Birthday Weekend

We had a busy week this past week with 2 birthdays and party day for all three. I say all three because even though Laney's birthday was in July we never got to celebrate it with family. We were moving the same weekend as her birthday so we decided to wait until we got to Ga. I did not realize how crazy of a move we would have and add homeschooling on top of that. Needless to say, her birthday got pushed to the same weekend as Griffin and Ella's. We had family come and a couple of friends. Simple and easy! We ate, opened presents and did cake at the house then headed to the base for the Big Summer Bash. Griffin turned 14, Laney 7 and Ella 4. They wanted to open presents so we did that first. They got clothes, jewelry, toys. Ella's big present was the Leapfrog Tag reader with books. Griffin's was his new bike that he plans to ride home from school. Laney got her big present back in July.

Ella wanted a castle cake for her birthday. So I got out the cake decorating

supplies and created a this cake. It only took until 1:30 in the morning to finish it.

Laney wanted cupcakes with princess crowns.

Griffin wanted an ice cream cake in the beginning but changed his mind closer to time to a sand cake. I was glad because it was much easier to do. I asked Griffin to smile before I took his picture and this is what I got.

Ella loved her cake!

Now for the fun part the Summer Bash. They had rides, games, prizes, music, and food. It was like a mini fair. The kids had a blast.

Griffin, Ashton, Cameron and Owen paused quickly for a picture in between activities.

Laney favorite thing was the rock wall. She made it all the way to the top but not quite far enough to reach the buzzer.

Ella getting her tattoo.

Griffin's new tat a flying dragon.

It was a great day. I have to say it was one of the easiest parties to plan so far in my mommy party planning career.

Happy Birthday Griffin!

WOW! I can't believe Griffin is 14. My how time flies 2 more years and he will be driving, 4 more years and he will be going to college, and then job, wife, family.......I am stopping now because I am not ready to go there yet. I want to hold on to my sweet kindhearted handsome boy for awhile longer.

Happy Birthday Griffin! We love you!

1 tooth lost, 2 birthdays and COOP classes make for a busy week!

I will begin with earlier in the week when Laney lost her tooth. She has always pulled her other teeth as soon as they became loose. Her front 2 teeth have been a different story. They were dangling and she still would not attempt to pull them. Ella tried to help by knocking Laney in the mouth(it didn't work). What finally got it out was her bending over and accidentally bumping her mouth on the bed. When she raised back up.....there was her tooth on the bed. She went through the house screaming, "It's out my tooth is out!" followed by...."I look weird". Ella's birthday was Wednesday so she picked McDonald's to eat. The Meeks meet us there.

When we got home she opened her presents. For the past 2 months, no matter what store we were in Ella would find something she wanted and say, "OH mommy! can I get this for my birthday." I would then proceed to tell her sure.... for your birthday. She did not get any of those things and she was still thrilled.

I learned of a local group that has COOP classes for 8 weeks in the fall and 8 weeks in the spring. So I went to the meeting and instantly signed them up for classes. Both Laney and Ella are taking an Eric Carle class. Today, they read one of his books A House For Hermit Crab. They made a crab out of a pasta shell and discussed places to live. I think they are going to love this class.

I signed Laney up for an acting class but there were not enough kids so her second option was to take time and money. Today, she learned about the history of money and painted a bank which will hold the money she earns from homework, classwork, etc. At the end of the 8 weeks, she will be able to buy something at the class store. It works out great because we are about to start money at home.

Happy Birthday Ella!

My baby has turned 4 today. I am happy and sad all at the same time. I am happy because she is growing and turning into a little lady. She is at the sweet comical age. We have a lot of smiles around the house because of her. I am sad because she is not my baby anymore. I wish I could freeze time.

One precious little girl!

Okay so those of you who know me well know that I have a hard time saying no when someone needs or asks for something. A fairly new mommy at church needed someone to watch her precious little girl on Tuesday afternoons. How could I say no. Isn't she adorable! So this past Tuesday was the first time for us to keep her. She was a perfect angel. I had to pry her away from Laney just get to hold her for a little bit. Laney explained to me that she needs to practice for when she becomes a mommy. I am so glad she has changed her mind. There for awhile she said she was not going to give my any grand kids. "It will hurt too much to have a baby" she said. Just a few pictures of our time with Mariah. When I saw her stick her 2 middle fingers in her mouth to suck on them, it reminded me of my sister. That is how she sucked her fingers.

So sweet!

I just had to post on my latest Publix shopping trip. I beat my record. My old record was $80 worth of groceries for 7 cents. You see all this stuff in the picture it is $130 worth of groceries for.........$0..nothing...nada....freeeeeeeeee! How you might ask? Scenario below...

5 bags Keebler cookies (use for church devos)

2 5lb bag of sugar

3 boxes tacos

4 boxes ziploc bags

2 Diamond almonds

4 boxes cereal

2 boxes brownies

1 bag of goldfish

2 4pk yogurts

2 Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers
2 boxes Toaster Strudels
1 box Publix Vanilla Wafers( penny item)
8 bags of Lender's Bagels
6 boxes of Green Giant vegetables

After all my coupons( I think the goldfish was the only thing I did not have a coupon for) the total came to $22 but then I had Publix gift cards I received in the mail last week from an earlier promotion. My total was $0 and I still have $5 and some change left on my gift card. Yeah for Publix! May I add that I am loving the penny items and double 50 cent coupons. They did not do that back in Fl. Makes for an even bigger savings.

Gymnastics and Nicholas Sparks

This past Saturday I guess you could say was Laney and mommy day. One of the local gymnastics facilities was having a fun day. Anyone could come and use there equipment. Laney has been wanting to do gymnastics for a while but there was nowhere close when we lived in Fl. I took her and she loved it. I will definitely be signing her up and Ella too! Ella will only be $15 a month. I can't pass that up. Here are a few pictures of Laney attempting the bars and balance beam. She has so much to learn.

On to the highlight of our Saturday. I found out that Nicholas Sparks was coming to the Sam's in Macon. I have read several of his books and thought what the hey. I have never been to a book signing. We barely made it before they cut the line off( he had to be somewhere else by 6:00). I met a couple at gymnastics and started talking and lost track of time. Imagine that! We waited for a couple of hours before we got our signature, photo and a quick hello. I must say he is very nice looking in person.

Laney and I had our own photo session while waiting in line.

Auburn Tailgating RV style

We went to Auburn this past weekend for their first game. My parents had extra tickets and invited us to spend the weekend in their new RV. We arrived Friday evening for some grilled hot dogs and quality time together. We enjoyed looking around at all the different ways people get ready for game time. Some people go all out. Below are a few of the pictures of our wonderful weekend. Ella is sporting her AU shirt. The kids thought it was so cool to stay in an RV. I think Ella even said it was awesome( that is her new word).

Griffin slept on a top bunk.

Sat morning we got up and ate some breakfast and relaxed for a little while. Mom and I had a wedding to go to in Montgomery so we were not planning to go to the game later that evening.

The kids played some football and cards.

My cousin Maribeth was in AU for the weekend so she stopped by for a visit.

Since I attended a wedding I did not get any pictures of the pregame activities and the game. Sat night around 2:00 Laney had some sort of stomach virus so we left that next morning to head home

Thanks Pop and Nana! We had a great time and hope we can do it again!