Big Boy Bed

Today was the day. We moved Michael into a big boy bed! I know most kids are moved out of their crib before their third birthday, but for Michael, he just loved his crib. It was a his space, that he was comfortable in. And he was in no hurry to move out. We had started talking about a new bed months ago, but his response was always the same, "I have a bed!" Well, one day I showed him the twin bed that we had for him, and that was all it took. He talked all the time about moving to a big boy bed. So, for his birthday, Andrew's  parents got him a mattress and some buzz and woody sheets. The mattress was delivered on Friday and I asked Michael if he wanted to sleep in his new bed, or in his crib one more time. He said he wanted to sleep in his crib, and I was thankful. You never know when something will be the last time, until it had past, but I knew that Friday night, would be the last night my baby boy would sleep in his crib. Yes, I took pictures.  

Anyway, this morning, we went to Walmart to buy a mattress cover and some extra sheets. When we got home, I set out to transform his room. I took the crib apart, moved furniture, put the twin bed together and set it all up. 

And yes, I did it all myself. Michael was there to help too ;) 

He was so excited! 

From the time I started setting it up, he asked constantly if it was nap time yet. He was so excited to take a nap in his new bed.  

At last it was time to take a nap, and he climbed right in, pulled up the covers and laid down. Of course he did talk to himself for 30 minutes all about his new bed and sheets. And when he woke up, he stood at the top of the stairs and yelled down, "Momma, I'm awake!" 

He was just as excited to go to bed tonight. 

Hopefully we won't have any visitors in our bed tonight. 

We still have to get some blankets for his bed, but for now, we are using an extra one we had in the closet. 

I can't believe he is old enough to be in a big bed. 

Michael's Monsters Inc Birthday Party

We had a wonderful time celebrating Michael's third birthday. We decided to have it at the local park and it worked out great.

I was so worried that it would rain, since it has rained almost every day this summer, but it didn't rain at all. In fact, it was clear skies and HOT and HUMID!! It's a good thing we had lots of water and juice!

All of the kids had a great time on the playground! 

As far as food goes, we had cupcakes, watermelon, cheese-its, and rice crispy treats. Since it was at 10:00 in the morning, we could get away with not serving a meal. 

Michael got so many wonderful gifts, and was spoiled rotten! 

I made up the cutest little party bags for all the kids, and forgot to give them out till there were only a couple of kids left. Luckily, most of the kids were cousins, so we were able to get them their bags. 

Inside each bag was a bag of monster gummies, a lolly pop, 3 gum balls, 3 packs of sixlets, and two sour punch licorice pieces. Everything was color coordinated, blue, aqua, and green; To match the theme, of course. Party City has all of their candy color coordinated, so it was really easy to just grab 15 pieces of each candy, in each of the colors. Then each bag was tied with a aqua and green ribbon. Super easy , and super cute. 

I would say the party was a success! Michael was having so much fun, and loved having all of his friends and cousins there. 

Monsters Inc Birthday Party Prep

When Michael said he wanted a "Mike Wazowski" Party, I went straight to Pinterest to find some ideas. I found these cupcakes and knew immediately that I wanted to make them.

I also found these "Sully" cupcakes and thought they would be cute. 

A couple of days before the party, I had to do a little prep for the cupcakes. 

I had to make the eyes

And the mouths 

Then the night before the party, I made the cupcakes, decorated and assembled them all. With help from my momma! 

I think they turned out Great! 

So, you want to know how to make them, here you go. 

For the Mike Wazowski cupcakes: 

The eyes are a white candy melt, with blue cookie icing, and a brown mini M&M. That's it. I got the candy melts from hobby lobby and the cookie icing in the baking aisle at the grocery store. Just a note, you don't need that much icing. You can see in the picture of the eye balls, that I started with too much icing, and cut back a lot as I went. 

For the mouths, I used a tootsie roll that I rolled out and cut with a cookie cutter into a mouth shape. For the the teeth, I used the same cookie icing. If I had to do it over again, I would wait till the morning of the party to put the mouth on. Because the tootsie roll got very soggy and started dripping by the next morning. 

The antlers were just slivered almonds, bought in the store that way. 

For the "Sully" cupcakes, we used a "grass" frosting tip. Very simple. 

I am very happy with how both of them turned out. 

August 10th

This day is significant for so many reasons.

31 years ago, I was born

10 years ago, I said "yes"

And

3 years ago, I saw this face for the first time.

And it was love at first sight! I knew that this was my son, the one God chose just for me. 

August 10th is one of my favorite days! 

This year, I celebrated this day with a very special Monsters Inc Party for a very special little boy! 

Then that night, we went to Maggiano's for dinner. 

It was a great day, full of celebration! 

Got Bubbles

First thing this morning, Michael asked if we could go outside and play with his bubble gun. I'm thinking we did good with that gift!

A day of Celebration

Here is how Michael celebrated turning three: 

When he woke up, he got to snuggle in bed with Mommy, while we sang Happy Birthday to him, before Daddy had to go to work. Then he watched a movie in our bed, and got to drink chocolate Milk! After his movie, we got ready and went to go get donuts! 

He chose the bag of donut holes. I'm sure he has figured out he gets a lot more donuts that way ;) 

Then we went to see Grandma and Papa at work. 

Then home to nap. 

After nap time I kept asking him what he wanted to do, or where he wanted to go, and he just wanted to stay home and play. 

Daddy came home from work early and Michael opened his presents! 

- New Monsters Inc shirts & socks

- New pajamas 

- A Bubble gun

- Play dough toys 

- Monsters Inc Gummies & stickers

He was very excited about the bubble gun, so we went straight outside to play with it.  He had a blast! 

Then it was dinner time. Nothing special, just spaghetti. But I did make the sauce from scratch! And it was delicious! 

After dinner, we took Michael out for ice cream. This is something we started last year and I want to continue. Since his party isn't on his actual birthday, I want him to have a special treat, but don't really want to make two cakes in one week. So ice cream makes sense. This year we went to Dairy Queen and Michael got the chocolate dipped come! 

As you can see, he thoroughly enjoyed it! 

And yes, he ate it all! 

He had a great birthday, and we can't wait to celebrate at his party this weekend! 

Happy Birthday Michael!

I can't believe my baby boy is three today! Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday, he was a tiny little baby!

And now, he is a running, jumping, big boy! 

I am so proud of him! Just ask any of my friends or family. I can't stop talking about how wonderful he is. He is so funny, and keeps us constantly entertained. He is so smart and is always surprising us with what he knows. But the biggest surprise, is his imagination. He has quite a wild one. 

Michael, we love you more than you will ever know. You were and still are, our biggest blessing. 

How is it possible, that out of all the little boys in the whole world, God gave us the very best one? 

Happy Birthday Michael! 

We love you! 

Life's a Beach!

Last week, Julie and I drove down to spend a few nights with Jennifer for a little Girls trip. Jessica couldn't make it, but we were still trying to get her to go with us up to the last minute.

We left Wednesday night, after Andrew got home from work and arrived at Jennifer's around 9:30. She had some snacks and drinks ready for us and it was such a nice welcome. We talked and laughed, and stayed up way too late. We talked about what we wanted to do while we were there and made plans for the rest of the week. Thursday morning Julie pops her head in my room just after 9:00 am and tells me that she is leaving. Her MIL was watching her kids and she got sick. So Julie had to go pick up the kids and drive them home (a 3 hour drive). Her plan was to drive back to Jennifer's (another 3 hour drive) either that night, or the next morning. Well, by that afternoon, Julie had a fever and was feeling awful. So, she decided not to come back at all. And it's a good thing to, because she ended up having strep throat!

So it was just me and Jennifer. It was 1:30 before we pulled our butts off the couch and decided to head to the beach. 

We stayed till around 6, and it was wonderful! 

Thursday night, we stayed home and snacked and sat around. So relaxing! 

Friday we headed back to the beach. 

To just lay at the beach, read a good book and have great conversation with your best friend, is the best way to spend a day. 

Friday night jennifer and I went out for pizza. Then back to the house to lay around some more. 

Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market in downtown Charleston.  We got a giant fresh lemonade and some kettle corn. Jennifer also picked up some fresh veggies and some fresh ravioli. 

We brought our beach stuff with us, in case we decided to go back to the beach. Well, we did and it was so crowded. But still very relaxing, once we got parked and found a nice spot on the beach. 

We were at the beach for most of the day and decided to leave once a very dark cloud showed up. I guess everyone else decided to leave also, and it took us forever to actually get off the Isle of Palms. But as we were leaving, we saw the most beautiful rainbow. 

You can faintly see a double rainbow. 

I put together two pictures, so you could see the whole thing. It was incredible! 

Saturday night was a lot more laying around. 

Sunday we got up and headed over to the outlets. It was tax free weekend and Jennifer wanted to look for some clothes. After a quick lunch at Panera, it was time to drive to Columbia. Andrew and Michael were meeting us there, since my ride left me stranded. (Just kidding Julie) 

We had a great time, and it was so relaxing. It reminded us a lot of our trip to the Bahamas last year. We really wish Julie could have stayed and that Jessica could have come. We missed those girls so much. Hopefully we will be able to plan another girls trip, and more than just me and Jennifer will be able to be there! 

Thanks for a great trip Jennifer! I had such a fun relaxing time! 

Hot Dog Day at the Zoo

Every year, the Greenville Zoo has an event called Hot Dog Day.

They have hot dogs, drinks, chips, and ice cream all for 50 cents each. 

Since we have a zoo pass, I thought it would be fun to go to, and a really cheap activity for Michael. Becky and Leilani went with us, and we were all able to get in with my pass. 

It was a little rainy, but we still had a lot of fun.

4th of July in Charleston

Jessica, all the kids, and I drove down on Wednesday, July third, to spend some time with Jennifer. It just worked out that we would be there for the forth.

We arrived around lunch time on Wednesday and just hung around Jennifer's house that day. We made a trip to the grocery store with all of the kids in tow, to buy what we would need for the next 3 days. We decided to eat all of our meals at home. Trying to take three kids out, wouldn't be fun for anyone. 

Thursday, the forth, we packed up the van, and headed to Isle of palms for the day. 

We brought a picnic lunch, and were prepared to stay for several hours. We even brought a baby pool for the Abby. It was a bit of a hassle, but ended up being a great idea. 

The kids did great at the beach, and had so much fun running in the waves and we got to sit in the ocean supervising. It was actually pretty relaxing. As relaxing as a trip to the beach with a three, two, and one year old. 

We didn't do anything exciting for the forth. It actually started raining in the afternoon, and rained most of the night. We grilled out hot dogs and hamburgers and had a lovely night in.

We put the kids to bed and we played Mexican train! We actually played every night after the kids went to bed and it got very competitive! 

Friday, it looked like it would rain, but we decided to go to the pool anyway.  The kids had so much fun at the pool, even when it started pouring! 

Saturday morning, we went to the pool again and then came home, ate lunch, packed the van and headed home. We wanted the kids to sleep most of the way home, and that is exactly what happened. 

We had so much fun with Jennifer and hopefully we can do it again next year.