Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday- family celebration.

We celebrated Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday as a family and opened a few presents at home, and then they chose Pizza Ranch and ice skating for supper and activity! Letting them pick supper/activity for their family party is a favorite tradition! We would have let them pick separate things if they really wanted, but both quickly picked that together and both were good with it. We had a fun night together! Happy birthday, sweet Lucy and Ellory! We are so very thankful for you!

(Lucy was pretty pumped to immediately wear her Vikings gear that she got for her birthday for the celebration. She got two compliments on it, which made it even better. :)

Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday- De Jong side.

We got to celebrate Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday with the De Jong side- getting together with the whole side of the family is great! Thankful we could all be together and celebrate two of my favorite people! Three really, because we gave cousin Will his 6th birthday present too. We missed his real birthday party a couple weeks ago because it ended up being the same weekend as my grandpa's funeral, but we wished him a happy birthday then (we briefly got to see him before the party), and at this celebration too! Kley's grandma got to join also and that was special!

I love that Jana has tons of candles and lets Lucy and Ellory do whatever they want on their cake. Lucy always goes crazy and loads it up, and Ellory always choose the number for the year she's turning. So sweet. :)

Happy 8th birthday Lucy, we love you!

Happy 8th birthday Ellory, we love you!

Always love cousin time with Will and Gerrit! (They will be moving to our town in a couple months- yay for cousins being only a minute away!)

How are they so big? We talked a lot about their birth during supper and it was fun to reminisce. What a gift these sweet twins are to our family!

Ellory's 8th birthday- friend party.

Ellory is 8! She is fun, beautiful, considerate, sweet, motivated, deep thinker, and brings much JOY to our family! We are so glad to be her parents! Ellory chose to bring a few friends along and wanted to do pottery painting and go out for ice cream. Such a fun idea!

Happy birthday Ellory! You are so special and loved and it was so fun to celebrate you!

Ellory chose a dog and was painting it realistically. :)

What a fun group!

Lucy chose some small sports equipment!

Norah painted flowers on a mug!

Ellory chose a panda theme this year (her favorite animal), but we didn't actually see any of that decor because we weren't at our house at all, but we saw it during family celebrations. What a fun day, we love you Ellory!

Lucy's 8th birthday- friend party.

Lucy is 8! What a beautiful, hard working, helpful, sporty, kind girl she is and we are so thankful to be her parents! Lucy and Ellory wanted to do their own things for their friend party this year, and they each opted to take a couple friends to do an activity (vs. doing a party at home where they could invite more people). Lucy chose to bounce and play at Drop Zone and then come home for Pizza Ranch and Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Lucy, celebrating you is so fun! Thankful for the JOY you bring to our family! We love you!

So much fun! We went on Friday afternoon after early out and there was hardly anyone there! The few times we had gone before, it was on Saturday and was much busier, so it was nice to basically have the place to ourselves!

Very thankful that all three girls have some nice friends in their classes this year- a gift!

Nothing like dodgeball with your dad. :)

The girls tried so hard to get a jumping picture where they were all midair at the same time. It's harder than you'd think- so fun!

Excellent choice on the cake, Lucy!

Lucy chose a sports theme for her birthday, which is well fitting because she loves all sports! Happy birthday Lucy- what a special day to celebrate you!

 

Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday- Schut side (and Karlie's hall of fame celebration!).

We got to host my whole family for the weekend! I love that our house can fit everyone and we can use it for sweet hospitality. We got to celebrate my sister, Karlie, being inducted into the NWC Hall of Fame for volleyball. Way to go, Karlie! Well deserved and so special to be there to cheer you on!

At the basketball game, where she was announced at half time.

We also celebrated Lucy and Ellory's 8th birthday (a month early, but made sense to do it when everyone was here). So fun to celebrate with everyone!

The anticipation on her face is so sweet.

Happy birthday, Lucy and Ellory! Finding out we were pregnant with twins was such a great moment!

So thankful for my favorite four!

Ellory chose a panda theme, her favorite animal!

Lucy chose a sports theme (which she also had for her 6th birthday, but is so on par for her to want it again)!

Happy birthday, our sweet girls. You both bring so much joy to our lives and we are SO thankful you are in our family! You are very loved!