Brookelyn's (early) Birthday Party

Since Brookelyn's birthday is in July when school is out, we decided to have her party early.  So Friday was her special day to celebrate!

Here is her posing before school:

She knew for months that she wanted a few girls to spend the night.  So, while she was at school Honey, Barby, Emily, and I got things ready.  We made the table look like a bed, Emily brought the Hello Kitty balloons, and we filled the girls' "swag bags" with goodies.  Here are some pictures of the table:

Each little girl got a bag with her name on it filled with girly goodies.

Brookelyn made hostess gifts for Aunt B, Honey, and Emily.  Don't they look cute in their aprons?! They were such a HUGE help at the party.  They painted nails, served food, cleaned up, and made all the little girls feel super special!

Uncle David joined in the fun too--he dealt a round of cards to the girls!

Here are the girls eating dinner.  Aren't they adorable! Brookelyn is so lucky to have such great friends!

The boys ate out on the deck.  Daddy joined them when he got home from work, and then the boys went down to Uncle Davids to play Wii!

After dinner, it was time to get beautiful! Here is Aunt B painting nails:

I did everyone's hair.  They were all so good to sit still and let me give them fancy braids.

 Honey also painted nails:

Emily helped the girls dry their nails extra quick with the blow-dryer:

Here is a "wide view" of all the fun:

Then it was time to decorate the cupcakes! The girls used rainbow nerds and strawberry shortcake and cotton candy flavored icing.

Here are the "Hello Kitty colored" cupcakes.  I initially planned for Walmart to make them, but they couldn't do multi-colored cupcakes, so Pinterest came to the rescue.

After the cupcakes were heaped high with icing and nerds, it was time to sing to the princess!

She made a big wish... 

Here are all the little divas (I had their shirts all made and delivered to them with their invitations):

Funny faces:

They were all just so adorable and polite! Here they are in their pjs getting ready to settle down, watch a movie, and go to bed:

I had to include this photo...check out B-Man on the couch.  He had returned from Uncle David's and wanted to participate in all the fun!

The girls were all asleep by 10 and awake at 6:15 the next morning.  I thought that was pretty good for them being so little.  Breakfast was little cereal boxes (they made the spoons as a craft the night before), pancakes, hash browns, and fruit.

Everyone was gone by 9:15 that morning, and we were off to Brookelyn's t-ball game and then her recital at 1:00 (another post to follow soon).  Happy (early) Birthday to the most amazing, smart, perfect little princess a Mommy and Daddy could hope for! We love you more than you know, Brookelyn!

Gentry Safari Park Field Trip

We got back from San Antonio late Tuesday night, and Thursday morning I was a chaperone on Brookelyn's field trip to the Gentry Safari Park.  Of course, little brother tagged along.  That morning I just walked the kids into school so I could help Mrs. Scott, Brookelyn's teacher, get her classmates ready to go.  Then, Braedyn and I walked across the street to get into my car and follow the busses 35 minutes to the Safari Park.  Once we finally got there, I unloaded all our gear and then went to get Braedyn out of the car.  That is when he told me he couldn't find his shoe.  I nonchalantly helped him look on the floorboards to find it, but after a quick glance didn't locate it, I started to get worried.  But, HOW could someone lose a shoe in THE CAR? I frantically pulled out all the car seats, looked in the front floorboards, the backseat pockets, the trunk--EVERYWHERE! no. shoe.  Honestly, I don't think I have been that mad in a long time.  How was I supposed to chaperone 19 kindergarteners with a one-shoed four year old?!  After a mini-mommy tantrum, I picked up Braedyn and got on the bus to drive through and see the animals.  Afterwards, I CARRIED him for TWO HOURS around the petting zoo and animal cages.  Along the way, another mom stopped me and commented on his missing shoe.  Embarrassed, I started to explain, but she stopped me to say that she had seen HIS SHOE by the stop sign ACROSS the STREET from the school! That meant that Braedyn had lost his shoe while walking to our car before we left and DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING! Really, four year old boys baffle me.

Here is the little offender feeding a goat while sitting on a rock (there was poop everywhere on the ground).  Notice the missing shoe!

 And, here is the princess, totally un-phased by all the drama:

Braedyn hopped on a big lion with the girls to take a cute picture (besides, my arms were KILLING ME)! Notice, the missing shoe...again!

Long story short, Mrs. Scott called the school secretary and had her walk across the street to retrieve Braedyn's flip-flop, the field trip was a success, and I got one heck of a bicep work out!

Our First Triathlon

While on our vacation to San Antonio, we had a BIG EVENT to complete--our first triathlon! The race was actually in Austin, so on Sunday we drove up to get our packets and check in our bikes.  It was exciting! Here we are after we got our bikes checked in:

This is a picture of the Transition Area, where everyone puts all their bikes and gear and comes between swimming and biking and biking and running.

The next morning, we woke up super early and drove back to Austin.  If I said I wasn't nervous, I would be lying.  I went through worrying about the water temperature, falling off my bike, not being able to finish the run, and being mad that I had to run the race without my iPod and Allen (girls and boys have different start times)! Here we are right before we headed down to the water for my start:

Allen saw me off at the starting line, and thank goodness the water temperature was fine.  However, swimming in open water was A LOT different than my swims at the pool.  I hated not being able to see through the murky, seaweed filled water, and I felt nervous with all the flailing legs and arms around me.  I ended up breast-stroking a lot of the race purely so I could see where I was going and who was about to hit me! My mom snapped this picture of me as I came out of the water and headed to get on my bike:

 

Meanwhile Allen was getting ready for his heat!  Here he is with the kiddos:

My mom also managed to get a picture of him coming out of the water.  Love the outfit!

And, here we are after the race! It was so wonderful to cross the finish line with family cheering for us! Thank you to everyone who came to support us, and who supported us along the way as we trained!

But, there is no rest for the crazy--we have already signed up for our next one!

Aquatica

The day after Sea World, we headed to Aquatica--the brand new water park attached to Sea World.  The kids swam in all the different little pools, went on a bunch of slides, played in the kids play areas, and even rode one big water raft ride.  However, the highlight was swimming with and feeding the stingrays!
After washing off in an ice cold shower, they led us to a huge shallow pool filled with over 300 stingrays.  The water was FRIGID! But, we all soon forgot about the water because TONS of stingrays swam right up to us, brushed against us, sucked against our legs and toes, and even flapped their fins against us! It was a bit freaky if I am totally honest.  If that wasn't crazy enough, we were given frozen fish to feed them! We held the fish like "an ice cream cone" and the stingrays would suck it out of our hands.  The kids loved it (although Braedyn lost it at one point--he recovered) and even Honey enjoyed herself!

This is seriously one of the coolest experiences I have ever had! So glad we got to share it with Honey, Sashi, Kelly, and Ace!

Sea World San Antonio

It had been WAY too long since we had seen Honey, Sashi, The Evans, and Aunt B, so we loaded up the kiddos and headed to San Antonio.  First on the agenda was Sea World!

Here are the kids and Sashi waiting to ride a huge water roller coaster:

And, here are the boys as we head up to the top of the coaster.  Can you see little Braedyn between them.  He was none to pleased that the first portion of the ride went backwards!

You can see part of the ride in the background of this picture.  After the ride, the kiddos wanted to wait along the fence, so they could get blasted with water as the roller coaster came down a huge hill.

I think this photo is hilarious! Allen was being a sweet hubby and waiting with them to get drenched, but he tried to escape at the last minute!

 The Three Musketeers waiting for a ride.

One really cool activity at Sea World is feeding the animals.  Here the kids have little trays of dead fish that they were about to drop to the Sea Lions.  Those little fish smelled TERRIBLE, and the smell stuck to your fingers! But the kids loved it!

Later, the kids got a chance to feed and pet the dolphins.  Brookelyn took to it right away!

Braedyn was a little more hesitant, but he eventually got into it too!

We had an amazing day!  I didn't take my camera because I was worried about it getting messed up, so my pictures are all from my iPhone.  Wish I could have captured more of the fun!

Track and Field Day

A couple of weeks ago (yes, I am behind), Brookelyn's school had Track and Field Day.  Each student got to participate in three events--Brookelyn chose the softball throw, the 100m dash, and the 50m dash. Here she is right before the softball throw:

Between the softball throw and her other races, she indulged little brother to follow her around.  Aren't they cute?!

Then, it was time to get ready for her 100m dash.  Here she is all ready to go:

After the 100m dash, she had to get ready for the 50m dash.  She had the hang of things by then and put on her "ready face":

And, then she was off...

It was such a fun afternoon cheering her and her classmates on!

Brookelyn's Celebration Book

At Brookelyn's school, they offer Celebration Books--a book celebrating your child.  So, we purchased one to celebrate Brookelyn's 6th birthday (it isn't until July, but since school won't be in session then she was presented with it early).  She picked out a crafting book--no surprise since crafting is her FAVORITE thing to do.  Then, school volunteers decorated the inside cover with her picture, a message from us, and decorations showing things she likes (dance).  She gets to take it home for two weeks to enjoy, and then it goes back into the library for everyone to check out.  I think it is such a great idea that benefits the kids and the school.

Here is Brookelyn accepting her book at a school assembly:

And, this is what the inside cover looks like:

We love you, Brookelyn!