18th Birthday Party

I have been such a horrible blogger lately. There's this one little thing that keeps getting in the way. It's usually refered to as "life". Oh well. One of these days, you will see all of my recently finished projects, but that day is not today. Today I am posting about my birthday party. As you may remember, my birthday was at the beginning of September, but my party was this past weekend. It was going to be on the 26th of September, but alas, it rained. It was certainly worth waiting for! Spending time with my friends means a lot to me, and I had such a wonderful time. We threw a frisbee, went for a walk in the woods, and had a bonfire after dinner. I have such special friends.

Me, Rebekah, Laura, Kelsey, Hope, and Alex


Back in the woods




Kelsey, Emma, and me


Group picture 1

Group picture 2

My 18th Birthday

This post is sadly overdue. My 18th birthday was almost two weeks ago, but seeing how I am still 18, I suppose I'm not too late. :) I spent my birthday and the week after in SC with my grandparents, because my parents were in Canada for a conference and then an anniversary trip. (Their 20th anniversary is this week!) I missed them, but they had a wonderful trip, and I'm so glad they were able to go. I had a great birthday! I went shopping with my grandmother, and my aunt and uncle took me out to eat for dinner. Being 18 feels sort of strange. There are things I can do now that I couldn't before. For example, I could (I think):

- Change my name

- Elope

- Buy cigarettes

- Get a tattoo or piercing

However, I do not intend to do any of those things, so it really doesn't matter. I DID stay in the pool for "adult swim" on Labor Day. :) The next week was great. The boys and I were able to spend time with family on both sides, and it was a special way to end the summer. We have now started school, and I'm in the middle of my Senior year! It's pretty crazy.

Mom and Dad in Canada

Out to eat for my birthday. We're all wearing purple!

My family

Cousins!

My cousin Seamus

We went ceramic painting which, as I've mentioned before, is one of my very favorite things in the world! I painted a little ice cream dish.

When Your Best Friend Turns 19

Did you ever have one of those days that was so nice that it seemed like you were living in a book? That describes my Sunday. Kara, my best friend, turned 19, and her family invited me to go to the beach with them for the day! We had so much fun. Kara and I dug a big hole in the sand and buried ourselves, (while singing songs from The Little Mermaid!) and played in the ocean with her brothers. I love her family so much, and I LOVE her! Happy Birthday Kara!

A picnic at the park

Birthday cupcakes!

Kara and Jonathan

Our amazing hole.

We match!

Kara and her parents at Cracker Barrel.

Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July! (Belated, obviously.) I hope that you all had as nice a day as I did. My family and I spent the day at my Aunt Pam and Uncle Jim's house, along with my cousin Abbie, (age 4), my Uncle Warren, and my cousin Seamus. (also age 4) We all had so much fun. I wish we were able to spend more time together. We had a cookout, and then I played out in the yard with Seamus and Abbie most of the afternoon. We flew in our "plane" (the swingset) and chased a lot of snow monsters. :) It was great, but they wore me out! Once it was dark, we shot off a bunch of (NC legal!) fireworks. A picture is worth a thousand words so.....

Much love, from Kirby.

Uncle Jim at the grill.


Abbie and Seamus. All I said was "smile", and this is what I got.


Chasing snow monsters. Yep.

Abbie and me in the corn.

Brothers. Uncle Warren, Uncle Jim, and Dad.


Cousins. :)

Uncle Warren, Jamey, Uncle Jim, and Zach.

Aunt Pam, me, and Ella. Ella will be here in 6 weeks or so.

Daddies.

Early fireworks. Snakes, actually.

And this is only the beginning....

Sparklers!!!!

Aunt Pam and Mom

Happy 4th!

Myrtle Beach! (and a LYS)

This past week I went to the beach with my family. We had such a wonderful time! The weather was almost perfect, with the sad exception of the storm that destroyed my aunt and uncles tent. We spent our days on the beach and in the pool, and our nights visiting and playing cards. It was all so very special. I didn't do much knitting there, but I did read quite a bit! I read all the way through Anne of Avonlea, and started Anne of the Island. Here are just a few pictures.

Gilbert, the hermit crab.

Cousins!

On the way home we stopped in the most perfect LYS I have ever seen! To me, it was magical. I was like a kid in a candy store. For an hour, I walked around and looked at all of the amazing yarns, and finally settled on a very pretty skein of sock yarn. If you're ever in North Myrtle Beach, you should stop by! It's called "Knitting Up A Storm".

Easter!

My grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins came to our house for Easter. That was something we haven't done in awhile! It was such a great visit. We're starting the last two weeks of rehearsals of a CYT play tonight, so I only posted a few pictures this time. Happy Easter! (belated)

Historical Ball!

I spent yesterday with some of my favorite people in the whole world! To celebrate my best friend Elise's 18th birthday, we went to a historical ball. It was so much fun! We got there in the morning, and they taught us the dances. (Pride & Prejudice kind of dances.) That lasted for 2 hours, and then we had a picnic at a park and went shopping. We got back to the church at 4:30 to get ready. The ball was so much fun! I'm not a great dancer, but I didn't have much trouble. They were such pretty dances! Even if you weren't that good at it you felt so graceful. I wish people danced like that now. I loved seeing what everyone else was wearing! You could come dressed in something from any time period between Medieval and World War 2. My dress was medieval. We got the dark purple velvet part at the thrift store, and Mom made the white part to go underneath. I loved it! I'd always wanted a dress with sleeves like that. I danced probably half the dances with guys, but there weren't quite enough guys to go around, and some of them just stood around talking. I was a bit nervous at first, but I had so much fun! We all did. After it was over, we spent the night with Elise. Here are some pictures!

At the park.

Trying on hats in the mall. :)

Mom made my headdress too! It has a sash in the back.

Alex

Getting ready

Erin, Parri, and Kelsey taking a break from dancing.

Happy birthday Elise!

Kelsey and Alex

From left to right: Alex, Elise, Me, Erin, Kara, Parri, and Kelsey

Elise, Hope, and Me.