Maggie's 3rd Birthday

We all had such a fun time celebrating Maggie's birthday.

She woke up bright and early and was really happy to know that her birthday was FINALLY here.

 Here she is (bed head and all) telling us that she's 3 years old - I love how she does the number 3 on her fingers

 Wait, how old are you again?!

 Daddy and I got up super early to decorate the kitchen some and Brian made some "mickey" pancakes for breakfast (along with the usual tradition of some mini donuts)

 I love how she looks when we sing her Happy Birthday

 What a cutie pie

 Colin picked out some Frozen puzzles for her - She LOVES puzzles!

It was a big hit and Colin was so excited to have her open them up.  He did a great job of keeping his gift a secret from her, but it was tough!

 Thank you hugs!

We also got her Zingo (a fun Bingo type game).  

She really doesn't ask for much, so we didn't go overboard with gifts.  She got these 2 presents and was just completely content with it.

We are so blessed to have kids that don't beg and expect elaborate birthdays and tons of presents.

She kept on saying "thank you, guys!" all morning long.

After school, we headed to Chuck E Cheese for some birthday celebrating.

 Once again, Maggie loved the carousel.  She seriously could ride that thing all day

 Grammie and Olivia stopped by for a bit and we were so happy to see them!

 Crazy kids - they loved climbing all over the place

 Uncle Davie Dave Dave came by for a bit, too!

 Chuck E Cheese came out to do a dance with them - 

Notice how there is one other kid there - yep, we had the place to ourselves for quite some time.

It was awesome!!!

 Head, shoulders, knees and toes!

 They loved Chuck E Cheese!

 If Maggie wasn't on the carousel, she was on this horse.

She loved this thing, but hardly weighed enough to make it run, so she needed someone's hand to help push the horse along.  No matter to her, she loved it!

 We had a small cookie cake to celebrate

 Big kids!

After we got home, we bribed our neighbor with some cookie cake to take a family picture.

It turned out great!

 Our happy little family

Oh, and one more picture.

I got this emailed to me from one of Maggie's teacher aides.

Princess Maggie wearing her crown

Maggie, you have such a caring and gentle heart, and are always the first one to say 'sorry' and make sure everyone is okay.  You're my little mother hen and have quite the personality.

Brian and I are certain you are going to be class president one day, everyone just loves you at school and you have lots of close friends.

You have brightened our lives from the moment you were born - We love you and your beautiful self!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Maggie Mae!

Mother's Day

My family planned such a wonderful day for me today.

I woke up to both of them yelling "happy mother's day, mommy!" and they quickly went downstairs with Brian to make me some breakfast.  I was able to wake up and get ready in peace and quiet (AWESOME!).

Made it downstairs in time to be served some yummy fruit and chocolate chip pancake.

My pancake got cut in half and one piece was put on Colin's plate and the other one went to Maggie (isn't that just about right?!), but I took a bite from Mags and it was delicious.

Don't worry, Brian made me an egg-in-the-hole, which I was able to eat...

 Love my kids more than anything!

They made the sweetest gifts for me at school.  I got a painted hand print from Maggie and Colin made me a book with a hand print magnet.  They were so proud to give me their presents.  

Totally cried when I read their cards - precious!

After a bit, we headed off to Lowe's to pick out my Mother's Day gift...a new LAWNMOWER!  Woo hoo!  I love it, and it has 4 wheels that all turn (my old one only had 3 working wheels for the last 2 years, making it slightly frustrating to mow).  We also picked out some plants to give my empty planters some love!

 See my "best mom ever" sticker on my shirt - it came with my card this morning - LOVE IT!

And a few shots of the flowers that we planted...

Brian also got me some tulips that I can't wait to plant in the fall.

Memaw got me some chocolate covered strawberries (yummy!) and Grammie got me a giftcard to Starbucks (also yummy!).  

We're going to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow for one more birthday celebration for Maggie.  We usually do it on their actual birthday, but Colin is having his tonsils and adenoids removed on Tuesday, so it wouldn't have been nice to go to Chuck E Cheese with one kiddo on bedrest.  

Feeling so blessed to have such a wonderful family to smother me with love on Mother's Day.

Maggie's 3rd Birthday Party

 It all worked out, in the end, but I felt VERY unprepared for Maggie's party today.

Been a pretty busy few weeks for me lately and I just haven't had time to sit down and plan out details for things.  However, I have a very helpful and giving mother who, once again, made up for everything I wasn't able to do.

We had Maggie's party out at English Landing park this morning.  It was absolutely beautiful outside, and we somehow sneaked the party in between periods of rain and severe weather.  Good thing, too, cause I surely didn't have a back up plan...

Mom came in yesterday and we spent the evening working on the cake and cutting up food, while Brian went to the store to pick up some more stuff for the party.

It was a Hello Kitty theme, and Maggie had a blast.

 The cake that somehow looked pretty good, there were some issues with the original idea, but it looked perfect to Maggie and that's all that matters!

 some special Hello Kitty water (Brian put those labels on, what a good daddy!)

 Decorating the shelter at the park

We got there an hour early to decorate, and Maggie was a bit confused because she kept asking me to take her to the party.  She finally understood what was going on when her friends and family started arriving.

 With her pinata that she picked out (the only thing she would pose for a picture with!)

 Oh these two...love them so much!

 Colin was a great big brother today, he really treated Maggie like a queen for her birthday party

 Mags was pretty much attached on my hip all day today, but how can I get upset at such a sweet thing?!

 Love this girl with all my heart!

 Colin and Johnny had some fun playing in the park until all the guests arrived

 Mags was hiding from her friends, what a stinker!

 Two of her really close friends at school, Zoey and Jeanelle

 Having fun playing at the park

 Walking back to the shelter for some snacks

 Maggie got some really thoughtful gifts and I know we will be busy playing with them for a while.

 Love her cute little grin

 Then it was pinata time, which was a lot of fun except there were a few tears...

Maggie got really embarrassed when everyone was clapping and cheering for her (she went first to hit it), so she started crying and refused to hit it again... but she had fun while it lasted.

Everyone got a few swings at the pinata and eventually the big boys busted it open.  They loved it!

 The candy, of course, was a big hit!

A finally just a few pics of Maggie with her cake

We headed home after the party to let Maggie have her rest.  Tiff and Chad came over for a bit and we all got to spend some more time together with Memaw for Mother's Day.

 Gordy just loves standing up, such a sweetie pie!

 Oh, and I just HAD to hold him while he was sleeping, it's such a rough job!

Here's the Mother's Day gift Tiff and I gave Memaw.

Got the idea off of Pinterest, but it was pretty easy and Memaw just loved it!

 Pictures of all her kids and grandkids

 Beautiful ladies!

After church I snuck in one more picture with the kids (they only partly cooperated), but I'll take it!

What an exhausting, but fun day!

Now to rest up a little bit tomorrow - no plans but hanging out with the family, sounds good to me!

Happy Mother's Day to all of those special women in our lives, we love you!

Nightly Shenanigans and Ordinary Days

The weather has been great lately (almost a little hot with temps in the upper 80s the last few days) and we have been doing a lot of eating dinner out on the deck and playing til crazy hours of the night outside (well okay, crazy hours for the kids, like 8:30 pm, which is WAY past their bedtime).

Anyway, I pulled my camera out the other night and got a great picture of Brian and the kiddos.

 And Mags even let me get some pics of her sitting so sweetly in the driveway

Later that evening, the kids were up to their bedtime-stalling tactics and this is what was happening:

 Colin wearing a "mustache" as glasses and putting a hat on his feet

(such a silly sense of humor these days)

And Mags just being her crazy self!

Gotta remember these ordinary days - the months seem to be flying by.

We are celebrating Maggie's birthday this Saturday and I barely have anything prepared or planned for the party, but it will be a wonderful day for Maggie.  I can't believe she is turning 3.  She's pretty convinced that she's going to grow at least a foot on her birthday and be tall like Mommy, cause she's going to be a "big girl" then.  She better not get too big, cause then I won't be able to rock with her before bed at night.  :)