Howdy Birthday, Afton!

I am privileged to be friends with Brother and Deana B for many reasons, many, many reasons. But, one of the more superficial reasons why I am privileged to be friends with them is that they know how to throw a party. Seriously, when they throw a party, they do not play around. Today we went to Afton's fourth birthday party ~ a farm party because that sweet little girl loves horses.

She was all about riding the horses that Sean and Deana had brought to their home for the party. She wanted to ride again and again!!

Joshua riding. . .

Erik Daniel riding. . .

Oh, my goodness, I love this picture. . .

Some of Deana B's incredible decor. . .

Deana B and her little man. . .

Deana's Daddy, I think he has ridden a time or two before. . .

Riding with the birthday girl. . .

I love the look on Afton's face in this picture. . .

A picture of our whole family! Wow! That never happens!!!! :-)

All the kiddos. . .

The cakes. . .

And, now let the fun begin! As the party came to a close, the kids began to play in the hay! I love, love, love these pictures!!!!!!!!! :-)

My doll baby. . .

Sweet sleepy Quin. . .

The three Musketeers. . .

And, I have to show you this! Deana put together an adorable party favor bag, and in it she put a number of things. But, the most amazing thing was this bag of M&Ms that, seriously, say "Howdy Birthday" and "Afton" on them. Personalized M&Ms, seriously. It is all in the details, people. And, Deana B is all about details.

Okay, I admit the picture below is a silly picture. But, I think of Afton a lot like I think of my own kids, and I notice little things and get all mushy. And, for some reason throughout the party I kept looking at her little feet, her little toes. She didn't wear shoes most of the party, sweet little barefoot girl. So, by the end of the party her cute little feet were quite dirty, and they were just precious to me. Thus, I had to take this picture. . .

And, I will end there.

The Power

When Erik and Sean were in residency, they did everything together. Seriously, I think we ate dinner with Sean and Deana five out of seven nights a week. Sean and Erik were nearly inseparable. And, every so often, Deana B would get frustrated with Sean for going to play basketball with Erik or for going to a game with Erik. (You must remember that we were both newlyweds at the time.) So, Sean started saying, "Deana, he (Erik) just has this power over me. I can't help it. He asks me to do something, and I just can't say no." And, Erik's "power" became a joke between the four of us.

Well, today Erik attempted using his "power" on Deana B. You see, Erik and Sean go on one sports trip every year. They have done this for years. They have gone to the ACC tournament, the final four, the Big 10/ACC challenge, Duke vs. Carolina, etc. Well, Sean promised Deana that they were going to take a year off with the new baby and all. But, the baby was born 7 months ago, and in the meantime he and Erik have concocted a plan involving. . . 2 trips. One to see the Steelers play the Vikings, and the other to see Duke play Wisconsin. (Erik just proofed this post for me since it is about him, and he wanted me to tell you why these trips are sooo important. He is just defending himself, but I'll tell you. The Steelers are Seans favorite pro team, and Erik loves Brett Favre. Sean, of course, loves Duke, and evidently it is difficult for any team to win at Wisconsin, thus making it a great game.)

So, now you can understand why Erik was attempting to work his magic today! Just look at her eyes! Judge for yourself if you think his power was working. . .

Here he is laying out the plan. . .

Making a little eye contact with Brother. . .

I love the look on her face in this one. . .

Now for a little group discussion. . .

And, here is Sean adding his two cents. . .


I'll keep you posted on whether or not they go on both trips or one trip or no trips! (When Erik proofed the post and looked at the pictures of Deana's face, he laughed and said, "We're not going!") We'll see. . .

My Baby Takes the Cake!

I LOVE this part of first birthdays!!! If I can get my act together, I am going to frame pictures of all four of my babies digging into their first taste of cake and icing!!! :-) I can appreciate this because I am a total sugar addict!

Once again we tried the birthday crown, but the little man said, "No, thank you!"



I love how at first they are always so confused. They are so used to being spoon fed purred baby food! They can't help but wonder what Mommy is up to putting this white stuff in front of me?


In all honesty, I am not sure how much cake Erik Daniel actually ate. He mostly just played with it! :-)

So, so fun!

I think he had a good time!

Yay for cake! And, yay for firsts!!!!

Love you, little man!

Birthday Party X 2

We had a few close friends and family over to our home last weekend to celebrate Elijah's second birthday and Erik Daniel's first birthday. And, here are a few pics of the special evening. Here are the cakes. The "e" cake and the dump truck were Elijah's cakes, and the number 1 cake was Eriky D's special cake.


I have made a lot of cakes for my sons over the years ~ many of which have been 3 dimensional. But, for some reason the "e" cake was my husbands favorite cake of any that I have ever made! Go figure! The number 1 cake was very fun to decorate. I cut out tin foil circles and lay them on the cake then iced around them. I added the colored icing last. Super easy, and I thought it turned out cute!


In the truck I just put chunks of chocolate cake layered with a chocolate pudding and cream cheese mixture. And, I had to throw in some gummy worms for fun!!! :-)

Now, I could eat him up. . .


Mommy and her big boy!


The Grill Master! :-)


Pretty girls. . .


My sweet Mommy and me. . .


Lijah blowing out his candle. . .


I did what Kate (of Jon and Kate) does for her sextuplets. We sang "Happy Birthday" twice ~ once to Lije and once to Eriky D.

Elijah likes cake, oh, yes ma'am, he does like cake. . .



Pop and Joshua. . .

Pop and Eriky D. . .


The one and only. . . James Christofer Truett! (I love that kid!)

Special friends. . .

Cutie Quin was all partied out. . .

This is Erik Daniel with his friend Sam (see picture below). We put them together in Erik Daniel's play-yard. The only problem was that Erik Daniel kept bopping sweet Sam on the head. My sweet and gentle baby boy bopping his friend on the head. . .

Doesn't Sam have gorgeous eyes!!!! But, in between every couple of bops, Eriky D. would stop and kiss him on top of his head!!! He's a lover not a fighter!!!! :-)


I must end with a little brother-love! These two have a special bond! I love it!

So sweet!

Nothing More

I just poured my last cup of morning coffee. Whether or not I will make a second pot at nap time has yet to be decided. I'm leaning toward chai today for my afternoon cup of peace.

About three feet from me are two little boys playing together nicely. JCT and Elijah are playing with their little superhero action figures while Erik Daniel is crawling from one end of the downstairs to the other. He is presently under the kitchen table chewing on a plastic play cooking utensil. I can hear three things aside from the obvious children playing sounds.

One- the gentle hum of the washing machine cleaning the guest room sheets from Pop's visit this past weekend.
Two - the CD player playing the song I walked down the aisle to - Cradle Prayer by Rebecca St. James.
And, three - the roar of a lawn mower cutting our grass.

Life is not perfect here in our neck of the woods, but it sure is good. Ours is a happy home. It may be, at times, chaotic and loud, but it is always filled to the brim with love and laughter.

The older I get, the older my children get, I am realizing that the greatest things, the most wonderful, most memorable things are not certain major events, vacations, or milestones, they are the everyday ordinary things.

Things like waking to Erik's soft sweet kiss every morning. Like the fact that all our little boys still want to sit in our laps when they first wake up in the morning. The fact that nothing makes my big boy's day like a surprise lunchroom visit from Mommy. Listening to Erik Daniel belly laugh when we play peek a boo. Almost tripping over JCT's frog boots sitting outside the backdoor. Watching Joshua run to the car with pure joy at the end of long day at school. Getting to be the damsel in distress that my sons fight to rescue every afternoon. Pushing my boys on the swing set and playing hide and seek. Making dinner while children play at my feet. Dinnertime conversations and the smile dessert brings. Watching Erik throw the football with the boys at sunset still dressed in khakis and a dress shirt. Bubble-headed boys laughing and playing while Daddy tries to bathe them. Kissing and tucking clean, sweet smelling little boys into bed after a full day of play. Moonlight walks with Erik when we take the dog out for the last time before bed. Ending the day sitting beside my love on the couch discussing his day, my day, how we are doing, how our kids are doing, and our plans for the upcoming weekend. Falling asleep holding hands. Waking sometime in the dark of night to the familiar sound of my baby's cry. Stumbling in the dark to find my sleepy baby crying in crib, picking him up - his crying instantly stops, and soothing him back to sleep the way only Mama can. Then waking once again to Erik's soft sweet kiss.

Comfy, cozy home love. There is nothing like it.

I could ask for nothing more.

Take Two. . .

I asked him this morning as he lay on the bath mat outside my shower if he had decided yet what he was going to do today when Daddy dropped him off at school.

"I haven't decided yet," he said, sucking his two little fingers and looking up at me, "I don't want to cry, but I think I might cry anyway."

"Well, if you don't want to, then just don't do it."

"But, I may have to cry because I'll miss Mommy. I'm still thinking about it."

Erik drops the boys off at school on his way to work, so I gave him a sufficient amount of time to get the boys to school and call me. But, he didn't call, so I searched for my phone. Silly me, I had not turned it on yet! By this time, I had not only missed his call, but I had also missed two texts from friends asking how JCT did this morning! :-) I quickly called Erik to find out what JCT decided. . .

He said JCT got out of the truck, took Mrs. N's hand, looked back at him, shot him a peace sign, then walked into the building like it was no big deal.

No tears.

No drama.

Go figure??