Luke finally turns FIVE - aka, we had his party

Since turning five is quite a big deal, we decided to celebrate with your first real birthday party at Sega. We invited as many sweet friends as the place allowed and TWENTY FOUR came out to celebrate YOU!

On Saturday, you helped me make the decorations. Now, I have always known you like this a particular way, but you outdid yourself with this. You were all insistent these streamers lined up perfectly. While I tend to pretty type A, I am not a perfectionist. You, sweet boy, had to have these rows perfect. No matter what anyone says, I did not laugh at your when you laid out on the floor crying because the crepe paper wouldn't line up straight.....I did NOT.

 

You requested a Spider-Man birthday party month before the big day. As any good mom does, I scoured Pinterest to only feel like a failure as a mother. After a couple glasses of wine and a good pep talk, I decided I could throw together a killer Spider-Man party without losing my mind. 

Even though I bought red table clothes and black streamers to make a 'web' on the table, once I got into the room, I found the tables were already red! I ditched the black streamer/web idea and made a 'runner' of blue and red balloons. This was a HUGE hit for the kids. Each one left with a balloon. They were much more excited over the balloon over the goodie cup (bag)! Each kid also got a Spider-Man mask to wear.

Again, when I was on my Pinterest Mom kick, I actually thought I could make you a Spider-Man cake. I bought blue cake, icing, food coloring, piping...I was set. When I broached the topic with daddy he said, "Oh baby..please don't." I had to laugh. He knew how stressful it would be for me to make it perfect for you. So I decided to make some blue cupcakes and call it a day. Trust me...you guys knew no different. 

  

Instead of goodie bags, I did goodie cups. Each cup had some 'web shooters', aka silly string, and a Spider-Man straw. Because really, who doesn't love getting sprayed by silly string? (Me...I can now officially tell you...me. I don't like it.)

The rest of this blog is pictures are you and your friends having a BLAST at Sega! I am so happy your first birthday party was this big of success!!

 

We went home to open presents from your grandparents!

Celebrate!

Luke...our sweet Luke. You turned 5 this year. A WHOLE hand!!

Your birthday fell on a Wednesday and we are so lucky your daddy got to come eat lunch with all of us to celebrate.

But on Thursday when we asked you if your were excited to be five, you empathically exclaimed, "NO! I am still 4. I am not five until my party," which was Saturday. No convincing could change your sweet stubborn mind.

You did get a new book donated in your honor to the St. George's library. Here's the great thing. Like most everything else in your short life, you knew exactly what you wanted. Mrs. Williams had all the books laid out and your ran to Ladybug Girl. You love these books! We read them over and over and over. When we got home, you made sure the new book had friends. :)

We ended the night with a yummy cupcake. It was the perfect way to sum up the sweetest day with the sweetest boy!

1 week down, 39 more to go!!

Let me first say I am not counting down to next summer already. That title is excitement! My kids had SUCH an amazing first week that I can't wait to see what they get to do for the other 39!

With live jazz playing in front of the chapel and a million smiles coming out of the photo booth on the quad, you really don't feel like you are attending your first day of school. It feels like a celebration! 

I did remember haircuts this year (we like long hair) AND remembered SG was providing signs, so I was a couple steps up from my last year's first day picture. :)

this year vs. last year

 

this year vs. last year

We are so grateful that Mrs. Schaefer has taught Luke in summer camp all year long! Luke loves telling me each night when we go over his 'who loves him list' that Mrs. Schaefer loves him lots and lots. 

Evan is super lucky that his teacher has know him since birth. Mrs. Cochran is actually the mom of one of Evan's friend! Caroline and Evan have known each other since 6 weeks old! 

It's guaranteed to be a great year!!

Oh Hey, 30A: family trip

First, I cannot explain to you the horrible guilt I have been carrying around because I haven't blogged in so many months. This is my family's memory album...the kids 'baby' book....our life summed up so my kids remember what forced family fun we had.

And because of that guilt, I never knew where to start or what to included when I actually did dial into the good ole interwebz again. Thankfully, I had a good long heart to heart with myself and decided to just 'let it go' and pick up exactly where we are now...which is the end of summer.

All smiles as we get on the road!

We decided to go to the beach again this summer for our family trip. Instead of the Alabama coast we wanted to try 30A. John and I had been there as a couple and really liked the vibe. Of course, the vibe with kiddos is much different.

9.5 hours into the trip I moved to the backseat to cheer these little dudes up. It only worked on one of them. I'll let you figure out who that was.

9 seconds on the beach and all that traffic nonsense was forgotten!

The beach was fabulous...as long as we were there. lol. I tell people that as a type A person I tend to set my expectations high and then do whatever it takes to get me there. The problem is, when you have kids AND you are type A, you tend to also set their expectations high and you have absolutely no way of forcing them to reach them. Mid way through this trip I realized I had done this and no one was happy about it.
So what if they didn't want to hang on the beach as long as I would have wanted (sun up to sun down), they were happy.
So what if they wanted to be in the pool 85% of the time, they were happy.
So what if they would rather stay in and eaten dinner in front of a movie, they were happy.
So what if they got up at 6AM every.single.morning, they were happy.
So about mid way through I realized this was their family trip too and my expectations should be; "make them smile".

Luke and Evan loved the ocean. They loved everything about it. They loved swimming in it, diving into it, wrestling against it, body boarding with it, searching for fish in it, getting beat up by it!

 

They weren't as enthusiastic about the sand, but would dig and build with me when I talked them into it.

 

We ventured out for a couple meals. The boys did great, but let us know quite vividly that they would rather stay in the condo and watch a movie while eating. I mean, when you only eat 6 foods, I can completely see how that would be more enjoyable. (:eyeroll:)

 

Thanks to the modern age of technology and social media, we found out we had not one, but TWO families we knew on 30A the same week! It was so fun to meet up with friends I haven't seen in years and introduce them to boys AND meet up friend from school so the guys could see a friendly face!

Careful Adam...captain Big Head is near.

Who needs toys when you have new friends and spoons!?

Most nights John and I ate dinner together on our patio looking out on the ocean and beach. One of my favorite activities while eating was watching all the well dressed families and groups of high school girls go out at sunset and take pictures. I loved predicting their poses, critiquing their lighting choices, oooh-ing and awwww-ing at their adorable kids playing in the sand. So the last evening we were there, we decided to just go for a walk on the beach. I grabbed my camera and we set off. Little did I know I would capture my family rawly in their elements. These are by far some of my favorite pictures of my family. The ones that tell you exactly who they are.

Evan wanted to record a video blog for his YouTube channel...that he doesn't have. Then he immediately found someone he found interesting, because the man was combing the beach with a metal detector, and tagged along with him looking for treasure.

 
 

Luke...well, Luke just wanted to be Luke.

 

 

Both these boys, in their frustrating ways, are perfect and all mine.
 

All in all, it was a good week. Not perfect, but good. My chaos, my family, my lovely lovely blessed life.