Happy Birthday Alexis (in January!)

As if we hadn't done enough celebrating already

in the month of January

for this child's birthday...

we celebrated some more!

The day of her actual birthday,

we made more pink pancakes...

with pink sprinkles..

thanks to the Pinkalicious show!

We then hit Chick-Fil-A 

with friends.

And Rico was extremely interested in 

the "new" math book

his friend was using...

Daddy joined us for a quick bite,

and we had cupcakes.

Then we went for an exciting trip to Sam's!!!

All 8 kids, glued to whatever was on the TV!

We joked that we probably could have left them there,

and done our shopping,

and come back,

and not only would they still have been in the SAME spot...

they probably wouldn't have even known we were GONE!

Then back to our house for a little bit of princess

dress-up.

Just what this little girl needed...

in a house full of brothers!

Then we celebrated AGAIN

when daddy got home,

because...

bless her heart,

"it wasn't really her birthday 

until we sang happy birthday

and she got to blow out her candles".

Well,

she got me there...

so,

thankfully there was a cupcake or two left.

I loaded one up with 5 candles,

we sang happy birthday,

she blew them out...

and all was right with the world again.

It was finally

(at 8pm)

her birthday.

Phew!

Then she even talked her little brother

into doing her chores for her!

(no, not really, he spilled water, and had to wipe it up...

but it sounded good...I just had to take a picture)

Oh and the partying wasn't over yet!

We took a brief snow break

(seen here)

then got back to the partying.

As I mentioned

sweet

darling

Alexis

is surrounded by stinky boys.

And she wanted to have her girl friends over

for a girl party!

So we invited a family that we are close friends with...

who have 2 girls (one older and one younger than Lex)

and two boys...right around our older 2 boys' ages.

So while all of the boys were doing their thing...

the girls had a little spa party!

But first it was cake time!

Ms. Priss just happened to go to Harris Teeter with me

one day,

well all 4 of them do,

and I can count on one hand how many times I have taken

them to the grocery store with me in the past 6 months!

During the visit near her birthday,

she saw a can of frosting that was pink

and had pink sprinkles included...

I don't do canned frosting anymore

unless I have to!

So while we were figuring and deciding,

she noticed the picture on the back of the can...

And that was it!

That was the cake...

So I did my best to recreate it.

It is not as level or quite as "perfect" 

as the one on the can...

But Ms. Priss liked it...

and that was all that matters.

And as the norm,

the birthday girl go to cut the cake!

I had to stop her from cutting a fourth of the cake

as her piece!

After cake time,

it was pedicure and manicure time!

Then we had a starter sleepover.

All of the girls fell asleep together,

but the family went home that night.

But she had a great

and

LONG birthday!!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow! (Round 2)

Seeing as it is almost June,

and it is pushing 90° outside down here...

I figured why not think cool thoughts,

and catch you up on the 

SECOND

snowfall we got down here

(back in January)...

Ms. Priss turned 5 on January 28, 2014.

Mother Nature decided that she needed some snow

...for her birthday.

So that evening...

it began.

And

it snowed

and

snowed

and

snowed!

And our little southern town

isn't prepared for such snow!

(Because it happens so rarely!)

My husband is in charge of the 

public works department,

so around 4:30am,

he loaded up

and 

headed out 

to make sure the roads were clear

(or as clear as they could be)

for those who needed to get out...

could.

Being the awesome wife that I am,

I got up with him,

made sure he had plenty of food,

because he was probably going to be

working pretty long hours...

and saw him off.

Then promptly crawled back into bed

and passed out again.

The kids were overjoyed when they woke up

to this winter wonderland!

They immediately bundled up...

and dove in!

This is where daddy's work car sat during the snow...

can you tell?

Daddy was able to come home before dark

to enjoy some of the snow with the kids.

And to enjoy a little friendly snowball fight with the kids.

This time the snow stuck around for a couple of days,

so we were able to enjoy it a little longer.

Mr. T's idea of fun in the snow

involved a pail and shovel!

The kids actually figured out the snow was 

PERFECT

for building snowmen!!!

And snowballs!

And for sitting on snowman pieces to eat your snowballs...

Their snowmen were really starting to take shape...

however,

they built them in our neighbor's yard...

so,

meany mommy here...

made them move them!

...to our yard.

The sleds came in handy...

Meanwhile,

Mr. T got back to his pail and shovel...

Here is one of the snowmen...

mid-move.

Makes me think of Olaf from

Frozen.

The littles took a break from snowman building...

to do a little sledding.

Then they got back to snowman building...

And when the snowmen were done...

on to snow fort building...

Then we took a little break 

for a couple of fun pictures...

I decided to see if I could get some pictures of the kids

throwing snowballs at the camera...

while threatening them with severe torture and punishment if they actually

HIT my camera!!!

Ready...

Aim...

Fire!

Round 2:

Fire!

I love my new camera!

The kids had SO much fun throwing snowballs at me!

Haha!

My babies...

My world...

Plus this guy,

of course...