Birthday Parties & Pictures

We had such a busy weekend - I'm sorry I'm just now getting around to posting about it. Unfortunately I was a very bad photographer this weekend - I really just wanted to enjoy the moments rather than worry about documenting them so this will probably be a boring post.

Saturday we had Tyler's grandfather's birthday party. Brayden got to see his cousins and we got to see some of Tyler's family that we haven't seen in a while. It was a lot of fun celebrating with them. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show for it. :( We had to leave the party a little early to go have our family pictures made. I haven't seen any sneak peeks yet, but I can't wait! Brayden does not know how to smile for pictures. I'm not sure why, but whether you say cheese or smile, you get the same smile. You know the one, you've seen it here on the blog. It will be interesting to see how the pictures turn out, but even if he's smiling a "Brayden" smile, I'm still glad I documented it because that will help me remember how he smiled when he was 3. :)

Sunday we had Stella's birthday party. It was at Treetop, which is one of Brayden's favorite places! He had an absolute blast. They got to climb in the tree house jungle gym thing, go bowling, eat cake & ice cream, and play games in the arcade! Right up Brayden's alley!

Sweet Stella!

After cake & ice cream, I took Bentley out to the tree house thing (think play thing at Chick fil A but a lot bigger) because she was getting restless while Stella opened her gifts. I just let her go on up and told Brayden to stay with her and not let her get lost. Well, a few short minutes later, she freaked out because even though Brayden was still saying "come on Bent" he had totally left her in the dust and she had no idea what to do. So, you guessed it, Big Mama here climbed up in that thing to rescue her. Needless to say, she wanted her momma after that and I gladly let Brooke go up with her. :)

Brayden was so tired from playing so hard he fell asleep on the way home like this. :)

You know what that means, another weekend closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Happy Birthday Nana & Weekend Recap

Saturday was Mom's birthday and we had a great, albeit long, day. :)

We kept Bentley Saturday because Brooke was helping her sister-in-law with a craft show. Brooke dropped her off at my house around 8:10 since we tend to be early risers. We had a great morning. We even got in a lot of great group hugs. (Please ignore my hair, Bentley was fixing it for me)

We met up with Nana around 11 to start her list of things she wanted to do for her birthday. First up was lunch at her favorite place - O'Carr's.

After that we hit up the toy store and Bentley's love for baby dolls grew. She takes her mothering skills seriously. I took the baby's blanket one time and put it up so we wouldn't drag it through the store and she said "NO! Need blanket! Cold!"

Then we went to the park because it was a beautiful day!

 

Brooke met up with us at the park and we headed to get Snow Cones. We decided that since neither of the kids had gotten naps, we would forego dinner out and pick up something to go and take to Brooke's. Brayden napped on the way home (Hallelujah!) and after a weepy wakeup he was fine. He even got to go down and feed the animals. Brooke bundled him up in all she had and when I sent a picture to his daddy, he said you need to take that off now! Why are men so weird? It's not like it's having a lasting effect on him!

As you can tell, we were going pretty much all day long. I was reminded yet again why I am a working mom because there is no way I could stay home all day. I also learned why the pounds seem to be falling off of my sister - you never sit down! When Bentley was at my house all morning, between the 2 of them, I was never able to sit down and relax. It was go go go all the time! It was fun, but definitely not something I could do every day. So, I found a new respect for my sister!

 

Brayden and Bentley are so lucky to have such a fantastic grandmother. All of her plans for her birthday included things that would make them happy. She is pretty much the best grandmother on the planet!

 

Sunday we went to John Darby's birthday party. The theme was pumpkins and it was so cute!

Nate was there so Brayden was ecstatic. They ran around like they'd never been let loose in public before, throwing sticks and tearing up the games, typical boy stuff I guess. Or at least I hope. It was such a great party. They got to pick a pumpkin out of the "patch" and decorate it.

They also thought it was great fun to see if they could make Claire laugh. Most of the time they succeeded, but it was giving me a mini stroke. They would jump right by her, make funny faces right in her face, and practically yell at her. The funny thing is, she pretty much loved every minute of it!

After Brayden and Nate did it, Zeke had to join in on the fun too.

After the party, we went home and I enjoyed watching these 2 play ball while I drank some Coke Zero and ate some Bareheads.

It was such a fabulous weekend!



Birthday Parties & the Pumpkin Patch!

We seriously had the best weekend we've had in a long time. Tyler spent pretty much the entire weekend with us except for Friday night when he was working and that's pretty rare. Life is so much easier when he tags along because he carries Brayden and buckles him in his carseat and I enjoy that so much!

Friday night we went to Aubrey's 2nd birthday party and had so much fun.

Bentley is obssessed with babies. She always points them out when she sees one in public and she's just so attracted to them. She became enamored with Adelaide toward the end of the party and it was so funny watching it.

Saturday morning we went to Nate's birthday party. Nate is one of Brayden's best friends and I love watching them interact. It was such a cool party! It was a race car theme and Brayden got to get a tattoo, color a wooden racecar, race cars down a ramp, jump in a "race bounce" and so many other fun things. I wish I had gotten a picture of Nate and Brayden, but I didn't.

We finally got his Halloween costume that afternoon and I love it! He looks SO adorable in it and I can't wait for him to wear it. 

Sunday after church, we headed for the pumpkin patch! It was packed! I have never seen so many people, but we still had a great time. Brayden jumped in the cotton bounce, took a gander at the farm animals, picked some cotton, and climbed the hay mountain.

After that, we jumped on the hayride to head out to the pumpkin patch. (Not really, we waited in line for about an hour)

Poor Bent was not in a good mood that day. She wasn't feeling well and was pretty much done with the pumpkin patch after about 5 minutes of being there.

We got out to the patch and found our pumpkins and then waited another hour to ride the hayride back.

On our way out we stopped and did the corn maze and took a family pic. It was a gorgeous day and even though it was packed, we had the best time!

Of course, when we got home we carved our pumpkins. I actually carved mine all by myself this year and I was so proud! Mine is the Boo one. :)

Bentley Turns 2!

Bentley's birthday was Sunday so Brooke had a small family party for her Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect! The party was outside and the kids had lots of fun riding bikes, cozy coupes, and scooters and just running around. They also went down to the barn a time or two to check out the chickens.

 Here's the birthday girl with her Bentley cousins:

And with her Thornburg cousins:

Note: Please notice the notepad and pen she is holding in this picture. Not kidding, that was her favorite gift! Doesn't take much to please her!

And one with Stella (not a cousin, but still considered family!):

I'm pretty sure she had a blast at her party and got lots of fun new toys and clothes.

Bentley Grace,
It's so hard to believe you're already 2 years old! I remember the day you were born. I had a hold up at work and couldn't leave right away. I was so bummed out that I couldn't be in the hospital when you came into the world, but I got there as fast as I could.

You are a spitfire and I have a feeling you're going to make your mom pay for her raising. I grew up with her so I can't wait to sit back and watch. :) You don't have much to do with me now, but I'm hoping as you get older and realize we have a lot in common, you'll like me a little more. Always know that when you and your mom are disagreeing, just call me and I'll come pick you up. I can't wait to watch you grow up and see your sweet, fiesty, funny little personality develop. I love you sweet girl!

Asher Turns 2!

Asher's birthday and party were Saturday so of course we went to help celebrate. Before we get to that, though, let me recap Thursday and Friday.

Thursday evening Mom and I took Brayden and Bentley to the park in Montevallo. This park is so cool because it's HUGE and it has faces carved in the trees. Brayden is pretty enamored with the faces, but Bentley could have cared less. We got there right at dusk so we didn't have much time. We looked at a few faces, but then made our way to the playground where Brayden made a new friend. It is so precious to me to watch Brayden make new friends. His new friend's name was Tyler, so Brayden made sure to tell him that is his daddy's name too!

Friday night, we went to the outlet mall to pick Asher up a birthday gift. Brayden found this cool helmet with the light on it and wanted me to take a picture of him. Then he said "Mom send that picture to my daddy." Anytime construction or building something is involved, we have to send a picture to Daddy.

So back to the party . . . we got to watch the Alabama game and party it up all in the same day! We got down there pretty early so I could get my hands on this sweet girl! :)

As soon as we got there, Emma and Brayden decided it would be fun to attack Tyler.

Brayden loves her so much. He loves Asher too, but I think because he and Emma are so close in age, they have such a special relationship. I love to watch them play together. When their energy started to get a little out of control, I took them outside. I tried to get a picture of the birthday boy, but I don't think he likes having his picture made because he started to hit me with this rake! I didn't hold it against him since Brayden went through that phase too. :)

Brayden loves baby Ella. He kisses her and talks to her while I'm holding her. He's still pretty adamant that he doesn't want a baby at home, though. (Not that I'm letting him make that decision, of course!)

I'm pretty sure he's about to go through a growth spurt because he has been eating SO much. He literally ate all day while we were at their house and finished it all off with a delicious cupcake!

We had such a good time at the party. I love watching Bray play with his cousins and I'm counting on them being the best of friends as they grow up!

Brayden's 3rd Birthday Party

Now that Brayden has been 3 for over 3 months, I figured it was time to do a post about his birthday party. Better late than never, don't ya think? :)

The party was a John Deere theme.

The party was held at my brother-in-law's dad's barn and it was the perfect location.

The craziest thing about the party was the weather. It was held in early May and it was freezing outside! It was rainy and so breezy when we were setting up that stuff kept blowing off the tables. I was a little nervous about how I was going to pull off an outside party in that weather. However, right at 2:00 when the party started, the sun came out and the breeze died down and it was somewhat comfortable. I never imagined I would have that problem when planning the party!

Here are the food tables:

 

We had the potato patch, pig pen, apple orchard, hay bales, and tractor tires.

 

The cake table:

The cake was made by the Kearleys that work with my mom.

 

The watering trough (drink area):

We had lots of fun farm/tractor activities:

Any of the kids who wanted to got to take a horse ride. Of course, the birthday boy was up first!

He's so lucky to have such a fun aunt who is pretty much his 2nd mom.

 

Uncle Danson took them all on a hayride:

Then we sang Happy Birthday and blew out the candles:

Pretty much all of his good friends (and mine!) were there:

He ended the party by playing on the tractor and letting all the balloons go:

Our sweet family of 3:

He had such a great time at his birthday party. It was so much fun!

 

Tomorrow I'll blog about his actual birthday!