Mommy's Birthday

I celebrated my 39th birthday by standing in line at the DMV with a two year old (what was I thinking??)  to renew my licence, taking a three year old to the doctor and waiting FOREVER to be seen and buying myself a brand new battery for my didn't-want-to-start-sometimes (and that's not good when you have five kids!) van.  But I also got lots of hugs, kisses and happy birthdays from the most wonderful husband and the five sweetest kids in the world!

I made spaghetti (look at those boys' faces!!!) for dinner and bought a pumpkin roll (YUM) and ice cream for dessert.

Daddy's Birthday

Mike turned 49 yesterday!  With all the expense of visiting and getting the kids home, daddy and I both will be foregoing birthday presents this month.  But we at least had to have cupcakes and ice cream to celebrate!!  I got lucky and even found wrestling cupcakes at Wal-mart!

The boys LOVED those chocolate cupcakes (and making a mess).  And yes this is Brooke's "mom do not take my picture face :)

16

Brooke's actual birthday was filled with LOTS of Reece's Peanut Butter Cups (she got them all day long from Taryn), cookies baked by Suzy, lots of b-day wishes at school, lunch out with Mom and Courtney and ice cream at DQ with Mom, Lexy and Taryn after school!  That evening was spent at the ball fields cheering on her friends.

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Sweet 16th Birthday Brooke!!!

Dear Brooke,

On your 16th Birthday I want you to know that I truly believe that you are one of the most amazing people in this world!  You are your own person...independent, headstrong, loyal, loving, fierce, crazy, goofy, compassionate, silly and smart (when you want to be!)...and you don't look to others for approval.  You are confident in who you are and what you do. 

You have a huge heart and fiercely defend those that you love or that you feel are being mistreated.  You choose to make the right choices instead of the easy choices even if it means going against what "everyone else" is doing.  You take chances and put yourself out there...you accept your triumphs and failures gracefully knowing that you have learned something from each experience.

You have carefully surrounded youself with friends that accept you just the way you are, would never intentionally hurt you and love you unconditionally...just as you do them.  Now that you are sixteen and permitted to date, my hope is that you will look for those same qualities in a boy.

The next couple of years will be bittersweet as I watch you become even more independent in preparation for going out into the world on your own.  I hope that the one thing that we can hold onto is our close relationship, even when we drive each other crazy!

I want you to know that you make this momma so proud of the woman that you are becoming!

Love,

Mom <3

The Party...Sweet 16 Style

About noon on Saturday we (Brooke, Taryn, Marley, Suzy, Natasha and I) headed up to the city.  Our first stop was the mall where Brooke spent some of the money that she had been given by us and her friends for her birthday.  After about three hours of shopping we headed to the hotel to check in, unload the van and relax for just a little bit before heading to the movie theatre.  The girls chose "21 Jumpstreet" to watch.  After the movie we went to Target for more shopping and then headed back to the hotel.  The rest of the evening was spent swimming, talking/giggling, ordering and eating lots of pizza and gorging on homemade cupcakes and candy.  Lindsey had to work all day but did make it to the hotel late that night.  Courtney ended up sick and didn't make it.  I think everyone was out by about 1:30am.

The girls were up again before 7am and about 8am headed down to eat breakfast.  After breakfast they all (except Lindsey) piled back into the bed and slept until 10am when I woke them up to head home (in the rain!).

Brooke has awesome friends.  There was love, laughter, teasing and fun all day/night long and absolutely no drama...just the way it should be!!  I hope Brooke is blessed with these kind of friendships forever!

The invite

Before

After :)

The Cupcakes

Tomorrow Brooke, 5-6 of her friends and I will be heading up to the city to celebrate Brooke's 16th Birthday.  We are shopping, seeing a movie and staying at a hotel (with a pool).  Last week I found the perfecct cupcakes to make for Brooke for her birthday, Peanut Butter Cup, her very favorite.  I spent most of the day today making the JUMBO cupcakes and icing.  I've also made toppers for them that I'll put on at the hotel.

PB cup baked into the center!!

Only PART of the kitchen mess I had to clean up afterwards!!!

For the recipe for the cupcakes and icing go to... www.mybakingaddiction.com/peanut-butter-cup-cupcakes

Third and Final

On Saturday morning Lexy got ready for her party with friends...7 1/2 hours early!! 

 Lexy, Daddy and Mommy decorated for the "Billy the Exterminator", Vexcon and bug/animal theme.  We also made snakes (hot dogs), caterpillars (grapes on a stick), ants on a log (celery/raisins) and bees (chips) for dinner.

After everyone arrived dinner was eaten and then presents were opened!

The Girls...Regan, Ria, Jaidyn, Lexy and Avree

A beehive pinata was sprayed and swatted at and lots of games were played!  "Billy the Exterminator" season finale was watched before bed.

The craft that Lexy picked was decorating pillowcases with fabric markers, these turned out really cute!

The "Billy" cake was yummy!  Lexy ate his face. :)

Donuts, blueberry muffins and apple juice for breakfast and a little playing before the girls were picked up.

This was the first slumber party for most of the girls, they were all super excited.  We didn't have any major mishaps, everybody stayed all night and if the noise level is a guage I think lots of fun was had by all!

Parties One and Two

Lexy was happy when I showed up at her school at 1:30pm with treats and her build a bear "duck" and balloon.  Lexy shared her treats with her classmates and then I got to stay for the rest of the day with her!

Later she got loved on by her Grammy & Papa, Mammaw & Grandpa and Uncle CJ, Jess and cousins.  Lexy begged to open her gifts first thing (so we let her)...she got a polly pocket car, lego friends treehouse set, money and a remote control car (from us).  She has spent MANY hours playing with each thing since then!

The night also included spaghetti, cake & ice cream and lots of fun & laughter!

EIGHT on the EIGHTH!!!

Birthday Girl Lexy eating her birthday biscuits and gravy!

Today my sweet, funny, artistic, loving little girl turns eight.  I tried to convince her this morning that instead of turning eight today we were going to start going backwards because I don't want her to grow up...she was having no part of that. :) 

Lexy started telling us a couple of weeks ago that this birthday was extra special because this would be her "Golden Birthday".  Indeed it is, she is eight years old on the eighth of the month and that only happens once in a persons life!  So we have done up this birthday extra special, she will have THREE parties! 

#1 - Today I will be taking chocolate cupcakes with chocolate gold coins on top and juice to her class along with the Build A Bear "ducky" that she asked for!

#2 - Tonight Grammy & Papa, Mammaw & Tom and Uncle CJ & Aunt Jessie with Ashley, Toby and Johnny will come to our house for spaghetti (Lexy's favorite), caramel cake and ice cream to celebrate.

#3 - Then on Saturday Lexy will have her first sleepover birthday party ever!  She has chosen "Billy the Exterminator" as her theme and we have lots of fun planned!

Birthday

I celebrated my birthday over the weekend.  I think I'm at the point where I'd like to stop celebrating...or at least not put a number to the day :)  I don't feel like I'm getting older so why should I have to be saddled with a number that I don't care for?!!

To celebrate we visited a local festival on Saturday and then on Sunday Mike fixed biscuits and gravy for me for breakfast before Papa (my dad) & Grammy and Mammaw (my mom) & Grandpa Tom went to eat at my favorite mexican restaurant with us and then came back to our house for cake (Mike got me a Tweety Bird cake, my favorite) and ice cream.

Brooke surprised me with a big sparkly Happy Birthday sign that said "I love you" and "I hope you have a great day mommy" :)  I got a necklace and earring set from Mammaw & Tom and a donut maker that I've been wanting from Papa & Grammy.  For my gift from Mike and the girls I asked to wait until the craft machine (Silhoutte) that I've been wanting for a year to go on sale so that I could get that!

A class & a b-day

On Saturday Mike and I had the pleasure (HA!) of getting up at 5 am to make a three hour drive to attend an all day class with our adoption agency.  I thought the class was interesting, Mike's word for it was boring :)  The class was about the impact of trauma on a child's growing brain.  The second part of the class will be in October.

On Sunday we celebrated Mike's birthday.  He didn't really want to go anywhere so we just stuck around the house for the day.  I made his favorite breakfast of french toast, the girls and I made him a cake, we had stuffed shells for dinner, he opened gifts and I did his chores for the day.

Extreme Makeover...Car Edition

We had been looking for an inexpensive car that we could customize for Brooke for about six months when  Uncle CJ found a very inexpensive and VERY ugly car! Brooke used the money that she saved while working last summer to pay for the car and we said that we would pay to get it running and painted for her birthday. For about a month CJ worked on getting the car running and Mike and Brooke helped where they could (Brooke spent an entire day sanding!).  The week before her birthday we got the paint that Brooke picked out and Uncle CJ painted the car. The car still has some mechanical things that need to be done but we revealed it to Brooke on her 15th birthday and she was thrilled with how it turned out!

This car truly did get an Extreme Makeover, just take a look...

The BIG Reveal

This year I had the pleasure of sharing Mother's Day with Brooke since it was also her birthday. Brooke wasn't really thrilled about sharing...that is until Uncle CJ pulled up with her birthday present...HER CAR!!!

I think she's IN LOVE!! :)  Everyone that sees it says that it is "so Brooke"!

Brooke's 15th B-Day Party

Brooke had a difficult time deciding what she wanted to do to celebrate her birthday this year but once the decision was made everything came together nicely.  Brooke invited her three best friends to spend the day and night with her.  Lindsey had to work during the day but she joined Brooke, Taryn and Suzy later in the evening.  On the agenda was...

• hair and makeup done at a beauty school
• lunch at Golden Corral (Brooke's favorite)
• shopping at the mall and other places
• lots and lots of pictures
• pizza for dinner
• doing nails
• making custom flip flops together
• getting BLT'S dolls and necklaces from Brooke **
• Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake
• presents
• movies
• lots of snacks
• lots of talking, giggling, singing and dancing
• staying up too late
• breakfast of blueberry muffins and bacon (Brooke's favorite)

Brooke has the best friends ever!  I love those girls, they did everything possible to make Brooke feel special and loved on her birthday!

** Brooke found dolls that looked like herself and each of her friends and then made necklaces that had a picture of them (the girls) on it.  BLT"S = (Brooke, Lindsey, Taryn, Suzy)...cute huh?!!

Happy Birthday Brooke!

I asked Brooke the same questions I had asked Lexy on her b-day, here's her answers...


FAVORITE:

color - PINK
animal - dolphin
food - chicken
dessert - ice cream cake
place to go - World's of Fun
movie - Killers
toy - cell phone :)
singer - Taylor Swift
song - "Better Than Revenge"
friend - BLT'S (Lindsey, Taryn, Suzy)
boy - Unknown right now
restaurant - Golden Corral
store - Claire's
subject in school - Dazzlers
tv show - NCIS
thing to do with mommy - shop
thing to do with daddy - drive
thing to do with sissy - read
thing to do in summer - swim
thing to do in winter - wear boots

What do you want to be when you grow up? Cosmetologist
Who will you marry? Ashton Kutcher...or someone that is funny, outgoing, caring, easy going, loving and good with children
How many kids will you have? between 2 and 4
Where will you live? New York

Brooke, I can't believe that I have a 15 year old!!!  It's amazing to me how fast you've grown up. :(  I remember staring down at you when you were just a few days old and trying to picture what you would look like and be like as a teenager and I just couldn't picture it!  You amaze me every day.  I don't think you even realize what a beautiful person you are on the outside and the inside!  I'm so proud to call you my daughter.  I love you, Mom

Happy Birthday Papa!!!

Today is Papa's 69th birthday :)  We went up to celebrate his special day with him on Saturday.  It was very important to Lexy that he have a great cake so she picked out the mix, helped me make it and then decorated it all by herself!

THE birthday present...

will hopefully be ready by Brooke's birthday!  We have been looking diligently for the past couple of months for a C.A.R. that was decent or could be made decent for a good price.  Those are hard to find nowadays!  Brooke had a few must-not-haves, the biggest being that the car could not look like a box but for the most part she just wants a car! :)  Finally yesterday Uncle CJ called and said he had found one for a very good price that he thought Brooke would like (after it's fixed up of course!).

We went to look at it last night and even as ugly as it is right now...Brooke was in love!  She handed over the money she had worked so hard to make and save this past summer (and we paid the remainder).  So we are going to do an Extreme Makeover on this little car so it runs and looks pretty and then reveal it to Brooke, hopefully sometime around her 15th birthday!

So if anyone wants to donate to the fix up Brooke's ugly car fund (grandmas and grandpas???) feel free! :)  We are so fortunate that Uncle CJ is doing the work but there's still plenty for us to pay for...parts, tires, a paint job, seat covers/steering wheel cover (zebra of course!) plus the many other things that I'm sure will come up between now and the reveal!!!

Lexy is 7!!!!

Since we had Lexy's party on Sunday we're not doing much today.  She is taking brownies (while we were making them she asked if they were still homemade even though we bought the box at the store...I told her they were ABSOLUTELY homemade :-)  and juice to school for her class.  Daddy is going to be a Watch Dog at school and spend the day with her too!  Lexy has asked for Mommy's spaghetti for dinner...and what that special little girl asks for she receives!  And while we gave her her gifts at the party, I did buy her a little smurf figurine that she carried all over Toys R Us begging for the other day (after I made her cry when I made her put it down) and I'll give that to her today.

And for birthday entertainment we will be going to a Donkey Basketball game tonight.  Lexy thinks it will be funny..I'm thinking the same thing!  Real people (from around town) riding on donkeys playing basketball.  Now THAT is entertainment lol!!!  Brooke will also be performing several dances with her cheer squad.

I thought for her 7th Birthday I would ask Lexy about her favorites...

FAVORITE:

color - blue, purple & lime green
animal - dog
food - pizza
dessert - brownies
place to go - Great Wolf Lodge
movie - Justin Biever, Never Say Never
toy - Party Animals
singer - Justin Bieber
song - "Stuck in the Moment"
friend - Avree
boy - Brandon
restaurant - McDonalds
store - Toys R Us
subject in school - Computers
tv show - Wipeout
thing to do with mommy - cook
thing to do with daddy - play kickball
thing to do with sissy - play
thing to do in summer - go to the pool
thing to do in winter - play in the snow

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Singer
Who will you marry?  Justin Bieber
How many kids will you have?  2
Where will you live?  Hollywood

Lexy, I love you OH SO MUCH!!!!  I'm so glad that God made you my daughter and me your mommy!

A Penguin Party

Lexy decided she wanted a penguin themes party for her 7th birthday.  I thought it would be easier to find penguin decorations than it was so most everything ended up being handmade!  Brooke and her friend Taryn helped set up and were in charge of the games.  It turned out to be a really cute party and Lexy and her friends had a great time!

Brandon, Chase, Avree, Lexy, Ryan and Molly

Brandon, Lexy's "boyfriend", was so sweet! :)  He gave her a gift (that she'd been begging for and we couldn't find), a painting that he had done himself and this card...

Mama's Birthday

Seems I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures on my birthday, here's all I got...

 

MY DAY:  Mike tried to get me biscuits & gravy for breakfast but our convenience shop down the street was already out :(  so I had to make myself toast.  But it got better after that :-)  Mike, the girls and I did a little garage selling and then headed off to a craft festival (my favorite!).  After we left that craft festival...we went to another one :).  Papa & Grammy met us at the second festival and after walking around we headed to my favorite BBQ restaurant for dinner.  After dinner we headed to Wal-Mart where Brooke got me some new smell-um-good sprays and Mike got a cake and ice cream for later.  I was also given a slider grill from Papa & Grammy...I can't wait to use it, how fun!

The next day my mom (Mammaw) took me shopping for my birthday!  It was a little hard at first to allow her to spend money on me (just not used to that anymore) but by the end of the day I got real used to it!!!  I ended up with 4 shirts, a pair of jeans, a necklace, a pair of pajamas and a pair of workout capris...plus she took me out for lunch and dinner!  I'm thinking I could handle doing that more often :-)