Celebrating the Valentine Girls

All the birthday bashes were a success from May to July leaving us with a 7, 9 & 35 year old (that's me.) Sadly, I was the only one who didn't get rollerblades ; ) Both girls were filled with the greatest amount of excitement you can feel on your birthday when they opened packages to find new sets of wheels! We figured that these desired sets of wheels were much less expensive than those they will desire in approximately 8 years yet, I am not sure if they are safer, ha! They are professionals now & we may sign them up for a roller derby team.

Since this post is a three birthdays in a row post, there are all kids of pictures!  

I am always such an emotional mess on birthday eve & this year was no different. I replay all the events of labor & those first moments of laying eyes on a precious newborn. That precious newborn has grown into a delightful 7 year old!

GGran stopped by with cookies & Eloise showed off her new skills. Our floors are just like a rink (or bowling alley) so she did about 200 loops throughout the birth-day before she was allowed to go outside! GGran was impressed & so were the little brothers!

In April, we went out to Forney to visit my Aunt Sandy & Uncle Darrell. He had just smoked a brisket & we enjoyed some tasty nibbles. On the way home Eloise told me that all she wanted for her birthday was for Uncle Darrell to smoke a brisket just for her. She shared that idea with her dad, who has smoked many a delicious piece of meat, and he responded with, "Honey, I can cook you a brisket!" She sweetly stated, "Daddy, how about Uncle Darrell makes the brisket & you can make dessert." Oh my, I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing SO hard! What do you know, a month later, Aunt Sandy was asking when they could deliver Eloise's birthday gift. It was massive & it's deliciousness is unable to describe in words. I think we may let him know that Arlo would like that for his birthday in October. 

Uncle Darrell is not the only stand out guy during birthday week....

Instead of cake, we finished off the night with s'mores. Our plan was to have a fire in the firepit in the backyard but due to the 100+ temperature outside, Rob got creative & used a blow torch, hahaha.

We headed out to the backyard to pretend like we were around a fire. It felt like we were in one even though we could not see any flames ; ) They were just as tasty & WAY less work! No complaints from the celebrators!

My birthday was just before Lolo's & I was spoiled with my favorite rainbow chip icing, generously covering a cake. I also received another container of icing as a gift. Grammy knows me so well.

I mentioned that I was the only birthday girl that did not receive rollerblades. The girls want me to have a pair, goodness gracious that would be a horrible decision, haha! The last time I was on skates, I was around 13 & decided to disobey my parents when they told me to stay inside. I put those skates on, rolled quickly down the driveway into the cul-de-sac, immediately crashed, splitting my chin open & busting some teeth on the concrete. I skated straight back up & took a trip to the ER with my dad. It was one of those very simple examples of the common phrase used around here at the Nest. Disobedience brings pain & hurt. My parents would never say this but I imagine they were thinking "seriously Lauren, you are an idiot to do this right before vacation" and/or "what a great thing to spend our money on!" I'm just thinking as a parent now ; ) 

Rabbit trail- instead of going on vacation, I got stitches, some dental work & checked into recovery at my grandparents house while the rest of my family left for the planned trip. You would imagine that it was a sad outcome of a bad decision for me but, we have laughed about a family vacation home video shot while I reclined with two loving grandparents waiting on me hand & foot. The four vacationers were sweating as they dug for diamonds that they never found. I am sure they had some fun too but, it has always made me laugh. 

The conclusion of birthday week, at my request, was a family hike. They gifted me with a minimal amount of whining. That's hard to come by in this family. We enjoyed some Bahama Bucks shaved ice, Strawberry Cheesecake & Blue Bubblegum for me.  Here's my buddy riding "up-top" as he says. 

July 13th was there before we knew it & we had a little lady turning 9!  There were smiles all around before breakfast & gift opening. They always smile when sausage balls are in the oven!

The bubbies gave Char 3 new colorful skeins of yarn. Due to Anson's inability to keep a secret, Eloise & I shopped the night before & told him what the gift was that he was giving the birthday girl, just seconds before she opened the bag. It is RIDICULOUS! She was so excited & gave a huge bear hug to all three at the same time. Eloise was rejoicing that Charlotte was the proud new owner of rollerblades so she would have a skating buddy.

Owen & Anson have really taken off in the drawing & writing department. Anson wrote this for the birthday girl. There is a layer cake on the left & a picture of Charlotte with beautiful hair on the right.

Daddy surprised her with flowers after she spent the day skating around our indoor rink. 

Even greater than rollerblades, her number one birthday request was a fancy dinner cooked by none other than Daddy the Chef.  Osso Bucco & beef ribs hit the spot for all of us. I got the boys tucked in for the night & we had a "grown-up" dinner with the girls. It was pretty special. Robby cooked the same meal for me on Mother's Day & we joked about how we would go broke if he cooked that for every special occasion! 

As far as gifts go, it was a crafty birthday indeed. She was stocked up things to organize all her supplies, a couple gift cards to fabric/craft stores & various other things to accompany her new sewing machine! Bow Wow Meow Meow Bandanas is still in business & now a bit more self sustaining with her own bandana maker! For a couple weeks, we would barely see her. It was like a mad scientist had taken over the guest room with stuff everywhere! She has multiple projects going as I write this: a quilt, a bag, Christmas plaid doggie bandanas, crayon holders, baby blankets & knitted caps.  My mom & I are loving seeing her grow in this area & she is actually pretty good!

The day after her birthday, family came over for lunch & ice cream sandwiches.  

Uncle Scott & Uncle Kyle chose a perfect uncle card. It is a chimp picking his nose to music. It made everyone laugh!

Arlo was quite entertained as were the rest of us!

There were shoulder rides on the tallest of the tall...

The conclusion of birthday week was celebrating with some of her & Eloise's friends. They came over for pizza & to watch Dolphin Tale 2. Robby had lunch at a nearby Italian restaurant & saw this massive pizza. He thought it would be perfect for the girlie party & boy was he right! 

It did not disappoint!

We are not sure how that little darlin' pictured above is just around the corner from turning three but it true.  Hope he will settle for a pizza instead of Osso Bucco! The other option is to call Uncle Darrell. Phew! Birthdays are a blast & while we enjoy them to the fullest, we are always okay for birthday week to come to an end : ) 

Charlotte turns 8!

Sweet Charlotte might have had the happiest birthday yet with the best gift being to celebrate with Uncle Steve, Aunt Jenny, Karis, Isaac & Olivia.  On top of that, Gigi spent the night with us AND Gaga & Pawpaw were in town! What a hustle & bustle kind of day it was!

24 hours prior she asked if she could make her own cake. Talk about independent! She did awesome & was happy with the results. She chose a strawberry cake because that is Aunt Jenny's favorite.

As tradition requires here at the Nest, on birthday eve, the special boy or girl is banned from the downstairs & decorating commences. Owen & Anson used to be excluded but are now part of the festivities. This year they were fantastic at attempting to blow up balloons and succeeding in covering them with saliva leaving me to be the one to complete the task. YUCK! Germ sharing & all, it went well & bedtime was calling our name.  Her smile was big & bright when the sun came up & we headed downstairs.

My mom passed along her old camera & Charlotte took one of her first pictures of these delicious sugary treats in the shape of a number 8. I have been her mama for eight very special years. As far as the photo goes, I think she might have some talent with the flash turned off, candle in focus & the rest of the photo fading behind. She has certainly taken more selfies of silly faces than anything else but what do you expect from an eight year old little girl?

After breakfast she got down to business opening her gifts. Eloise convinced us to let her give Charlotte a stuffed cat which is certainly better than a real cat but just adds to the stuffed animal insanity. I will admit that it is really cute & snuggly & has been given the coveted spot on the bed.

A week before Charlotte's birthday, Robby was outside when a delivery person with an absurd amount of balloons (like at least 20) asked if she could leave them at our house for the next door neighbor. Charlotte was a little sad that they weren't for her and was super surprised on her big day to see her own little balloon bouquet on our front porch with a sweet note from Kate & Travis.

Another fun gift she received was from Uncle Scott & Uncle Kyle who got her an HP Sprocket printer so she could print pics on the go. They had her upcoming Colorado trip in mind & boy was it fun to have!

Earlier that morning I had been in touch with Jenny & Jeannine about an overnight delayed flight for Uncle Steve who was returning from Poland & a middle of the night trip to Urgent Care for Jenny.  I prepared Charlotte for not having anyone up here to celebrate at lunchtime as we had planned. Inside I was heartbroken & praying that someone could come. We were shocked to hear that all were en route to our casa by mid morning! Charlotte could not have smiled any bigger when Robby relayed the message Uncle Steve sent. He told the airline desk attendant that he HAD to get to Dallas because he would not miss celebrating his niece's birthday. He must have looked serious because he got on the plane ; )

This was our first reunion two years after they moved away. I was a puddle of tears seeing Charlotte & Karis hug each other.

We took on a few boxes of pizza.....

then moved along to the cake. Karis & Charlotte's birthdays are just over a month apart & Charlotte was insistent to share blowing out the candles with the almost 7 year old.

My favorite picture of all....

Cake was yummy enough to dab on everyone's nose. Oh Livi-Lou with all the big girls, she is a cutie!

Just a smattering of pictures of the party-goers starting off with the perfectly coordinated great grandmothers & grandparents.

oh my....first clue we were in for it. They looked like this for much of the following 2 weeks!

What a fun coloring book she got!

We attempted a family photo. Attempt is the key word. It was the only picture that Grammy & Papa were a part of & they were compliant but others were not. Weird faces, back of heads, grumpy child glaring from the chair, etc. They were there though...promise.

That baby that made us a mommy & daddy is growing up to be a lovely young lady. She is a delight, really funny, helpful, confident, creative & loving. We love her more than she knows.

Summer Safety Camp

During the last week of June Charlotte & Eloise spent a week at Safety Camp which was offered through our local police department for 1st-3rd graders. I saw the advertisement & thought it sounded perfect for these two curious little girls. $25 per child for a week long camp sounded perfect to us! They were a little nervous but after check-in confidently walked to their professional looking desks, gave me a smile & three boys + mama bid them farewell.

Each day was filled to the brim with presentations & tours. On the first day they learned about the role of a police officer, their uniforms & got to check out an SUV, sirens & all. They loved sitting "where the bad guys ride"

They also got to check out a Fire Engine & learn about the uniform. They really liked this one!

 

In the mix of all the sessions they learned about poison & water safety, gun safety & emergency conditions. My favorite conversation with Char regarding her time there went like this. "Mom! Today was so fun!" me- "That's awesome! What was your favorite thing you learned about?" Char was talking extremely fast about internet safety then stopped abruptly & said "wait....do you know what the internet is?" I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I regained composure & attempted to explain how we didn't even have internet when we got our first computer in the mid- 1990's & it was a BIG deal to get dial-up. Anyway, it was hilarious. She was adorable & did learn a lot about the new-fangled idea of a world wide web.

While they enjoyed all the sessions it was a toss up between bike safety with McGruff the Crime Dog & learning to be safe around animals with Richardson Animal Control. Regarding the first on the favorites list, does anyone remember McGruff? He came out in the 80's...if not, search on that thing called the internet, find a picture & if you went to public school, I'm sure it will ring a bell.

Anyway, the girls talked non stop about the bunnies & kittens they were able to pet. They learned that when they turn 15 they will be able to volunteer. The countdown is on! I should have them make a paper chain just to give them an idea of how long it will actually be. For Charlotte there would be 2,555 links & for Eloise, 3,285, ha! That would certainly keep them busy for awhile & their hands may never be able to function normally again after cutting & attaching that many papers together. I just acted excited with them & let them know they would be fantastic volunteers. They told me they already knew how to be safe around animals....the session was just a bonus. That may actually be true because they have cleaned out the shelves of the Richardson Library animal section week after week & they watch Wild Kratts. They are always spouting off facts I have never heard & I usually just go with it!

McGruff also taught them a bit about bike safety which is exactly what we need around here. In actuality it would have been extremely useful for two maniac scooter riders. Eloise was so excited that she had just gotten the hang of riding her bike the week before. There was only one kid that had training wheels & she was proud to be without. They came home talking about this incredible obstacle course they went through & asked if we could make our own. When asked to describe it they said the best parts consisted of big boards that were bumpy & a scary see-saw like board. When these pictures were posted I smiled ear to ear being reminded of how something so simple (on our part) feels like the coolest thing ever! While we haven't filled our cul-de-sac with a neighborhood obstacle course I think it would be manageable to put together a couple pieces.

 

While the girls were learning about safety, the boys & I were practicing ours!

We drank bubble solution & helped our pit-bull take a nap...

We wore goggles while completing household tasks like scrubbing dishes or taking out the trash which are both things that are on Arlo's chore list...no kidding. Owen stuffed his face with a cookie making me think through my Heimlich Maneuver procedure. He also stood up in the grocery cart.   

Arlo tried to scale the refrigerator while Anson coated his nose in peanut butter & let Bella lick it right off.

 and we practiced climbing on window sills.

I practiced safety while retrieving my children from camp until the last day. It was only about 20 yards to the check out station that was inside double doors yet I was convinced they would give me a ticket for leaving my children unattended in my vehicle. So I unbuckled, hauled then re-buckled my best buds until the last day when I decided I would rather get a ticket than release them from car-seat captivity. We really did have a great time just the four of us. They are still busy but without two other mothers there to boss them around they played so well together & didn't stress me out (till that last day).

Mid-week Charlotte sat down & began composing her thank you notes to each of the officers. I wish I would have taken a picture. They were sweet talking about how they are so good at their job & how she wants to be a police woman someday but I'm guessing that is only if she doesn't work for animal control.

Eloise is our little artist & came home each day ready to add more pictures to her paper. She drew a picture for each thing she learned then on the last day wrote "Thank you for teaching me how to be safe." One of the officers came to tell me it melted her heart. Pictured are the following- guns..lots of them, a helicopter, spider, snow, a tornado, rescue boat, spikes that a police officer would throw onto the road (her favorite part of their job, haha) & various other items that I can't identify but she certainly could.

They made it to graduation day which Eloise kept referring to as "congratulations day." I'd say those terms are interchangeable right? They were proud to receive their diplomas, eat a special cookie or five cookies & drink red Kool-Aid. They came home the first day saying they drank the best drink ever & it was called "koo-luh." It took me a few days to realize what they were referring to & then they had the nerve to argue with me about whether it is called "koo-luh" or "Kool Aid." Whatever it was called, they loved it. I even took a swig of the blue raspberry at the "congratulations" ceremony. Bob & Jeannine had come up to have lunch with us so they enjoyed seeing the girls smiling with their favorite, Officer Evans.

It just might be the best $25 x 2 we have spent all summer long! They said that they never wanted it to end & that's a good sign.