Max's 1st Birthday

I know.  I know.  My son's first birthday was on the 15th of SEPTEMBER and I'm JUST NOW posting about it.  But hey, at least I'm posting about it! =)  I've been busy ok?!

As a reminder, Max's birthday fell on a Saturday which meant we were actually home and not in Bozeman for the weekend.  The morning of his birthday we took the kids to the Festival Days parade.  Festival Days is a pretty big deal for the town of Havre.  It's the biggest (if not only) parade of the year so we made sure to take the kids!  They had a blast!

The day of Max's birthday I ran all over town getting things ready for a party.  It was very much thrown together, but you know what?  It still looked great!  Max is definitely a boy in that he already makes motor sounds and drives cars on the floor/walls, so we went with a Cars theme -- even though the boy has never seen the movie.  Ha!

I loved all the colors we chose for the party.  It was very much Max!  As you can see from the pictures above, he LOVED his cake.  I hate to admit it, but he had two cupcakes.. and maybe a piece of someone else's cake..  He. Loved. Cake!

I cannot believe my son is already 1!  He is getting so big!  He is the best boy a mom could ask for.  Every morning I go to get him out of his crib and I'm greeted with the biggest smile and his arms outstretched ready for a big hug and slobbery kisses!  He is definitely a happy boy!

I am so thankful for each of my children.  They are such a joy to me -- I literally feel my heart swell with love and pride at the blessings God has given me!

Happy Birthday, Max!  Mommy and Daddy love you very, very much!

Zoe's Birthday

Birthday parties are  A LOT of work.  The party was at 7:00 and I was at my inlaw's house a little after 10:00 and literally worked the whole day up until people started showing up.  I was exhausted!  I'm so thankful for my sister-in-law helping me out with decorating the cake.  I would not have been able to do it without her.  Seriously.  I'm so thankful she was willing.

Elmo without his fur

At one point in time I wondered if I was completely crazy for throwing a party.. maybe I was, but it was SO worth it!

This was one of our games that we played. It was a lot of fun hearing everyone's guesses.  If you're interested, there were 440.

Cookie Monster

Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch

Elmo

My husband is AMAZING! He drew this for me while at work.  This is not a stencil! He did it completely on his own.  I am still so amazed!

Happy Birthday banner.

Zoe and Emilie (not sure why she isn't smiling..).

Zoe playing Pin the Nose on Elmo

A little friend of Zoe's!

Zoe insisted on Bubba playing too!

My word.. Zoe is getting so big.  I cannot believe she is 2 already!

Our frosting colors

Decorations

Tom

More games

No peeking!



This was the day after the party.  Bubba is slowly figuring out how to climb stairs! Yikes!



Like I said, the party organizing was a lot of work, but Zoe's reaction to every decoration, cupcake, present, etc. was worth it to me!  I absolutely love my children and I love being able to do special things for them.

Next month I will be planning ANOTHER Birthday -- Maximus will be turning 1.  Can you believe it?!

Fif, Birthdays, and the Fair.

I have been so crazy busy lately I haven't had a chance to blog about the little things going on in our life here in podunk Havre.

First off, last Friday Paul and I took Zoe to the pet store and she picked out her very first pet!

This here is Fif the fish. =)  Zoe picked this little guy out of all the other bettas there -- and I'm glad too since he was the most active!  She runs to his fish bowl every morning and says, "Hiya Fif!"  I think it was a great purchase. =)

Paul's birthday was yesterday!  He is now 27.  On his lunch break the kids and I took Dad out to lunch for his special day.  Zoe was so excited to see her Dad and ran to him and held his hand.

This is a Seattle Seahawks blanket I made for his birthday (with a little help)!  I was so happy to see his face light up when he saw it!

Apparently we partied too hard for Max.  This is how we found him in the other room.  Ha ha!

We got to visit the fair for lunch this afternoon.  I enjoyed watching Zoe eat a Pronto Pup.. and feeding some bites to little Max as well!  Gotta love nasty fair food!

I could talk about more things going on but I have run out of time.  This will have to do for now!  I hope you enjoy it!

I need a stress-free environment.

My daily calendar on my desk says this:

"Create a stress-free environment and make your home a desired haven. Tidy up, play soothing music, light scented candles, turn off the TV, and let voice mail take your calls."

Wow.  Doesn't that sound great?  I plan on creating that stress-free environment -- after I take a nap.  Haha!  I'm such a loser, but I really can't keep my eyes open.

We had a lot of fun yesterday celebrating Independence Day.  Here are a few pictures for ya!

Max is looking more and more like a little boy to me.  He's growing up too fast. =)

Zoe spent most of the day in her swimsuit, but she was only in the pool for 5 minutes.  No joke!  Goofy kid.

Zoe got to enjoy a sparkler last night. =)  I'm not sure what she thought of it.  She seemed pretty quiet.  Of course, it was past midnight!

These two pictures are ones that Paul took with his fancy camera. =)  He had a lot of fun taking shots of the fireworks.  In the first picture Lori, a friend of ours, wrote out "Fourth of July" using a sparkler!  The second one is of Paul's brother, Caleb, and one CRAZY firework!  He was brave.  Or nuts.  Maybe a little bit of both?  Just kidding.  But seriously. =D

This is the caramel frappe that I bought today HOPING it would wake me up.  Didn't even phase me.  I took my two sleeping babies to Walmart and my trip lasted five minutes because I was ready to GET OUT and go to bed!  Now I'm home.  I blogged.  The kids are still sleeping.  I'm going to crash myself.  Goodnight!

XOXO!



Coffee Inspirations

Here I am, in all of my morning glory, enjoying a nice, hot cup of cup of coffee -- sweetened with white chocolate powder, caramel sauce, and a touch of caramel macchiato creamer.  It's dessert in a cup this morning!

Side note: I promise to be more presentable the next time I snap a picture of myself!

Anyways, while drinking my coffee I am surfing the web and also looking up ideas via Pinterest for something special..

Paul and I are hosting our first party ever!  Saturday, October 29th, we're wanting to throw a Harvest party in our backyard.  We'd like to have a bonfire, bob for apples, wear fun costumes, etc.  So this morning I'm trying to find some fun harvest games and snacks as well!  I'm so excited!

If anyone in Havre reads my blog, you're more than welcome to come!  I'll have more details later..

What else has my coffee inspired me to do today?  Hmm..  Oh!  I planned on cleaning and organizing my bedroom.  It never gets any attention and it needs it.. badly!  I think I'll check out Pinterest for decorating ideas too!  But later..

What has your morning coffee inspired you to do today?

Surprise!

Yesterday we had a surprise party for our good friend Jason since he won't be around for his actual day of birth.  It was great because we decorated the basement of the church in Spongebob decor and he loved it!

Here is Jason and Paul sporting their Spongebob sweat bands. Ha!  Aren't they just awesome?

You can't have a party without bubbles!

Who doesn't love Spongebob?

Here's the crew lighting all 30 candles! Woo!

Look at the fire!

Jason had help blowing out the candles.. thanks Tom. :)

Jason was nice enough to sport a couple of his presents.  Doesn't he look great?!

He was also nice enough to show me how bachelors eat chocolate pudding.  Thanks.

It was a lot of fun!  When kids were starting to get crabby we moved the party to the inlaw's house and we danced it up thanks to the new Wii game!  I don't remember what it's called, but we danced it up till midnight!  It was a blast, and I feel like I got a great workout!  I plan on doing that again soon..