Forever Young

(From left to right:  Stephanie S., Andrea, Brooke, me and Melanie)

Every summer my best friends and I get together for a Girls Weekend.  Usually it is something really low-key...like we just go to one of our houses and spend time laying out at a pool, go shopping, eat out or order in food...the point is just for us ALL to get to be together and hang out.  This year we are all turning the big 3-0, though, so we decided to do something a little more exciting!  We ventured out to the Live Music Capital of the World!!

Austin, Texas!!

We had so much fun!!  Obviously, we listened (and danced) to lots of really great live music.  We shopped at some really cool vintage and local shops.  We layed out by the pool at the hotel.  We ate at some GREAT local restaurants!  Here we are at Home Slice, which some of the locals say is the "best pizza in town."

Austin is also known for its many trailor park eateries.  Here we are having late night dinner at one of them as an intermission to one of our nights of dancing.  (Confession...I didn't actually do a lot of dancing in my current condition...I was just more in charge of gaurding the purses this year =))

You can see the trailor behind the girls...sorry it's so dark...I need to learn more about my camera!

Every year during girls weekend there is some really popular song that we keep hearing on the radio that becomes our theme song.  This year it was Jay-Z's song, Forever Young, and it only seemed appropriate for this weekend celebrating our 30th birthdays!

If you are starting to feel bad for Eddie and Brooklyn being left behind...don't!  They both had their share of fun!  Eddie and his friend, Ben, went down the lake to hang out with some friends.  They did lots of wakeboarding, tubing, grilling out and fishing.  Before they were able to do this though, they had to load up Ben's twins (Ava and Macy) and Brooklyn all in Eddie's truck and transport them all to their respective grandparents' houses in Little Rock.

Ben and Eddie said that this was the best the girls have ever done on a road trip...down and back...way to go, girls!!

After Brooklyn got to her grandparents house in Little Rock, she had a blast!  They took a field trip to see her Aunt Babs one day at work

Here she is with Grandpa Lou getting ready to meet up with her Great Grandparents at Catfish City!

Played with Christy, their cat.

Giggled with Elmo

Had swim lessons with Grandmargie and Aunt Babs

And had sweet snuggle time with Grandpa Lou after a good nap!

Check out that crazy hair!  I love it!

After we all made it back home on Sunday, we were able to celebrate Father's Day.

He obviously LOVED his gift!!

Happy Father's Day from your sweet little Munchkin!!

Brooklyn's "B" Party

If you are wondering what a "B" party is, it's because it doesn't exist!  There are no invitations pre-made for it, no decorations that coordinate with it and it is a party that a person with no artistic ability like me has any business planning.  Fortunately, I have some really AMAZING friends that are artistic and GENEROUS with their time that saved this party from being the disaster it could have been!

Thank you Allison so much for helping out with the invitations and ideas on how to make the "B" signs!!

In case you can't read it, it says:

B is for Brooklyn,

Birthday and Balloons!

Come Celebrate With Us

As Our B Turns 2!

The Birthday Girl, "B" herself

(B is our nickname for Brooklyn and the reason for the theme of this party)

Thanks Michelle for "B"-ing up the cupcakes!!

Thanks, Natalie, for letting us borrow the cupcake stand which was the centerpeice of the whole table!

Thanks, Leslie, for making this SUPER-CUTE banner!! 

(If anyone needs a custom banner, check her out on http://www.etsy.com/shop/thespoiledwall)

It's kinda hard to read in this picture, but the top says,"Happy Birthday" and the bottom one says, "Brooklyn"

You could see all of the detail in real life which made it much cuter and easier to read.

B is for Bounce House

Thanks, Mom, for letting us borrow it and for setting it up in the million degree heat!!  It was definitely a hit with all of the kids!!

B is for Bubbles!  This was our bubble station.

B is for Bon Appetit!

And they did...

B is for Beverage

Some of the guests enjoying the shade and fans! 

What kind of Mom plans an outside birthday party in the middle of June without a pool???

B is for Balloons

B is for Balls

With of all of the chaos, we managed to get the Happy Birthday Song and blowing out of the candle on video, but missed getting it captured on a regular camera.  Oh well, here is B enjoying her cupcake!

She could care less about the cake or icing, but LOVED the star-shaped sprinkles on top!

Note the Elmo in her right arm...she managed to get into the presents while noone was looking and WOULD NOT put it down!  I figured it was HER party, so why upset her by taking it away?

Party People!

B's Triplet cousins drove 2.5 hrs down and back in a single day just to come to the party!!!

And, of course, I don't want to leave out their older sister Reese!

The "Big Kids" at the party were REALLY helpful when it came to gift opening time!

Also, thank you to Isabelle (girl in the green) for gladly taking on the not-so-popular job of trash duty during present opening time.  You were so, so helpful!!

Brooklyn really LOVED (and is loving) every single present that she got!!

The one above got the biggest laugh!  Thanks, Aunt Babs!

Party Favors

Of course the Bags contained all "B" items:  Bananas, Books, Balls and Bubbles

Thank you so much to everyone that came and helped to make this birthday party so much fun for B!!  Thanks to Mom, Margaret, Michelle, Ashley and Natalie (I stole one off your blog) for sending me all of the pictures!!  A HUGE thanks to Mom and Michlelle for helping me get everything set up ahead of time!!  I couldn't have pulled it off without you!!  AND A SUPER-HUGE thanks to Margaret and Lou for helping me clean up afterwards in the extreme heat!!  We would STILL have LOTS of cleaning up to do if it weren't for your helpfulness and efficiency!!  We are truly blessed with kindness from all of you that we do not deserve!!

Brooklyn admiring all of her new stuff after the party was over...

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News

This week Brooklyn and I both had Doctor's Appointments.

Brooklyn went in for her 2-year-old check up and here are her stats.

Ht: 35.5 inches...88th%
Wt:  26 lb 4 oz...45th%
Head Circumference:  18.5 inches...40th%

At Vacation Bible School last week, B  towered over most of the 2-year-olds in her class so I was not at all surprised that she was in the 88th percentile for height.  When the doctor asked about her eating habits, my response was, "Terrible!!"   He said that her eating only chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and spaghettio's was pretty typical for a toddler.  Her physical abilities and speech seem to be right on track.

She was as busy as she's ever been in the exam room.  (Why are there NO TOYS in the exam room???) She had to get one shot and then we had to go get her blood drawn because the Dr said it would give us a better overall picture of her health and nutrition.  I had to hold her down while they stuck the needle in her arm and she was SCREAMING!!  It took FOREVER for her blood to fill up those vials!  As soon as they were done, she was over it...I'm still NOT!  After that, we had to go to our favorite place to recover...thank you, Chickfilet, for always being there for us!

I had my regular monthly check-up.  Chandler's heartrate was 144 and she is measuring 33 weeks.  I'm 32 weeks so she is pretty much right on track and she is head down!  YEA!  Now I start going every 2 weeks.  I'm still playing tennis (not sure how much longer I will last in this nearly 100 degree weather) and still feeling pretty good.  I get out of breath pretty easily and sleeping is getting a little less comfortable, but other than that, all is well!

Queen for a Day

On Brooklyn's birthday, we let her be Queen "B" and tried to do all of the things she loves most!  To start off, though, I had to wake her up to get ready for Vacation Bible School.

Then we had a few presents to open from Mimi Sue and DooDad

Then off to VBS with her blanket, milk and Elmo in hand!

After VBS, she was exhausted so we came home for a quick lunch and a LONG nap!  When she woke up, her neighbor, Addisyn, from across the street was here to play.  Brooklyn kept taking everything away from her and saying, "Thank you."  Obviously, we need to work on this a little more!  On their own, they gave each other a kiss and I was just a second to late with the camera.  So sweet!!

After Addisyn left, B got to check out her present from Eddie and I!

A swing!! 

Swinging is one of her ABSOLUTE FAVORITE things to do (which is why I probably wouldn't have chosen to put it directly in front of our back door where we can't walk by without seeing it, but Eddie worked so hard on it that I didn't have the heart to ask him to move it out of our direct line of sight =))

Just as we guessed, the swing was a HIT!

Eddie turned on some music outside and B did some "swing"-dancing!  We all had a blast with that until dinner time then we headed out to Chickfilet...her FAVORITE place!

Since it was a special occasion, I even let her have french fries instead of substituting fruit!  Then, we headed out to the playland that she loves...

Finally, I was going to give her the treat I had kinda been excited all day about giving her.  My friend Melanie taught me this really cool thing about Chickfilet...you can trade in your toy for a free ice cream cone!  I honestly can't remember the last time I've given her ice cream, so I just couldn't wait!  To my surprise, SHE HATED IT!!  =(  She tried one bite and made a terrible face and I thought maybe the cold just kind-of surprsied her.  We tried again and she made the same awful face and then said, "All done."  BUMMER! (for her, fortunate for the pregnant lady)

Since the ice cream treat didn't go so well, I thought I might could make bath time more fun than usual.  I looked all over for bubbles because we've never done a bubble bath at our house, but I couldn't find any.  I did, however, run across this crayon thing that is made for the bathtub that Eddie's mom got her for Christmas that I had been saving for a special occasion and I thought PERFECT!

Not perfect!  She had a blast with it in the tub, but was getting it on herself as fast as I could wipe it off!  By the time I was done giving her a bath and pulled her out, she was covered in crayon from head-to-toe!  It is a really fun concept, but who made this toy and have they ever given a child a bath?  I used her towel to try wipe it off of her, but I didn't get it all and she went to VBS alittle colorful the following day.  Ooops!

After her bath and brushing her teeth, she got to do her very favorite thing of all...go night-night!

Goodnight, Queen B!

p.s.  Brooklyn went in the potty for the first time today!!  Today is Father's Day and she was also born on Father's Day...think she has a thing Father's Days...such a Daddy's girl!!