Samantha's Birthday Party

I am finally caught up to post the pics from Sammi's birthday party. Let me just start off by saying that I had her party at one of the best places EVER! Oogles n' Googles throws the best birthday parties! There are a ton of themes to choose from and you can have it at their location or they can come to your house. They do everything. And I mean everything. They did invitations (not cheapy kind that they fill in the blank either), balloons, cake, paper goods, have games and activities for them that THEY organize, thank you notes, and party favors. I never went to a party there, so was not quite sure how it would turn out. I was way impressed! And it worked out well this year. I just did not want to have another party at my house, clean clean clean, stress out over the cleaning, buy everything (that ain't in my hubby's department), etc. It worked out well because my dad had his back/spine surgery moved to Sammi's birthday, the day before the party. It was an 11 hour surgery and I was at the hospital from 9am until 11:30pm. I can't imagine having to deal with my house and getting ready for a party after that! God certainly guided me! Seriously, look at having a party with Oogles 'n Googles, you will not be let down! http://www.ooglesngoogles.com/

Not surprising finding some boys at the video game!

Sammi picked the theme to be Pirates, yet she found some clothes to dress up in and wore the fairy princess outfit until it was time to change into the pirate gear. What a lovely fair maiden.

Now here we go, that is more like it. A pirate. Don't you love the mustache they painted on her?

Sammi and her best friend from preschool, Taryn.

Walking the plank.
Just a dancin'

Picking up spiders and snakes.

A group picture...that is with those that wanted to be in the picture or wanted to dress up. Surprisingly, there were a lot of shy ones that did not want to do either....at least 8!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday and have cake.

Isn't this a great picture of Sammi blowing out her candles?

Jackson (Sammi's first "boyfriend") and her cousin Kate.

She was so excited to start to open her presents that she literally could not sit still!

Look at how Colby is sitting? Doesn't he look so grown up and nonchalant?

Sammi with cousins Kate & Will

After the party, we had about an hour to waste before her soccer game, so off to McDonald's to eat and play we went! My sister snagged my camera to take this of Kate and Sammi just yapping like a bunch of old ladies.

The only picture I got at her game....that is her laying UNDER the bench.

After the game my sister and her family, my mom, and step dad came to our house to hand out. Sammi showed off new new hat and sunglasses from her friend Kalea.
And then Lito had to do the same. :)

All but Will were outside playing with Sammi's Polly Pockets.

My sister Meredith, ever so thoughtful, thought that Joshua would feel left out from opening presents and got him something of his very own. So sweet! He got all kinds of cool things from his Aunt Meredith.

It was a VERY long, busy day. But so fun! We were so sad when my sister, bro in law, and their 3 kids left the next day. We all were worn out and needed some rest!

No Kitchen!

When we moved into our home 6 years ago, the first thing on my list to change was the kitchen. It had old 80's butcher block-style formica counter tops and wood stained cabinets that needed to be redone, whether restained or painted. I wanted to paint it. So, 6 years later I am doing it! With my time at home, I have seen things about this house that have bothered me so much that I am finally getting around to changing it. Over the past years we have done some things, like remodel the kids bathroom (just painting the cabinets and replacing fixtures that were brass. Yuck!), but the kitchen needed it more than anything else.

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I started this project about 2 months ago (that's a guess) and all of the cabinet doors are hung, minus the pantry doors, put new hardware and hinges, and voila! New cabinets! It is a really small kitchen, so it desperately needed something light. I love it. I sent pics to some friends and family and some asked me who did them! That made me feel good. Well, the next project was to replace the UGLY counter tops and I bought the granite tiles yesterday and my father-in-law is working on it today.

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Problem is, I forgot one thing: many appliances would be pulled out to do this task. So this morning Jason pulled out the sink (ah!), then he and his dad rolled out the stove/oven (double ah!). I thought, well, I can do a lot of cooking in the microwave, crock pot, then wash the dishes in the bathroom sink. Well, that thought went right out the window when they were taking off the old back splash and had to take down the microwave (was over the stove) to get to it. WHAT?????? So my lovely father-in-law said "guess you all will be eating out for several days". Great, my 25 pounds I lost? I can feel them slowly coming back on with just the sheer thought of eating out that much. What am I going to do? If any of you have suggestions, please pass them on. I can't live on sandwiches and salads....that is all I eat for lunch anyways.

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But, to stay sane, I just remind myself what an amazing looking kitchen I will have when all of this is done. I'm not one of those that hovers when someone is working or fixing something in my house....but I just might do that so that I can cook in my kitchen sooner than later! :)

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Here is a picture of my "new" kitchen cabinets that I lovingly painted all by myself. Yep, not even Jason helped. I insisted on that being MY project. Although I did have to consult with him a few times about the right grade of sandpaper, how much primer to put on, etc. But I did it myself, even hanging the doors back up, which my friends caused many 'o curse words to spill out of my mouth during this. I had to scoot the kids to Sammi's room and put on a movie with the volume way up so that they did not hear mommy. Trust me, it was bad. The big hole is where the microwave hung and the stove/oven was. Let me just tell you what crap you can find under an oven when you move it: a Cars DVD (we thought Joshua threw it away after tearing the house up trying to find it), a cookie sheet, dog bone, rubber ball, and other nasty things. When they rolled it out, I was standing there with the shop-vac in hand. I just knew it would be nasty. So to all of you missing something, pull out the oven or refrigerator. It just might be in there!

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See the ugly counter top? I am so glad to say goodbye to it. Yuck! What looks like goo dripping down the wall is the glue that held up the back splash. That will now have 4x4 travertine tiles. Yea!

Look, no sink! *sniff sniff* I know this will be ok and short term, right?

I will post new pics of it when it is all done. I just can't wait! When Jason finishes hanging the new faucet and shower head, I will post pics of the tiling that he and his dad did in the kids bathroom. All I can say is that it is simply gorgeous and I am so impressed with Jason's tile design skillz.

Happy Birthday Samantha!

Samantha is now 6 years old! This year seemed to be even bigger when it came to wanting to be 6. She was unhappy last year when she turned 5 because she wanted to be 6. I think it was because the week before we celebrated a friend's 6th birthday. Who knows.

This year she has really blossomed into a "girl" as opposed to a "little girl". Don't get me wrong, she is still a little girl. But more grown up in some ways. She LOVES to help in any way she can. Even if it is something we don't think she can do, she insists that she can. She is more motherly to Joshua. In fact, I have to remind her that I am his mommy, not her. :) She wants to take showers alone, tried to blow dry her hair by herself. Trust me, I was RIGHT next to her the entire time...I envisioned her sucking up half of her hair and then having to cut it out. I feel like she wants to grow up so quickly, and thankfully she has a daddy that does NOT want her to, nor do I. He doesn't even like it when she plays with makeup at home. I only let her play with it at home. I keep telling her that she will have MANY more years of wearing that to come.

I went through my old pictures to find each year of her blowing out her cake, but could only find 3. Too bad I don't have a scanner or I would have scanned the ones I already have printed. I have a Birthday book that I put a picture of my kids blowing out their candles each year. So fun to look back and see the changes each year and what their cake was.

2nd Birthday

4th Birthday

5th Birthday

Happy 6th Birthday Samantha!

(I will be posting birthday party pics soon!)

I Love The State Fair!

I love love love the State Fair! I have been going every year since I can remember. I think I have enjoyed it even more since having kids, although having small kids at the fair brings on added stress: potty training during that time and finding a clean bathroom QUICKLY, dealing with tired tots while I go to the car show (my top fave event), etc. But I love it and look forward to it every year.

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I have loads of great memories there. I took Jason there when I was at UNT and he said he had never gone. What???? How can that be possible? I took him and he insisted on us riding all of the rides that make you go upside down, round and round, etc. We rode quite a few and then it hit us....our stomachs could not take anymore. I still have in my wallet the pictures we took in a photo booth. Gosh, we look like babies!

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Every year my sister and her kids come up and go with us, my mom, and step dad. This year they could not make it, so I invited my good friend Jennifer, who has never been and always wanted to. She has a son Aidan, who Joshua LOVES to play with. He can't say his name well so it comes out "aints". Aidan calls him "Joshy".

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Here is Aints and Joshy just giddy with excitement. We are in line waiting to take them to the Little Hands Farm. It's an interactive farm for kids that is just so much fun for them.

All 3 still waiting in line and just could not stand still!

Here, Aidan and Sammi got their aprons on and baskets, ready to go.

The first thing to do was water the peaches, then take a peach to put into their basket.

Then feed the chickens corn and take an egg for their basket.

Milk a cow and get a milk carton for their basket.

Plant a seed and water it.

Pick what they planted and put in their basket.

Quick stop in the middle for a photo-op.

Take a bag of feed in the tractor.

In the end, all that they collected in their basket, they turn in to sell for money. Then they take their money and get to buy a snack. They do this every year and it never gets old. The kids just love it. I like that it teaches them something good.
Now, off to the Midway to the rides! Here Lito is a great sport and rode with Sammi....who had more fun? It's a toss-up.

I just loved seeing Joshua watching the people walk by. I think this was the only time he was quiet, except for his quick nap in the stroller.

Aidan and Sammi riding the canoe ride. We had to keep yelling at them to keep their hands out of the water.

There were WAY too many rides that my little man (literally!) couldn't ride. :( Lots of tears, but he finally found a ride he was tall enough to ride alone that he liked.

And here is the ride...he kept saying "I want the boat", so the boat is what he got.

Here, the kids were watching and listening to a buzzard in a tree talk. This buzzard was like the Wizard of Oz. I kept looking for a man behind a curtain that talked for the buzzard. He was a very sarcastic buzzard that made the adults laugh and the kids go "huh?" It was funny.

Sammi playing on the elephant. I had to pretend we were going to leave her to get her off of the thing!

Us taking a brief break. Our legs and feet were so sore from walking so much, but it is worth it since you have to work off all of the calories from the fried carbs we ingested. But they were oh so good! Isn't that really why we come to the fair? For the food? Speaking of, the winner this year was Chicken Fried Bacon. I kid you not. Fried bacon. The line for it was so long. There was also fried Jelly Belly's. I have no idea how you fry a jelly bean. Fried grilled cheese actually sounded good, but I did not try it. I stuck to my beloved Fletcher's corny dog. Yum!

My and my amazing, wonderful step dad.
Sammi and Lito...she loved watching Big Tex talk and wave his hand. I thought there was a real person in there when I was a kid.

Joshua and Lito....Lito is such a great granddad....look at what he has to put up with from Joshua. It took him a lot of wipes to clean off the fingerprints from his glasses.

My tired kids riding in the back of the stroller together....see his bare feet? Yea, he kicked off his shoes, which Lito saw him do. Later on I heard Josh in the front call for me. I go to him and he says "I don't like my socks" and I look down to find his bare feet. He had one sock in his hand and we could not find the other one. Somewhere in the fair a sock was swept up and thrown away.

So for you very observant ones, did you notice anything different from the first set of pictures to the last set? That's right, Joshua's shorts changed. The well prepared mom that I am (ha, I lucked out this time!) brought and extra pair of shorts for him. He is very famous for peeing out of his diaper and getting his pants wet. I think this kid holds it all in for a long time, then lets it all out and the diaper just cannot hold that much.

We were there for several hours and it hurt for my legs to bend to get in the car. Am I that out of shape? Sheesh! But both the adults and kids had fun and that was the goal!