Avery Turns Eight

 Avery's birthday was June 24th and she'd been counting down the day until the big "8" for about four months.

She was most excited that she was going to be allowed to get her ears pierced.  My only requirement for the girls to have that done is that I feel like they can take care of it 100% by themselves.  I am not interested in getting involved in reminding them to clean their ears three times a day or anything that goes along with it.

Our family of five was out together for Shaun's grandfather's wake, so after, we hit the mall and surprised Avery, since it was several days before her birthday.

She was in shock.  :)

 

 Poor Daddy missed most of it while he worked through Amanda's issues of the day.

 Aiden was happy to play, but made sure to tell Avery, Avery, I like your earrings.  You look pretty!

A few days later, she came downstairs and gave me a hug and said, as if she was getting away with something, at 6:56 when I got up to go to the bathroom, I cleaned my ears, so I don't have to do it this morning!  That statement sums her up so well.  :)

Her actual birthday was a hot day, so of her choices, she opted to go to the river.

 Sienna and Alayna met us there and Shaun and Thomas later for lunch.

 The next day we granted her wish to go "to the city".  Originally, she wanted to go to NYC, but when given the choice of NYC or Boston with a Red Sox game, she went with Boston.

Shaun's grandmother (a big sports fan) was scheduled to be up from FL, so we thought it'd be a fun outing for the entire crew.  In the end, she wasn't able to make it, but we still met up with Shaun's brothers and sister.

With the extra ticket, we were able to bring Thomas, a big Sox fan who had never been to Fenway before.

June family pic.

 About this time, 20-ish minutes before game time, a guy came up to us and said he had six passes to the skybox!  Shaun took the kids and I sat in the grandstands by myself, wondering why I didn't bring a book, but then the rest of the family soon arrived so I wasn't alone.  :)

 A couple innings in I got a text from Shaun that a little boy was wanting to sit with his momma.  I smiled and thought that'll be a good story for him when he's older.  He had the best seats in the house, but chose to be with me...awe!  :)

 At that point, we started swapping people so everyone who wanted to could experience the once-in-a-lifetime skybox seats.  It was women and children only in the grandstands for a bit.  :)

 At the end of the game I went up to see the view.  This box was right with all the media people.  The next box over was the visiting announcers and two over was the hometeam radio announcers who Shaun listens to a great portion of his life.

I was so, so happy that my gang got to experience this.  God's favor!

 Shaun was quite pleased with the whole night.  :)