She Likes To Party

We had Abby's birthday party this past Sunday. It was supposed to be at a park. However, weather.com was toying with me all week long with it's forecast for a 60% chance of rain on Sunday.

Let me just say here that Florida is experiencing a drought. There has been NO rain and plenty of fires because of it. Except, you know, on the day we have an outside party planned. I watched enough weather reports on TV to practically consider myself a meteorologist, and I drove the people around me crazy with my high level of stress.

Would it rain? Would it not rain? Why does Mother Nature dislike me so? And, why in the world do the weather people have the only job where it really doesn't matter if they are right? Things change on a dime and then they just shrug their shoulders and move on to the next front coming through...

Anyway, on Friday I finally waved the white flag and called Miss Cassie at My Gym. I knew it was a long shot, but I asked her if they had a party time available on Sunday.

In two days.

And she saved the day and said, yes, they could host the party from 4-6 on Sunday. No, she was not working. But, yes, she would come in just for us!

I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Returned almost everything I had bought. Called every single person on our party list. And then prayed and prayed for lots of rain to justify all this extra work.

Abby totally rolled with the changes because she loves My Gym and Miss Cassie. See, here's proof!


Abby also loves her best friend, Sherilyn. These are two of the fanciest girls I have ever met!


After some free play, Miss Cassie had the kids sit in a circle with Abby in the middle. Each child introduced themselves and then was to say something nice to Abby. She loved the attention!


Here the kids are all lined up and receiving instructions for the first of many fun games. Miss Cassie and Miss Laura did such a great job - all of the kids were really into the games and had a blast!


One of the games was chase. While watching the kiddos run around in circles, my brother turned to my sister's boyfriend and began talking smack about how he would beat him in a game of chase.


That gave me an idea. So, I went over to Miss Cassie with my suggestion. Next thing we knew - Austin, Adam, and Kyle had their very own turn!

Oh. My. Word.

Y'all, it was funny. The kind of funny where your sides hurt from laughing so hard and your eyes water with tears and you are still talking about it the whole next week whenever you see someone who was at the party.

The chase finally ended when Adam leaped through the air, horizontal to the ground, and finally tagged Kyle.

Awesome.


As fun as it was, the focus went back to the kids!


This little boy owns my heart.


All kinds of fun was had in the ball pit...






Abby got to sit up high on the swing while the kids marched in a circle around her singing Happy Birthday. She loved every second of it!


Admiring her cake...


Make a wish!


This little girl is sweeter than sugar. And her parents adore her.


She wanted a piece with a big, pink flower on it. Girlfriend only likes the icing - she won't touch the cake part!


Down the zip line...all the kids loved this!


Abby really wanted to have a princess pinata at her party. It had to be a pull-string one because we couldn't use a bat at the gym. The kids didn't seem to mind and they all got plenty of candy!


The party couldn't have been more of a success. The place/time change didn't keep anyone from being able to be there. My Gym is so much fun - and - so little work for the parents since Miss Cassie and Miss Laura handled almost everything. The kids had a terrific time - there were smiles all around!

We came home and watched Abby (with some help from Drew) open all of her presents. She was in heaven - surrounded by princesses, barbies, polly pockets, and other assorted treasures.

It had been a busy, fun-filled birthday celebration. And these two munchkins had a great time!



More family pictures coming tomorrow on Abby's birthday!!

The Boys

The day after the Daddy-Daughter dance was set aside for some Father-Son fun! As I mentioned before, Drew's baseball team this season is the Yankees. Matt thought it would be fun to take Drew to a Yankees Spring Training game over in Tampa. So, they got suited up in their Yankees jerseys and headed off for a fun afternoon!


They arrived at Legends Field, walked around for a bit, and got a program. Drew was so excited to see the "grown up Yankees" play!







Oh my word. That kid is cute!!

They had great seats - very close to the field and right at first base behind the Yankees dugout. Matt wanted Drew to be able to see all the action up close so it would hold his interest. And, it worked! Drew had a great time watching the game. He called the plays as they happened and took lots of pictures all by himself!


They had a great time watching the game. The Braves beat the Yankees, but these guys are still big fans!



Their fun day continued on after the game. Since they were in Tampa, they decided to spend the night at Aunt Denise and Uncle Matt's house. Drew had a blast playing with his cousins, Ryan and Tyler.

What a fun day for my two favorite guys!

Daddy's Little Girl

We saw the notice in the church newspaper a long time ago and last Friday night it had finally arrived.

The Daddy-Daughter Dance.

As soon as we saw it, Matt and I knew that Abby would love it. She loves dancing, pretty dresses, and, above all, her daddy. It was perfect and we couldn't wait to tell her. We got her a fancy dress for Valentine's Day and then daddy explained where she was going to be wearing the special dress.

She clapped her hands, giggled, and jumped up and down with delight. Then, he explained that one of her very favorite friends, Sherilyn, was also going to the dance with her daddy.

It was simply more than Abby could take. She was beyond excited!!

We waited with great anticipation for the big night. On the morning of the dance, Abby crawled into bed with us and chattered on and on about their special evening ahead. In fact, she told me, "Mama, I just don't think I can go to school today. I should just get ready for the dance!"

Abby loves flowers so we thought this pretty, pink corsage would be a big hit. Her reaction did not disappoint - she loved it!








A practice twirl before the dance!


These fancy girls sure are pretty in pink!





From what I heard, they had an AMAZING time at the dance! There was lots of dessert...


Balloon animals (Abby's is a flower sword)...


And, of course, dancing!



They also had a prayer service. The girls made a promise to live a pure life and the daddies promised to protect them and to be a good role model.

It was an evening that Abby won't soon forget, and I know for sure that her daddy will always treasure that memory.

Heartbreaker

Drew's school had an event today called Trek for Tech. The students ask for donations, walk laps during school, and then the money is collected to purchase computers/technology for the school.

I volunteered to help with the event and I was so excited when it was finally time for the kindergartners to come out for their turn to walk laps. I love Drew's class - they are adorable and I have so much fun with them every Friday when I dividend at the school.

I watched as Drew and his classmates began their walk. After a few laps, I saw one of the girls in Drew's class run up to him and grab his hand. They walked holding hands for several laps and I could not believe how incredibly cute it was! I took their picture with my camera phone. I have no way to upload it to my computer so I took a picture of my phone with my regular camera.

The memory is just too sweet not to share...



When we got home, I asked him if she was his girlfriend (I've seen them holding hands at running club before and last week when we were leaving running club she came over to hug him goodbye). He smiled shyly and said, "I don't know. I guess I'll have to ask her. But I think so."

When did my precious baby boy get so big? He just breaks my heart with his sweetness.

Guess Who?

The new "game of choice" around here is Guess Who.

Star Wars Edition.

It must be pretty clear by now that almost everything we do around here seems to somehow involve Star Wars. In fact, Abby and I spent the day together Saturday while Matt and Drew went to Tampa to watch the Yankees play the Braves. Late in the afternoon, after playing with her baby dolls, I asked her if she wanted to watch a movie. Since her brother wasn't around, I began suggesting princess movies: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, etc. She shook her head, adjusted the pink fluffy blanket on her favorite baby doll, frowned, and replied, "Ummm...how about something from the Star Wars Trilogy?"

Oh my word. That child is just too much.

I made the executive decision to redirect our attention to the playroom and we began a rousing tournament of Candy Land.

Because "Gumdrop Pass" and "Rainbow Trail" just felt more appropriate than unending lightsaber duels for my 3 year old daughter.

This parenting gig. It requires much wisdom and sound practical judgement.

Or not.

Anyway, I realize that I've completely digressed from the original intent of this post. Well, not completely, I guess, since I'll still be discussing Star Wars. So, here it goes...


This is my kids playing Guess Who. You played this when you were a kid, but it was a little different. You asked things like "Do you have brown hair?" or "Are you wearing glasses?"

I have to ask things like, "Do you have a green face?" and "Are you a droid?"


They LOVE this game. It's the new favorite and we play it every day. This honor was formally held by the game "Pretty, Pretty Princess." We played that game every day too.

Matt is, in a word, relieved.

He just didn't look right wearing those dangly earrings.


Drew and Abby often like to play as a team against me. They whisper possible questions into each other's ears to get approval and then take turns asking me those questions.

Which, by the way, are never a surprise to me since their idea of a whisper could easily be heard by someone in another room.

I love it though. I think it's so cute that they work together.


On this particular day, Abby whispered to Drew, "Let's ask if her person has a yellow light saber."

Drew replied, "But NONE of them have yellow lightsabers!"


She looked him straight in the eyes, raised her eyebrows, and with a determined look on her face said, "Yeah, well we'll just see about that."

And, let me tell you, that little girl looked shocked when I told her that I didn't have a yellow lightsaber.

Totally shocked.

In hindsight, I suppose I should have let her watch something from the Star Wars saga. Apparently, we need to brush up on her Star Wars trivia.

Drew Steps Up To The Plate

Baseball season started again a few weeks ago. Drew is on the same team as last season. Now, they are the New York Yankees!


Daddy has always cheered for the Yankees (he is from New York), so we were very excited! Drew loves having Daddy for an assistant coach.


And, besides me, Abby is his biggest fan!


Drew is playing 3rd base this season. He's really improved in his fielding thanks to lots of practice with Daddy!


After getting one of his five outs for the game, Drew throws the ball back to the pitcher.


First time at bat. Drew got two hits off the coach's pitch at this game! No tee needed for this little dude!!


The following pictures are a few action shots as Drew makes his way around the bases to score a run for the Yankees!










The game was great! The players did very well and everyone had fun. After the game, the coach awarded the game ball. We were so excited to see Coach hand the ball to our Drew!


Drew's game stats were 5 outs, 2 hits, and 1 run scored. A great game!




Drew had a big cheering section for his first game. Grandma & Grandpa, Grams, and Uncle Adam were all able to come watch and to see Drew earn his MVP game ball!


Our little family is so proud of Drew! He has worked hard to improve this season and is really enjoying playing baseball.


Go Yankees!