Party Time

Theme: Toy Story

Location: ASI Gymnastics, Allen Texas

Date: Saturday, March 19th

Time: 3:00 pm

I was not too keen on the idea of having a whole bunch of 2 year olds running around my house, and the thought of trying to keep them all entertained sent shivers down my spine.....so I opted to have his party somewhere. Best idea ever! We had been invited to a birthday party at a gymnastics center right after Cash was born and thought that looked like fun. I have also been very interested in enrolling Brody in the Little Gym or Gymboree so I looked into those. We also looked into a couple other gymnastic places, but decided the one we were invited to in Allen was the place to have it. Gabe was insistent of having a foam pit that the kids could play in, and this place had it all!

We scheduled the party to be the Saturday after his birthday and wanted the theme to involve something he is totally in to right now, and that my friends is TOY STORY. He is slightly obsessed with Buzz and Woody. I know he is not the only one because there were Toy Story decorations galore! I didn't want to go overboard so I just had a few Toy Story themed decorations and played along with the colors as well. The bright green and blue were great colors to work with, I really like them together.

A girl that works with Gabe designed our invitations, and they are super cute. My original plan was to ask for books in lieu of gifts and then donate all of the books to a charity of some sort, but that was accidentally left of the invite. Maybe next year...

The fabulous cake decorated by Brody's Nana (Gabe's mom)

The easiest and most simple decorations ever!

Gabe made Candy Sushi

Party favor bags

Here are just some of the photos taken of everyone enjoying the fun!

Brody getting some air

2 out of the 3 musketeers, just missing Gavin

School friend, Tanner (aka: Nanner-Poss)

School friend, Alex

Baby C needed some camera action

Shiloh has some serious tramp skills!

School friends, Quinn and Ella

One of Brody's BFFs, Teagan

Having fun on the slide

Cutie Patootie Haven

Everyone loved the balloons. Our sweet neighbor, Sylvia

Sylvia, Haven, and Tanner

Seth can really jump!

Carson and Avery (twins) and Ella

Teagan and Hailey enjoying the bubbles

Quinn on the rope

B and his preschool girlfriend, Ella

All that playing really works up a thirst

Brody opening all of his presents! This part of the party was absolute chaos! It felt very rushed, some of the guests were restless, and as we are opening I felt like we were shouting to the gymnastics staff what we were opening and who it was from hoping they got it right. That was my only dislike for the whole she-bang and it wasn't that big of a deal, just wished it could have been a little more organized. Even though those 10-15 minutes were slightly hectic, Mr. Brody received so many wonderful gifts! Thank you! Thank you!

Brody and friends enjoying the cake

We had a great turn out. We are truly blessed by all of our wonderful friends and family.

Family Pictures

Once we got home, I really wanted a picture of Brody holding his #2 balloon. This is the best we got before the balloon was set free into the sky.

Brody's 2nd BirthDAY

Our original plan was to spend Brody's 2nd birthday in Austin, since Gabe was supposed to be there all week for a work thing at South By Southwest, a large music and film festival. The closer it got to Brody's birthday he realized that it was going to be possible for him to be home the day before Brody's big day. Yea! What a relief for this momma. I was having anxiety of driving 2 boys to Austin alone, and then home...especially since we are uninsured at the present time. All the "what if's" were definitely running through my mind. Since I had already requested the day off, and it is Spring Break, it was going to be a bit of a slow day at the preschool, so I kept my day off and Gabe stayed home as well.We took Brody to breakfast at Einstein's Bagels (yummy) and then we went to the indoor playground at our mall. Had lunch, the little boys napped, and then we got out his big surprise present....

A

NEW

SHINY

TOY-STORY THEMED

BIKE!!!!!!

We immediately had to take it outside and test it out! There will be many more "practices" before he is able to get the hang of it. He loves that it is a Buzz Lightyear themed bike. He has mastered getting on and off which is a start.

Our neighbors came outside to see the bike and Brody. They brought out a gift as well, a Buzz Lightyear toy...total coincidence....and a great one!

One of Brody's favorite thing to do is go to the park, so we had to make that apart of his special day. We met Brooke and Gavin and Amber and Teagan at the park close to our house. Always a fun time with that special group! After the park, we met the Colberg's out for a delicious hibachi dinner. Here he is totally entertained! Loved it!

I would say the day was a success! Happy Birthday sweet one! We love love love you!!!

Brody is TWO!

Wow, I have a two year old. It is hard to say, but his actions are definitely showing signs of being two. Even though we have our challenging and trying moments, Brody lights up our lives in so many wonderful ways. Here are just some fun facts about you at this point in your life:

You are...

bossy

sweet to your big brother

drinking out of a big boy cup very well

sleeping better at night, and starting to let mommy sleep in until 7:00 sometimes (yea!!)

in a mommy 'put me to bed only' stage

in the 2 year old class at preschool

doing sooo much better in church nursery since we switched churches - a HUGE blessing

in a "mine" stage

now sleeping with a blanket and a monkey

starting to take showers instead of baths

swinging a baseball bat extremely well for your age

opening doors easily and starting to open the locks too

counting to 5

reciting your ABCs

identifying a lot of the letters

saying all your colors correctly almost 100% of the time

talking ALL.THE.TIME!

enjoying this gorgeous spring weather by spending lots of time outside

a cuddly little boy

Some of your favorite things are:

Toy Story (Woody and Buzz)

trucks

bubbles

power wheels "truck"

baseball

airplanes

anything food - you love to eat

You are such a sweet and fun loving little boy. Seems like everyone who meets you just falls in love with you. The teachers you had for the past few months at school love you so much, they claim you as their own child. They say that they are Mommy 1 and Mommy 2, that I am Mommy 3. The personality that you have always had is just getting bigger and better and it is infectious. You are so much fun to be around, very charismatic. Everything you are in to and your interests definitely make you ALL BOY! Your vocabulary is exploding. There are new words that you say everyday and I think to myself when did you learn that word? You think you are good at telling mommy and daddy what to do, like "get away" or "sit down." The other night, mommy was laying you down for night night and you told me to close my eyes, since that's what I am always saying to you. Then you went on to rub my back. It was precious. When you want a sip of mommy or daddy's drink you ask for "a bite" instead of a sip. Everyday our love grows deeper and stronger for you. Our hearts are over flowing with love for you. You do test our patience on a regular basis and push us to the limit sometimes, but we wouldn't want you any other way. We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Elmo Live

Aunt DeDe (my sister) treated Brody to his very first "show" for his 2nd birthday present. She bought him tickets to see Elmo Live. He, for obvious reasons, isn't able to drive to Grand Prairie on his own, so lucky for them, I got to go too! :) We met my dad for lunch before hand in North Arlington. We were about 20 minutes late to the show since Aunt DeDe had the wrong time. No biggie, I think it was for the best that we were a little bit late. She bought great tickets, we were so close to the action and Brody L.O.V.E.D it. Every time a character would leave the stage he would ask for "more Grover," "more Elmo," and so on. We snapped a few pics during intermission with my phone. I wasn't sure you could take in your camera. I was waaaay wrong and now I know. I would say this was an overall success! Great gift Aunt DeDe!

Mini Models

A friend of mine and Gabe's from high school and college has taken her photography hobby and turned it into a business took these pictures. Paige Walker Photography. She has been partnering with boutiques and was in need for some young male models...ok, little boy models for a company called Stinkin Cute Designs. Neither one of my boys lasted very long, Brody was waaaay more interested in the big dogs outside. And Cash was having a bad moment for such an easy going baby. We had fun catching up with her adorable family and we are loving the pics! Thanks Paige!

Birthday Season is Here!

Once Christmas is over, we have about 3 weeks and then Birthday season starts for 6 months for Gabe and I. The majority of our family and friends birthday's are from January to June. We do have a few sprinkled in the fall as well as other fun holidays.

January -

Lindsay's grandpa turned 92. I "celebrated" by visiting him in a rehab facility and taking a Subway sandwich to him with my sister and my dad. He was recovering from pneumonia and trying to get his strength back. He is now home and doing great!

Our friend Adam had a birthday (we were not able to celebrate with our dear friends since Gabe was working at the restaurant and I was home with the boys). I was told it was an exceptionally good evening, although I'm not sure how if Gabe and I weren't in attendance. (I kid. I kid.)

Lindsay's grandma celebrated another year older (we were not able to attend this event either, due to Gabe's restaurant schedule).

A friend of ours hosted a Minnie Mouse themed 2nd birthday party at their home for there daughter, which I took the boys to. I have a couple pics from this party, but they are all a little blurry so I will refrain from posting them. Can you guess where Gabe was????

*sidenote* boy are we glad those restaurant days are behind us -- that was a tough 10 days!

February -

Our sweet niece Bella turned 5! Cannot believe she will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. She is a really smart little girl and know she will adjust well to the start of elementary school. Miss Bella will attend Oakridge Private School in Arlington, where her dad graduated from. She is already there for preschool, so the transition should be a smooth one. Bella had a Strawberry Shortcake themed party at a Bounce House place connected to the Parks Mall in Arlington. Bella couldn't be sweeter to her cousins! Brody l.o.v.e.s. his Bella, hoping Cash feels the same!

Baby Cash hanging with his Nana

Birthday Girl Bella and Brody

Such a poser, about to slide

Slide complete

Having fun with Daddy

Brody in action!

He put ice in his pocket, and it obviously melted...

Good thing we have been practicing his swing! Never know when you will need it.

I won a tootsie roll in the pinata

enjoying my tootsie roll

March -

Mr. Gavin turns 2! Brody is constantly saying "Gavin." These two rascals couldn't be cuter. They have always played well together, for that we are thankful. They have spent many hours at the park together, and I know will spend a lot of time together this summer as well. Hopefully lots of time at the pool! :) We were invited to Gavin's party which was on his actual birthday and we had a blast, even though we got lost and it was here in McKinney! He also had his party at a Bounce House place. I completely forgot my camera. Here is the only pic I have, which I stole from Brooke!

Brody's birthdays posts are coming very soon! I'm almost caught up. We still have a few more birthdays to celebrate, so I am sure more bday posts will be in our near future!