Poodle's Birthday

Since Poodle was here for her actual birthday this year I thought it needed to be included on the blog. We had lots of fun celebrating with her this year.  We started out by eating amazing biscuits and gravy at Loveless Cafe.  Then we went home slept them off and took the kids to the park.  I promised Poodle I would go for a run with her so we ran around the trail at the park while the kids played.  It was a short run but, about all I could handle after eating so much in the past few days!  We then went back to my house I put together her cake we ate a little and then headed off to see Catching Fire (awesome by the way).  We stopped at the mall for a bit and I almost killed myself going down the up escalator, but at least it provided comic relief for Bethy and Poodle.  We also took a mini tour of the show Nashville and stopped by the Bluebird Cafe and one of the houses that is on the show.  It may sound lame but we loved it!  I'm so glad Poodle was here for her birthday!  We love her and hope her birthday will fall while she's here next year!

Here is Graham with Poodle, he snuggled with her A LOT!

Pretty Poodle with her pretty cake.  It was really good.

And Graham snuggling with Poodle.  He may like her more than me.  At the park he only wanted help from her.  I can't blame him, she's way nicer than me! Happy birthday Poodle!

Thanksgiving 2013

I LOVE Thanksgiving!  Its starting to rival my love for Christmas.  Mostly because my awesome sisters come to town and make me not hate that Shawn worked all week long when it was supposed to be a "light" week.  Lies!  I think its safe to say I made WAY too much food this year.  I know crazy right?  I would usually never say that but I feel like we ate a half of the food I made, and its two days after the fact.  I may need to ease up next year.  Strong words I know.  We love having family come and stay with us.  I really think I wouldn't mind how busy Shawn is if we were always this close to family.  It was so nice!  The only reason I'm not laying on my bed crying in the fetal position is because we're going on vacation next week so I actually have something to look forward too.  Enough of me rambling, here are some cute pictures of this week.

Our tradition of eating pie and watching Elf.  I love this tradition!

These weren't even all the left overs. Insane I know!

Caroline and Mabel writing and performing their own music.  It was really cute, and funny!

And now putting together some sewing project. 

Having so much fun at Cumberland Park.

Best buddies!  They never left each others sight.

They are so cute!

Devin and Annie have a great time together too.  They had lots of fun building legos and puzzles.

And of course eating pie for breakfast.  I really hope we get to live closer to these guys someday.  They are so sweet and fun.  Leah even gave me a huge goodbye and it almost made me cry.  We love the Petersons!  And of course Poodle too, don't worry I didn't forget about you!

Devin's Birthday

Sorry for the lack of posts lately!  I was busy getting ready for guests and baking like crazy getting ready for the guests I had little time to blog.  Don't feel bad for me though, it was amazing and I'm sad its over!
Anyways, time to play catch up.  First off Devin's birthday.  He was very lucky this year.  His birthday was the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holiday so he got to wear his super hero cape at school and have cousins over for fun.  It really doesn't get much better than that.  He loved every minute of his birthday, well maybe not when he forgot to take off the super hero cape and brought it home instead of giving it back to his teacher, oops!  But after returning it to the school he was as happy as could be again.  He was completely spoiled by his grandparents this year and cousins.  He played and built legos ALL week.  I"m not kidding, everyday was a new set and he was in heaven.  Seriously he didn't want to leave the house or eat because he was too busy playing with his legos.  It was adorable and slightly frustrating when we wanted to leave the house.  I'm so glad he had a great birthday, he's such a sweetie he deserves it.  Love you buddy!

I forgot to add his Thanksgiving program at school.  He did such a great job and even preformed a song for Bethy and Shawn later in the week.

Enjoying a birthday cupcake at school.  And the red thing is a super hero cape that says, "Happy Birthday" on it.  We love his teacher!

And more cake that evening.  Is it selfish that I made this chocolate peanut butter one because I wanted Bethany and Poodle to try it?  I promise he didn't care. 

Blowing out his candles.

And playing with his new lego set.  He and Shawn took all day on Thanksgiving to set it up.  It was great one on one daddy time.  He loved every second of it.  We are so lucky to have family here for his birthday.  We love you Devin!

Shawn's Birthday

Last year when Shawn's birthday rolled around my ankle was broken and I thought I'll do more next year.  Yeah, that did not happen.  I'm pretty sure that I did more for his birthday last year.  I did make a cake and calzones, but last year I made two and some amazing stuffed mushrooms and chicken cordon bleu.  Yummy!  Anyways, Shawn has been having some long weeks at work so he did get to sleep lots which was what he really wanted to do.  Hopefully one year I'll be a good wife and do something special for his birthday.  We really do appreciate how hard he works for our family and love him lots.  And being the awesome husband he is, he let me make any cake I wanted to.  So I had my eye on one and whipped up a red velvet cake with chocolate frosting and cream cheese/marshmallow fluff filling.  Personally I liked the filling more than the frosting but being the chocolate lover Shawn is he was very happy with it.  He didn't even mind that I covered it in flowers. What a sweetie!

Up close it kind of looks like a mess, but move back a ways and I liked it.  Hopefully with more practice it'll look better.

Happy birthday, maybe one day you'll get enough sleep to enjoy your birthday!

Camera Pictures

I've had my phone for about 2 1/2 years now.  And its just about time to get a new one, I just don't feel like spending money on one.  Before we get rid of my phone I wanted to make sure the pictures on my phone weren't lost.  So Shawn being the nice guy he is went ahead and did it for me.

First picture ever taken with my phone.  I thought I was so cool. 

Graham was just a baby!  Look at him!

Caroline and Devin at Cheekwood.  I want to go back there.

He looks so cute in this, I couldn't resist.

Here we are hanging out with friends, and feeding ducks.

Caroline went to a birthday party and they had these mini four wheelers.  I was jealous!

Her first day of school.

Love his face!

Devin freezing at a soccer game.

And helping make Thanksgiving.

And dressed up like Mario.

Being weird.

One of the only times I've gone out with friends. It was really fun.  

I have a ton more on my phone so sorry if I bore you guys and just post a bunch of pictures from my phone.  Lame I know.

End of Soccer and My Boys

The soccer season came and went rather quickly this time around.  I felt like I was having a repeat after last season when Devin broke his arm.  I'm glad its over.  Caroline played after sitting out last season and it was great for her.  Somehow she was more confident this year than she has ever been and is really excited about playing in the spring.  We love her team and I'm excited for her to play again.  Devin on the other hand is done playing soccer.  The poor kid got put on a team that had boys a year older than him and after two seasons of breaking his arm he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to be doing at times.  It was frustrating.  So he's going to try something else in the spring, probably tee ball, which Shawn is really excited about.
In other news I spent a good 20 minutes cleaning blood out of my carpet this morning because of the boys.  Devin was blocking the stairs and wouldn't let Graham down so Graham head butted him and gave him a bloody nose.  I was a little freaked out to see Devin walk down the stairs with blood streaming down his face.  It looked much worse than it actually was but since it happened a minute before leaving for the bus we I got to take the kids to school myself.  Which really isn't a huge deal because we live 2 minutes away, I just thought I'd be a little dramatic by adding it in.  So the morning was off to a great start, or really a typical start with these boys.  We need more girls in this house!