Christmas Weekend

I love the holidays.  I love Christmas and having kids has made it that much better.  It's also made it that much more stressful.  The amount of pressure I put on myself to have the most magical season is silly.  Every year I say I'm not going to do it and every year about the 14th of the month I'm ready to hurt people because of the stress.  Which in turn creates the least magical last 10 days of the season.  I try to do an advent activity calendar every year and by the 5th I've all but given it up.  Barrett doesn't even seem to care about it.  I spend so much time planning when we're going to do everything and then it all goes out the window and I feel bad for giving it up and beat myself up for the rest of the season.  I think next year I'm going to pick a few things I want to do and just do them as we can.  I think I felt so tied down to doing them on the exact day that when it didn't happen I'd just give up and then I was sad we didn't get to do them.  Ok, enough about that.  We had a pretty good Christmas despite it feeling like the universe didn't want us to have one lick of fun.  We kicked off the weekend with our 4th Annual Birthday Brunch Playdate.  This is one of my favorite traditions.  I feel like Barrett might get the shaft when it comes to having a Christmas birthday.  But I just couldn't handle having a birthday party every year in the midst of the holidays. Everyone is busy and it's just too much.  So we have a fun little playdate with all of Barrett's buddies (we celebrate Jackson too since his birthday is the 22nd) and it's worked perfectly for us.

In the past we've had a fun activity planned but this year we did not.  We let them run wild and get out every single toy we own and just have the best time.  Barrett told me it was the best birthday party ever.

We took this picture before the everyone left.  We laughed because the last Friday we had our fancy couples party and then a week later we looked homeless.

That night we headed to my cousins house in Pelham for the Slovensky family Christmas party.  It's a highlight of the season every year.  I was so upset because the Birmingham bowl game was on Saturday so Patrick had to work late and didn't get to go.  Then he had to work during the game and missed going to my grandmother's house, which also upset me but at least he has a job.  We are thankful for that.

This is the only picture I took.  These outfits from last year still fit and I hope they will match forever.  We had a really fun night but we missed Daddy.

Our first day of Christmas weekend was a blast, we were ready for the rest of the celebrating!

Barrett & Jackson's Gingerbread House 4th Birthday

For the boys birthday this year we thought they were finally old enough to be trusted decorating gingerbread houses.  Jessica and I built houses out of graham crackers so all the boys had to do was decorate. 

I made each boy a cute apron and each boy had their own little spot. 

These three were so excited to see the garbage man. 

I didn't take any pictures of the food but we had a nice brunch (my favorite).  Breakfast casserole, hash brown casserole, muffins, sausage balls, pigs in a blanket and fruit.

Barrett was not all that interested in anything other than eating the candy.

Cruz and Cooper

The finished product.

I love this little tradition of celebrating the boys birthdays with a fun Christmas playdate.  It won't be long until they're all in school and want nothing to so with us. 

3rd Birthday Playdate

Barrett's birthday playdate was so successful last year we decided to do the same thing this year.  I teamed up with Jessica since Barrett and Jackson's birthdays are only 3 days apart and they have all of the same friends.  This year was extra special because Santa came!

We had it at my parents house because they have more room and I love the cabin/lodge feel especially this time of year.  We tried not to go crazy with food or decorations and I think it turned out perfect!

We had brunch.  I originally wanted doughnuts but when I got to the place the morning of the party they didn't have any so I got doughnut holes instead and they actually worked better for the kiddos.  Well I say they worked better...the kiddos could sneak them off the table more easily.

Love this one of the boys.  Jackson's face is like "hey guys, why are yall standing there?  There's toys in this room!" 

My sweet babies and me.

Barrett was not a huge fan of Santa.  Luckily Santa is a pro and knew how to get the kids to warm up to him. 

This might be my favorite picture from the whole day.  If you can talk cars you're alright in Barrett's book.

Both of the birthday boys.

These are the best outtakes of trying to get 8 boys 3 and under to pose for a picture with Santa.

Barrett was having none of it.

I love it.

This is one of the best ones.  I don't even know why Barrett was so mad but he was and therefore we got zero good group pictures.

I love this one of the birthday boys playing trucks with Santa.

He has started doing this face for pictures and I don't know where it came from.  It cracks me up.

Of course Ally had to get in the picture too.

Can you tell these boys were ready for cupcakes?

 

Sneaking a bite while we were singing.

 

Love this picture of my sweet friends.  We've had so much fun together with these girls and their boys.

 

It was such a fun morning celebrating our boys.  Thanks to everyone for coming and my Parents for letting us trash their house.

 

 

 

Pancakes & Pajamas Playdate

For Barrett's birthday this year I opted for a small playdate with a few friends over a big party like last year.  I loved the big party last year but wanted to do something different this year.  Most of my friends are stay at home moms or work flexible schedules so I thought this would work out best.  It worked out that everyone was able to come.  I was so excited.  

The theme was "Pancakes and Pajamas" and it was perfect.  The kiddos and some moms wore their pjs and we enjoyed brunch.  (Brunch is probably my favorite meal.)

I kept things super simple.  We put the leaf in our round table to make it bigger.  I used a drop cloth as the table cloth and wrapping paper as the runner.  I let all the kids make a cute ornament to take home and I used those to decorate the little tree for a centerpiece.

One reason I loved the smaller party, I got to do a couple of personalized things for the kiddos and the mommies.  I'm loving the monogrammed coffee mugs.  Each mom got one to take home.  I also did the take and toss sippy cups for each child at the party and they took them home.
My menu for brunch was: pancakes, pigs in a blanket, fruit, breakfast casserole, hashbrown casserole and muffins. 

The birthday boy in his pjs.

This is the ornament they made.  I put the name and year on with vinyl and they painted the deer with their thumb print.  I added the antlers and nose before they left.

Poor Elise was the only girl.

I love this boy!

Cruz and Caleb enjoying brunch.

Caleb and Keegan.

Caleb and Cooper.

We got a group picture.  They all cooperated fairly easily.

They loved our little half step hearth.

I love this picture of Elise trying to give Barrett a hug.  He looks a little unsure.

These four are fun.  They are about three months apart and we've had so much fun with them.  They play pretty good together (lately you can tell they are all two.)

Time for cupcakes.

I don't know what this one is about but I love him cutting his eyes at me.

Sweet Drake.  He's a little younger than the other four but you'd never know it by looking at him with them.  He and Barrett go to school together.

And everyone's favorite part of the party...playing with all the new toys!
It wasn't long until everyone started melting down and heading home for naps.
This party was complete and utter chaos...but they boys had so much fun!  The boys were so much fun together.  At one point they were running up and down the hall squealing. It was so funny.
I loved having a big party last year, but this was perfect for us this year.  I just loved the small intimateness of it all.  We're going to have cupcakes with our families on Christmas to celebrate with them.
I can't believe my baby is going to be two in 4 days.
I have to thank Crystal for taking the pictures for me while also bringing and being responsible for an extra kid.  I'm also so thankful that the moms that work made arrangements to get to come or for their kid to come.  It really meant a lot to me.
I think we might make this our birthday tradition, at least for a few years.  I know Barrett won't want to have a Christmas themed birthday party forever so I'm trying to take advantage while I can. 

Weekend Review...Its September!!!

We've had a fun low key weekend.  We're adjusting to Patrick's new shift.  It's not quite as seamless as I was thinking it would be but we're making the most of it.  

Daddy working night shift does have its perks.  He brought us donuts Saturday morning and Barrett was a fan for sure.  The {empty} box has been sitting on the counter waiting to go out with the trash and he keeps going to it and signing for more.  He gets very mad when I tell him there are no more. We played around the house Saturday morning while doing laundry and other chores.  Barrett went down for a nap right as the Bama game was coming on.  It was pretty much over in the 1st quarter.  

We had a fun afternoon playdate planned with a bunch of our little friends.  We met up at Froggy's and these boys had a blast! We had 7 boys 4 and under (5 under 2).  We had the place to our selves and it was nice.  Of course Barrett was scared at first and he didn't really want to get out of my arms.  He eventually warmed up and enjoyed it.  We went down the big slide.  I'm not sure if Barrett liked it or not.  We played for a little over an hour and wore the boys out.  We came home and ordered pizza and hung out at home.  Patrick watched the Auburn game and I watched "The Heat" with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.  It was pretty funny!

Sunday we got up and Patrick wasn't feeling good so Barrett and I headed to Mass without him.  Barrett wore his victory Bama bubble.  He looks so big.  I told my Dad and Brother that I don't know how much longer he's going to be able to pull off the bubble.  I can't take how fast he's growing up.   After church we went to lunch at mom and dad's house and then to John and Hope's house to celebrate Hope's nephew's first birthday.  It was a fun day with family.  We're gearing up for another week.  I don't want to wish the time away but we have some fun things coming up at the end of September that I can't wait for!!!  It's going to be a good fall!  I love this time of year.