Birthday Celebrations!

Not only is it Labor Day, but my hubby was born 32 years ago, today!

We have planned a trip to watch our Auburn Tigers play football (and hopefully, win!) on another weekend in celebration of Chris's birthday, but I wanted to do a little something for his actual birthday!

Chloe and I woke up a little earlier this morning and baked cupcakes for Daddy! Please ignore the homemade lettering. Obviously, this wasn't a tutorial on pinterest, just a little something that we whipped together to say we love and appreciate you!

  

 

Here is the obligatory cupcake eating shot.

 

 

And here is one that I am sneaking in of Evan...

 

 

We also made Daddy breakfast "to-order!" He chose a mushroom and cheese omelet. (Sorry, there are no pictures of breakfast. I was too busy destroying our kitchen:))

 

 

We also celebrated another birthday recently...

 

Sophie was born on August 31, 2012!

 

Chloe came home from her latest excursion with my mom, Lola, and her brother exclaiming that it was Sophie's birthday! They had visited Build-A-Bear and created this sweet little bear. (Evan decided that he didn't want one once they got to the store. He is always hesitant with the unfamiliar.)

 

  

This weekend was full of celebrations of life and creation! We are so blessed! Happy Birthday to Sophie, Madi, and Chris!!! And Happy Labor Day to everyone else!

Madi's 1st Birthday!!!

We've been pretty low-key lately, Chris has been busy being the studious college student and I've been busy with work and consigning. Chris has managed to get in a few trips to the park and pool during the day with the Littles, but like most men, he's really not one to take pictures. Besides, he's not the blogger;)

However, we were able to break away from the humdrum for a few hours earlier today at Madi's 1st birthday party!!!

Of course, we had to show support for our favorite team!

Here are a few of my favorite party shots of Collin, Brantley, and Chloe...

 
and Cas with her granddaughters.

Madi's mom, Brantley, did such a great job with the birthday banners!

What a cute picture banner?!

Check out this vintage wooden high chair. I absolutely loved it! Brantley told me that she used it as a baby. How sweet is that?!

My favorite part of a first birthday party has to be the cake smash...

 
 The Littles got in some swimming, their favorite pastime.

Evan was cautious as usual, and chose to swim by the stairs.

Chloe, our little social butterfly, had fun entertaining the babies.

 

All-in-all, it was a good day! Now it's time to cheer on our favorite team in their first game! War Eagle!!!

On this episode of "Hoarding, Buried Alive"...

Okay, maybe it's not quite that drastic:)
 
The last couple of weeks have left little time for fun with the Littles. It's that time of year again! I can smell it in the air....CONSIGNMENT TIME!!!

To be honest, I don't enjoy all the tedious hours I spend going through storage containers, tagging, ironing, and hanging all of last years fall/winter clothes. However, I do love the thrill of consignment sale shopping! Really, it's an experience like no other! From standing in line with all the other Mommies looking for great buys to going through racks and racks of used clothing. AND, I make money doing it (usually a little less than I actually spend, oops!)!!!

All the time and energy is worth the outcome , but you should see the guest bedroom, or what's left of it, in the meanwhile.



I did manage to cook up a sweet treat during all of the consigning chaos, "Co-Cola" brownies, recipe found here. Actually, mine were Cherry Coke brownies:) And yes, they were absolutely delicious! It turned out more like a cake, but that didn't stop the fam from gobbling them up!

Now that the consigning "busy work" is done, it may be time for a fun family outing. What to do?! What to do?!:)

Edit: I looked at the recipe again. It was for Coca-Cola Cake! Hmmm, no wonder those "brownies" ended up baking like a cake:)

Nana's Birthday Dinner and "School" Goodies

A couple of weekends ago, we finally got a chance to celebrate Nana's birthday with her. Chris, the Littles, and I took her out to dinner at Ixtapa, a local Mexican restaurant. (I think that her decision may have been persuaded by Chloe;) It's funny how grand kids know how to pull at those heart strings!)

Chloe and Evan just love spending time with their Nana, or as Evan likes to call her, Nanny! Look, Evan even allowed me to take a decent picture of him...no finger!

 Here is a better smile from Chloe!

We always enjoy spending time with Nana. She is such a special woman in our lives and we love her!

And the following week, Chris started classes!

As a surprise, I got a few "school" goodies for Chris and the Littles!

Since Chris is now a Stay-at-Home Daddy/Full-Time Student, the Littles are no longer going to preschool and will be attending Daddy U.

To help them along, I picked up a few things...

Chloe just loves learning and has been practicing writing her ABC's diligently. She does so well, with the exception of  "M, N," and "O," which she always skips when writing out the letters of the alphabet. I still haven't figured out that one.

I had to get a closeup of this gal! This was the one item that Chloe just had to have from the store. She passed up a pretty tea hat, sandbox toys, and  flavored chapstick, in favor of this ostrich?? pen!!!

Also, Evan is starting to identify colors and learning to how to count. We're already up to "3," the number that we count to before we start running. He's such a boy! Ha ha!

And of course, I couldn't leave out my newest school "boy." Look the notebook is "college-ruled!"

I'm so proud of my babies!

Our Big Weekend

Recently, there has been a major change in the life of my little family!

The BIG news came amidst birthday parties, wedding receptions, and play dates with friends!

Our big weekend began with Chloe (not mine) celebrating her 5th Birthday!

Chloe's sisters greeted my Chloe, Evan, and I outside when we arrived at the party. They are always such great hostesses! On our way into the party room, they asked us if we wanted to see "their angel." Since the invitation indicated that this was an Angel-themed party, I really didn't think twice about the question.

Well, we were pleasantly surprised to see sweet angelic Chloe when we walked into the party room!

I got a snapshot of the Chloes

Her mother, Jennifer, always puts together the cutest party spreads! And I just loved the cake that was made by another friend!

As an Auburn grad, I'm a big fan of Auburn football!!! But, I couldn't help myself when I saw that Mattel had released its new University Barbie Collection, and since Chloe and her family are big Alabama fans, I got her the University of Alabama Cheerleader Barbie.

(Shh! Don't tell, but a certain Little Auburn fan may get the AU Barbie for her birthday!)
Then, it was time for arts and crafts!

The kids made angel wings!

And this photo is to serve as proof that Evan was actually at the party. He is the typical male and hates having his picture taken. He's learned the trick is to stick his finger in his mouth, so that I don't get good shot. But little does he know, that doesn't stop this Momma!

We have so much fun at the girls' parties! Thanks Jennifer for always inviting us!

That night, Chloe and Evan had plans to spend the evening at their Nana's house to celebrate her birthday. Chris and I also had plans to spend the evening at a friend's wedding reception that we had committed to about a month earlier. (Sorry, we don't have any pictures to document either of these events.)

Well, Chloe and Evan made it to Nana's and Gandaddy's house via Aunt Sara, but Chris and I didn't make it to the reception....

Instead, some hard decisions were made. Without going into any detail, Chris decided to resign from the Police Department. When he FINALLY made it home that evening, we discussed our possibilities for the future. This resignation has been a long time coming, so we had had discussions about this very situation in the past. To be honest, I have secretly, okay, maybe not so secretly, wanted this for several years.

I am officially married to a college boy! With a few tweaks to our finances and with the assistance of the Post 9/11 GI Bill (Praise the Lord!), Chris is officially a college student. (He started classes last week, and, so far, so good!)

The day following our BIG night, the kids and I had plans for a play date with good friends. Lo and behold, Chris was actually able to join us on a weekend DAY! It has been several YEARS. Actually, Evan had never had the pleasure of spending a normal day with Momma AND Daddy since Chris joined the Force shortly after Chloe was born. (That fact boggles my mind!) Cops don't get holidays...and mine didn't get weekends. 

The kids had fun playing on the water slide and the adults had fun socializing. (There goes Evan with that finger again!)

Tyleigh, Chloe, and Evan

Little Tyleigh was a riot!

We had so much fun spending the day with Tyleigh, her brothers, and her Mommy and Daddy!

Well, that was our weekend in a nut shell. We've been super busy getting financing squared away and Chris enrolled in classes, so this blog post is a couple of weeks overdue. I hope this post was enough to satisfy your curiosity. Wish us luck on our newest adventure!