Old Friends

We've been lucky enough to visit with some old friends this past month or so.  Not old in age, but in the length of time we've known them! 

First, Jennie, Jack and Patrick came into town.  They don't live too far away, so we see them several times a year, but it's always special to get to visit.  They actually came in for the joint birthday celebration, but we got an extra visit in later that weekend at the park! 

 Then a couple of weeks ago, one of my high school friends, Julie, came into town.  We invited her and another friend, Ellen (and her kids), to come for a play date!  It was great to catch up and the kids had a blast!

The day after the "high school reunion play date," it worked out to meet Stacey, Leah and Natalie at the zoo!  They live here, but with busy schedules we don't get to see them as often as we would like. We were so glad that it worked out and we got to spend the morning with these sweet girls!

I love that summer allows for a little bit of extra time to see the friends we don't always get to see.  So sad to see it coming to an end.  Kindergarten starts in 1.5 weeks.  Gaaaak!

Combo

We held Brian and Lilah's first joint birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  The way their parties fall, it wouldn't have made sense to put the party exactly in the middle because of the 4th.  It turns out we would have had terrible weather this year if we had done that anyway. 

We didn't have the best weather for their outdoor party.  It rained.  But it didn't rain the whole time, just little pop up showers here and there.  The kids (mine and other kids at the party) didn't care at all and the adults stayed dry in the shelter, so no real harm.  Trying to set up for the party was a huge challenge because the wind decided to be crazy at that exact time.  I eventually just gave up on the table cloths and bowls of snacks.  Life goes on.  We did get to see an awesome rainbow near the end of the party which made up for all the weather trouble!

The kids were soooooooo excited about the party.  Lilah would jump up and down and say "Minnie party" every time someone asked her about her party.  Brian had picked his theme-Super Why-11 months ago.  A funny theme really considering he doesn't really love that show, but he stuck with it no matter how much I challenged him on it, so I'll give him that. 

We started the day with a very early appointment at Children's.  Brian's pedi had noted that one of his tubes was out and that fluid was already building.  I don't mess around with that so I took the first available even though it was the morning of the party.  It turns out the pedi was WRONG and we rushed the appointment for nothing, but I guess it's better to know.  We also did a hearing test and the results were the same, which is always a good thing. 

Following our trip to the main campus, we headed to the Northern Kentucky site for Brian's speech appointment.  Poor kid, he was sooooooo excited for the party and was forced to go to appointment after appointment all morning long.  He survived.

Around 1 we were lucky enough to have our friends Kristal and Maggie arrive so we had a fun afternoon of playing and catching up with them.  Plus I had the added bonus of help with party prep-thanks girls! 

At the party the kids ate (a little) pizza (too excited), opened a ridiculous amount of presents (wow this was CRAZY with two tearing in to the gifts at the same time) and ate yummy cake made by Auntie Lauren.  There were a ton of kids so they all enjoyed the play area and each other.  Even with the rain, it was  fun night for everyone. 

The beautiful cake.

The Creekwood babies.

My friend Erica who is moving to Texas next week :(

The rainbow!

Keeping it Simple

I keep getting overwhelmed by how much I want to blog about, that I just avoid it all together.  So I am going to keep this simple and do what I can!

Currently stealing internet from McDonald's while Miss Lilah naps and Brian is in school.  We do what we have to, right?!

I definitely want to make sure to document a conversation I had with Brian's teacher last week.  We went to this event at the County Extension Office for his school.  She came over to me laughing and said that she was cracking up because I kept getting onto Brian for the way he was playing with the other kids.  She said it was funny to see him "get in trouble" for interacting with other kiddos because all she wanted for him to do last year was interact with the other kids.  Progress!  She also said that she can't wait for us to see the data she has been taking on him.  In his IEP most of his classroom goals have to do with his ability to attend to the teacher during small and large group time without being corrected.  She said he has been doing amazingly well!  He is due to start with an FM system soon, and she said that she doesn't see it making a difference because he's already acting exactly as he should during those times.  Can I get an AMEN!?  Soooo happy to hear this!!

The kids had fun that day too.  The teachers took the kids while the parents took a short class and the kids had a ball making drums!  Then we all headed out to the garden to pick flowers, veggies and berries.  So fun!

A big part of the last week or so has been Pappy's retirement.  The kids have really enjoyed having him around more!  Me too!  It seems so funny to get lonely when I have my babies with me 24/7, but sometimes I really do.  It helps to have someone else that I am close to who is home all the time.  Grandad always filled that void for me when he was still alive, so in away it's like having a new Grandad...20 years younger!

The kids really enjoyed Dad's party over the weekend.  Brian golfed of course and Lilah impressed with her outfit and smiles.  Miss Personality!

The Reds have dominated a lot of our time lately too.  They seem like they may be well on their way to the World Series!  Mom is thrilled, of course.  We were all at the game where they clinched and then Mom and I took the kids for the last home game of the season.  They won in the 9th.  Lilah slept through a homerun and the end of the game fireworks.  Brian, however, was pretty darn excited at the end of the game!  Normally he is so overwhelmed by the noise that he doesn't show a lot of excitement, so this was pretty cool to see.

We also went on a boat a couple of weeks ago for Nana's birthday.  It was fun!  We also went to a wedding with a great bunch of our besties.  Brian had a ball with Miss Addison.  I'm waiting on her Daddy to get me pics of them dancing.  TOO CUTE!

 And, Lilah and I have been trying to take advantage of what's left of the nice weather.  We hit the park last week and are hoping to hit the Zoo this week.  Poor baby girl was really sick about a week ago.  And she just can't catch a break...now she has her first two molars coming in.  Ouch!  And yes, I just said my BABY has molars coming.  Double ouch!

I guess that's about it for now.  We are very much looking forward to a visit with WHITNEY later this week.  As in I can barely keep my mind off of it!!  We really thought we were going to have to wait for Christmas, so this is an extra special treat!

Cars Party and Other Birthday Fun

Brian's 4th Birthday party was celebrated at the park a few weeks ago.  He wanted a Cars theme, so of course that is what we did.  He had been asking his Auntie La La for a Cars cake since maybe March!

Brian was soooo excited the day of the party.  This is the first Birthday where I feel like he really "got it" completely.  It was so much fun the plan with him and to see him enjoy the day!  Shawn kept telling him to quit micro-managing us.  He wanted to be sure every detail was just so!

Helping to set out the M & M bowls.

Someone was pretty excited about the balloons.

Party favors!

Taking it all it.

Pizza and Max.  Doesn't get much better.

The cake.  Oh the cake.  This was the original made by Auntie La La.  It wasn't meant to be this year but...

Brian made it all better.

Presents!

Love having these parties at the park!

The little sis!

Lots of kissing babies!

All the babes!

So, as you can see from the millions of pictures, the party was a hit! 

On Brian's actual Birthday, we went to the Reds game.  The kids had fun.  Sometimes the noise was a bit much for Brian, but Lilah managed to sleep through a large portion of the game!  Both kids were pretty much worn out.  Brian did get a visit from the Reds and received some cool presents!