Saturday, January 31, 2009

A Night Out

Adam isn't big on birthdays, so he booked a show for his special night. I wanted to be with him on his birthday, so my MIL came and watched the kids and I was able to go to the show. Thanks Nona!

Let me give you a little run down of the night. We got to the club a little after 9:00 and the guys loaded all their equipment in. Andrea was able to have a night out too, so she met us at the club shortly after we got there. Once they got everything loaded in, they decided we should go get some dinner, because they weren't playing until 11:30.

We went to the first restaurant, which was also a bar, but we couldn't go in because Joey's girlfriend isn't 21. We head to the second restaurant, which is on the opposite side of the square. As we are walking, I trip on a curb that I stepped off of, not knowing it was there. I made the comment, "man, I sure am glad I didn't fall!" Well, apparently there were all kinds of other hidden curbs, because not 20 seconds later, I trip over one that was going up! This time though, I wasn't so lucky!

I start doing a slow motion fall...I swear it took me a good 10-15 seconds to finally hit the ground! I was thinking the whole time, "just fall already!" I finally fell, and fell pretty hard, but I was fine. Andrea immediately asks me if I'm ok, and my response was, "I'm fine, but is my purse ok?!!?" I was worried it was going to be all scratched up because it was the first thing to hit and skidded down the concrete...it was fine!

Of course, my next reaction is to start cracking up. I start laughing hysterically, which gets Andrea laughing too, and I'm laughing so hard I can't get up. Well, Adam being the very shy person he is, and doesn't like attracting attention, is not liking this one bit! He wasn't concerned about me being hurt; he was concerned about people seeing me on the ground. So, in the middle of my laughing attack, as he is looking around frantically making sure no one is watching me, all he says is, "can you just please get up off the ground?!!?"

What?!?! I'm the one on the ground! I'm not embarrassed...why are you?!?! Anyway, I get up and we continue walking to the next place to try to eat. Everyone else is already there when we get there and has already ordered. Andrea and I sit down at the table and Adam goes up to order. He comes back within a second and looks very defeated! Apparently the place stops taking orders at 10:00. Wanna know what time it was? 10:01!!! I am NOT even kidding! Ridiculous!

So, Adam, Andrea, and I head to the third place to try to eat. It was an English pub, which wasn't very good, but at least we got to eat. Adam's friend from work, Jim, only lives a little bit from where The Lash Outs were playing, so he was able to come to the show. He met us at the restaurant and hung out while we finished eating. We were finally able to head back to the club with only a small amount of time to spare before the guys had to play.

It ended up being a great night after the little bits of drama. They played an awesome show and had a really nice crowd! It's always fun to stand right in front of the stage and watch my hubby do his thing! It makes it even better to have my best friend there with me to be goofy with! We had a couple of beers and danced along to every song.

I am never able to get a picture of the whole band because I'm too short. Jim though, being over 6 feet, was able to take this one for me. Thanks Jim!
Joey singing his heart outDustin knew I was about to take this pic, so he shot me a quick smile!
My handsome hubby!
Holby rockin' out!
Not quite sure how this picture turned out this way, but I thought it looked pretty cool!
Andrea and I...she is great at taking self-portraits!
Jim standing tall in the background

I hope you all had a great Friday night! Love you all!


Friday, January 30, 2009

Happy Birthday Baby!

Today is Adam's 31st birthday! He is probably going to kill me for some of these pictures, but I wanted y'all to be able to see how he is on a day-to-day basis. He is absolutely wonderful and one of the funniest and goofiest people I have ever known!

His two passions in life, you know, other than me (hehehe), are music and his babies! He has played in a band pretty much constantly since he was in high school.

Adam is the most wonderful Dad and I thank God for him everyday! He never complains about doing Daddy duty; not even changing poopy diapers! He plays with the kids like he is one of them. Every night he does bath time so he has a chance to bond with them, since he has been at work all day. It is his special Daddy time everyday and he and the kids have so much fun! The kids and I are so lucky to have him!

Here he is playing in his latest and current band, The Lash Outs

Playing golf with his babies Hanging out with his little princess Cowboy time with Parker...yes, Peanut had a mohawk for a while!

Adam and Bitty...she has him wrapped VERY tightly around her little finger!!
Adam and his little fireman

Like I said earlier, Adam is extremely goofy 90% of the time! I am constantly having to ask him if he is serious, because I never know whether or not he is joking. The next several pictures will explain what I am talking about!

This is after Peyton's first birthday party, with one of her decorations on his head. Can you tell he is trying to be serious?

Playing in Parker's tent...look at his face! Trying to act REAL excited about one of his Christmas gifts.
Just hangin' out with a basket on his head?!?!
Trying to take a pic of Brian and Alli and look who shows up!
Don't ask! This picture is probably my most favorite picture of Adam ever!!! It is SO hard to get him to be serious in a picture or to get a genuine smile from him. This picture accomplishes both of those feats!


One other thing that you may notice about my handsome husband, is his love of black t-shirts!! He is wearing one in 9 out of the 14 pictures above! I will never understand the obsession, but at least it makes it easy to buy clothes for him!

Baby - I love you so much and I hope you have a wonderful birthday! Thank you for being such a great husband and wonderful father. Love - Me

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Peyton's Party

Peyton's birthday party was definitely a success!! We had around 30 adults and 12 kids all shoved into my little house. Despite the fact that it was pretty crowded and SUPER loud, everything turned out perfectly!

It was so great to have the majority of our friends and their babies all together! It is very rare that that can happen. It is amazing to me how all of our families are growing. Not only were there 12 kiddos here, ranging from 10 years to 3 months, but we also had 4 preggos here (Ashley is carrying twins)! So that means next year, if we are all able to get together again, there will be 17 kiddos...WOW!!! That is so exciting to me!

Thanks to everyone for the precious gifts you bought for Bitty! Although I put on the invitation "no gifts", everyone still showed up with a present. We are so grateful to have such a great family and wonderful friends. Thanks again everyone...Peyton has a whole new wardrobe for Spring and Summer!

I decided I was going to make the birthday cake this year. I normally always make cupcakes, but this year I attempted a 3 layer round cake. It was a neapolitan cake with white icing; white layer, chocolate layer, and strawberry layer. I am not a good "icer", so the icing was a little uneven, and the layers were a little crooked, but I think it turned out OK. Even though it wasn't the prettiest thing, it still tasted good, so I guess that's all that matters!

Peyton refused to sleep at all yesterday, which normally makes for a VERY unhappy little girl. I was very worried that she was going to be awful at her party, but she ended up doing just fine. She was a little cranky here and there, but there weren't any meltdowns...thank goodness!! She and all the kids had a blast playing and opening presents. The present opening was pretty much a free-for-all, so we had boxes, tissues, and paper everywhere...it was pretty funny!

I ended up giving the camera to Adam for the majority of the party...not a good idea! Sorry baby, but you know you aren't the best at taking pics. The majority of the pictures that he took were goofy ones of our guy friends or pics of people when they weren't expecting it...go figure! So, there aren't a lot of great pictures, but between the few that I took and the few of his that turned out ok, I'm able to post about 20.

Here's the cake I madeCan you tell it's a little lopsided?
This is most of the food that we had...lots of snacky stuff
Czarina, Andrea, and Alli
Smith acting goofy...playing with the kid's keyboard
2 of the preggos...Ashley and Forbes
A very dark group shot from the office into the living room
Miller and Craig...one of Adam's pics!
Precious Peanut...not quite sure what he's doing, and I look awful in the background
Bitty getting ready to open presents
Chloe
I guess at one point they dressed Parker up as Chainsaw Masacre. I didn't even know this had happened until I downloaded all the pictures. Too funny!
The Birthday Girl...she was so proud to be sitting in a grown-up chair!
Peyton was opening her new big girl bedding...she was SO excited, like she really knew what it was. She kept clapping and saying "YEA!"
The BEAUTIFUL painting my MIL painted to match Peyton's new bedding
Michelle...I got permission before I posted this...thought it was SO funny! She looks completely over the birthday party...I think she might have been ready to fall asleep!
Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday
I tried to put her hat on her and she was having NO part of it. She kept saying "Daddy wear it", so Adam put it on for a second to make his princess happy. She has him wrapped around her little finger!
She did NOT like it when we all sang to her. She was giving everyone the evil eye the whole time!
She didn't want to blow out her candle either
Adam called Parker over to help
Parker was very proud of himself!
I hope everyone has had a great weekend! Love you all!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Peyton's Video

As I promised last week, I am now posting the sweet video of Peyton. We showed it at her party today and everyone seemed to really like it! It is kind of long, but super sweet!

The pictures go in chronological order from her 1st birthday party, up to a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the great idea Hollie! I hope you all enjoy the little movie!

I couldn't get it to upload correctly. So, instead of having the video on my blog, you have to click on the picture of Peyton and it will pull up the video on a seperate page.
Hollie, I'm going to need your help with this! I must have been doing something wrong.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Happy Birthday Bitty!!

Believe it or not, this post is not going to contain a single picture. I know, can you believe it?!?! I have made a special video for the people attending her birthday party this Saturday, and I don't want to upload it on my blog until they have seen it. So, there will be LOTS of pics and a VIDEO to see on Saturday!!

This is simply a post to wish my Bitty Princess a very happy 2nd birthday!! I still can't believe she is already 2!!

Peyton's vocabulary has really taken off in the last several months. Here are some of her most used words:

Mama
Daddy
Dad - she uses Dad a lot now
Parker (spoken with a New Orleans accent)
Nanny - Granna - but she also uses Nanny for Annie (Andrea) and Suellyn (Adam's step-mom)
Nona
Bumps - Grumps
May May - Aunt May
biaper - diaper
bapple - apple
pishies - goldfish
bowl - she wants EVERYTHING in a bowl
baby
blantet - blanket
book
tank ooo - thank you
lud ooo - love you
peas - please
boo - loves to play peek-a-boo
bup - up or down
wawa - any kind of water, but mainly uses it for when she's ready for bath time
mammy and mo mammy - lamby and more lamby - she has two lambs that go everywhere with her
potty - she is obsessed with going potty, although she doesn't actually do anything
wawald and weenie - oswald - her favorite show
baba - her milk - even though it's in a sippy cup
tea - anything other than milk
eat
mere - come here

There's a ton more that she says, but these are the most used words! She still refuses to say her own name though. If you ask her who she is or what her name is, she always responds with "me", and points to herself!

I love hearing her say new things almost everyday! She's also started singing songs, although you can't really understand very many of the words! She loves to "sing" along with almost every song she hears, and is ALWAYS dancing!

Bitty is still extremely small for her age. She just recently broke 20 pounds! Parker was the same way though until he turned 3, so we'll see what happens. I think she is just going to have my Mom's metabolism...which is a GREAT thing!

I hope you all have a great week! I will try to post this week, but if I don't, there will be plenty to see on Saturday and Sunday.


Peyton Reese -

WOW! Time has flown by! I still remember very clearly the day we brought you home from the hospital. You were such a teeny tiny little thing. Your Daddy and I couldn't wait to get you home to have a formal introduction with your big brother. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen!! He was SO happy to meet you and he loved all over you like you were a baby doll. You were definitely the size of one!

This past year you have grown into such a little lady. You love your baby dolls so much and are a great little Mommy to them! You love all things girly: lipstick, bows, headbands, clothes, shoes, purses, pretend cooking, and a whole lot more.

This past year you have also grown into quite the little tomboy. I always lovingly refer to you as my "brut in a dress"!! You love to play with your brother and all of his toys. I think you like cars and tools just as much as he does!

You are the best little eater I have ever seen! I have no idea how you stay so small. Sometimes it seems like you are eating from the time you wake up until the time you go to bed. I love it! You don't know this now, but your brother is the worst eater ever, so it's great to see you eat everything that is put in front of you. Your favorites right now are green beans, broccoli, corn, apples (bapples), grapes, goldfish (pishies), chips (pips), and cereal.

I love you so much and am so proud to be your mommy! I wish you could stay this little forever, but I definitely look forward to watching you grow up! I love your spit-fire attitude, your bossiness, and your independence - even though I know they will drive me crazy as you get older. I have a feeling you are going to be a lot like me!

I could go on and on in this letter to you about all the things I love about you, but it would take me days and days to complete! Just know that I love you with every ounce of my being and I will forever be proud to call you my daughter!

Love, Mama


Saturday, January 17, 2009

My MIL is talented!

I thought since I showed you the invitation that my MIL painted from this year, I would show you a few other things that she has painted for the kids. If you click on any of the pictures below, it will make them bigger so you can see the details.

This is Peyton's invitation for her first birthday party. She was wearing all of the cupcake stuff that Gymboree had last year to her party, so I wanted the party invitations to have the same theme. I couldn't find any invitations in the stores that I liked, so I asked Robbin if she could paint one. That is how the painted invitations first started. Once again, I blocked out the address, and the quality is horrible, but you'll get the idea.
Since I loved the way Peyton's invites turned out, I asked her if she could paint the ones for Parker's 3rd birthday party as well. He had a "Cars" themed party! Isn't this awesome?!?!

When I was pregnant with Parker, I had a hard time deciding how to decorate his nursery. I didn't want to go with any kind of theme, so I ended up picking the bug bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. It had some cute bugs in it, but it was mainly primary colored plaids and stripes. When Robbin decided she wanted to paint a mural on the wall, I told her just to do whatever she felt like doing. I asked her to incorporate all the primary colors and a few of the bugs. The only other thing I wanted was a few turtles, because I have collected them all my life, and I thought it would be cool to incorporate them in somehow. I showed her one of my most favorite turtles, and she used it's face for the ones she painted. She also included almost all of our family members names into the mural...it turned out awesome!

This is the whole mural

Close-up of the turtles on the right

Close-up of the turtle on the left

Close-up of the turtle at the top


I was the same way when it came to Peyton's nursery; I knew I wanted bright colors and something girly, but no theme attached. I did Pottery Barn Kids bedding for her nursery as well, but I mixed-matched from different collections. Her bumper was bright plaids, but her sheets and bed skirt were floral. Robbin did the mural from the colors and patterns in the sheets. I was so thrilled by the way it turned out! I don't know why, but this is the only picture I could find of Peyton's mural.

I know that was a long post, but I hope you all enjoyed seeing a bit of my MIL's talent!