Kids being kids...Ladies being Gossip Girls!!

Don't you just love a good weekend??!!! That is what we had around here!! It was time too!!!  So here is a rundown of our fun times....

Friday night - Amy and I were fabulous wives. (HA :)) We knew that we had a big girls night to attend on Saturday, so we told the hubs' to have a night away and we would take the kids.  So Shane and David went fishing Friday afternoon and evening.  Amy and I took the kids to her country club for dinner and then back to their house to play.  As always we had fun letting the kids running wild while we relaxed HA!  Here are some pictures of that night...

All five of our kids sitting on a sofa at the country club...love this picture of our crazy, but adorable kids :)...

The boys chilling and watching Toy Story...

Pic of me and Amy, photog Claire :)

Best friends Owen and Maddox

Claire trying to play with boy toys :)

Bree and Cruz playing...

Bree watching TV

More of Cruzy and B

That night, we got home at dark in time to watch a movie in our culdesac! Our neighbors built a huge Movie screen and every couple of weeks they will put up a movie!  The kids LOVE it!!!! They eat popcorn and have a blast!!

Don't you love Claire's annoyed face....

Then Saturday night!!! All of us girls went to Fayetteville (all riding in my Mom Van HA!) and celebrated Tara's birthday!!! Tara is the best party planner and she had big plans for her birthday!! She can do it better than the rest of us so we gave her gifts, she put together her Gossip Girl Birthday party!!! I love Gossip Girl (guilty pleasure, I know!) so this was so much fun!!!  You can read all about it here!!!! It was an absolutely FABULOUS PARTY!!!!

The birthday girl!

Pretty Amanda!

Mandy and Boni

Mom, me and Amy

Nicole and Molly

Me and the birthday girl!

Fun weekend!!!!!  This next weekend will be so much fun!! We are ending this summer with tons of fun times!! I am ready for FALL, COME ON!!!!!!

Happy Monday!

Saying our Prayers....

Claire has gotten really good at saying her prayers.  Shane and I are really impressed with her at dinner every night.  We can tell she is listening to others pray as well as she is learning at school and church.  She has had some of her issues (if you want to know more, go back to Aug of 2008 when she started SonShine School) of having a hard time when I try to leave her at school and church again.  She is really brave until we actually get there and they wells up and usually cries.  She is fine once I leave, but sometimes, she is crying when I leave her.  Her teacher has been GREAT and has helped a ton, heading us off in the hall and taking her by the hand before we have an episode.  It is has also helped that we have been praying just before we leave the house and when we pull up to school, she always asks if she can pray about it "one more time to be safe" :).  Last night she told me that ever since we started praying about it, she has not cried and that prayer really works...music to my ears.  Here is a picture of my little girl the very first time she ever went to school...tear.....seriously, time flies by!!!!!!!

Now Owen, is just learning to pray and usually he just gives a solid "AMEN" after Claire finishes :)....good enough for us.  The other night, he asked to pray when she finished, we let him, here is his prayer...

Dear God, Thank you for my Daddy that me take a shower when I poop my pants....AMEN!

Hilarious stuff!!! That may trump his other funny prayer a long time ago :)....

Happy Thursday!! Notice that I am blogging before school...Only one kid this morning to get ready and take, O is sick...school has officially started! 

What happened to the baby that sits in her highchair and snacks???

So things have changed around here!!! Not only are we back to school and it is much quieter, but Bree has changed so much...How you ask???  Here are a list of things she did in one day....this is the same baby that was so content while I worked snacking in her high chair or playing with a few toys...

Climbed the entire stairs FOUR times, the last time, she moved the gate!!  We cannot lock it in (YET, Shane Brown if you are reading this, FIGURE IT OUT!)  I did not even know she could do this until she just took off, FAST!!!

Climbed up in a little bench or little chair intermittently all day.  These two things are in my living room and I love them. Currently, they are both sitting on top of my dining room table.  She climbs in and stands up!!!!!

Dumped an entire box of Capri Suns in the floor and carried them all around the house in the perfect places for either Mama or Owen to step on them or a dog to "drink".

Dump all three dog bowls, food and water. 

Bring a pillow from the living room and set in said water and dog food on the floor before I realized it.  Yall I swear she did it so fast and I am not even sure why???

Eat said dog food.

Climb in Oscar's (the dog) cage and pull the door to.  She was stuck and screaming...

Lose our remotes.

Mess up the TV while losing said remote that made me so nervous that I had to fix before Shane came home, luckily I fixed it. 

Eat a crayon that Owen left in floor.

Play in toilet by putting a whole roll of toilet paper, not unrolling it, just placing a big brand new roll in there.

Pulled down blinds (bamboo that just hook) in my office.

Got stuck underneath a breakfast nook chair.

Got stuck underneath ottoman in dining room while chasing a ball.

That was one day...once she went upstairs and I was so over it and Claire was home and playing in her room.  I asked her if she would keep an eye on her so I could facebook and blog work for a bit.  I heard Bree screaming so I ran up there.  Claire had her pinned in corner with her little table and chairs with a baby doll and blanket.  I asked Claire what in the world she was doing??? "Mama, she is messing up my room, tearing up my toys, I had to keep her out of everything!!" :)

She is growing up so fast and rocking my world.  I really think she may be my wildest one of the three!!! Have yall met Owen Brown?  If you have, I have faith that you are praying for me right now :)....

What baby doesn't love a sombrero???!!

This weekend was Bree's actual birthday (thank you so much for all the super sweet birthday comments and wishes, Bree read them all and thanks you :)) so we had to celebrate some!!! I originally planned to have the kids birthday parties separate, but an event came up for Claire that we could not miss on the 21st, so we just decided to combine. Well, the day after the huge, almost killed me "Carnival Party" (Shane was ready to kill me the next day when he was cleaning up the back yard in 100 degrees :)), they cancelled said event. What a surprise?? So we had to do something for Miss Bree and keep the celebrations going, right??!!
We woke up Saturday and had our traditional birthday breakfast around here, blueberry muffins!!!! For some reason, that is what we do and everyone remembers every year! Bree, as you would imagine, loved them :)!! This girl is no stranger to some food :)!

Bree enjoying her muffins! No, she does not wear a flower to bed with her pajamas, her hair is so long that we have to pin it back so she can eat breakfast and not have hair in her mouth and eyes....not that I think there is anything wrong with wearing flowers to bed :)....

Owen was not up for pictures :)

Saturday night we went to our favorite local Mexican restaurant with Nonna, Poppy, The Welborns and Tara stopped by. We had fun eating and letting the kids run wild...which they literally did and I am sure many tables around us were less than thrilled :)!

I tried to get some pics before we left for dinner, and well it just was NOT happening!! I don't know why these kids cannot get it figured out that I am NEVER going to stop wanting pictures!! Claire even said "Cmon Mama, why do you want pics??? for the BLOG??!!" HAHA!

Little Bree always on the go now that we can WALK!!!

Forced - Mama was already threatening!

These pictures are funny (NOW)...steaming hot, me threatening the older two, Claire practically in tears bc Owen is touching her, annoyed Shane chasing a very mobile Bree that runs off everytime we get everyone placed, and Owen is dancing next to Claire as you can see in a few of these pics...priceless!

Bree enjoying some chips and salsa!

Owen and Maddox, up to no good :)!

Bree and Cruz!

Claire posing as always :)

Nonna and her girls!

Tara and Amy looking cute!

Poppy and Bree baby

Walking EVERYWHERE!!!  Hey, where is your bow your Mama slaved over?? :)

So, they brought out the sombrero and sopapillas for Bree :)...I would have never posted these (because I look h-e-double hockey sticks) but Bree is funny in them and this was a fun moment :)!

We are not even done singing and Owen is already eating the sopapillas :)!

Sunday we went to church and we had the pleasure of hearing Bobby Bowden!! He was great!! We were to all wear our team gear, so we did....

I love this crew right here so much!!!  They make me so happy!!! Have a great week!!!  BTW - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TARA!!!  We love you so much!!!!!