HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRODIE!

I'm doing these new posts in the order they happened so... 2 days later... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRODIE!

My baby turned to Sunday (on Easter, how cool is that?!). We had is party on Saturday. We managed to snag a nice indoor place at the last minute which was awesome since it was pretty chilly.

For a party favor idea, idea I read where you could take photos using a couple of bails of hay. We attempted this but it didn't go over very well or at least as well as I had hoped.

Right before we were about to put candles on the cake, Brodie started sneaking icing. He would take just a little bit & lick his finger & then get a little more. Dane & his buddy from daycare were watching him intently while he was eating the icing.

He got bored opening his presents & his favorite gift was a scooter my parents got him, it is like a firetruck & makes noise. They had bought one for Dane a while back & he always plays with it when we go over there. He has rode the heck out of the scooter already. Here are the pictures.

The cake.

Striking a cowboy pose.

Brie & Dane

Hunter...not too sure what he was doing with his tongue

Notice what he is aiming for.

Man that's good!

Dane had to help him blow his candles out.

He wasn't too sure what to do with his presents.

He sure knew what to do with this though!

More Hunting!

My brother & his family came in this weekend for Brodie's birthday party. This is the first year that we have all been together close enough to Easter for the grandkids to hunt together. Mom & I made tons of eggs (ok, so I made tons of eggs) for them to hunt. They had a blast. Hunter crawled in the grass... well he just found a spot & found 1 egg that he really liked. Brie, Brodie, & Dane are all pros by now so they did fairly well. Anyways here are more pictures of that. Plus we got a good photo of Hunny & Poppa with their grandbabies! HAPPY EASTER!

Poppa showing Brodie where an egg was.

Dane having fun

Hunter & his one egg.

Brie showing Poppa the egg she found.

Brodie in his rain boots.

I'm not sure what everyone was looking at

Poppa & Hunny with their grandkids.

T-Ball & Hunting

Brie had her first t-ball game last weekend. She told me she wasn’t going to play but I was going to make her at least sit on the bench. Their team, (Astros) was first to bat & she was like 3rd in the lineup. She went out with her helmet & bat & WHAM she hit the ball. I was so excited that she even played that much that I forgot to focus on her next step… running to first base. Much to my dismay never even left home plate. I told her she was supposed to run after hitting the ball but she was ADAMANT about not running. She got to bat one more time & didn’t run. She played out field a total of 3 innings & was done, “it was too hot”. I’m just glad she played that much. GO BRIE!

The team in the parade (she's hiding!)

She was a bit nervous (she had her hand in her mouth)

Being an outfielder. Doesn't she look cute!?!

Her favorite part... batting

Brie’s preschool class had an egg hunt Thursday one of the nursing homes & ended class time with an Easter Party at the park. There was a TON of eggs for 19 kids. They all had a good time. Two of Brie’s friends rode with us from the school to the nursing home. I’m guessing this is just the beginning of a bunch of giggly & silly girls in my car. So without further a do here are the pictures of the hunt & the party. (please don’t take offense to the new wind blown look!)

Having fun!

Still smiling!

Her friends!

At the park.

Both of the kids also had an egg hunt at the babysitters on Thursday. I managed to get off in time to see them hunt. Brodie had a blast. This is really his first year to hunt eggs because last year was so cold we just hunted eggs in the house. He really got the hang of it quite quickly, he especially liked the eggs in the tree (must be a boy thing).

Waiting on Ms. Lauri to say "GO!"

She looks a little confused.

picking up eggs

the ones under the tree

he got to stick his hand through the tree.

Creativity... enough for a month.

The past few weeks have been very busy for us. I found Brodie’s birthday present I will post pictures of it when we get it put together after his Birthday. I think he will LOVE it.

I have apparently gotten bit by the creative bug. A couple of months ago I was inspired by a homemade birthday invitation idea I had seen in a magazine, it was a cowboy themed invitation. (reminded me of my little cowboy!). So a couple of weeks ago with that invitation in mind I thought HEY! I can make Brodie’s Birthday invitations myself. So I proceeded to make out the plans, got all my paper & stuff, & was super pumped about making these things. Well about one & a half weeks later I was getting burned out making 20 cards seemed like a good idea at the time but MAN was I wrong. I finally did finish them & needless to say, I’m proud of how they turned out. So here they are. What do you think?

Front

Inside

back

Also I’ve went a little crazy trying to find some creative blogs & stumbled upon the following page http://bakerella.blogspot.com/ this girl is AWESOME. Go to the page & you will see what I’m talking about. Once again I was inspired to be creative when I saw her Egg Cake Suckers & created my own for a snack for my Wednesday night AWANA group. Of course mine were not as pretty but man they sure tasted good. Josh even took a few to work & got rave reviews. It is super easy to make them & if you don’t want to take all the time to dip them just make cake balls. (sounds kinda funny but once you try them you may never eat cake normally again)

I am always willing to try a new recipe. My all time favorite place to find recipes (on the Internet) is http://www.recipezaar.com/ if you are a recipe fanatic like I am you should go there. I picked up some new & easy chicken recipes this week & tried a few out on the family! I didn’t take pictures of anything I made (cause I didn’t think about it). But if you are interested in a YUMMY & EASY Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada Recipe & an EASY EASY Barbecue Chicken Crock pot recipe let me know. I’ll get ‘em to ya. I also have been trying to perfect my version of my Meema’s Spanish Rice recipe. I may have finally mastered it.

Last but not least, I let my children brush my hair last night… for me it was a NIGHTMARE. I’m incredibly tender headed & it felt like they were just pulling it all out. However bad it may have hurt we did get some cute pictures of us & the kids. Take a look.

I think he was about to brush my eye!

My "I can't take this anymore" face

You can just see the orneriness in that smile!

after brushing my hair

with daddy