Birthday Surprise

So, on the day of Emma’s birthday party, we had a little surprise.  Robert had gone to Party City to pick up balloons for Emma’s birthday party and everyone else in the house was asleep.  Well, Emma let the dogs outside and decided she was going to play on her swing set while I fixed her breakfast.  As I was doing this, I heard Emma yelling for me.  When I went out to see what she was doing, I heard this little squeal and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.  Now mind you,  we have 4 dogs in this house.  My two and mom and dad’s two.  Well, all the dogs and Emma were staring at the ground.  I asked her what she was doing and said that one of the dogs found an animal.  Now, we have a lot of snakes around here, and that’s what I thought, so I screamed at Emma and told her to back away.  When I went over there, I found this:

At first I thought they were rats, and that really grossed me out and to tell the truth, I almost threw them over the fence and go in and have Hazmat come and spray me down….seriously!  But upon looking at these cute little things, I realized they were bunnies! 

We’ve noticed a big rabbit running in the backyard.  So we figured we had a rabbit nest under our deck.  Well, it wasn’t under the deck.  It was under Emma’s swing set.  And there were other babies but they were “sleeping”.  At least that’s what I told Emma.  I think the dogs found them and had a little too much fun, if you know what I mean! 

But I did find one that was still alive.  He looked pretty bad.  He had blood on his ear and it down his back.  Well,  I got a box and some rags and put them inside.  I had no clue what to do with them but I knew I couldn’t let them die, and they would have, had I not gotten to them. 

But I had a bigger problem, what to do with the “sleeping” bunnies.  Dad was up by then and told him about it.  I mean,  like four “sleeping” bunnies underneath Emma’s swing set.  I had nine kids coming for a party, they couldn’t see that.  So dad came to the rescue.  And what did he do?  Yes, wait for it!  He threw them over the fence!  I totally freaked.  But dad in his sarcastic voice said, “what did you want me to do with them?”.

Now this was Saturday, and we were leaving Monday to go to Louisiana.  What was I going to do with them?  They wouldn’t survive the trip, especially with two dogs in the car.  So, you know what I did?  I pawned them off on my neighbor.  She took them in. She went and got little bottles and formula.  She is such a sweet friend.  Plus she loves animals and I KNEW she would take them in! 

Sad to say, that while we were gone, only one made it.  But it was definitely a learning experience!  And one I hope to not experience again…thank you very much!

Emma’s Luau Birthday Party!

So my baby is now 5…sigh.  And to mark this momentous occasion, we had a luau birthday party.  My mom is a teacher and the last week of school she had a luau for the kids, so she had a lot of decorations, and she was nice enough to let us borrow them.  But you guys know me, I had to have more decorations!  But to tell you the truth, we didn’t have to buy a lot of stuff!  Yeah!  Which by the way, the IT Guy loved.  

 

These were some of the decorations that we had.  The Tiki God was mom’s, as was the pineapple banner.  She had lanterns and we bought luau balloons and I just went crazy decorating.

Emma picked out this cake by herself.  I loved how it turned out!  And it was delicious!  We got it from Tom Thumb, and Emma wanted chocolate cake, with butter cream frosting in between the layer with a butter cream frosting on top.  It was moist and delicious!  And very rich!

I didn’t do a big spread like I did last year.  Of course, last year I grilled hamburgers, and hot dogs, and everything else that goes along with a BBQ.  But not this year, nope, we went easy this year, and you know what, it was pretty good.  Instead of chips and dip, we did fruit kebobs, with mangos, strawberries, cherries, pineapple, grapes, and apples.  And it was a hit!  We had no kebobs when the party was over! 

The kids played outside for a while.  The playscape is always a big hit with kids. 

And here’s the birthday girl showing her BFF Carly how to hula dance.  And we know how well she hula dances…if you haven’t seen the video on my facebook page, don’t worry, I’ll post it again!   You’re welcome dad!

 

 

See the palm tree?  Yeah, it is a drink cooler.  You put the ice and drinks in the bottom, but ours had a leak!  And it looked like a dying palm tree!  But for $19, I wasn’t gonna buy another one!

This sweet boy, is Ryan.  I keep him 3 days a week.  And Emma and I love him to death.  Isn’t he cute?  Such a sweetie!

Here’s Emma patiently waiting for me to light the candles on her birthday cake!

We sang happy birthday….

and she blew out the candles!!!

 

Now, it was time to eat! 

This is JD,  he’s my boyfriend!  Seriously!  Love this little kid!

This is Auston, he’s was on Emma’s T-Ball team, and he is too funny! And he will be an awesome baseball player.  That kid can slide into a base like no one’s business!

This is Miss Maddie!  She is JD’s sister, and Emma loves her to pieces!  Emma and Maddie take dance together.

 

This is Carly, Emma’s BFF.  We live next door to Carly’s family, and I am so glad that they love each other so much!

 

And this cute little guy, is Sawyer!  He is going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up. 

After cake and ice cream, the kids wanted to go play outside again.

 

And then it was time to open presents!!  Woohoo!

The birthday girl, got a lot of stuff.  And as you can see, her daddy got her a light saber.  Yes, a light saber.  She loves Star Wars and Star Wars the Clone Wars, so this was a big hit for her.  She told the IT Guy that he needed one so they can go outside after dark and play against each other.  LOL!   So all in all, it was a success!  But now, I’m thinking of what to do next year!

Emma’s Party Invite

So I know I told you that I would show you guys the party invite for Emma’s birthday party.  Well, wait no more!

I found these cute little plastic bottles at Party City, on the bottom shelf, looking all sad and lonely.  And just begging me to take them home.  

Inside the bottle was sand and a little lei.  I rolled the invitation and tied a red ribbon around it.  Then I put the invitation in the bottle, and put the cork in and viola, a message in a bottle invite.  Too cute!   

After I got all 12 assembled I then put the label on the outside, and it was ready to mail out.  Emma was really stoked about these and I have to say, so was I.  I mean you don’t see cute invitations like these all the time. 

I made the IT Guy put some black electrical tape on the outside to keep the cork from coming out.  And I think they turned out really cute!  Now, how do I top this next year?  Of course, I need to make see if I survive this party first!  

Game Night

We started game night Saturday night, and since then every night has been game night. I got these cards from the $1 bin at Target (can’t beat the $1 section right?). You know these games! Go Fish, and Old Maid!

Well, Emma has never played any of these two games before. So she was a little excited. But in this picture she look like she’s drunk. She’s drunk on game night!

Game night started out fine and dandy. We played each game several times. The IT Guy and I let her win of course. We tried to see which card she needed in order to win.

The cards are big and her little hands are small, so we had a meltdown about her not being able to hold the cards properly. Geesh!

And then we decided to not let her win, because after all, she has to know that you can’t win all the time. That’s life kid, get over it! So, when she lost all hell broke loose. No kidding, she got mad, and said that she was not going to play anymore. Wow! Look at that face! Of course, what you don’t see is that The IT Guy and I are laughing at her. Yes, we’re that mean! We laughed at her! Because it was funny. Admit it, you know you laugh at little kids who cry when they lose!

Oh Lord, this photo kills me! Look at that hair! Look at that face! And she wasn’t that thrilled that I was taking her picture.

And then it was over in a flash. I think she’s mental. Really, I do! But every night we’ve played at least one game of each and she’s gotten better at losing. We played before she went to bed tonight, and The IT Guy won at Go Fish, and she was fine! No fussing. But let me tell you, I really love game night, even though it is every night!

The Greatest Bread/Dessert Bread EVER!

Today was a busy day for us.  Emma had a birthday party to go to from  2-4.  She had a great time, but after the party I wasn’t quite ready to go home.  So we went to the party store to find invitations for Emma’s birthday party (more on that later).  Well, when we left Emma said that she was hungry, and wanted to eat somewhere.  Since we’ve eaten out twice this week, I really didn’t want to go anywhere, but, yet, I didn’t want to cook either.  So Robert suggested that we go to Mimi’s Cafe.  We haven’t been there in forever.  Well, I forgot about this bread that they serve.  It’s a carrot, raisin, and walnut bread!! Oh my goodness!!!!  It is delicious!!  I could make a meal out of that bread alone.  Nothing else, just the bread.  Yum!

This is totally unrelated but see the cookie jar in the back?  I love owls and my mother had this up top of her cabinet and she gave it to me.  Wasn’t that sweet?  Especially since its my great-great grandmother’s.  I’ve told Emma and Robert that they will be severely hurt if it is touched.

Ok back to the bread.  Here’s the weird thing, though.  I don’t like carrot cake, or raisins.  But put it in this bread, and I’m there.  I can’t tell you how good this bread is.  And really, it’s more like a dessert than a bread.  At least that’s the way I like it.    

Look at it!  Just look at it!  Isn’t it pretty?  I think I must find a recipe for this dessert bread.   Especially since I’m eating this cake as we speak.  I have a feeling it will be gone within the next couple of days, if it last that long! 

Dance Recital

Ok, so some of you know that Emma had a dance recital last week. Well, now you can see the pictures. It has taken me several days to edit these pictures. And don't worry, you won't see all the pictures because frankly, that would take days to view. And I know you don't want that.

So this is Emma getting ready before the recital. I put makeup on her and put her hair in a bun. She had to come dressed in her ballet costume. But looking at these pictures makes my heart ache. I mean look at her does she look 4 1/2? NO!!!


Ok, thought I was going to move on but look at this picture!!!! Those big brown eyes kill me. Seriously this girl has my heart wrapped around her finger.

Ok, now we're at the the recital and her class is dancing to "Moon River" and can I say that it was beautiful. I was a backstage mom, which meants getting the girls dressed from one costume to another, and getting them lined up and ready to go on stage. Which by the way, was a hard job!! I was exhausted by the end of the night. Heck, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Anyhoo, Emma is in the middle and just look at that form!!!!

As I stood backstage, I literally cried. No joking! I mean watching my little baby out on that stage took some guts. There were some girls that just didn't handle the pressure very well, but Emma did beautifully.

After we got the girls back to our room, Emma ran up to me and hugged me and asked me if she did well. Well, that started the tears again. When I told her that she did excellent and that I was so proud of her, well, she just beamed! That made my night! Sigh.

We got the girls dressed again, and got the lined up and this time they did their tap routine. They were so freaking cute! Now you have to understand that Emma likes tap but she likes ballet even more. So this was a little more relaxed for her. But she still did a great job.

Oh, and those costumes! Don't they look like something Shirley Temple would wear?

After the recital was over, we handed the girls some roses to give to their dance teacher, Miss Dawn. Emma could hardly wait to give them to her.

Miss Dawn is an awesome dance teacher, and the girls love her. We are so blessed that she teaches our daughter, we could not have asked for a better person. And Emma adores her.

But what Emma didn't know was that we had some roses for her too! She was surprised and was thrilled beyond measure. She held those roses all night.

So, it was a great night. And I think she enjoyed it thoroughly. As did her mommy and daddy. I can't wait for next year's recital, but I think I might let another mom be a backstage mom. I mean we don't want anyone to miss out on that experience do we? Not me!

Pretty in Pink and Gardening

So this is the pretty in pink laptop!!! Isn't it pretty! It's a pretty baby, yes it is! Who's a pretty baby? You are! The hubby got it up and running for me. I keep adding programs that I want him to load and he just keeps loading them for me. What a good little IT hubby!!!


So, this is what Emma and I did yesterday:







First off, you must have the crown placed on your head and you must be in your pjs. That's very important. We found these little packs at Target in the dollar bin. It had the seeds, dirt, and little pots. And I bought one of every kind. First we had to soak the dirt pellet in a little water. Once the pellet soaked up the water, then we started to add the soil to the pot. Then I gave Emma a few seeds and then she placed them in the pot. Finally, she covered the seeds with the rest of the dirt. Voila! We have little pots filled with little seeds that hopefully will bear the fruits of labor. Because seriously it wasn't that hard to do.

Let me show you how many we did:

We planted marigold, oregano, strawberries, tomato, basil, chives, and zinnias. Yes, we have quite the collection going. We shall see how well they do in this Texas heat.

She's wanted us to plant flowers and vegetables all Spring and with the rain, and with the It Guy's foot being in a boot for 8 weeks due to a broken foot, we didn't get our raised flower beds. So we have to just deal with the pots for now. Of course, I still have plants in pots from last year that are still thriving. So who knows, this might work out better than the raised beds. Hopefully soon, we see some progress!