Braedyn is FOUR!

We started celebrating Braedyn's birthday on Friday at school!  He has wanted a "witch cake" for a LONG time, as The Wizard of Oz is his all time favorite movie.  So, when he saw this cake at Walmart he did a little dance around the bakery in delight! 

That night, Allen and I put streamers over his door and hung candy from them!  It was so cute to see him bust through in the morning!

Before breakfast, we gave him his presents.  And, after waiting two long years, he received his iPod Touch!

That afternoon, we were SO excited to celebrate Braedyn's BIRTHDAY!   He had decided that he wanted his party at Krispy Kreme--where the kids could all make their own donuts.  And we let him talk us into a pinata at the park afterwards.  Here are the kiddos before Braedyn's guests arrived:

And, here they are with Emily and David! They were sweet enough to come extra early and help us set up (and stay late to help us clean up)!

Wow-and this never happens...a FAMILY picture!

Once all the kiddos arrived, we started the "behind the scenes" tour!  The kids got to learn about all the machines and feel the donut dough.  They were all super excited!

Then, it was time to decorate their donuts! Each guest got to dip their donut into the hot swirling chocolate bucket, and then dump as many sprinkles as they wanted on top!  Here is chef B-Man in action!

And, the princess did a fabulous job on hers too!

Since the kids were already on a sugar high from the donuts, we decided to make a "donut cake" for Braedyn.  I thought it looked adorable!

 Then, it was time to light the candles on the birthday "cake" and sing to the birthday boy!

 He made a big wish, and blew out all his candles!

 He almost ate the entire "cake"!

After everyone was chocked-full of sugar we all loaded up and headed to the park down the street to open presents and do the long awaited pinata! We were so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful family members and friends! A BIG thanks for all of his amazing gifts!

 

 While Braedyn opened his presents, Uncle David and Daddy rigged up the pinata!

 Braedyn got the first shot at the pinata! He hit it HARD!

 Then, the princess took aim!

 The last little boy broke it open, and all the kids scrambled to grab their loot!

 And, we ended the afternoon with the "big kids" shooting off confetti cannons over the kids!

Happy Birthday to our amazing, funny, cuddly, mischievous, smart, handsome, dimpled BIG boy! We LOVE you SO much!

Impromptu Photo Shoot

On Wednesday night, Brookelyn and I gave the sponge rollers a try.  She has a dance recital coming up, and she wants her hair curly so I thought sponge rollers were the way to go.  Well, worried that her hair wouldn't hold the curl, we used the smallest curlers and had her sleep in them.  Needless to say, in the morning her hair was SUPER curly! I thought she looked adorable! So, I had her run outside really quick to snap a few pictures!

And, of course little bro wanted in on the action, so I took a quick one of my little man.  Doesn't he look BIG? Notice his Under Armour shirt? It is his new obsession.  He feels like a "big boy" in it.

Just want to squeeze them both and kiss those cute little cheeks!

Boston with Uncle Jacky

We had the most AMAZING time in Boston visiting Uncle Jacky! We flew in on Saturday afternoon and after dropping our stuff at his house, we headed out to see Harvard.  Here are Brookelyn and Uncle Jacky in Harvard Square:

We had a great lunch outside and met Jacky's parents and sister for dinner that night.  They were so sweet to meet up with us, and we even met his aunt and uncle for dessert! It was so much fun!

The next day we set out for the Boston Aquarium.  It is right on the harbor, so Allen snapped a quick picture of B-Man in front of the gorgeous water.

 

Inside the aquarium the kids were INFATUATED with the stingray and shark petting tank.  They just could not get enough of putting their hands in the water and touching the stingrays and sharks slimy backs. At first Braedyn was scared, but after watching big sis, he was all about it! Here is Brookelyn touching one of the stingrays:

And, here are Allen and Braedyn touching some of the other stingrays.  Needless to say, both kids were soaking wet by the time they finished!

We met up with some of Jacky's friends for lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant, and after walking around for a while longer, headed to a quick dinner and early bedtime.  

Then next day, Uncle Jacky made all of Brookelyn's dreams come true by taking her to the American Girl Doll Store.  To say she was THRILLED is such an understatement.  She loved looking at all the clothes and little accessories! Here she is right before we went in:

And, here she is posing with one of the dolls, McKenna.  You can see Brookelyn brought one of the dolls Uncle Jacky had sent her, and of course she has a bag of goodies that we bought!

 

After shopping for a while, we went back into the city to shop some more! Allen was so sweet--he surprised me with an extra special necklace as an early anniversary present.  It is my first ever piece of jewelry from Tiffany's and I haven't even taken it out of the box yet! I have the bag sitting on my bathroom counter, and I think I am going to wait until the day of our anniversary (May 19th) to open it!

That evening was probably the highlight of the trip--we got to go to a Red Sox game! Our seats were WONDERFUL and the kids were mesmerized the entire game! Here are the kids, Allen, and Uncle Jacky before the game started:

Uncle Jacky surprised the kiddos with baseball hat ice creams! They both felt so special!

And, Uncle Jacky surprised Braedyn with his very own Red Sox shirt! 

 

While we didn't make it home until after midnight, it was so worth the late night for such a fun time! However, our flight left at 6:00 am the next morning, so we had to be up at 3:30 am! Needless to say the kids were exhausted on the flight home! The Princess slept the entire first flight!

And, so did the Little Prince and the King!

We grabbed some food on our layover in Dallas.  The kids looked SO adorable pulling their little suitcases.  I wish I would have gotten a better picture!

And, here they are pulling them toward the baggage claim, back in Arkansas!

A HUGE thank you to Uncle Jacky for being THE BEST host EVER!  It was such a fun vacation that I know the kids will talk about for a long, long time!

Soccer & T-Ball

Braedyn's last soccer game of the season was Saturday. He was SO excited to get a medal! (Brookelyn has earned several medals in her different sporting activities, but this was Braedyn's first time.)

Here he is at the beginning of practice, playing red light-green light with his soccer ball.

Before the kids got their medals, all the parents got together to make a special celebration tunnel for the kids to run through.

I LOVE this picture! Can you tell how proud and in awe he is of his medal? He couldn't stop touching it to make sure it was really there.

So cute! (The Razorback stickers were in preparation for the Red White Game later in the day.)

Here he is posing like a "real" soccer player.
Wow--look at those big muscles and that TOUGH look!
And, here is one shot of Brookelyn from her t-ball game. There will be many more to come, as we have a lot of games left to play. I have to say though, she is doing SO well. Much better than last year. I really think she is catching on. If nothing else, she looks absolutely ADORABLE out there playing!

Brookelyn's First Race

This morning was a VERY special morning! Brookelyn ran her FIRST race, the Kid's Fun Run at the Hogeye in Fayetteville. She has been training for the last couple of months, logging over 25 miles before she ran the last 1.2 on race day. Here she is ready for the race:

She ran the ENTIRE race! We were so proud of her! Mommy ran with her just to make sure she felt good along the route. Here's Mommy and Brookelyn in action:
Uncle David cheered her on from the sidelines!
Emily and David were so sweet to come out and cheer her on! She felt SO special!
Daddy and Braedyn cheered her on too! We can't wait until Braedyn can run with her!

Great job Brookelyn! Oh, and her "un-offical time" was 10 minutes and 40 secs. Amazing!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter this year! I took the kids to a local park a couple of weeks ago and snapped their Easter picture.

On Saturday we went to a local Easter egg hunt. They dropped the eggs by HELICOPTER, so the kids were super excited to check it out! They didn't want to stop to let me take their picture, so this is the best shot I got:
Here is the helicopter dropping the eggs:

Saturday night (Easter Eve) we started a new tradition (thank you Kerryanne). The Easter Bunny dropped off "magic jelly beans" at Daddy's office for the kids to plant the night before he came. They planted them outside in a planter on the deck. (Yes, they are naked. We worked in the yard ALL afternoon, and they were so dirty I made them strip before they came inside. They were headed upstairs for a bath, but couldn't wait to plant their "magic jelly beans"!)

On Easter morning they followed the trail of eggs and candy from their beds, down the stairs, and to the fireplace hearth!
But, before they got to their goodies from the Easter Bunny, they spied their magic beans that had grown into HUGE lollipops!! (And yes, again, my son is pants-less, but at least he has on underwear in this picture!)
Brookelyn was most excited about new panties from Justice!
And, Braedyn got his first set of Legos!
We had a wonderful afternoon working in the yard, playing in the sprinklers, and just being together!