Happy Birthday Chloe Dog!

Our eight year old dog had her very first birthday today. Her Actual birthday would be in October, but don't tell Madison that. At lunch today Madison said she need to tell her daddy a secret. She leaned over and put her lips to his ear, cuffed her little hands around her mouth and whispered, "Today is Chloe's birthday and we are going to have a party."  So, we had a birthday party today for our dog that our three and half year old was in charge of and it was beyond precious.

She started by announcing that she had to go to her closet to get her dress up clothes and get fancy for the party. We kind of shrugged this off and said, "Sure, yes you should be fancy for a party." I don't think we were really under the understanding that we were about to have a full fledged birthday party at out house on this particular Saturday afternoon.

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I told Madison that I would help with whatever she needed when I came down from putting her brother down for a nap. When I returned she had literally cleaned out the silverware drawer to "set the table" for the party. No, really... I am using literally in the correct sense:

She has taken everything out of this drawer, added a little bit of her tea set to it, along with some cooking utensils and "set the table" so there would be enough for everyone and all the friends that were coming to the party.  This mess is actually a very fine tuned plan to where everyone had "something" for the party. There was a single spoon sitting in Samuel's highchair, just waiting for the big surprise!

She had asked Jason if he could get her some hats for the party. She fell apart in tears when he told her no. It just so happens that I have all this "stuff" in bins that I wasn't sure what to do with when I cleaned out my classroom, but saved for her crafting purposes. She was able to dig through the bins in the garage to find party hats, party blowers and balloons. She knew exactly what she wanted.

And really, what's a party without cake and ice cream? Luckily we were able to get her to believe that puppy dogs don't like real cake and they don't like it hot in the oven, so she came up with a bean burrito (her favorite) dog cake. She carefully spread the beans over a tortilla with a butter knife, then asked if I'd cut it for her. I cut it into four pieces and then she carefully laid one dog treat on each piece. It was the cutest thing ever. So much thought and love went into this.

Then we put on our party hats, Madison held the cake while we sang Happy Birthday to Chloe and then she joyfully with a belly full of giggles presented Chloe with the most delicious cake that she as an 8 year old dog, had ever tasted.

 

Of course, the party isn't a party if the party host doesn't get to share in the sweet treats, so Madison also made everyone bowls full of ice cream. When daddy asked her if she was going to share the ice cream with Chloe, Madison quickly replied with, "No!"

This day was fabulous. The party was precious and the events throughout the day planning this party were hilarious.

Madison recently got a night light that displays hearts on her wall. When we pick out our favorite hearts at night, Jason always tells Madison that his favorite heart is hers. She has the biggest heart, full of love for other people. She truly is thoughtful and caring and wants to be kind to others. She indeed has a loving, kind spirit, that shines through on days like today.

Today was Chloe's pretend birthday.

Today was a day that we were proud of Madison's heart.

I am pretty sure that the laughs we shared today will last a lifetime.

Thank you Madison.

Happy Birthday Chloe.

 

 

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy 4th of July!

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Home of the Free because of the Brave!

America the Beautiful. I like to think that I am a person who consciously knows everyday how lucky we are to live in a free country. Seeing the flags fly high no matter the day of the year makes me excited. It makes me happy. I love the red, white, and blue. I am a patriot. I love America. May not a day go by that we do not stop and pray to God for the richness that we live in, the leadership of our country and the brave men and women who have gone before us to make sure that America remains the great land of the free.

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There is something exciting about the 4th of July. I never can quite put my finger on it, but it's happy. It's not stressful. As a parent you're not trying to buy stuff or make magic for your kids or stress out because of things to do and schedules. The 4th of the July is just a holiday that you get to enjoy start to finish with no big fuss. This year was just that. It was fun from the start to the finish, with not one fuss from either kiddo! We were able to be in East Texas with my parents and older brother's family. Hannah is 13 and Ty is 10 and they have to be hands down the neatest, nicest kids that I am pretty sure I have ever met. I mean when they both play with Madison and Samuel for hours on end with no complaints, how can you just not love on them? Madison adores her cousins. She is perfectly sincere when she says they are her favorites and she loves them more than the others! Not rude by the definition of a three and a half year old, but when dress up, hide and go seek, pool time, and golf cart rides are involved, how can you blame her?

This year we participated in the first ever golf cart parade in my parents community. It was cute, it was funny, and it was just fun. Hannah and Ty decorated the golf cart. Next year we'll know that this is a real competition and we'll step it up a notch! But we all rode shouting "Happy 4th of July" to every single person watching the parade. Sweet little Madison yelled the loudest and waved the hardest! Our theme was "Let Freedom Ring" and we rang our cow bells the whole ride. Ty was certain to point out that ringing the bells the whole way was very annoying! Madison found which side of the road the kids were on and Hannah and Ty had to throw the candy. We were towards the end of the 50 cart parade line. When it ended everyone gathered together and chatted like we all knew each other. It was friendly and fabulous. The kids ran around and enjoyed the festivities with excitement. What a great country we live in that we can gather together with strangers for the sole purpose to celebrate our Freedom!

 

   



Gulf Shores 2014

So we loaded the car and drove to the beach. We actually loaded the car, drove to a hotel, then woke up and drove some more. To be exact, we drove 15 hours to get to Gulf Shoes. We thought 11 hours, 12 hours max. Nope, 15 hours. Whew. But we made it. I cant say that it was relaxing at all to pack and repack and keep up with a one year old and a three and half year old for 7 days at the beach, but we did it. We survived. The kids had a great time. We made memories and by the end of the week, the kids actually wanted to venture out into the ocean.
We went with Jason's whole family, so Madison really enjoyed all the people there, as she is one who adores people and lots of busyness!

Amazing photo of everyone looking and smiling? Even more amazing -- this photo was taken at 6 a.m. in the morning. Yes that was an A.M. Amazing.

If nothing else, we have fabulous photos from this trip!

Madison and Samuel really did love the sand. I was surprised that Samuel didn't eat more sand than what he did... They were both incredibly happy even after staying up late every night and waking up early every morning. The one thing that I am so proud to see every day no matter where we are is how much my kids love each other. The beach was no exception. That makes my heart happy.

Jason's sister had this brilliant idea to put a baby pool under the sun shade and the kids played in the ocean water in the splash pool for hours on end!

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We stayed on Fort Morgan in Gulf Shores. Fort Morgan is named after the actual "Fort Morgan" that is still standing from the 1800's. It survived many wars and the intelligence to build this structure, that still stands in usable condition is mind boggling. It was amazing to see.  We were there for more than 3 hours and Samuel was content and Madison was amazed. She kept asking to go in the tunnels where the weather was nice and cool. We ran and ran until the guided tour did a reenactment of the gun firing and we all but hit the ground in duck and cover. Madison was pretty shaken up after that. Needless to say, we didn't see that coming and we started our retreat to the car, but not before these photos were taken:

 

 

Madison really was quite the explorer and was excited to see what was around the next, sometimes very dark and creepy corner!

It wore them out. Samuel decided to take a break. Madison let him as she just played in the sand beside her. I love this sweet girls big heart and I love the way her brother loves her so much.

 

 

If you make your way to Gulf Shores, you have to go to Fort Morgan. It was our favorite spot of the whole trip!  Here's to making family memories.  What lucky parents we are!