McKinley turns 7!

Friend Party

McKinley has had a marathon birthday that lasted this whole last week! She probably earned it since last year her birthday kind of got pushed aside in the middle of us moving, but she sure made up for it this year! First off, she got to have a "friend party" and they came over for a pajama/movie night last weekend. It ended up being a lot of fun, but I couldn't believe how silly a bunch of 7 and 8 year old girls can be! Thankfully, I have 2 years to recover until the next one!

McKinley's Friend Pajama Party

And of course, a pillow fight to top the evening off!

Camp-Out Birthday
From Thursday to Saturday, Milt took the girls camping at French Creek State Park and they really had a great time. Maddox and I joined them for a few hours on McKinley's actual birthday on Friday, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun Kennedy was having...even in the dirt (of course her hands had to remain perfectly clean, but she didn't mind the rest of her being filthy!) Next year when Maddox is potty-trained maybe he can go camping too and I can stay home alone and read....right, Milt? Yeah, probably not going to happen.

While we were looking into campsites, almost everyone told us not to expect campgrounds to be like heading up the canyon in Utah. We weren't sure what that meant at first, but they said that camping out here isn't "roughing" it like it can be. And it's true! The campgrounds here seem more like vacation resorts with nice playgrounds and huge pool areas, showers, and tons of fun things to do! The girls got to go hiking like usual, plus they got to go swimming in a huge pool next to the lake, and play at a couple different playgrounds around! They even got to take a shower before they came home so that they didn't smell like campfire! It was really nice (unfortunately, I still get to do the smelly laundry.) So it wasn't really roughing it, but it sure was beautiful!

Milt and the girls in their "camping seats"

The girls sleeping in the tent

Milt and his camping buddies

Our roomy campground area

Maddox and I come to visit the campers

Snickerdoodle with a candle

The "little" swimming pool next to the lake

Kennedy at one of the playgrounds

Family Party

Today for McKinley's family Birthday party we FINALLY let McKinley open her presents, which included her first ever American Girl doll that looks just like her. She was ecstatic. She was also very excited to get a bunch of clothes for her doll (even with some matching ones in her size) and a bag for her to carry her doll around in too. Dang, kids these days have it made! Hopefully this doll will survive the wrath of Maddox and manage to stay out of the toilet, which is where we find most everything else these days (although the floor vents keep managing to be pulled up so that remotes and phones can be hidden in them too). He's quite resourceful, and Kennedy's teaching him everything she knows.

Meet McKinley's new doll, who is aptly named, McKinley

McKinley's American Girl Doll Loot

What cute kids!

And this picture has nothing to do with McKinley's birthday, but I basically just had to throw it in because I am still so in love with Maddox, and I keep finding myself taking his picture all day(this was taken while McKinley was opening her presents...he's just too cute to resist!)