Happy Birthday Goose!

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2011, my "baby" turned 5. It's been the most amazing thing in the world to have watched him grow into the smart, quirky little man he is today.

We held a birthday party for him the week following his birthday. Since his best friend's birthday is one day after his, her mom and I decided to host their parties together. We've had parties together before and we usually just merge the two themes together. This year was no different. She was set on circus and princesses and Vincent was set on Transformers. I know what you're thinking... what a hodge-podge theme! And you're right. But hey, when you're 5 you know what you want!

My friend Heidi and I spent months thinking of fun games, collecting prizes and gathering things for the party. When we finally got together with all of it... it was insane. We had enough candy to rot out an elephant's teeth and enough prizes for a small army.

Vincent and Paige each invited children from their preschool classes. Vincent had two friends come and Paige had about 5. They both had cousins and other family members, which made for quite a crowd!

Paige felt like a princess in her dress!



Games before the kids arrived. We had a bean bag toss, made by Gary, ring toss, can knockdown, sand dig, face painting, tattoos, Plinko and a bounce house.


The cakes. Paige had a castle with people getting married in front. That was a requirement, which I love. Her aunt makes her cakes each year. This is the first year in awhile that I haven't made Vincent's cake, but we found this one and he loved the Transformers on top so we just went with it.



Same aunt that made the cake is painting faces! She's artistic.



When the kids first arrived they sat down to a table full of stickers and markers to make a goodie bag while the other children arrived. They used their bags to collect prizes from the games. And yes, I just glued pipe cleaners to lunch bags, but they held up awesome and I didn't see one broken bag!



Vincent got a tattoo and his face painted.


Paige tries her (left) hand at the bean bag toss.



Bouncin' fun!

Dada enjoying himself with Memaw and Popa in the background.



I know this is blurry, but I loved how you can see his 'tude in this one.



Vin with his two school friends.


Checking out their prizes.


Then, everyone got a chance to try to demolish the pinata!


Because really, who doesn't love hitting things?



Everyone got a chance to try to break the Transformer and free his candy.


Luckily we had some bigger kids to help out.



Ah! Finally! They all go for the candy!



Blowing out the candles. So dramatic, he is.


Now to open presents! I loved how Vincent opened his so slowly and looked at each one.

He was SO excited to get a bag of Kit-Kats from Paige's family. Why? Because they're Popa's favorite and he wanted to share. He had to get up and go show Popa.



This is after he opened Paige's present.


Aunt Kristy's present. He had such a reaction to each gift. I love it.


Oh, and while the kids were opening presents, we gave everyone a fresh bag of popcorn. Aren't the bags cute? This is the only picture I had of one, courtesy of a guest who didn't want her photo taken.



See? He's in shock.



Having such a good time!



After the party, Dad went to help his sister move and Vincent want to play with his cousins. We didn't get home until pretty late and he really wanted to play with some of his new stuff, but fell asleep in the car. I woke him up for a bath (I wasn't going to but he was really grimy from all the playing all day) and he went straight to sleep.

Sunday morning the first thing he said was "Is it time to play with my new toys yet?" He literally spent all day Sunday from when he woke up until he went to bed playing with all his new stuff and only really stopped to eat.

I'm so glad Gary, Heidi and I were able to make Paige and Vincent's 5th birthday as special as they are. I couldn't love two children more!

In Honor Of...

Reading online news the other day, as I often do, I somehow came across this story. If you don't feel like reading it, it's about a little boy who has cancer and not much time left on this Earth.

Anyway, he said he didn't really feel like he had an impact on anyone's life, with the exception of a boy who he gave a McDonald's toy to. It was so sad because you just know this sweet little boy has tons of people who love him and who have been touched by his life.

His mom thought that if people quickly sent some easy-to-make fleece blankets, her son could pass them out to other's who live at the hospital and feel like he has touched their lives. She also asked people to send cards telling her baby how he's touched their lives.

I don't know why, but I felt like I needed, no... wanted, to do something. Though I know how to make those fleece blankets, fleece is hard to come by around here. The closest place I could find with any was about 25 miles away. Apparently there is some closer, but since Wal-Mart stopped carrying the stuff, it is kind of a pain to come by.

But, I had everything available to make some cute slippers. I immediately wrote Oliver a letter to let him know I had been touched by his story and would be sending something soon. As quickly as I could, I whipped up two pairs of slippers, one boys about Vincent's size and one girls a little bigger. On each I put a tag that said they were in honor of Oliver Palmer.

I wanted to make sure that whoever got the gift, whether now or in the future, knew about Oliver.

I hope Oliver received them and I really, really hope he leaves this Earth knowing that he truly has made a difference in the lives of others and that his life- though way too short- is meaningful.

I have to stop before I cry. Night guys.

Ornament Exchange

Each year, my mom's family hosts a girl's ornament exchange. It's a fun time to hang out with family. This year's gathering was quite small, but nice none-the-less.

Here are a few photos.

Each year we each bring a flower to make an arrangement for my grandma. We began the exchange to honor her before she passed away, so I think it's special that we still honor her. This year, it will also be by grandpa's grave.

This year's exchange was a little early, so there was no Christmas tree to stand by. But we made do with this decorative Christmas towel!

Annnd I don't have a picture of my ornament, but I got a cute felt Christmas tree. It reminds me of something that would be in Dr. Seuss. I seriously love it!

Better Late Than Never?

Happy Halloween!

My little man looked awesome as Bumblebee!

Here he is with his girl, Little Bo Peep.

The object of this game was to throw the life preserver around the pumpkin... which the kids couldn't actually accomplish. But they had fun trying.

With Grammy.

I stopped by Vincent's preschool Monday. The kids thought it was hilarious to throw TP at their teacher.

Playing musical chairs.

With Popa.

And Memaw.

Vincent really, really wanted to go to this house. He talked about the "haunted house" for weeks.

My stinky niece.

...checking out the monster.

Hope you had an awesome Halloween!

This is

... only a test!

Hmm. What to post in my test post is a testing task to post in my test post.

Growing Up!

Two weekends ago (Halloween weekend), Gary, Vincent and I visited the botanical garden (more about that later). When we were finished there, we decided to take a trip to Toys R Us to look for ideas for birthday presents for Vincent. I can't believe he will be 5 in just a few short days (8 to be exact!).

After testing out literally every bike that was his size, Vincent fell in love with a bright, gold bike. Yep, he skipped over the Spider Man, Transformer, Toy Story and all other themed bikes in lieu of a gold bike. You see, thought he could go faster on it, as well as learn to do tricks. He was standing up on it as he was riding it in the store! I think he really could go faster on it, but the frame is made from something lightweight.

The bike features alloy wheels, front and pedal brakes and pegs...yes, pegs.

The next morning (we got home late), Dad put the bike together and we "went for a spin." We went down to the track where Vin zipped around half a mile, no problem. Then he rode over to the park and back home. The past couple of times we've only gone about half a mile before coming home, but he's working on body strength to go up hills (he can't really even do tiny ones yet) and is figuring out the brakes.

Check out this little soon-to-be stuntman.

Putting the bike together.

Excited helper.

First ride.

Tiny incline...

Riding over to the track... nice, flat surface!

And away he goes!

First crash...

He's ok!

That's it for tonight. Happy Monday!