Phoenix's B-day part 2

I can't resist having a party...and Phoenix turning 2 was no exception. I threw it together in about a week but it turned out pretty well. I used the Thomas colors as inspiration and I put up some of the decorations in Phoenix's room after the party to help make the blank white walls a little less blank. While Phoenix was taking a nap before the party Audrey did some decorating of her own. She set up his train sets, cars, and other toys that he likes and put them on display. It was so cute that of course I left them up for the party!

Oreo truffles

So far I have taken 2 courses from the Wilton Cake decorating classes at Michaels. I am far from being good, but I will say that the classes have helped me to be able to make an adequate cake.

I cheated on this one, I just opened two bags of white chocolate pretzel flips and then drizzled the party colors on top. They were delish and I would totally do it again.

caramel corn

There was only one other boy at the party besides Phoenix (we had 9 girls I think)...but he didn't seem to mind. I found the two boys chillin outside by themselves, it was so cute!

Thanks to my friends Emily and Megan who helped me put together a bunch of last minute details, Emily took a bunch of pictures with my camera and Meg stayed late to help me clean up! I have awesome friends!

Phoenix's Bday part 1

Our little man turned 2 at the beginning of the month! We started off the day with pancakes (one of the very few things that Phoenix will eat), then we had to run over to the office for a quick trip...and 3 hours later we got some Chick-fil-a for lunch (Phoenix LOVES the fries there). Then we hit up Marbles so that our lil fella could play with the trains....for 2 straight hours. He is basically in heaven there.

(some chocolate chips spilled on the ground while I was making the pancakes and Phoenix was eating as much as he could, as fast as he could. Audrey was a willing follower.

Instead of making him a cake we got some Krispy Kreme donut holes, which he loved. Phoenix is really into Thomas the train these days, and he got a ton of Thomas presents for his big day. He kepts saying "Choo-Choo!" when he was opening up his gifts. It was really cute.

July 4th

Yeah...a little late for a July 4th post right? Better late than never!

We received a last minute invite from Janae + Jared to go up to their beautiful home for the weekend. Ever since they moved away we have missed them, but especially on holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, July 4th...), so we jumped at the chance to get to spend the 4th with them and their two little kiddos, Jared's sister Julie was there also (Audrey has adopted Julie as another aunt).

We went to a local parade/celebration and we had a lot of fun (and consumed a lot of grease...err..I mean food).

So they had face painting there, I had never gotten my face painted as a kid (but some how I still turned out semi-normal) so I encouraged Audrey and Brighton to get a painting themselves. Audrey did not go for the idea, but Brighton was very excited about it. At first he wanted a flower and a heart, then he saw a girl with butterfly wings and he wanted that (Jared suggested a skull with crossbones), and he finally settled on a rainbow. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this not-so-little boy?

Janae's house is basically at the perfect location to see a bunch of awesome fireworks, we had our own of course (thanks Jared!). Addison was litrally bouncing up and down with excitement she kept saying "Guys! Guys! Guys! Fireworks!!!" she was the highlight of the night. Here is Audrey sitting with her honorary auntie (for protection...Audrey still doesn't really care for fireworks).

We had amazingly delish food (props to the hostess), great company, and good times. The perfect way to spend a holiday weekend.

Sisters Trip: Durham Science Museum

We have never been to the famous (round these parts) Durham Science Museum and I thought that it would be a fun activity while my sisters were here. We had to rush through a lot of things because we only had 2 hours there, but my sisters got to see the wolves and Audrey got to dig for fossils (which were the most important things).

We did a TON of shopping when my sisters were here (nothing like shopping with your favorite girls!). It had been maybe 3 years since we have all been together at the same time, waay too long if you ask me. We will once again be reunited for my sister Jess's (pictured above) wedding in August.

Sisters Trip: Beach

We had to hit up the beach when all my sistas were here, we LOVE the beach, and with so many extra helpers I actually get some time to play around in the water (sans Phoenix-Willy).


One of the very few benefits of having a tiny grill is that you can bring it places...like the beach. There is nothing like a grilled hot dog on the beach, I guarantee it!

It was windy, the umbrella did not make it through the day (it ended up in the trash).

We didn't get to spend nearly enough time there, but the weather and a certain little fella were not really being cooperative.

Sisters visit: Park

Umm...hello? I was shocked when I looked at the date of my last post...a month ago!! I do have an excuse, my sisters (all 4 of them) came in visit at the end of June and I basically spent a month getting ready for their visit (TONS of projects). Maybe I will post some pictures eventually. Our house still doesn't look amazing, but it looks better than it ever has (I know...not hard to do).


We were busy when my sisters came, we did at least one activity every day, usually more. There are a lot of awesome playgrounds now, like the kind where adults have at least as much as kids (probably more).

Camping!

Phoenix and Rylee were holding hands for a little bit and it was, ahem, very cute.

So...yes....we did try camping for the first time in 3 years! The weather had been hot as hades all week, but we got lucky because it was actually kinda pleasant over the weekend. We went with our good friends. They have a girl Audrey's age, and a girl Phoenix Willy's age, the hubsy surfs like Travis and both me and the wifey are super cool ;-). I finally got to use those monstrous marshmallows that you can now buy. It took me a good 5 minutes to work up the courage to bit into my ginormous smore. The middle didn't get melty (so THAT's why you don't stick the huge mallows in the fire right away!). Next time I will try some more (or should I say s'more?) patience. Phoenix was kinda (majorly) freaked out by the idea of sleeping in a tent (or was it sleeping next to Audrey?). I decided to take him home, but the gates were already locked. So Trav and Audrey spent the night in the tent (I wanted to make sure that she got a good camping experience) and me and Phoenix stayed in the car. We both slept for about 3 hours (he kept waking up, so I would drive him around, then eventually he'd fall asleep for like an hour then wake up again). I am really glad that we went because it brought back so many memories that I had with my family when my Dad would take us camping. Those are some of the best memories from my childhood. We decided Phoenix probably needs at least another year for us to try camping as a family again, but I am really looking forward to when we can.

Beach Trip!

A few weeks ago we hit the beach with our good friend, the Willifords. The weather was perfect, the water wasn't frigid, Phoenix was EVERYWHERE, and we ALL got burned. Like ALL of us. I would go into how much flaked off skin was all over our couches, beds, carpet, and clothes but I don't want to gross you out.

Phoenix ate a ton of sand. If only we could get him to eat food!!

Graduation

Audrey graduated preschool last week. I really wish she had one more year there, it was such a great experience for her and me. Her teachers were awesome, I loved making new friends with the other Mothers, and I am just not ready to release her into grade school.

Here are a few pictures from that day...

Oh, and Audrey's main squeeze, Andrew, broke up with her for another girl. Luckily Audrey still had the other boy involved in the love triangle waiting for her...Benjamin. Here is a picture of them together. They are planning to get married when they grow up.

Mothers Lunch

Audrey's preschool is awesome about doing fun activities that the parents can be involved in. In April they hosted a lunch with the Fathers, and in May it was the Mothers turn. I had a lot of fun, and of course Audrey had a blast. On a more embarrassing note, the kids all drew pictures of them doing their favorite things to do with their Mom's and they were hung up on a wall. Audrey's caption was "Me and my Mom are taking a bath", don't worry, she made sure the water in the pictured covered all of the unmentionables. My friend (one of the other Mom's) got a good laugh, and I must say I chuckled myself. I would have loved to have seen the reaction on her teachers faces when she told them what she drew. For the record, we haven't bathed together in YEARS, but as most of you know, KIDS NEVER FORGET!

A bad week...

Last week had all of the ingredients of a perfect storm: 1) Moody Mommy 2) Moody Mommy who was trying to work on some projects 3) super tired Phoenix who refused to take naps and cried for about 2 hours every night before he fell asleep (the whole so tired you can't sleep thing that babies get) 4) Ultra Moody Audrey, who was also tired, whiny, would-have-a-breakdown-at-the-drop-of-a-hat, insistent on wearing the UGLIEST clothes possible 5) Handsome hubs working 15 hours a day. Basically it was like a week from last summer (still don't know how I survived). By Friday morning I was basically a wreck (to be honest it was probably more like Tuesday morning...), luckily Trav sensed my distress and came to the rescue. He came home, took care of both kids, I slept for like 3 hours and I woke up so refreshed and happy to have a partner by my side. Trav really helped me out so much, Phoenix is sleeping again, I am happy and normal, and Audrey is still moody and grumpy, but I can deal with that. I am so lucky to have such a helpful, studly man by my side. I definitely would be lost (and crazy) without him.

Audrey's Birthday (part 2)

I am a planner. I love making lists, making menus, searching the web for ideas...and parties are a perfect outlet for that. Audrey likes to plan to (I think I got it from my Dad, and Audrey got it from me). So together me and Audrey have been planning her party for a long time. You would think that with all the prep time I put in I wouldn't have been rushing so much on her party day...but I was recently diagnosed with ithinkicandowaymorethanihavetimefor-itis, so hopefully I will get control over things in the future. My awesome, beautiful, amazing, super-talented, I-would-hate-her-if-I-didn't-love-her-so-much friend came over and brought her favorite accessory (camera). Lucky for you because for you can look at the beautiful pictures below. The theme was A Little Ladies Tea Party.

I kept the party small this year because last year was a little crazy for me (I like to keep things controlled and semi-predictable). Travis entertained the girls in the backyard while I made some hats for them out of ribbon and flowers of their choosing. I love being married to a big kid.

I probably made 300% too many treats, but I honestly couldn't help it.

Easiest "fancy" cake ever!

These girls had so much fun! Aren't they all beautiful?!?

I must say, the hats turned out way better than I had originally thought and they really did bring "tea time" to the next level.

Audrey wanted Phoenix to be the server and to wear his Sunday suit. I told her he was too young. I have NO idea why he is crying here, as if wearing a girly hat every killed anyone!

We served cheese balls, sandwiches, and Mac n cheese (Audrey's request). Amaryllis (cutie in blue) had never had cheese balls before, and she could NOT get enough of them. :-)

A huge thanks to my friend, Emily (aka super photog) who helped out so much and somehow still managed to take these enchanting pictures. I am so happy to have these pictures! Audrey had a great time at the party, and I have learned a few things in my quest to become a party planner (for family occasions). Now on to Phoenix's Birthday (which will be much more low-key)...