Super Superbowl Party at FMBC

 

Yesterday marked our 3rd annual FMBC Superbowl Party. We had a great group this year. We had to use the wide-angle lens to take the group picture this year. We had around 40 people come to be a part of the fun!

 This girl needed a little nap to be ready for all the Superbowl fun ahead. The big girls were all ready. The big screen was already set up and Christian music playing when we arrived and the girls had a blast creating dancing shadows on the wall1
 
 At 5 pm, it was time for the annual flag football game before the big game. Here are all the players, cheerleaders, and spectators this year. They were kind to call a quick time out from a close game to let me snap a group picture this year.

 Brent on kickoff return

 

 We were treated to a beautiful sunset during the game.


 The girls watched the flag football game for awhile.
 
 Then these littles decided they were tired of watching the big people play and went and found a ball with Mrs. Tamara's help so they could play their own game.

 This is one of the last pictures I could get outside. They played till was absolutely so dark that I don't think they could even see the ball in front of them! It was much darker even than this.

 Thanks to all who worked on the setup, food prep and decorating, planning and clean up too!

 

  Bekah and Jason had lemonade and punch after the

big football game while they waited for the blessing and time for food. We even had Panther (blue) and Bronco (orange) punch Mrs. Judith made and Rachel tried a giant sub! I think it took both hands for her to hold that piece of sub!

 My girl woke up and decided she was ready for some food and fun. Yes, that is a BBQ chicken nugget in her hand.

 Everyone got their food just as the game started. We had so much food this year! Everyone enjoyed watching the big game too.

 My favorite part of the Superbowl Party: Dessert! Andi's cheesecake, Christy's football brownie and key lime pie! Yum!
                              

All the kids had fun playing together too. They "cooked" some meals for each other with the play kitchen food.

 and played a little ball in the hallway.

 

 Bekah had fun playing with Mr. Tim too.

 Brent did the halftime devotional.

 Rachel got to help Mr. Joey hand out the door prizes that were donated for the Superbowl party.

 This girl liked sitting with her Daddy to watch the game. You can tell he played hard in the flag football game by the mud stains on the knees.

 The youth played great with our girls too. They were helping them build towers here.

 Rachel even got Ms. Emily, one of our VMI cadets, to color with her and Bethany.

 We had a great 3rd Annual FMBC Superbowl Party this year. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such fun. Thank you also to all the planners, set up and clean up crew too! Looking forward a super Superbowl party at FMBC again next year!

Just a fun picture with the whole group too!

"Capitol Capers"

Back in January, we had to go to Washington DC for a bit. We were just outside of DC most of the time but did make it down to see a few of the monuments at Rachel and Bekah's request. They wanted to see the Washington Monument most of all so we headed there first.

 Rachel's goal was to touch the Washington Monument and so she did.


















 Rachel took a picture of all the rest of us at the base of the monument too.

 We did find out that you can make advance reservations to go up in the Washington Monument so that is now on our bucket list to do sometime!

We also drove to the Capitol and to see it as well. We got some good educational time in on our field trip about history and government as well. We did see the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial (which Rachel noticed that the top of it is shaped similarly to Monticello right away) from the car on our way back out of DC. It was a fun and fast trip to see a few of the beautiful monuments in our nation's capital.

Checkups

Today, Bethany and Rachel had their checkups. Because Rachel's birthday and Bethany's half-birthday are only one day apart, we tried to schedule their checkups together. So Bethany was having her 18 months checkup today and Rachel had her 7 year old checkup.

 Miss Wiggles didn't want to stay on the scale more than a few seconds.
Weight: 19 pounds, 5.5 ounces

 She did get length and head circumference measured too and then proceeded to have a Full meltdown in the doctor's office. Dr. Ellis was very understanding! I did notice that she began holding her right ear yesterday. We found out she is getting a large back tooth and has a right ear infection (a first for her and her sisters have never had one either). So she definitely had a few reasons to feel fussy today! I am so thankful we had her checkup scheduled today already so Dr. Ellis could check her and find out those things so hopefully, we can get her feeling better very quickly!

 This was as close as we got to happy today...
 

 This young lady had a great checkup! Can I believe we are going for her 7 year old checkup?! Doesn't seem possible already...she was just Bethany's age!
 

 She loved getting her height and weight taken, especially her height. She is thrilled that she is only 3/4 of an inch from 4 feet now! She is also thrilled that she doesn't have to get any more shots except her flu shot each year now till she is 11 or 12.
Weight: 42 pounds 8 ounces
Height: 47 and 1/4 inches tall

 She loves to read anywhere. She found a book she hadn't read at the doctor's office and she was good to go for awhile!

Thanks Dr. Ellis for all your help today and thankful for overall good checkups today!

The Big Snow

 We got pretty much the amount of snow we were forecast to get here at our house. Brent is estimating that we got between 16 and 18 inches but it was really hard to tell exactly with all the wind and drifts.

 He went out a little bit ahead of us on Saturday afternoon and got a few pictures for me around the house. Yes, the bottom rung of our fence is definitely buried under all that snow.

 The girls had fun checking out how deep the snow was in several spots. Bekah is standing on top of the snow pile and Bekah is sitting on top of their Jeep which is buried in the snow.

 There were lots of snow angels.

 Bethany even did a little sledding this year. Her big sisters both took her on one sled run each.

 Her favorite person to sled (fwed was what she called it when you asked her) with was her Daddy.

 They went most of the way down the big hill on this run.

 Taking a little rest from sledding.

 This girl has gotten so brave. All she wanted to do this year was sled. She even outlasted Rachel and stayed out longer with her Daddy to sled.

 Here are she and her Daddy coming from way up the big hill for a sled run. They may or may not have been stopped by a big snow drift at the end...

 While we did get out out for a little while each day, we enjoyed being inside nice and warm (praise the Lord, we kept power this time) also.

 We made snow day lasagna to which Rachel said "I feel like it is Christmas" which was funny because we do have lasagna most often at Christmas.

 I helped them do salt dough ornaments one evening as well. Bethany thought the "homemade playdough" as Rachel called it was pretty fun.

 And then there was more sledding. These girls wanted to swing and sled if they were outside in the snow at all. I asked them if they wanted to build a snowman or have a snowball fight. Nope, swing and sled!

 They were all walking to the top of the hill to have a family sledding race here. Lets just say that Rachel and Bekah won by quite a bit versus Bethany and Daddy.

  There was a little snow measuring and snow eating

 and then more swinging...

 Thankful for the fun the girls had and the memories made during this big snow!

McGuirt Family, The BIG Snow, January 2016