Last Trip

This was our...second to last trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Our last trip, which was last night, will come eventually. Have I mentioned that I love that place? Anyway, I'm just now getting around to blogging this, but I got a few photos I wanted to share. Enjoy!

I know. My boy is pretty dang cute.

Feeding Fish.

You can just drop the food right in their mouths. I always like to sneak a touch on their slimy noses... Freak, I know.

Taking time to smell the roses...

Children's garden.

I love the bell tree.

... and this little boy.

Alright, that's all I've got time for tonight. Happy Thursday!

Sprucin' Up for the Holidays!

Gary wanted me to title my blog post that ^. Hehe.

Anyway, Gary has been making up these centerpiece creations from dried zinnias, spruce branches, Juniper, Autum Joy Sedum and whatever else he can come up with. Tonight, he drilled a hole in a tree branch for some dried flowers. I love how it turned out, so I thought I would share it.

And finally, I saw some painted pinecones on Pinterest that I loved. I was wanting some for several days. The Friday after Thanksgiving I had to work and Gary and Vin were off, so they painted a few pinecones for me. Vincent picked the colors. They're really Christmas-y, which I love. The ones I saw were painted in bright shades, but these are perfect for the holidays. Every time I look at them I smile. I want them all over my house! Ok...I'm getting carried away.

I guess I didn't have to tell you that G added the spruce to this arrangement...

And it looks pretty no matter which way you turn it!

See? Easy peasy!

The best part? It's pretty close to free!

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.