Pirate Party for 2!

After much planning, we finally had the kids' Pirate Party. This party was for my youngest girl and my only boy so it had to be unisex and something they would both like! I was going to do Pirates & Pixies but didn't really like the pixie part of it so we went with Pirates and did a pink and black theme! There is some really cute stuff out there and fun ideas too! I wanted it to be easy for me and Daniel during the party and with activities that young kids could do without too much fuss. I made all the food ahead of time so noone was cooking or prepping anything during the party. I'm sure this is a no brainer but I'm not always satisfied with food like that. I actually ordered the cake from Wal-mart and after a peptalk felt so much better about that decision. I just didn't have time to do the big Pirate Ship cake like I wanted to and I knew that added stress wasn't worth it, so I let someone else do it and it was perfectly fine. {party wreath I did quick but is cute and versatile!}
We also had planned on the birthday party being on a Friday night, of their birthday weekend but decided with family in it would be too hectic, so we switched weekends. I really loved having the party on a Friday evening and loved even more having my Saturday to relax and do nothing. I printed the invitations from a Pinterest link and loved that they worked for both boy and girl.Our menu was: hotdogs (in a crockpot), Pioneer Woman's prairie sushi (tortilla cream cheese & turkey rolls), mini PB&Js, mini pimento cheese sandwiches, goldfish, chips, frozen grapes, strawberries, raisins, cake and icecream cones. I had chocolate rolos and chocolate coins around the house and I'm pretty sure my kids ate only those and Capri Suns the entire night!
We had a great turn out and it was just the right number of guests, about 15 kids. Most of the people were from MOPS and the kids' school, so they knew eachother and played wonderfully together! It was nice getting the husbands together since the moms hang out already.
The 1st thing I had the little pirates do was pop a balloon to earn their eye patch! Then they were to go to the backyard to walk the plank (a balance beam made by Daniel) to get their polka dot bandana. The next thing to earn was a gold gabloon necklace and they played a ring toss pirate ship game, thanks to the McLeans loaning it to me.
The favorite activity of the party was the treasure chest hunt aka digging through sand box for coins, necklalces, rings, bubbles, & jewels. They did this for hours and then my kids have done it numerous times since then. The kids also loved the trampoline and swingset as usual. Another thing I had planned was face painting. I wanted to get a babysitter to come and do this, but couldn't find one, so a mom was nice enough to do this and the older kids loved it as well! This was the other favorite activity of the party.I was shocked Hayes let my friend completely paint his face. He was a puppy dog and very proud of it! The dads also were in charge of making balloon swords, but ended up just making whatever they could figure out, like a puppy or flower. Once again, the kids loved this!
Right before we sang Happy Birthday and had cake the kids got their mini treasure chests and got to decorate them with stick on jewels! I really liked these and they are a pretty good size for a party favor!
It was a fun party and the kids loved all their presents they got! The cake was yummy and the icecream cones were a hit! So what if I took hardly any pictures and the kids ended up looking more like they went to a carnival than a pirate party..they had a blast and Georgia was super sweet and said, "thank you Mommy for letting my friends come over and having a birthday party for me!"
Happy Birthday to my sweet Georgia and Hayes!

Mother of the Year award has already been handed out.

Sorry ladies, it's all mine! For now, anyways.. I mean, I am always doing things that make me feel like Mother of the Year! Now before you get all jealous on me and think that I don't deserve such a thing just hear me out. You too may feel like you could handle that title a time or two in your 'career' of motherhood!Last night, we had free tickets, with a fun group of friends, to go see Blake Shelton in concert, including dinner, open bar and an auction. We were even going to have a driver, but Daniel said that was just silly when his pregnant wife would surely be sober and could drive the whole bunch herself! It's only a mere 30 minutes away. I only have to deal with the excitement from the 6 people riding with us and their awesome and helpful directions. Not to mention the wine bottles and champagne aromas floating around the car. It was a fun 30+ minutes there - and back! And no that's not my hat and I didn't wear it most of the night. Daniel found it and the other girl wore it and looked way cuter in it, I just was holding it for her, when she had to leaver early because of one too many drinks! At one point she hands me this drink that looked like water and said "this must be your drink, it's water!" I said oh ok...tried it and thought...No, that's not water. HA! She still didn't believe me though!
Nevertheless, I am always up for a concert, did I mention it was free?! I am always up for free and always up for free-dom from the kids for a few hours! I found a sitter after much calling around who could stay for a few hours then my father in law, Sam, was going to be here to take over the reigns of sleeping kids until we got home around midnight! I was excited and so ready to go! I honestly like the people we were riding and it was entertaining to hear them go on and on and on about nothing much! My being pregnant was a big source of "I feel so bad for you having to deal with us" and "I'm sorry you can't drink" and "what do you think you're having?" and "Oh, I miss being pregnant!"(I swear I didn't see this picture until today and probably would have freaked..some things are better left unseen by a Momma!)
We showed up to the big white tent and took our seats for a steak dinner and open bar. There was a nice live auction, but I was hoping for a silent auction. I'm not brave enough for the live ones but love "winning" something on the silent ones! After dinner and drinks and meeting a Senator, we were just about ready to head over the the arena for the concert when I felt my phone vibrate. I had a missed call and a text from Sam asking us to call. It was 8:25. I had a tinge of worry in me, so I made Daniel call. I hear Daniel saying, "So the blood stopped?" - that is just what every mom wants to hear, right?!Georgia got these pups at the hospital and are now her new faves..Don't they look just like someone else in our family..Dixie and Gauge..and that is what she named them and they now have gone everywhere with us and got checked up at the hospital already from Dr. Georgia!

Our friends were all around us talking and laughing and all I was trying to do was read Daniel's face to catch an idea of what was happening. He tells Sam to 'get her in the car and head to the ED and I'll put in a call and let them know you're coming.' Daniel hangs up and tells George, his work friend, to call the ED and let them know Georgia is on her way with a gash in her head. All the while I'm still lost as to what happened. Daniel explains what he knows which isn't much. Georgia fell and cut her head. The blood stopped. Thankfully, the babysitter was still there and Sam was too so he could take her and the sitter could watch the other 2. That was a huge blessing and probably dictated what happened the next few hours.
So, while walking towards the concert we called and texted and tried to get info about the severity of the situation. George talked to the charge nurse and she was aware of them coming and would be in contact with us letting us know exactly what was going on. That was also huge! We really did think about leaving and our friends were going to go with us and were supportive but we were torn. What could we really do to change anything other than be by her side for comfort - which I wanted so badly? Sam had it under control. G wasn't crying, the ED (which I still call the ER) was wonderful, took them back immediately, got her a new pink t-shirt and then fixed up with stickers and stuffed animals.
So, we stayed in close contact with Sam and the nurse, found out the dr on call was 'the best' - like they would say otherwise - and felt better when the nurse texted that Georgia was great, didn't need a ct scan but would need stitches. Sam said she hadn't cried and the babysitter was fine at the house with the other 2, who were sleeping. At this point Blake Shelton was about to start, already heard Jarod Neiman, so we decided to stick it out.
Honestly, I was relieved to not have to be there for the stitches. I had to do that with Emmaline when she was 17 months and it was not fun for either of us.
(Emmaline with her 2 stitches!)
Way worse than shots and just so sad. I even mentally already planned on Daniel having to take her to get them taken out. That plan has failed already.

Here we are enjoying our 2nd row seats at the concert. I don't really understand when people record every song on their cell phones at a concert? Do you really go home and watch it back? I guess I can't imagine doing that more than once. I did take a few pictures for the ole blog though. I did enjoy when Blake sung Cee-lo's "Forget you" song among his usual favorites!
We got home at midnight. It was a long evening, fun, but slightly stressful but I knew she was being cared for wonderfully. Sam filled us in when we got home. They gave her numbing gel then did the stitches. She made it part of the way through then needed a shot to better numb the area. She ended up with 6 stitches. The only time she cried was when 3 men held her down for the stitches and the shot. Then he said she was fine once she allowed to get up. She never complained of a headache so that was good. She also didn't want to tell anyone what happened. She told me this morning that Emmaline had pushed her off Hayes' bed and she hit her head on the green toy. Guess we need to throw that toy out, right!?! So the truth came out and there was an apology.
Georgia has been a trooper and not complained at all. Sam was a hero and he and Georgia definitely had some bonding time! The sitter felt so bad because she was sweeping the playroom and not with the kids when it happened. Not a big deal. I probably wouldn't have been in there either. You can't control everything!

So that is how I earned my Mother of the Year award! I stayed at a country music concert while my 4 year old got stitches in her forehead. And I actually managed to have fun. And so did Baby #4 who is half way done baking!! I did rush to her side about 3 times through the night to check on her and kept her home from school, though she wanted to go. We had a fun day and I gave in to her every whim - donuts, painting, lunch out, cartoons and cuddles!
What have you done to earn Mother of the Year title lately??

The Quack Pack

You might be a true Big Brother fan if you immediately thought of that show and started doing the quack hand motion and saying: 'quack quack' I'm just saying..BB ended this past week and it is a show Daniel and I like. I love that it takes up so many nights of tv in the summer when nothing else is really on! So happy Ian won and relieved that Dan didn't. I mean, what would America be coming to if he was voted the win..I shudder to think about it..November will tell us enough, though. So me and my littles, as people 'round these parts like to call 'em, went to the park today on a little impromptu photo shoot/feed the ducks/play on the playground. I went a bit later than I wanted, no thanks to a lengthy phone call with a friend, so the sun was shining all over the place. I even found the perfect posing tree and while G was loving the idea, HB was not!He had snot flying and didn't care that I was promising candy to him. Oh well, maybe another day. I did get him to stand with his sister by the tree at least! The kids had a blast feeding the ducks, and we even got to see lots of turtles and birds. It was a beautiful morning that ended with Georgia's idea of wanting to eat lunch at Daddy's hospital. We made that happen with a few clicks of our phones and met him at work. We got to eat lunch with some of Daniel's friends.Hayes showed off by refusing to eat anything but Frito's and Georgia showed off by being silly and claiming she 'had no arms!' We even took an elevator trip to sneak a peek at the newborn babies on the 3rd floor. Georgia has recently told me she will love a baby brother as much as a baby sister. That makes my heart happy. She was super sweet at the hospital and oohed and ahhed over how tiny their toes and fingers are! I just know she is going to be my big helper in a few months! Almost half way there to meeting there new brother or sister! We do miss Emmaline during our daily outings, but these are truly pictures of how it is.

Torres family is moving!

Our friends from San Antonio, the Torres family, are moving. Not just, up to Dallas or back to their home state to Tennessee, but to New York! Crazy, I know! Amanda was one of the 1st moms I met when I moved to SA and her girls and mine got along wonderfully from day one! She has always been so kind, outgoing & fun. We had a blast at her Chrismas parties and GNOs. I will definitely miss that! Before they moved, she and her family came down this way to spend some time with hubby's family. They stayed in McAllen so decided to do dinner and pooltime at their hotel one night. We ate at BJs, one of our old faves from SA, and got to chat and enjoy dinner despite the 6 kids that were so excited to see eachother! After dinner we went back to their hotel and changed the kids to swimsuits and headed to the indoor pool! It was a fun night and I am so glad we got to say goodbye to the Torres family. I do hope we can visit them in NYC, maybe a girls' weekend!?! Or at least will see them in SA when they visit. Amanda is a MOPS field leader, so she planned a RGV MOPS meetup for Saturday morning. I was looking forward to having a few hours to myself with moms and breakfast, but then Daniel had to work, so I went to support her with my 3 kids.. hmmm..not really a great idea. I'm glad I went but it wasn't really fun trying to keep the kids happy doing nothing for an extended period of time in Starbucks. Good luck to Amanda and her family of 5! Update your blog so we can see all that snow you live in!!

Hunting Birthday Weekend

Daniel's birthday is smack dab in the throws of hunting season and football season for that matter. For a few years now, this will be our 3rd year, we have gotten together with our families in South Padre Island and spent the weekend hunting, beaching and celebrating birthdays! We always love this time together but this year was different because we live so close to the island so it doesn't seem like such a vacation, ya know what I mean? This is a crazy week for our family - birthdays galore - soon to be 1/2 of my family will celebrate their birthdays within 1 week of eachother. Fun times. Not only is it Daniel, Georgia and Hayes' birthday weekend, it's my Dad's too. He got to spend his actual birthday, the 1st, in Dallas at Cowboy Stadium watching Alabama kill Michigan...In a suite..We missed out! I did get a fun t-shirt from the game though!! So back to our Padre party weekend..it started on Friday technically, but the real fun began when we were supposed to close on our new house on Monday, the same day that Daniel was flying out for the week to Chicago for work. I knew it wasn't going to happen on time and that his trip was going to be an issue. What can I say, I have a mother's intuition even being this new and all to the whole mother-thing..5.5 years is new, right? I did at least move the kids' pirate party to the following Friday instead of trying to squeeze it in on the same weekend. That was a hard decision..seriously, I wrestled with it for some reason. I'm stubborn. Daniel left for the week. I was tired before his plane took off! He was scheduled to return on Friday at 3:45 and his Mom, Thomas & Stephen and their 2 dogs were arriving around the same time! The week goes on, not so bad really, and we do our thing, which includes low key dinner and long baths. Thursday was our 1st MOPS meeting, so I was busy on Wednesday prepping for that and Thursday since I'm on Steering. Sam came and stayed Tuesday night, since he flew in late, which was nice since I rather have another adult in the house over night. The week went by pretty quickly and without any real issues. Thursday afternoon I get a call from our Title Company (since we still hadn't closed) asking if we would be there in the morning to finalize it all and sign. "UMMMM, No! Daniel is out of town and won't be back until tomorrow afternoon. Yes, I'm sure. He would have told me if he was coming home and changed his flight. I will get in touch with him and get back with you!"Yeah, I felt stupid when I finally hear from Daniel who WAS on a flight already to come home so we could close the next morning. I had no idea. He said he was trying to surprise me. Well, he did. But at least we closed with no penalties, though nothing was our fault. The McLeans helped us out at USAA and all is done! Back to our weekend. Friday night we went out to eat at the Longhorn with the Gees. It is yummy BBQ and the banana pudding is great! We spent that night baking cupcakes for the party the next day and opening presents. Saturday we woke up early, packed the car and headed to the island. We spent the morning at the beach with our new cousin Samuel.Lunchtime we had plans for the birthday party at Tom and Jerry's. My parents flew in and arrived at that time. We had Tony, Brandi and Samuel and Stephen. Shelly, Charlie and the other 3 cousins were there (and I have to say our kids love them...they hang all over them!!), and all the grandparents were there! We sang Happy Birthday to G, HB, Daniel and my Dad, ate lunch, opened some gifts and watched football. The kids got Dream Lites Pillow Pets and they love them. Our room was lit up all night long! Before long it was time for the guys to head for the hunting lease. Me and the kids went and took naps at the room and watched the heartbreaking Aggie game against Florida. For their 1st game of the season and SEC opener I think they did wonderful, just couldn't hold on til the end. We met Ashley, Samuel, Shelly and Brandi at the pool then on to the beach for the afternoon. My mom and Sherry joined us. It was nice to get to chat while the kids played for hours. We even ate dinner by the pool and didn't head back to the room until 9:45. The next morning we met for breakfast at Yummies and enjoyed their hot chocolate, apple wheat pancakes and cheese grits! We packed up quickly and headed home after that. It was a really short little trip for us, but nice to not have a long drive. Sunday, we showed the grandparents around the new house, the guys hunted and I did some birthday shopping by myself while the grandmas played card games and babysat. We cooked dove and fish for dinner and ate my homemade key lime pie I made for Daniel, recipe from the Pioneer Woman. Monday morning me, Daniel and my dad hit the road back to the island for our deepsea fishing trip while my mom watched the kids. That was a long but fruitful day, meant for another post. Thanks to everyone for coming so far to be with us and help us celebrate our family's birthdays. The kids had a blast getting to be with everyone and be spoiled by all the attention! We love ya'll and hope to keep the tradition going next year!