Super Jay is Super 3! {party}

We celebrated 3 wonderful years of Jay this weekend with a Super WHY themed birthday.

We had so much fun. I'm so glad we went ahead with a party even though Jay was a bit tough to convince about a month ago. 

Jay had a wonderful time, we had cousins and grandparents and a few buddies--it was a great evening.

Jay's big present is/was his tree house. I'm planning to do a whole separate post about the tree house, but "Phase 1" was completed for Jay's party.

Here are 7 million pictures to keep you entertained!!

Party day started with Drive-thru breakfast and Jay enjoying the decorations!

Biddy Bear Cupcake and Cake toppers shilled and in perfect condition! Our Super Why "Super Jay" toppers even had red hair to match Jay's EXACTLY. Lesley, you are too, too good. Here's her facebook link. I just picked up cupcakes from Publix this time and a 5" white with borders only. I piled on the star sprinkles and added Lesley's topper.

 Friends and Family

 We served Tacos (of course!!), chips, salsa, queso, refried beans and fruit kebabs. It was yummy!

Games!

It rained on and off all afternoon, so my plans to play these games (a.)in the front yard (too wet) or (b.) on the driveway (with sidewalk chalk) had to be abandoned. We played a version of a cakewalk with ABC letters with letters I printed out (plan C) and a bean bag toss with the same (damp and stepped on) letters. Each child had a goodie bag to fill with prizes.

Pinata!! 

Jay asks for a pinata every time we go to Target, Hobby Lobby, Party City or out to eat Mexican. It was a must for the party. Rain or shine. Plan A, B, or C....

 Jay and Davis and Jay eating 7 Dum Dums.

Time for Cake and Singing!!

Hearing a room full of family and friends sing "Happy Birthday" to your child is one of those perfect-joyous-make-your-heart-explode-happy moments they should tell you about in the baby books. It is awesome!

Presents!

Mimi, Karla, Kelsey and CJ all spent the night.
Jay, Lizzy, Kelsey and CJ stayed up playing until bedtimes had all come and gone. This was the last picture of the night. Jay in his pj's bug catcher vest and fireman boots, running like a maniac. It was a great, great day.

Anniversary, Summer Showers and New House

Today's post came about because while prepping for Jay's birthday (read: convincing him that a small party with cousins and a couple of buddies is a fun way to celebrate your birthday and not a reason "lock the door" when everyone comes over.) I realized that today is a blogiversary here at TWOWA.

So, Happy 3rd Anniversary little blog. 

Here's my first post. I always read the first post of any blog I follow or wander over to from the interweb. I don't know why, but I do. so there.

I wish I had some fun exciting news to share to celebrate this occasion, but, alas, like most other Southeasterners we have just been trying to fill the days with what fun we can find. Two weeks of rain and borderline obscene humidity down and at least one more to go according to the forecast.

After being sick for over a week with the stomach bug (Lizzy kept it forever, then Jay over the weekend, then the parents went down early last week), rain, rain and more rain. I've decided to let Jay play in the rain when he wants.

Today we did this.

Rainy sidewalk chalk wearing Mom's boots.

Oh, and he colored them a little.

And since we've been spending so much time INDOORS here's another installment of our home tour.

Enjoy our living room and dining room. Welcome!

The tour of the kitchen and more is here, if you missed it.

If you have any questions, ask away in the comments! I love to hear from y'all and I'm always happy to share resources!

Fun Little Fourth

Happy Fourth of July!

We've had a great day.

Just some family time and lunch with Dede and Papa.

Then hanging out around our house for the evening. 

We did a little research during naptime to find a good spot to watch the Thunder on the Mountain fireworks from Vulcan Park.

We found a great spot (thanks Google!) at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church and had a perfect view and couldn't hear much of the boom (which is awesome with little kids). It began to rain just as we got to the car, which was awesome considering the forecast for today. 

It was fun watching the fireworks with the kids and their short attention span. They did watch them, but Jay was also very into people watching and excited for our little "camp" and "picnic" we had. Lizzy watched and played with her blanket. 

We had a great day. I love seeing these pictures of July 4th over the last few years. 

2011

2012

 

 2013 

Weekend at home

We decided to skip the trip to Nashville and stay home this weekend for Lizzy to get better or at least be sick at home in more familiar surroundings.

I think she's well now.

Actually I think she's at the point where she's better but has become accustomed to the special treatment of being sick.

Like CapriSun whenever and wherever she chooses.

We really enjoyed Kelsey's visit and had fun with KarKar and CJ at our halfway point CFA.

The good news is that Jay invited CJ to his birthday party while we were there, which until this point he has absolutely refused to talk about. I am just planning a very small party for family and a few friends Jay sees frequently and his favorite food. I am looking forward to it! I hope Jay is still on board with everything in a few weeks!

Even the best laid plans...

...are no match for the stomach bug.

I just feel like I need to post this because the last few days have been so busy I might forget what we've been doing.

Sunday morning Lizzy woke with the symptoms of the dreaded stomach virus right before we were to go meet Charles, Mimi, Kelsey and CJ to pick up Kelsey for the week. I tried to get Lizzy to rally, but just as we got in the car, another "wave" hit and cancelled the trip for her.

Joseph and Jay took our place and picked up Kelsey and brought her to our house in time for lunch with the West/Myers crew.

I served Miss Daisy's Turkey Divan, some fresh fruit, corn and green beans all from our local produce stand and Macaroni and Cheese, of course. I also made an angel food cake with pineapple which was good, but super sweet.

Lizzy seemed to rally and spent the rest of Sunday without incident so it was easy for me to send Joseph on his way to head to the gulf for some snapper fishing while we prepared for a fun time with Kelsey.

It rained almost all day Monday, so my plan for the zoo was a wash out. We did take Kelsey to our new Target with the elevator and escalator which was super impressive, then home for some painting, snacking, pool time, a trip to the post office to mail some letters to CJ, out to dinner at Milo's, then to the park and out for ice cream! Whew!!

Tuesday we just played around the house then Kelsey and I had a girls day with lunch at Taziki's and some shopping at the Summit.

We had BIG plans for a full day at the gym and pool with friends today, then again, just as we were ready to hop in the car this morning--Lizzy is sick again.

This time her symptoms were much worse and she seemed absolutely miserable. Jay and Kelsey spent quite a bit of quality time together today away from the little sick crying baby. I hope they had fun.  Honestly, today is/was such a blur. I just know I've never felt sorrier for one of my kids than I was for sweet Lizzy today. I just pray that its over now and that no one else gets whatever she had.

So, despite my big plans this week has been sort of flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants. We've had fun with Kelsey here, even if there have been lots of breaks for extra baths and time to tend to Lizzy.

I have no idea whether we'll make it to Nashville or just meet someone halfway tomorrow to drop Kelsey off. I can't imagine taking care of my sick kids while out of town. I'm just super tired tonight, but need to do ten thousand things because I certainly don't know what kind of surprises tomorrow has in store! I would love a Diet Coke right about now to get things done, but we've stopped buying them and I'm too tired to go out and get some. Perhaps I'll spike my water with some extra lemons and see if that put some pep in my step?!?!

Here's hoping for a smooth rest-of-the-week WITHOUT ANY PLANS! :)

Quickly, really

It late and I'm in the midst of knocking out a few more must-do to-do's tonight but wanted to take a break to browse the blogs  post a few quick things before we get into a very busy week ahead. 

I'm driving to our halfway stop in the morning with the kiddos to meet Charles and Mimi for a bit and pick up Kelsey to bring her for a visit this week while CJ and Karla sleep in a tent at Boy Scout Camp. We have a fun few days planned here, then the kids and I will head to Nashville at the end of the week to deliver Kelsey and spend a few nights with Mimi.

Then-boom, it's July.

So here are a few updates before the real fun begins--

1. We've all become water junkies and I'm really happy about it. Here's what my water looks like these days....

Lemon, strawberries and blueberries. Jay takes his the same way. Roll Tide.

2. I am really looking forward to our Sunday Supper this week for a couple of reasons-

    a. Kelsey will be here

    b. I am using a great recipe from my favorite cookbook

    c. I found a new dessert to try and I am eager to see how it turns out!

3. I've been to the vet a total of 3 times since last Friday. Twice with both kids. Gus is fine but has some very minor eye and ear things requiring drops 3 times a day. We also changed his food and he wasn't consulted first, so he's acting too-good-for-it most days. AND I bathed him today. Just wanted to put that out there. He's a high-maintenance beast these days which was NOT in my summer plan. But, we do love him so!

4. Just in case you were wondering this is what our gorgeous marble island looked like at 10 p.m. on Saturday night. 

(Just to prove that it does not always look as pristine as it does in these pictures.)

5. It seems as if Jay's awesome nap time is slipping away as we approach birthday #3. There have been fits. There have been hour and a half long struggles before he is finally asleep. There have been potty breaks and cups and stories and songs and every excuse in the book. There has NOT been a lot of time for me to do things like laundry (thus the pic above). Since there really is no way to guarantee what nap time is going to be like these days, I feel like there is an adjustment coming to my daily routine. Again. 

6. In case you missed it, Lizzy walked this week. This is still rocking my world. 

7. We went to a birthday party today and Lizzy was taller than several other boys and girls who are all almost 2 or have just turned 2. I was amazed. 

8. I have a zillion other things to do tonight--including breaking a mess of beans and getting the rest of lunch ready. 

Here we go!!

P.S. I taught Jay what a "mess of beans" is while we were at the produce stand this week. He laughed the whole way home. So did I. :)