Our first stop was the Empire State Building. Liam decided he wanted to see this because Ace went to the St. Louis Arch and he wanted to try and get higher than him. Brothers and their competitiveness!
Pretty amazing view but a little costly.
After church on Sunday, we headed out to the USS Intrepid. It’s an aircraft carrier turned museum. It also housed the Enterprise shuttle that was used for test flights. We only had a short time here and Liam told me later he wished we had a longer time, but we all still enjoyed it.
All of us were quite impressed with the to scale lego model of the Intrepid. The ice on the river was quite impressive too! No. Us Southerners have never seen that before.
Up next, the Statue of Liberty and our visit to the 9/11 Memorial.
Ace is 14 years old now! Two teenagers for two full years and Mark and I are still kicking. He’s growing into such a fun and godly young man. This next year means high school and lots of growing up!
Josiah turned 11 this June! I can’t believe how much he has grown. He picked out his cake by looking at my pinned recipes on Pinterest. 
He was super excited for present time.
His want. The kids have figured out my “do” gift scheme. Nerf guns…Can anyone say Nerf Wars at the end of the year?!
Emmie nicknamed Josiah “Bubble” when he decided he wanted her to call her “Bubba.” She kept calling him Bubble…and it stuck. He loves being “Bubble” but has insisted only Emmie will call him that. I believe he’ll change his mind when Tobin starts talking. Anyway, what an appropriate gift bag, huh?!
This kid loves the Lego Architecture series.
A cake as big as his head.
Layered with strawberry and chocolate icing…it was seriously amazing and super rich.
These are the warrior beads we started with Emmie. They’re in order, left to right, and each one represents a year of her life. Yes…that second year was a rather active one. It’s been great to see the beads stay a little smaller since then!
Partying first with Ge & Granddaddy. She was so excited with each gift she opened.
She was so excited with each gift. Her highlight were Ladybug Girl books. When Emmie had her first surgery, my mom and I were walking in the lobby and happened upon a book giveaway. The volunteer told us to grab a book for our girl. I found Ladybug Girl Goes to the Beach and thought it was cute. We sometimes call Emmie’s cafe au lait spots ladybug spots…perfect. Little did we know how she would fall in love with that book. Over the past few years, she has made every single person in our family read the book to her and some of us have to read it over and over. Of course, the girl’s name is now Emmie (originally Lulu) and the dog (who is Bruno originally) is now Tot Tot. She asked for a ladybug cake and ladybug wings. Of course, I can’t stop there…she had to have an outfit just like Ladybug Girl.
My first attempt at using rice crispy treats to sculpt did not go well.
I pulled it off though.
