Birthdays

We got back from Dublin and went straight to our little family birthday party for our cousin Addison.

Addison was so excited to have all her cousins there.  Not only were us Californians there…so were the Philly cousins! It was a full house….and pretty cool!

Its also tradition for Nanny to make a “sponge” .  All the kids love Nanny’s sponge and the adults are always fighting over it too!!

We came straight from the waterpark in Dublin..no showers or anything.  The McDonnells were all dressed cute and wanted to re-create the picture from Dec. 2015.  My children weren’t happy about it…shocker Maggie was being difficult!

Riley, Molly, Owen, Maggie, Jayden, Colin, Addison and Ella.

Crazy how much all these little ones have grown! All but Molly and Maggie have really lost their “baby faces”.  One of these days Maggie will look back and laugh her booty off.

A few days later we had another little family party for our other cousin Caolan (pronounced Kee-Lan). The big 16! I’m sure he was SO excited to have a house full of little cousins! haha

Ella havin’ a good chat with Nanny. Love catching little moments like these!

I envy the relationship that my cousin Alan has with Nanny.  He’s the cousins who lives closest and is there day in and day out.  He gets to see her multiple times a week and he’s there whenever she needs help with something.

Caolan’s cake was pretty damn impressive!!!

And Carmel caught this picture of Molly and Maggie. They totally had a love/hate relationship. They loved to hate eachother! hahaha Both pretty close in age, both the baby of the family, both very strong willed…haha yeah they kinda butted heads!

Then the “big” kids disappeared!! Boys playing video games and Caoimhe being the best and pretending with hair and make-up with the big girls!!

Caolan is my God Son…and he’s growing into such a handsome, athletic, kind young man!! He’s now playing Gaelic football AND Rugby…and excelling at both! He’s a good boy.

I’m his GodMother and his mom is my GodMother…we keep it in the family! heehee.

The birthday parties didn’t stop there….Addison then had her REAL birthday party celebration at Tumble Jungle, which is the Irish equivalent to Pump It Up . She had her cousins and school friends too! I love watching Irish events take place. They are so different, yet so the same as American birthday parties.

The place was basically empty, so my children ran like wild animals and I wasn’t worried one bit. Its so weird the level of comfort even though we were in a foreign country.
So they run around like crazy, then gather all the kids into a room. Fill them up with chicken nuggets, mini sausages, and french fries…THEN cake and done! hahaha It’s awesome.

Tumble Jungle is a place that when we are in Ireland we try and visit. The KIDS love jumping and playing.  And its indoor and warm! With so many rainy days its great to have places like this around.

Last time we were in Tumble Jungle with the same group was in 2010….

We had our “big kids”…Caomihe, Shannon and Caolan with us!!! Re-enacted the picture with the same kids…haha Nuts right?

And how much we have multiplied……lots more babies have showed up in 7 years! And our “big kids” don’t exactly like to tag alone to trips to Tumble Jungle anymore! haha