Henry's 5th Birthday Party

In the heart of December, we traveled to College Station for Henry's 5th birthday part at the College Station Museum of Science.  They had an adorable party room set up and ready for fun.  The kids entertained themselves by playing with plush snakes and frogs while they waited to eat snacks.



Next, they traveled to a room where museum employees brought out real animals for them to touch and learn about.  They were a rapt audience!



Henry was so brave and said that yes he would pet the snake.  When they got to Emmy, she gave them a you-are-freaking-crazy look and said, "No thanks."



Lincoln entertained himself by crawling around on the floor looking for pieces of lint to put in his mouth. Oh the joys of having tiny humans.  It was super exciting to get to see Avery!!



The next station was in another room where the children got to decorate foam snakes.  Emmy showed off her mad penmanship skills and wrote her name on her snake.  Thanks Methodist for making me look like a rock star at the party!



We went back to the party room and had cake.  It was adorable, and Henry seemed to think it tasted pretty good too!



After they finished cake, the kids went on a scavenger hunt in the museum, and I stayed in the main room to hang out and talk to Lauren.  Can you believe that no so long ago, we were high school kids trying to decide if we wanted Taco Bell or McDonald's for lunch?  Now we both have two babies and we are throwing birthday parties and doing our best to adult.  Time is crazy!





We had a great time at the party, and we sure are going to miss these guys while they venture off to Oklahoma for a new adventure.  I'm betting they will come back to visit though!

Emmy's Bow-tique

If fun and fashion are what you seek, you're always welcome at Emmy's Bowtique.


For her fourth birthday, Emmy chose to have a Minnie Mouse party.  Since we were about a month into having a new baby, I thought this was a fabulous idea.  I could go to Party City and buy decorations and we could have a low key affair.   I'm sure you can guess how that turned out. 

I really had the best intentions on not going overboard, but my mom kept egging me on and so we had to put a few extra "projects" in.  Without further ado, here is Emmy's Bowtique.  The kids seemed to have a great time, and I'm glad that Emmy got to choose something that she really does love right now.

I bought lots of hair bows at Sam Moon and we made these little center pieces.  I could have done more to them, but we were taking it "easy".  :)




My cousin had a Minnie party for her daughter too, so she sent me some of there left over decorations.  CHA-CHING.  I told her we can do this every year. These were the best kinds of leftovers.



Lincoln decided that there needed to be a little Mickey at the party too.





I tried to get pictures of as many of the kids as I could by the Minnie wall.



BUT some of them preferred to be outside on the bounce houses.  Can you imagine that?  Shout out to my dad and Brad for setting up not one but two bounce houses.  I was shocked when I went outside.





Rae of course made some of her beautiful creations after the catastrophe that I caused last year.  They were beautiful and delicious.





Fun was had by everyone!









When it was time to come in, you could tell that everyone was having a good time by the color in their cheeks and the sweat in their hair.  That's four-year-old speak for good times.


We served Pizza Hut pizza, and that really did save a ton of time. The only food that Mom and I made was a few dips and a fruit tray.  That took a lot of stress off of us day of, and it was really a lot cheaper.





We played a fun game called pass the Lincoln.  You can tell that he was enjoying every minute of it.



It was finally time for the birthday girl to have her moment.  I love the way the crepe paper background looks in the photos.  Best two hours I spent on this party.  (Yes, that took two hours).





She was so sweet and happy to have a cupcake.



Everyone else enjoyed them too.





I kept this party on track, and we started opening gifts.







She got so many pretty things, and there was Minnie Mouse stuff overflowing.  You can tell from that smile how she felt about all the Minnie stuff.



It was a great party, and it lasted just over two hours.  That's like a record for us folks.  This proved to me that you can have a good party where everyone has fun without doing "every" pinterest project that you pinned.  Maybe next year we will really do a simple party.

I wouldn't hold your breath.

Happy Fourth Birthday Emmy Baby!  We love you lots, and we hope that you had a bowtiful day at your party!

Jason's Birthday

Jason and Wendy were down for Jason's birthday this year, so we knew that we needed to do something fun for him.  We had already exhausted all of the local places by this point in their visit, so we knew needed to get into the car and drive.

Jason likes Italian food, so we settled on Maggiano's in Downtown Houston.  The food and atmosphere were divine, and we had a blast trying a mix of appetizers, entrees and desserts.





















After we finished eating, it was already pretty late because of the slow service at the restaurant. We kept joking that our waiter had gone home for the night, and then he came back and made (what we hope was) a joke about falling asleep in the back.  Next, we headed out to Katy to see what Top Golf was all about.  By the time we got there, the place was BUSY.  It was like being at a club.  There was an hour wait for a space, so we hung out and people watched to pass the time.

Although Wendy and I couldn't actually play, it was a neat experience and one I would do again.  Britt and the boys had a great time trying to best each other's best score.







All good things must come to end, so we finally drove back into El Campo at the ripe time of 2:45.  My mom is a saint and was still up playing with the little girls in the living room because Marlee cried when they tried to go to sleep.  Emmy is a night owl too, so it was no problem for her to literally still be running laps around the room at this time.

Happy Birthday Old Man Jason.  Hope you had as much fun as we did.

My 28th Birthday

My birthday started off in a very promising nature, but it took a nose-dive early on.  I got to work and before I could finish with my second class, the daycare called and said that Emmy was sick.  I finished my class and went to pick her up.  After a quick trip home for medicine, I went to Mom's house to eat the lunch that we had planned. 

My cousin, Kayela, saved the day and stayed with Emmy.  I had already planned to leave school by 3:00 so that I could make it to my doctor's appointment.  By the time I got there to pick her up, I was already starting to sneeze and run fever as well.

We got to the doctor's office, and the appointment went well.  My family was meeting us in Rosenberg to have dinner, so we decided to brave it.  Emmarie and I were both feeling shaky and not at our best, but we did our best to enjoy our dinner.

I really do have a great family!



Notice the sleepy eyes on grumpy gills in the following photo.



There were lots of presents and singing involved as well.







Even though it wasn't the dream day that I had imagined, it was still a great day.  I was surrounded by the people I love and they made me feel very special.  What more could a girl ask for?