Sophie's 30th Bday

Sophie turned 30 back in August. My sweet friend has been on bedrest since about the 8th week of her 20 week pregnancy. We had to pick a restaurant close to her parents' house, which is where she has been staying. So we took her to Barnaby's, promising to take good care of her for the short time she was away from home.

She said she wanted cookie cake, so of course this Great American Cookie Company lover jumped at the chance for some cookie cake.

Sophie, Heather, & Leslie. See me in the top left corner of the mirror? I'm so obnoxious looking with all that camera equipment.

Bibbin, Brooke, & me

I love it that my different groups of friends make a point to casually celebrate everyone's birthday. Gives us something to look forward to, a chance to talk without kids, and a meal we didn't have to cook!

Just thankful that Sophie's little fetus is doing great and that momma is taking it easy. Sophie has wanted a child as long as I have, and it took her 5 years to conceive Isabel. I'm thankful to have another victorious friend in the pregnancy department! My promise is coming, just in His due time....

Playdate at the Brown's

Ashley Brown had some of the Sunday School class families over for an end of summer playdate. They blew up their huge inflatable slide, and the kids had a blast. Starting above on the left: Justin going head first, Marin giving me a look, Braden enjoying the buddies, Garrett enjoying the water.

All the kids sat down for a picnic lunch. Justin, Jonathan, & Jeremy kept chasing each other up and down the slide.

Eliana, Chloe, and Courtney swinging on the side.

Thanks Ashley for hosting us!

First Day of School

Justin met his new teachers for MDO the Friday before Labor Day. He wasn't sure about the new rooms he was going in, but he definitely liked his toys.

His buddy Isabel was in his class for 2 weeks and just changed over to the MWF class. We are just so happy that she now goes to our sweet school.

Then that first day of school came. After a little prompting I finally got a good smile from my boy. He also wanted to proudly show off his name on his backpack.

This is a bit too close, but I am such a sucker for a photo with a lot of blur. That's why I use my lens! Then we met up with our classmate, Luke, right before walking into our 2 1/2 year old class. Thanks to the August 31 birthday, Justin will always be one of the oldest in the class.

Had to get a mommy and me photo.

Justin with Mrs. Winkler. He has one other teacher as well.

We love our little school!

Labor Day Splashes

For Labor Day Weekend we decided to stay at home. We had evening plans every night of the long weekend, and we chose to stay in Houston vs. go to Galveston with the extended family. So we had our own splash town fun in our own backyard.

Our neighbors, the Wilson, do this with their slide. So we decided to copy them. To say that both boys had a blast is putting it mildly.

Even this big boy went down the slide.

I was having fun with my super fast shutter speed capturing all the water droplets. Like that under bite, hubby. I seem to make that same face all the time. Gotta love it when the spouses have similar jaw tendencies.

Derek tried face first, only to be the entire length of the slide. Justin was much more successful.

And a quick side story. This morning I was at my 6am workout and Derek decided to take the day off from working out. At 6:30am, our designated time that allows Justin to come out of his room, the door to our bedroom was opened. Justin comes over to Derek's side of the bed and puts two boxes of flashcards on his pillow. In all seriousness, Justin tells him, "Daddy, these would be perfect for you." So he and his Rice father worked on their perfection together.

Playing in the Rain with Luke

A few weeks ago it started raining while Luke was over playing. So Derek got out the bathing suits and the galoshes and we headed outside. At first they used the umbrellas for sword fights.

Then we tried a little Glamour Shots.

Then we told them to go get wet. The sun was starting to come out, so I was trying to get some of that lighting. I didn't like where the sun placement was, much less the people in the background.

So I put the sun at more of 10 o'clock, and I loved how the lighting turned out.

Don't know if these boys cared about the lighting - they were just having fun with the "permission" to get wet.

I had just bought that black umbrella, and it hasn't been the same since. But at least it got in a few photos.

Our neighbor, Krikor, came over to watch the fun. He and his wife Denise are moving soon, and we are truly going to miss them.

So Houstonians, in light of all this rain, go grab your galoshes and go outside!

Lily's 2nd Bday

The final party of Justin's birthday weekend was Lily's 2nd birthday. She had her party at Gymboree, and would you believe this was my first time to ever set foot in one? I even asked the girl how long they had been at their "new location", and she replied 8 years. We've always been out-of-town for others' parties and we never signed up for the gym classes. So it was fun.

The birthday girl giving me a natural smile while her hair had a bit of static in it.

Luke had Justin and another buddy present, and they were almost too old for the little 2 year olds at the party. If not too rambunctious, shall we say.

Lily loved being the popcorn while we threw her in the air with the parachute.

Derek became the human obstruction that the boys jumped over.

And everyone always loves the bubbles.

Then it was time for cake...

...and singing happy birthday.

Make way for the hungry kiddos.

Thanks for the invite, Lily - we had a blast!

Justin's 3rd Birthday Party

I have finally caught up to the last weekend in August, Justin's 3rd birthday party. I can honestly say that I really didn't do much prior to the day. Since this was a repeat of the same party last year, I changed up a few things, and toned down a lot.

One of my big things is invitations. This year I found Butterfly Sparks on Etsy. She had a Noah's Ark themed invite, and sold me the template. I then got the double sided invite printed at the place of my choosing. So easy, and very reasonable! Here was the front of the card:

And here was the back. I already had this photo of him in a shirt with the number 3, so it was a no brainer to add it to the invite.

We got to Noah's Ark a few minutes early and got the whole place to ourselves. The lifeguards were very laidback this year, and told us that they weren't their to put our kids in time out. So they let us break the rules a bit. Justin loves this place, which made me feel great since I had booked this place back in February, hoping he would still have interest in it.

Derek acted like a kid himself, following Justin around up the slide.

You are never allowed to go down the slide like this on a normal swim day...

...which is why everyone decided to do just that.

I am so thankful that my mom, mother-in-law, & Kaki took photos with me. I kind of shut down after the first 20 minutes, which was nice to actually have others doing for me the very favor I do for everyone else. I didn't feel like working the camera on my son's birthday - I wanted to enjoy myself for once! So all these photos are a combo of our four cameras.

Justin was so excited to see all his buds.

He just kept dishing out the hugs.

My sweet little boy with physical touch as a love language.

Derek & Justin went down the slide several times together.

And then we got everyone together to take a group photo before eating.

Hey, it's for the memories, right?

Then we sang happy birthday.

A quick photo to remind myself that I was present at the party.

I decided on using Memorial Bakery to make cookies. I found a Noah's Ark cookie cutter online and found a design that they could handle decorating. They turned out fantastic - and they tasted great too!

The favors were coloring books that told the story of the real Noah's Ark. Nothing like trying to subtley get the gospel inside the house via your child.

I canned Chick-fil-A this year in exchange for junior lunchables. Yes, nothing like cheap preservatives to feed the kids. One dad asked if I was getting pizza for the adults. Sorry charlie, no food for the adults this year. Would you like a yogurt tube to tide you over?

I even reused the same plates and forks from last year. Smart choices in a tight economy. And I still came home with tons of them. Next year?

Animal crackers and apple crisps for the starches.

After the food, I was tired of wiping my upper lip. So I decided to go down the slide myself. I went over and over again, with all the kids gleefully wanting to go down in my lap. It felt so good to be cooled off.

I took photos of each sibling set and sent a postcard with that photo as their thank you note. It came to me the day of the party. I love it, and so did everyone who received it. Just trying to tie in my photography skills in somewhere.

Then we headed home, with our #3 shirt, of course, to open up gifts. It felt like Christmas to me - I was almost like a kid myself. It was the first time he's truly been so excited. It was lots of fun.

He could barely sit still long enough for a smile.

I think we have been bowling everyday since the party.

Thanks so much to Pap Snuf & Birdie...

...Shane & Kaki....

...and Grandma & Grandpa for helping share in the special day!

A fun time was had by all. Until next year!