JD's 3rd Birthday

Finally! I've finally worked my way up to pictures from JD's birthday party!

We had the party on Saturday, the day before his actual birthday. On Friday I sent JD to school and Allie to Camp Grandma. My sister-in-law, Angie, came over in the morning to help me with the cake and a few other things and all I can say is THANK GOD she did! The cake and cupcakes turned out to be a 2-day project, even with both of us working on it! Between the cupcakes for JD's class on Friday, the cupcakes for the party and the fire truck cake, I made 5 cake mixes and at least 5 batches of buttercream icing and neither was enough (more on that later).

Anyway, JD was so excited to go to school with fire truck cupcakes on Friday, but even more excited when Aunt Angie came with me to pick him up from school. He ran right past me into Angie's arms... it was really cute!

After we got JD from school, Merv came up with Josh to help Dave in the yard. Dave decided on Thursday afternoon to seriously trim all our bushes and spread fresh mulch so the day before the party our yard was a complete disaster! Merv and Josh also came in very handy when it came time to get the very, VERY heavy inflatable jump house out of the truck and into the back yard... it was interesting. Allie was terrified of it at first but Dave was eventually able to coax her into the thing and she loved it from there...

Merv, Angie amd Josh left our house around 10:00 Friday night and I think we all collapsed from exhaustion before they even pulled out of the driveway!

Saturday started bright and early as usual. I had to finish cleaning the house and hang some decorations. I also had to put the finishing touches on the cake and cupcakes.

Here's the birthday banner! It has been a part of the decorations since I made it for him for his first birthday. The pictures hanging below the banner were a couple I took while visiting the fire station with Uncle Merv in Georgia a few weeks ago.

Top of the cake. The words look like water squirting out of the fire hose, right?? Right!

 Sorry for so many pics of the cake but, like I said, we worked really hard on it for 2 days and we're kind of proud of it!

 Angie was the mastermind behind the cupcakes. I purchased the liners and toppers but Angie came up with the idea of doing flames and fire hoses. I think they're adorable!

Now for some pictures of the party. Guests arrived at 2:00. The kids had fun playing in the back yard and jumping in the inflatable. We did the cake and present thing, of course and then most of the guests left around 4:00. We are so blessed to have so many great friends and family come and celebrate with us. JD got so many fun gifts and I think that this is the first year that Dave actually eyed a few of JD's presents, planning to claim them for his own! I've been calling this the year of the water gun. I think JD got about a dozen of them, including a super soaker! He also got a Nerf gun, a couple of sprinklers, a Buzz Lightyear (from Dave and me), a couple of games and some floor puzzles! We have been very busy checking out all the new games and toys! Once most of the people were gone, there was a water gun fight in the back yard!

Allie with our neighbor, Kevin. We're going to miss Kevin and Tiffany when we move...

 I got all of these cute little firefighter hats...none of the kids wore them. JD wore this one for about a split second and this was the only picture I was able to grab. Next year I'll save my money...

JD adores his cousin Josh!

 Opening gifts... check Walker out, jammin on the guitar!

 This picture of Allie cracks me up every time I see it...

 It didn't take Dave long to claim ownership of the Nerf gun...

 T-R-O-U-B-L-E

 Wonder what Josh is running from? Look at the bottom of the slide...Dave's pretty sneaky!

 Resourceful little guy... refilling his water gun with the icy waters of the beer cooler!

  Uncle Kent trying to block a shot

 Looks like Dave is after Josh again...

 Mr. Patrick (Walker's Daddy) teaching Allie how to use the water gun

 Most of the guests are gone... time for Mommy to have a little fun!

 I was trying to carry Allie out of the inflatable and might have had a little trouble...

 I love how (A) Dave is standing there laughing at me, and (B) Merv is standing there taking pictures of me... how 'bout helping a girl out next time?!?

 After the water gun wars, the boys went inside and shot the mirror with the Nerv gun and encouraged the three year old to climb the book shelf to unstick the ammo....while they sat there with sunglasses on! I think the dads may have had more fun than the kids!

So there you have it! Sorry it took so long but there were a lot of pictures and Blogger has been stuck on stupid when it comes to uploading... only wanting to do 3 or so at a time. I didn't have much patience for that. Thank goodness it's now better and I can get back to posting tons of pictures!

Georgia Trip

Our trip to Georgia started out a little rough. We were to travel on Thursday night but on Wednesday morning, Allie came down with a stomach bug. I was contemplating changing our travel plans to Friday night, getting into town just in the nick of time to watch my nephew graduate, but she perked up on Thursday so we loaded up and hit the road around 7:00 PM.

An hour into the trip, her dinner reappeared. If we were traveling for any reason other than Brad's graduation I would have just turned around and gone home... but I've been planning this trip and looking forward to this trip for about two years now! So we pressed on. Luckily that was the only time she got sick in the car. Both kids slept a little and were generally happy while we were on the road and it only took us 8.5 hours to get there. We arrived at 3:30 AM, put the kids to bed with a little coaxing and slept until 6:30 AM. When we woke, Allie got sick again so I kind of tried to quarantine her to the house that we were staying in (my sister-in-law, Angie's, mom lives next door to them in a small house and she was kind enough to let us use her house for the weekend). My parents came down from where they were staying in TN (at my aunt's house) for the day. It was the first time we had seen my mom in a month as she's been sailing the Mediterranean Sea on a cruise ship hitting all the must-see places in Italy. We pretty much stayed home on Friday, trying to get ready for the big graduation day on Saturday.

Saturday morning I got up and dressed and left Dave with the kids while I attended Brad's graduation. Dave was planning to go with me and my Aunt Earlene was going to keep the kids, but since Allie was under the weather and kind of clingy, we decided it was best that he stay home and help her. I will blog about the graduation ceremony and post some of the 1,000 pictures I took, but here are some pics from the party later that day.

On Sunday morning we pretty much just relaxed. After nap time Dave and I drove the kids up to Cleveland, TN to visit my grandmother. She's 92 and I make it a point to take the kids to see her every time we visit the area. By the time we got there she was already down in the dining room having dinner so we left for an hour. By the time we returned, the kids were getting hungry and were not very well behaved so we didn't stay long but I think Grandma Marge enjoyed seeing them. On the way home we stopped by Brad's baseball game. JD and Allie really liked running around on the field after the game! After dinner I put Allie to bed and the rest of us enjoyed an evening swim in the pool!

Monday morning Merv had to take my younger nephew, Josh, and his friend to Cleveland because they were riding back with my parents to spend a couple of weeks at the beach. I decided to hitch a ride so I could visit Grandma Marge some more. Merv and I had a good visit with her and then had lunch. After nap time we took the kids to the fire station. JD loves that outing more and more as he gets older. This was Allie's first visit and, while she had fun climbing on the fire engines, she was mostly interested in climbing the stairs.... After the fire station we got dressed and headed to downtown Chattanooga for sushi. After dinner we walked across the Tennessee River, enjoying the (hot) evening. Monday was a busy day!

Tuesday morning we got up and met my cousin, Beth and her two boys, Derek and Tyler, at the Tennessee Aquarium. Dave didn't go. He stayed behind to pack and rest for the drive home later that night. Merv and Angie went with the kids and me and we all had so much fun. JD and Tyler are only about 18 months apart and seeing their faces and hearing their oohs and aahs was hysterical! They really have so much fun together, JD fell asleep in the car on the way home but refused to continue his nap when we got there so Merv and Angie entertained him in the pool for a few hours while Dave and I packed the car. Luckily, Allie went down for a long nap while we were packing!

We hit the road around 7:15 PM and, while the trip home wasn't as good as the trip over, it still wasn't bad. We got home in just over 8 hours, arriving at the house at 3:30 AM. Both kids sighed as I placed them in their own beds and everybody slept until 7:30 Wednesday morning.