Birthday Parties!!

This past week was somewhat new for us! We aren't use to not getting to head to the hospital and have another baby this year, we aren't quite sure what to do with ourselves! We decided since they are still very young and don't know the difference between boy and girl themed parties and to save gas with family coming in from Wray, we decided to do their birthday parties together and rent a Pump it Up space for a few hours and let the kids and adults too jump and have fun! Although we probably won't do it again for quite some time, it was a blast and everyone had lots of fun and it was so good to see everyone and their kids! I tried to do as much prepping ahead of time as I could as far as food, cakes, and everything else goes. I haven't decorated a cake in 15+ years (I use to do it in 4-H), so I knew I wanted to do a football cake for Bray and found a pan that was perfect for it and was up for the challenge! Boy did it bring back the ol' days, I actually had lots of fun doing it and there were some tricky parts, but I just had to keep telling myself that it was for a 2 year old and its not being judged, so my perfection doesn't have to right on! Thanks to Aunt Brit, we finished it up late Friday night. Of course I'm the world's worst procrastinater, so I left all my stuff to be done until Friday. I was kind of freaking out about how much stuff I had to get done before Sat. afternoon and with 2 kids and no help during the day, it can be somewhat challenging. Thankfully, my brother's girlfriend, Sarah, was not flying and offered to come help and I couldn't of been more thankful for all her help, much less get it all done that day. She made the caramel apples that day, I made my lasangas and manicotti and baked Bray's cake and we made it all happen, thanks to her!! It was a super long day and I always tell myself I will never procrastinate again, but I do!! Saturday morning I worked on Bryn's cupcakes and finished cleaning up the house before the party. Thankfully, we had family in town and it was nice to be able to have help with the kids while I finished it all up. That afternoon we celebrated B & B's birthdays at Pump it Up for 2 hours, it was fun to have all our families there and a few of our friends that had kids too, I don't know who had more fun: the kids or adults!! After the party, we had our family come back to our house where we had their bday dinner and opened all their gifts, I couldn't believe the amount of generousity of our family and friends, it was unbelievable and the kids got so many neat new toys, books and clothes. The question is now where the heck to I put all this stuff?!?!!? It looks like I run a daycare out of my house, we have no more room!?!?!?
Bryn's actual bday was the 15th; one that day we met Chad, Shawn and Alissa at Chickfila for lunch and then had a quiet rest of the day at home! Yesterday (21st) was Bray's actual bday. Chad took the day off because Bryn had her 1 yr. checkup and they both got shots, so it was so nice to have him around for that! We ran lots of errands, got Bray McD's for lunch and in the evening had leftovers and went to Cold Stone for ice cream! YUM!! All in all, it has been a great week except for the fact that the kids have their colds back, but hopefully this is it for awhile, I'm SO done with colds right now!!
So now our babies are 1 and 2 and I can't call them babies anymore, they are officially toddlers now, I just don't want to admit that :), its amazing how time has flew by!! In fact, since Bray has turned 2 I'm already seeing big changes as far as understanding what I ask him to do. For example, this morning I asked him to go get me one of his diapers and some wipes out of Bryn's room and bring them to me and he totally nailed it right on, it made my day complete!!
And Bryn is changing fast too: in fact, on Monday evening I was doing laundry and Chad was playing a game and the kids were just playing. As soon as I came back from the washer I asked Chad were Bryn was, I couldn't find her on the main floor and he said he didn't know. I heard a noise from upstairs and much to my surprise, the little stinker CRAWLED up the stairs and was happily sitting at the top of the stairs proud of herself!! Tt was a scary and happy moment, my baby is not a baby anymore :( , now if only she would conquer the walking!! Well, that is our big week all wrapped up, now its onto Halloween and surprisingly, we have their outfits for them, so stay tuned to see them soon!!