard. While D was working, the girls rode their tractors. Bria has finally gotten the pedaling down along with the steering. Bentley's is electric and she can't reach the pedal, but I was able to make it go for her. She loved it! Bria also took a turn riding Bentley's tractor, but kept running me over. The electric tractor has a lot of power and goes faster than Bria could control in the short space she was trying to drive it.

After a couple of nights of yard work, another evening was spent building D's office's float for the homecoming parade. The parade was on Friday as well as the homecoming football game.

The float from D's office. They did a great job.

The girls were waiting for the parade to start. It was a little chilly, but it has been a lot colder since then. The parade was fun, and Bentley absolutely loved the horses.

After the parade we quickly ran some errands in Pierre, then got back into town in time for D to go to the game. The girls were tired out and it was cold and windy, so we stayed home. All the activity on Friday caused Bentley's cold to worsen yet again. We have just taken it easy the rest of the weekend to help her get this cleared up.