Happy Birthday, Brother.

At this exact time a year ago, I was in labor.  The wheels were in motion.  The air was electric.  I was minutes from this moment.  Bliss.

Tonight, I'm making a herculean effort to keep my emotions in check (at least in this post, because even though he's *gulp* one now, he's still my baby).  Believe me, you want me to play it cool here because I'm one Pampers commercial away from a emotional breakdown.  Last night, you may or may not have found me crying my eyes out, singing "Happy Birthday" to Cohen at 2 am when I may or may not have brought him in my bed to sleep (what?!  he woke up on his own, I swear!). 

We threw him a birthday party on Sunday...here it is in photos...

the guest of honor

tickly neck kisses. (and please dont' feel obligated to tell me how dorky I am for wearing a red bow in my hair for the occasion, my husband took care of that already)

mini sock monkeys and banana pen favors (No one can take themselves too seriously when they're writing with a banana pen.  I'm passing these out at work for reals.)

I pretty much had to have a massive red balloon.

Let's pretend Jason and I didn't steal these letters off of Cohen's wall, mmkay? mmkay.

Banana cupcakes filled with chocolate ganache and topped with peanutbutter buttercream frosting

 much less mess than expected...a true gentleman

He even shared with my Papaw, who shares the same birthday as him. 

 Maybe he's just more of a cereal kind of dude

 Yes, I went craft crazy and made his onesie.

 sibling love :)

 Brother's girl, Miss Brenleigh Drew came to the partay.  I love her scrunchy face.

 her gift.  seriously. so cute.

 Can you tell they're both learning how to give kisses?  This one will definitely come out again in the high school years.

 adorable sock monkey backpack

John Deere of course! 

 His first guitar

And honestly, who doesn't love a giant red balloon?!

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Tonight, Addy and I softly sang Cohen "Happy Birthday" as he was falling asleep.  He couldn't decide who to watch and he did the thing I love...when he grins so hard his pacifier just drops right out of his mouth.  That, my friends, is true happiness.

Happy First Birthday, Cohen.  We love you.

Summa, Summa, Summatime!

In honor of the first official day of summer, I thought I'd share some photos of one of my favorite ways to pass a weekend day - water fun in the yard!  I love me some babies smelling of sunblock, feet covered in wet grass, snack time on picnic blankets, and smiles almost too big for sweet faces... 

 If you don't have a watertable...get one!

 I love how it looks like Cohen is explaining the mechanics of the watertable to Miss Brenleigh...serious stuff.

 BAHAHA!  I had to include this super classy one.

Happy Summer, ya'll!  The fun is just starting!

THREE!

This week, my baby girl turned three.  Is it any surprise that the girl who has this mob of mermaids along for every bath wanted a mermaid birthday party?  So, if my girl wants a mermaid party, a mermaid party she will have.  

Cohen spent his 11 month milestone, while Addy was at her GiGi’s, helping us blow up balloons for the party.  If you need to keep a small child busy while you’re doing something, balloons are probably a pretty safe bet. 

 Miss Addy loved her mermaid party.  Most of her favorite people were there.  We had blue juice (which obviously tastes better through an umbrella straw).  There were fruit kabobs, homemade seashell party favors, goldfish crackers, strawberry lemon oyster cookies, and of course, a cake.  J

She’s still thrilled about all of her presents…outdoor fun supplies, dress-up clothes, a cash register, new favorite movies, a microphone for 6 AM performances of Carly Rae Jepsen (“this is cwaaaazy…call me maybe”), baby dolls, a new fish tank, and a shiny red bike (this necessitates the full suit of armor that I'm still looking into purchasing).  We’ve been playing hard, folks.

Ahhh…someday, my children will have a hay day with this one.  Really, mom?  Make us stare directly into the sun for a photo?  Great idea. 

We got a good one though.

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Addy’s party was on Monday, but her birthday wasn’t until Thursday.  So Wednesday night, after the kids were in bed, my amazing husband helped me blow up 75 balloons to sneak them into her room.  He feigned annoyance at yet another hair-brained scheme, but giggled right along with me as we snuck them into her dark room and hid every time we heard her stirring.  She wakes up pretty hard, but she was still excited to have a room FULL of balloons.  She wanted to take every last one of them with her to Mimi’s that day.  They’re still providing a good source of amusement around our house. 

 We shared a little ice cream cake in celebration that night too.

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Today, to tie up this lovely birthday week with a pretty bow, Cohen got his initiation into our birthday tradition…a trip to the zoo!

 I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this elephant’s tramp stamp.  I’ve since found out that this is from this elephant’s past life in the circus.  Risqué (OK, and sad too).

Haha.  This photo gives a whole new meaning to a spring in your step.  And this is the essence of Addy.

Her three year old independence is wonderful and heartbreaking all at the same time.  Here come the waterworks.  I guess that’s what happens when the growth of your baby feels as palpable as it does this week.

 2 years ago, we took a one year old girl for her first ride on the carousel.

 

We came back again last year.

 And this year, we added another kiddo to the fun. 

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Tonight, as I lie in bed typing this, I look back at the memories we made this week, and I feel so freaking lucky.  It seems the universe is smiling on us, and I’m feeling all kinds of grateful.  I hope you all had a wonderful week.  Love.