Birthday Party Cookout

We always host a big family cookout in the fall to celebrate Leah & Joshua's birthdays, since they're less than a month apart. We enjoy lots of yummy food and fun times in the backyard, where the adults can talk and the kids can play. They loved riding in the Dune Racer (that Joshua & Leah got for Christmas last year from my parents), playing with balloons, playing kickball and golf, and enjoying our play structure...and riding the new scooters that Joshua and Leah got from Grandma Martha and Granddaddy Bernie for their birthdays! The weather was 100% NC fall perfection and it was the perfect afternoon and evening for the party.

The funny thing about the kids' party this year was that I also got chosen to host a Butterball House Party the same weekend, so we combined the two events, had most of our food costs covered, and had some fun toys, gifts, & coupons to send home with everyone.

We loved getting to have everyone over to celebrate the birthdays of our sweet Joshua and sassy Leah!

 Hannah wearing the turkey hat

from our House Party pack

I think she's the only one who could

pull off looking cute in this thing! 

Smiley girl, wearing dinner on

her face, and happily awaiting

her cupcake! 

Handsome Will 

Precious Janie 

Cutie Pie Ellie 

Singing for Joshua (I can't believe

he'll be 5 years old on Tuesday!!) 

My handsome guy :) 

Beautiful Lisa with baby Nora 

Mining for gold as we sang

Happy Birthday to her--ha! 

Blowing out her candle--

my big 3 year old! 

Enjoying that chocolate cupcake! 

A quick group picture at the end

of the night with everyone except

Jon and myself

Vacation!

We finally had our summer vacation (it was the last official week of summer, so we just squeezed it in!) and enjoyed a week down at Myrtle Beach. My sweet parents had extra points at their time share and got us a wonderful 2 bedroom unit for the week with a full kitchen, living room, and 2 huge bathrooms! The kids shared a room for the first time ever--they each had their own beds, and lots of chatting and giggling took place (and a good bit less sleep than usual!) Hannah slept in her pack-n-play in our bathroom, so she had a room all to herself ;)

We spent every morning at the pool and lazy river (all 3 of my kiddos are total water babies! Hannah fits right in with my other little fish) and did a fun outing every afternoon after naps--the beach, the park, putt-putt golf, the aquarium...we had a blast! The weather was perfect the whole time, too. David was there with us for the first half of the week, and when he headed back to work, my mom came down for the rest of the week. For the kids' birthdays, she treated them to Build-A-Bear (for Leah) and Ride Makerz (for Joshua). SO FUN! We're so thankful for such a fun and relaxing (well, as relaxing as a vacation with 3 little ones can be!) week. As usual, I tend to just enjoy the moment and forget to take pictures, but my mom made sure I got a picture of each of the kids with their creations--so we have a whopping 2 pictures from our week! :)

Leah with her puppy Sparkle

Joshua with his Ford Mustang

(please notice the bright green rims--

his very favorite color--on the red

and yellow Mustang)

"Crawling"

Hannah's got her own little version of "crawling" these days...I say, whatever works! :)

Whose shoes?

So, I know that lots of little girls like to put on their mommy's shoes and wear them around the house...but this little girl likes to put on her brother's old shoes and wear them around. My silly little tomboy who wants to be just like her big brother :)

Happy birthday, Leah!

We spent Labor Day weekend down at the coast with my parents and had such a nice time! My mom made birthday cupcakes for Leah and we did candles and singing on Saturday AND Sunday because the kids had so much fun with it. Leah kept blowing on her cupcake even after the candles were gone, and then with all of us laughing at that, proceeded to eat her cupcake without using her hands...you can imagine the mess that followed :) Joshua got in on the candles and singing too, since his birthday is a month away.

We went to dinner at Moe's tonight to celebrate Leah's actual birthday--her favorite restaurant (and on Tuesdays, kids' meals are free--bonus!) They gave her a second cookie for free for her birthday, so she was in food heaven! I'm constantly amazed at how much food she can put away there. She was so proud to tell the cashier, "I'm three!" when she was asked how old she turned today. We love our sassy, spunky, funny, precious Leah!