Nadine's Birthday

My actual birthday was quiet, if cold, but also beautiful. I also gave myself a birthday party with lots of friends from church, neighborhood, and moms from Nica's preschool.

Moonset through the trees in our backyard. Yep, it is still winter in March.

Nica was excited that it was almost warm enough to be outside for a bit. She was jumping on the back deck.

I am trying to take at least one good picture of me on my birthday every year.

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 Sadly, I didn't get a picture of all my friends who were able to come to my birthday party. I had 18 ladies here. My favorite part was having good people around me. But I also loved the $1 gift swap: each lady brought a gift they only spent $1 on (wrapped up) and we had a select from the pile or steal one opened. It was a lot of fun! And, of course, I also loved the cakes. I made three kinds: gluten-free chocolate tort with raspberry sauce, a chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake (chocolate chips in chocolate cake with chocolate frosting; "Darn Good Chocolate Cake" recipe in the Cake Mix Doctor book), and a silver white cake (made from scratch with buttermilk). I had fun using my cake-decorating skills.

The three cakes I made. And the flowers Travis found me for my birthday; my favorite gift on my birthday is always the little daffodils- they give me hope that Spring really is coming!

It was a great birthday (on my birthday- I had SUSHI!!) and a great birthday party.

Rewind: Zoës 11th Birthday

Whew! I really missed quite a few milestones this past winter. Where was I? Here's a flashback to Zo&euml's birthday in January 2014.

Zoë had a quiet birthday, but I think she enjoyed the day anyway. She asked for a Pokéman cake with specific animals. The little animals were fun to make, and Zoë shared Mudkip (the little axolotl-looking animal made of blue and orange) with her friend Emma whose nickname is Mudkip.

Zoë's sisters helped her open her presents. She was awesome to let them help!

Another book!?

Yes!

Zoë made a request for a bathrobe and she was super happy to have this snuggly warm wrap.

Squirtle! Her piece of vanilla Pokéman cake.

Eleven Years old!

More pictures of the cake...

Better Swimming

So, after so many disappointing forrays to try to swimming in the Finger Lakes this August. I was delighted when we were invited to Lydia Lombardo's fifth birthday swim party at her Nana's house; an in-ground pool with a shallow end, a deep end, and a diving board! Oh, heaven.

If we had the means, I would now love to have the exact same pool put in our back yard! Although, I think Miranda would grow webbed feet because she would live in the pool. And, our electric bill would go up because I would run the heater to keep it at 84-degrees (or warmer?!) so I could swim without a wet suit. It was a beautiful pool, the kids had so much fun swimming and playing with friends. I enjoyed watching them play, swimming with them, and chatting with my friends. What a great way to celebrate a birthday!

My brave little girl has started to flee the confines of a swimming vest!
At least, if there's a shallow end.

CANNON BALL!!!

Nica and her friend, Lydia (the birthday girl)

Guess who is giving bunny ears?

Megan loved photo-bombing these shots.

Miranda was like a fish, I mean dolphin. She was difficult to catch on camera because she was swimming or jumping or splashing the entire time!

Mareva Baldwin did some awesome jumps off the diving board.

Holly (sitting on the steps) and Lorna (red tank top) were great friends to hang out in (or out of) the water. All of these ladies are fun to chat with!

Nica was ready to jump in the water- as long as she had a vest on.

Miranda waiting for the area to be clear before she jumps off the diving board.

Dean's first time jumping of the diving board. It was AWESOME!

Nica's first time off the diving board!
Ready, set...

GO, SUPERGIRL!

She definitely has that horizontal fall into water down.

First Cannonball.

Dean is learning to swim, and he did great getting under the water so I could snap this picture.

Nica under water.

Look at those eyes!

Look at that HAIR!

See? Dolphin!

I love the look of JOY on Pomai's face as she is floating with her mom.

Lydia was happy to swim around above water.

Underwater she as full of joy!

Birthday Girl

Lydia's little brother, Bryant, loved his cupcake frosting.

Goatee?!?

Madison, Lydia's big sister, watches as she opens her present.

Nica floated/kicked the whole length of the pool on these noodles.

We all love swimming!

Zoë was not pictured because she opted to go with her dad to work and help him out there- feeding the 1,000 fish! She's loved working with her dad. I love seeing her (and all my girls) learn new things.

Honeoye Lake with our new neighbors

We had a family move in just up the street from us. The parents have three kids: boy age 8 going into third grade, boy age 6 going into first grade, and a little girl age 3.

I invited them to come to Sandy Bottom Beach at the north end of Honeoye Lake (honey-oy), hoping to spend a day playing in the water and kayaking. I also invited lots of other friends from the neighborhood and church, but apparently the Friday before Labor Day is just as busy as a holiday for most people!

We Bailey Girls were glad that thenew  neighbors were still up for joining us!

We loaded up the van with kayaks, noodles, life jackets, sand toys and drove to up the street to have the neighbors follow us to Honeoye and drove the fifteen minutes! to get to the lake.

Where we were immediately disappointed and grossed out. The smell was TERRIBLE and the water was full of blue green algae, which meant that the beach was closed. Bah!! This was the SECOND time we had tried to go swimming in one of the Finger Lakes and had the beach closed because of this rotten algae. What are people doing in these lakes!?!? I want more kayaks so we can go as a family to Hemlock- although we can't swim there, at least we could all boat across and hike up some of the gorges. Maybe next summer...

So, the new friends were total troopers and we hung out on the (nice!) playground, ate our picnic lunches, and then the mom and I took the kayaks out. This was the first time she ever kayaked and she did great! I felt awful that the water was so nasty. She was even brave enough to to carry one of her kids in the kayak with her! We picked the kids up on the beach shore (the boat launch was even more gross) and took them for a 5 min ride out and back. Her boys even paddled the kayak!

Not a total disaster, but we were all disappointed we didn't get to go swimming in the water.

First time in a kayak! She's a natural.

With her daughter, just floating.

She was nervous, but she relaxed after a bit and just enjoyed floating.
(Both mom and daughter)

Big brother was really excited to paddle on his own. He was lovin' the kayak!

Little brother did great paddling the kayak, and wanted to do it all by himself the whole time.

Watermelon, Capri Suns, cracker sandwiches... the kids good food as well as fun.

My girls played really well with the new neighbors.

It is SO HARD to get even three of them smile, let alone look at the camera!

What could've been a total disappointing disaster turned into a great fun afternoon. We look forward to playing more with our new friends!