My sister's birthday...

Friday night was my sister's birthday dinner at Carrabba's, one of our family's favorite places.  There were 17 of us in all including 7 kids! These are some of the pictures of our night! 

The second day of summer was much quieter!  Tim took the boys to baseball, I had planned on going but Sydney had a birthday party.  Caroline's mom offered to take Sydney to the party AND bring her home too!!  Soooo, I suddenly had an eMpTy house and took advantage of the time to go find a dress for Sydney for the Huntoon wedding we attended last night.  What a treat to have shopping time ALONE.  I almost didn't know what to do with myself.  While at Target, families were everywhere.  So many kids where misbehaving badly!!  I wonder how we sound when we are out, I'm sure no better, haha!!
Tomorrow's post...the wedding!

My growing boy

May was such an emotional month for me, mainly because my first born, Blake, would be turning 11 and it was his final year of elementary school and fifth grade. Several weeks ago, there was a parent meeting for all new sixth graders at the middle school.  As I headed to the meeting, I was getting choked up. How did we get here, how am I old enough to had a middle schooler? I wondered if any of the other moms were feeling the same as me??   I’m a big baby when it comes to my kids getting older. I just want them to stay young forever.

I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard, I thought I was going to hear all about the school and the laptop that the sixth graders get to do all their work on. The principals introduced themselves and one of them began talking about adolescence. I wasn’t expecting this! I know it’s coming but to hear her talking about how my baby boy is going to be changing from being into name brand clothes, to his voice, to his independence, to liking girls - I wasn’t liking it. A single tear from my right eye fell down my cheek. Wasn’t my little baby just born? How could these things be right around the corner for us?

That night, the boys had baseball practice and the house was quiet after Brody went to sleep. I started thinking, wow, three weeks left of fifth grade. Three short weeks left of school where they still have to raise their hands in the cafeteria and walk in lines.  The sweet little times spent with him at school (where he actually wants me there) are coming to an end...Christmas and Valentine’s parties, eating lunch in the cafeteria, Field Days, plays and Book Fairs.   I lost it thinking of all these fun memories of elementary-even the simple things such as Blake losing his two front teeth! I cried and cried and cried some more. The tears were bittersweet, sad tears that my baby has one foot in the door of childhood and another foot in the door in adolescence and happy tears that my boy is on his way!  There will be many more milestones that he will achieve and poor Blake, he's just going to have to deal with my waterworks!  I’m such a proud momma for the young man he has become!

Pink Carpet Princess Party!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe July 4th holiday!!  We had a great weekend spent with family and friends and we even got some AMAZING news from my baby brother!! 

For this post, I am linking Sydney's 6th Pink Carpet Princess birthday party pictures to Lucky Linky Tuesday at Lucky Star Lane.  

Here's one little sneak peak from her VERY girly party.  Click HERE to read the post.

Ten Years Ago...

Ten years ago...our lives changed forever! Ten years ago, we became parents to our dream baby boy, Blake Ryan, our Millenium baby!  I remember when Daddy and I picked out your name.  We were 18.  We dreamed about having you for 10 years.  We wondered what you would look like and picked little babies and kids out that we thought looked like you (even before you were born).  College, jobs and marriage had to come first!  I was terrified of being pregnant, let alone being a mother.  I didn't think I would be good at it.  I loved my time to myself, I loved time with Daddy, I loved being able to do whatever we wanted.  That all changed the minute we laid eyes on you, our precious Blakey! 

You gave mommy a heck of a time at the end.  I was on bed rest for 6 weeks before you were born.  You were due on April 28th, but decided to stay nice n cozy until Thursday, May 11, 2000.  I had a long day of labor, I was tired, I was hungry, I was throwing up and yes in pain until that epidural arrived!!  To top it off, pushing you out for 2 1/2 hours was exhausting!!  Then came the big moment, the moment I saw you and heard you cry...12:55am.  The moment that changed our lives forever. 

As exhausted as I was, I didn't want to let you out of my site.  I hated when they took you away to get your bath and all spified up for us!  Everyone else got to hang out by the nursery window to see you, everyone but me!  Word had it, you were the biggest baby in the nursery.  A whopping 9 pounds and 15 ounces...goodness, and all natural baby, no C-Section!!

We brought you home from the hospital on Mother's Day and our story with you began!  I soon came to realize, that it was no longer about me or about us, it was all about you and your needs!  I cherished every moment with you.  I loved watching you sleep, listening to your breathing, listening to your cooing, and feeling your baby soft skin!  I was heartbroken when I had to go back to work when you were just 8 weeks old. 

You have taught us so much...about patience, selflessness, helping others, unconditional love.  You helped me laugh when I had a bad day at work, you allowed me to be myself and to grow as a person and a mommy.  I can never thank you enough for all the gifts you have given me!  You make me laugh daily, I love how you take care of your momma even without my asking.  I'm so glad to be your mommy and look forward to the next decade of your life (it better not go as fast as these last 10 years)!!

Ten Things I Love About You!

• 1.  You always think of others and you are a great friend, a great student and a great baseball player!
• 2.  Your creativity (I think you'll be an architect or an engineer) and your simplicity (the smallest and littlest things excite you)!
• 3.  You always help me out when I need a hand, without asking!
• 4.  You still call me mommy or momma...love that and you truly care about me.  I'll never forget being pregnant with Brody and you took such good care of me, at age 8 - helping me in and out of the car, carrying bags and my purse for me and you brought me my Tums everynight without fail when I had horrible heartburn!!
• 5.  You clean the entire house without me asking and you don't like me to look until you are all finished.  I know how much you love that allowance money
• 6.  Your persistence!!! You never let anything go without trying at least 10 times!!
• 7.  I love how you share my love of radio and music.  I crack up that you are Mr. Knowitall when it comes to songs.  You are Mr. Jukebox, Mr. iPod, Mr. I'll Study All the Words Till I Get it Right!  And your shower jam sessions with your clapping and band sounding foot stomping just makes us laugh so hard!
• 8.  You love your family, and I know you love your sister to pieces even though you fight with her!
• 9.  I love when you cuddle with me on the couch with your head on my shoulder and we watch tv together and you twirl my hair!
• 10.  I love our date nights when it's just you and me and we go to dinner to talk and go see a movie!

I hope you have a great 10th birthday.  You are two years away from junior high, three years away from being a teenager, five years away from high school, six years away from driving (ugg)!, and eight years away from becoming an adult, graduating from high school, going to your prom and leaving us to go to college!!  We can't wait to share all those moments with you.  Thank you for being you and I'm so glad that God chose me to be your momma!!

These are some of my favorite pictures of you through the years!

You were a monster of a baby!

6 months

14 months

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

7 years

8 years

9 years old

You are so special to me and I love you more than you could ever imagine!

Happy 10th Birthday!

Love, Momma!

Sydney's 6th Pink Carpet Princess Party

Two Saturdays ago, we had Sydney's 6th birthday party.  A lot of planning and work went into it since it was held at home this year.  The pink "carpet" was rolled out with glitter all over in front of the sidewalk to our front door and I hung a white backdrop with Sydney's birthday logo (thanks to my sister Stephanie's creative graphic design)! all over it to make the girls look like they were walking the red carpet. 

Sydney with my niece Alexa

The tables were covered in hot pink satin, zebra and leopard fabric and the chairs were wrapped in matching tulle.  For the centerpieces, I bought clay pots at Michael's and painted them hot pink and added lime green polka dots with rhinestones.  Inside the pots, I made tissue paper flowers with hot pink, lime green, black, silver, zebra and leopard tissue.  They turned out really cute.  I got the idea from my favorite childhood place - AstroWorld.  My dad bought my sister and I those huge flowers and I used to always make them.  Each princess had a crown at her seat along with a plastic wine glass full of lemonade and a cotton candy puff on the straw. 

I love thumbing through magazines especially In Style and finding party decorating ideas and one thing I have always loved is the look of paper lanterns.  So, I bought hot pink and lime green lanterns at Hobby Lobby and Michael's.  Blake hung them for me even though it wasn't easy.  Sydney's cake matched the whole theme.  I found this awesome cake lady at Michael's - Confections By Erica, she had her magnetic sign on her car, so I thought I'd give her a try.  She did a wonderful job on the cake.

I made the 6 on the cake, I got the idea from some customers of mine who order initial cake toppers for baby showers.  It was in the wood section from Hobby Lobby.  I painted it, cut out paper with pinking shears, sanded it, Mod Podged, glittered and rhinestoned it all up!  I am going to be adding cake toppers to my website.

I kept the girls busy with fun activities like painting princess crown and high-heeled shoes and then once they dried, they decorated them with rhinestones and feathers.

Then, we invited Sydney's older friend Kinley (from baseball) and her friend Cassidy to help out with the mani/pedi/hair station...

Sydney's friends Malynn and Katie

Finally, we had a sugar scrub station.  One of my favorite shops in a little town about 15 minutes from us is called The Bath Hut.  You can choose your favorite scent and mix up a little scrub and get a matching lotion.  Sydney loves to go there with me since they let you try it out on your hands and they rub it off with a big pitcher of warm water.  So, I have a ton of scrubs and when her friends come over, they always ask if they can do scrub.  I figured since her friends love to do it, we could do this at the party.  Each girl stood in line and we scrubbed hands at the sink with a sugary pink scented mix.  Then we sprayed an oil spray followed by yummy lotion.  The girls loved it. 

We also made our own sugar scrub that the girls could take home.  They had fun taking turns mixing it all together as did my sister and some of the moms.  The recipe was so easy and I think we tripled this so there was enough for each girl to take home a little plastic Glad container of it. 

Sugar Scrub Recipe

You will need a large bowl and spatula

2 cups sugar

1/8 - 1/4 cup shower gel

1/8 - 1/4 cup lotion of your choice

6-10 drops of vitamin D oil (you can find at Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

6-10 drops of aloe vera oil (Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

6-10 drops of fragrance oil (Hobby Lobby or Michael's)

4-6 drops of coloring

Mix away with a spatula!

Your hands will be soooo smooth and soft after using this!

Then it was time for cake and presents.  Sydney opened her presents so fast, I missed so much of what she got and I tried so fast to write everything down so I could do thank yous.

Sydney with her sidekick/BFF Brooklyn!

My awesomely talented sister made me this super cute sticker to put on the goodie bags. 

If you are in need of any kind of sticker/logo design, you can get in touch with my sister through her blog - http://www.queenofthejuggle.blogspot.com/

Each girl took home a sugar cookie cutout of a high heel shoe.  My friend Kimberly (one of my fellow baseball moms) is starting a cookie company with her mom.  We were her guinea pigs and first customers.  She did a fabulous job on the shoes and they made them with our colors and added ribbon to each cookie.  They were so yummy too!  I think she even got some new business before she left!  If any of you are in Spring, Tomball, Cypress, Magnolia areas, let me know if you need a cookie lady!!

It turned out to be a very fun party and we had 16 girls once everyone showed up, wow!  I remember how much fun I had at my birthday parties that were at home.  I wanted to do the same for Syd.  There was so much planning and shopping trips to buy stuff.  It was a lot of work and I'm glad I did it, but I'm thinking next year, we'll do it somewhere else!!  I'm not much of a drinker, but I did kick my feet up and had a few glasses of wine once it was all over!  Oh and the mess, it took hours, I think I was up till 2am cleaning!!  :-)

Thanks Mom for all your help watching Brody & taking the kids to breakfast so I could get ready!

Thanks Steph for all your help with the finishing touches.  I don't know what I would have done without y'all!

Love you bunches!!

Shan

Happy 6th Birthday Sydney!

Today at 1:01 pm, my baby girl turned 6.  She's so proud of her new age!  I told her she can count how old she is on two hands now and not just one.  My, how time has flown. 

We had a fun day.   I ate lunch with Sydney at school.  Her request was that I bring her chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A, her favorite.  After lunch, I got her an early dismissal from school-it's a tradition on the kids' birthdays.  We headed to our favorite spot - The Woodlands and to Sydney's most favorite place ever Sweet and Sassy!  Since I sell some of the stuff on my website to S&S, the owner was nice enough to send Sydney a gift certificate to get all dolled up.  She was in heaven getting her updo and mini pedi.   For dinner, we ate at Shogun and she got to wear the big Japanese chef hat while they sang Happy Birthday to her.   She looooved all the attention. 

 Miss Sassy Pants

Here are six of some of my favorites of Sydney through the years!  I love you my birthday princess!  I hope you had a fun weekend and it was everything you wished for!

Anticipation of the big day!

The countdown to Sydney's 6th birthday has ended.  Tonight was the last "nap" as she calls it before her party.  We started many months ago and have had a countdown going.  We can't wait for the the big day!   She assembled all her goody bags tonight and was so excited to help.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow since the party is not until 5.  I bet I will get asked at least 10 times how much longer til my party.  :-)