Boys' Birthdays & Monster Jam

Phew!

Both boy's birthdays in one week is becoming increasingly exhausting as they get older. But I'm definitely not complaining, because we had so much fun celebrating these two amazing kids.

Payton's birthday was Wednesday, so on Tuesday night we decorated the house, blew up balloons and put streamers on his bedroom door. I love having them wake up to an instant party!

 Of course Brian brought home some special donuts for the birthday boy!

It was a fun morning indeed.

That afternoon, Brian and I joined Payton for lunch at his school.

We brought cookies for him to pass out to his friends.

That evening we had some neighbors over for dinner and cake. It was a wonderfully simple way to celebrate such an outstanding young man.

On Saturday, we got to celebrate Parker's birthday too.

We are very fortunate to have so many family members living nearby now. Brian's parents and brother, and my parents and my brother and my niece and nephew all came over for a birthday brunch. 

The kids had a ball hanging out with everyone and celebrating their special day.

That evening, we picked up one of Payton's good buddies and headed down to the Monster Jam truck rally at Raymond James football stadium.

We lucked out with our tailgate/parking spot. The family across from us had a bunch of remote control monster trucks that they were letting the kids play with (I think he had lost his mind!). The boys had so much fun playing with them!

 It wouldn't be a tailgate if you didn't actually hang out on the truck tailgate! And the birthday boy enjoyed a yummy cupcake.

Then, as the sun began to set, we headed in for the truck rally. I must say, as much as I joked about going to Monster Jam... it was actually really fun.

View from the top of the stadium. Amazing sunset.

They even had fireworks!

We all had so much fun. I highly recommend it to all families with young children. They were mesmerized the entire time.

And even though it was a busy week filled with present wrapping, cookie delivering, baking, decorating and entertaining... it was all worth it to see the smiles on my little guys' faces. They are my world and I feel incredibly blessed to be their mommy.

Now, somebody tell me how I could possibly have a 10 year old?!? That just doesn't seem possible! Oh well, time moves on... you just have to embrace the change and enjoy the ride.

Happy birthday Payton & Parker. I love you so very much!!!

Over, but not forgotten

This post is strictly for my own "scrapbooking" purposes, so feel free to move on along if you don't want to hear another post about the boys' birthdays.

I was going through my pictures today and realized I didn't post any pictures of Parker's birthday!

BAD MOMMY!!!

I don't know why I skipped over them, although I did post pictures of the boys' family birthday party, I somehow forgot to post about Parker's actual birthday.

It is important for me to document the day so that I have a record of it (and to make sure he knows we made his day special when he looks back on this someday). So here's a brief re-cap of little man's big day...

The night before his birthday, Brian and I blew up an entire bag of balloons and then snuck them into his room and scattered them on the floor. When we came in to get him in the morning, he just stared at the floor in amazement!

Then Payton came in and joined in the fun!

Parker then wanted to get back in his crib and be covered with the balloons!

Once the balloon fest was over, we headed out to the kitchen to open gifts and enjoy a birthday breakfast.

Sorry Brian, I can't always get everyone to look at the camera.

He loved opening his gifts!

 

  And he was very good about  hugging everyone to say "thank you."

In true Parker fashion, he lined up all his gifts on the table and just stared at them.

For breakfast, we sang "Happy Birthday to Parker" and put a candle in his pancakes.

 Make a wish and blow out the candle!

He loved being the center of attention all morning.

That afternoon, I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday. I started throwing out suggestions, "Do you want to go to the park, or go for a walk up to Starbucks, or maybe go have lunch with Payton?"

He immediately said, "Munch wif Bubba!"

So we did.

We went to McDonald's and picked up a super healthy lunch (har, har) and headed on over to Payton's school for lunch. It was so fun watching them eat together.

The rest of the afternoon we did all the things he loves best. Play Doh, napping, wrestling, playing with friends, etc.

I think if he could articulate it, he would say he had a super fun day.

It's hard to believe that this miracle baby we thought might never be born, is now a vibrant 2-year old who makes our lives so complete. Thank you God for this amazing child.

Happy Birthday Boogie (as your brother would say)!!!