Another Year Older

Since we are still on the subject of birthdays, Bailee had her's two weeks after Madison. And I promise I will make this post as simple as possible. 

This year was special for Bailee. She is in the double digits....ten years old. So obviously, she is all grown up...insert sarcasm. She had her sleep over with her friends first, which was pretty hilarious. She ended up with four of her friends plus herself and Kenzie. This was, by far, the craziest sleep over to date and surprisingly enough, I wasn't completely irritated by it. :)

I love all of these girls! And as a mom that worries about wayyy too much, it is comforting to know that my girls can make such great decisions about who they are friends with. These girls hardly knew each other, but acted like they have been friends all along. Now THAT'S some pretty great girls. 

They sang to her and ate some cupcakes  together......and what happened next.....Mind blown!!

PsYcHo CrAzInEsS!!!

Girls were screaming, cupcakes started flying everywhere...they had a blast! I am going to try to upload the dance video that I made at 10:30 that night. HILARIOUS!!!

Sad day. It won't let me upload the video, but let me tell you, it is FUNNY!! They stayed up way too late and had a blast!! So glad for drama-free girl fun :)

We had a family dinner party planned, but then we got a last minute call that Bailee had made it in to Camp Blue Haven!! Ahhhh!!! I was so excited for her and would gladly reschedule our dinner so that she could go. She actually left on her birthday and it being so last minute, I was unable to arrange a carpool for her. So, I her myself with my friend Emily. So glad that I was able to do that.

Watching her drag her huge duffel bag through dirt and rocks up the stairs was hilarious to me :)

I helped her unpack and make her bed.

Her camp counselor for the week.

She was in cabin 10.

Me trying not to cry when I dropped her off.

I couldn't wait to hear about her week when she got back, but she had to go to "Megan's" house the second she walked in the door. So I would have to wait another day....

She came home the next day, Sunday, and was exhausted! I heard a few stories before she took a nap, but she was so tired.From what I have heard here and there, she had a blast and I'm sure she will remember this for the rest of her life.

So we finally had our family dinner for her birthday. It was the basic family birthday event. Hamburgers, hotdogs, cake, ice cream, presents.....and Kyle's favorite part birthday spankin's. Enjoy :)

The birthday princess

Sweet sisters

Papa was ready to eat...

Aunt Jenn

The face of a girl that threw a fit over a dress that she ended up getting as a surprise...turd face!!

Thanks Aunt Jenn!

Can't ever go wrong with clothes.

My boys

Papa got in on the spankin' action this time!!

And lastly, time for cake.

Summer birthdays are finally over!!
Back to school shopping is next.

A Decade Later

It is hard to believe that I can now say that I have been married for ten years. It makes me feel....old. Lol!! 

It seems like forever ago, but just like yesterday all at the same time. To look back through pictures of us then is crazy!! We were babies!!

SEE!!!!!

 If my kids ever even THINK about getting married before they go to college....!!! I wonder if my parents were thinking the same thing. I'm sure they were. Now that I have kids, I can finally understand all the annoying, nagging things my parents would tell me growing up. Funny how that works. Lol!! For them to sit back and watch me make such a HUGE decision at such a young age had to be one of the hardest things they have ever done. A new respect for them for sure.

So...ten years. It's been a crazy ride so far. Some really great up's and some pretty brutal down's. Would I change anything? Well, that's a loaded question. There are plenty of mistakes I have made that I wish I could go back and fix, but would good would that do? Life is full of mistakes, some dumber than others, but that's what makes us who we are. Corney, I know. But that doesn't make it any less true. There is a lot of advice I would like to get give my younger self, but I can't. So I will do what every parent, every GOOD parent, does....give all of my learn-through-experience wisdom to my kids and pray to our precious Lord they don't make the same mistakes.

Thus far, it sounds like my marriage has not been good at all. Not true. Yes, we have had some pretty horrible moments, but even the smallest of good ones makes it all worth it....

We have four pretty terrific kids. Ages ranging from ten to four. This year will be our first year with all of them in school. Another reason to feel old. They are all so different! It's nuts!! I didn't know you could have so many different personalities. All so unique in their own ways. 

We own our own home. Such a huge feeling of accomplishment. Of course we outgrew it the second we moved in, it is still a great blessing for us. 

Through the roller coaster early on in our marriage, I made it back to Christ. And through that, my husband became a Christian as well. A major "up" in our marriage for sure. 

We have learned so many things that only marriage can teach you and all of them are success stories, as small as some may be, for us. 

So here's to our first decade!! And let there be many more to come!!

My Baby's Not a Baby Anymore :(

I'm still playing catch up :) What can I say? Summer got busy....so we need to back up to the very beginning of July.
Madison, my youngest, turned four this year. I just can't believe it. I think I say that at every birthday, but she's my baby. My last one and she is fixing to start Pre-K at Carver ECA. Don't even get me started on that one. We decided to have her party the weekend after her actual birthday, to give this procrastinator a little more time to prepare :) It turned out to be extra busy though. We started that day out with another birthday party to go to. Ms. Addilyn Grace was turning three. It was a lot of fun!! The splash pad at Memorial park is a fun place to be for a summer birthday.

The birthday girl and Kenzie

Best buddies, Garrett and Braxton

Both birthday girls!!

 Addie and her brother, Garrett, have grown up at the daycare I work at, so there is definitely a special bond with them. Soon, Garrett will go back to school and Addie will be going to a Montessori program at a different church, which she is going to absolutely LOVE. But selfishly I am still going to be sad to see Addie go. Luckily, I will still get to see their sweet faces at church, so all is not lost :) The birthday party was a blast and I'm glad we were able to go, but after, we had to high-tail it home to shower and get ready for Madison's party. Which was no simple task I might add. My saving grace was Connie coming to my rescue once again by getting the other kids early so I could get myself and Madison ready without any more distraction. (Did you like how I called them the "other kids"? Ha ha ha!!!)

Once ready, off we went to the grocery store for last minute things I forgot. It doesn't matter how much extra time I have to prepare, I will still forget something and find myself at the store hours before a party. Although, I am proud to announce that I was EARLY to the party!! SWEET VICTORY!!!! That's right, I actually allowed extra time to allow this lady to procrastinate without being late. I. AM. AWESOME. Anyone that knows me knows, if invited to anything, we WILL be late. The shocked looks on my family's faces was amazing. Hehehe!!!

Her table looked so cute thanks to Mimi and possibly Papa, not sure :) There was no way we were going to get away from having a Princess Party this year. Madison insisted. Not my favorite theme, but she liked it and so did all of the other little girls that were there.

Anyway, we made the party bags....Madison helped without throwing a fit, nice....and then her friends started to arrive.

Making party favors like a big girl :)

Her friends Emma Kate, Sydney and Pheobe...sweet girls!

Daycare friends Ashlyn and Addilyn

....and Gracelyn!

Once all of our friends and family were there, we took some pics (duh!! you already know me) and headed to the living room to open presents.

MOST of our friends...there were others not interested in my picture obsession

LOVE Gigi movies!!

She opened lots of presents, but I will spare pics of every single one of them.  When she was done with her friend's gifts, we gave her ours...

A scooter of her own. She has been riding her Bubba's for a while now, so I figured it was time. And, of course, it was Princesses...
After gifts, we sang to her and had cake.

My four year old Princess

Natalee too busy eating cake to smile :)

Me and my "Pregnant with twins and on bed rest" best friend...update on her later.

Normal birthday party routine. Nothing super fancy. And then we unleashed the freshly sugared up children outside to play and wait for parents to show up.

This one's parents never showed up, Lol!!

Madison had a great party and we are so very grateful to have such great friends and family to share it with. Thanks for loving my babies!

P.S. And she got birthday spankin's...you didn't think he would forget did you? LOL!!!