Bradley’s Party

On Saturday morning the snow was finally melting away into streaming little rivers so we packed up and went to Bradley’s scheduled Birthday party at the movie theatres.  We had it all set up to see THE LEGO MOVIE with him, his brothers and nine other friends.  All boys.  Yes, we are already at this phase I guess.  It snuck up on me so soon but just because he was told he had a limited amount of invites. 

Setting up with our friend Carter.

I did have to push the party back when I thought they may have a make up snow day Saturday morning and have to go to school.  Because of this preventative change I had the party room for an hour before the movie.  It was quick so we played this game, ate lunch, sang and then ate some cupcakes and ice cream and by that time we realized the movie theatre was filling up fast so we went and got the kids their popcorn trays and headed in to get our seats.  

Bradley and I made the ‘Where Are MY Pants Guy’ from the movie and did a pin the pants on game.  The boys loved it! I spinned them blindfolded seven times since that was the magic number.

They had a Lego Man to color at their place setting designated with their Lego favor bag that had their name on it. 

They got lots of cool goodies.  Stickers from the movie,gumballs, Lego candy, money for the arcade, sticky hands and the best of all.  A Lego key chain that Brad helped me make.  So grateful that he did that because I could not tie knots like him to make them look legit and kid approved.

We have them on the boys lunch boxes and Bradley’s book bag now. 

 

 

Bradley and his buddy Paxton.

This amazing boy of ours….seven!

Group shot.  His guests were Gino, Carter, Wyatt and Soren our longtime military friends and Patrick, Will, Tyler, Paxton and Lucas from his class.

Being shy that it is all about him at the moment.

 

This face tells us Thank You even though he said it.

The movie was AWESOME and SUPER.  A few key words from the movie.  The boys were glued and we only had one that wasn’t ours that needed to go to the bathroom for an hour and 45 minutes.  All twelve of them sat in a row with a Dad on each end and myself and my friend Rayma sat behind them.  We pulled it off and it was the busiest Saturday ever in that place being after everyone was cabin fevered into their homes. 

The kids used their quarters and played at the arcade while their parents came to pick them up.

Once we got home Bradley opened his gifts.

Easton using the present as a boat.  He is either in a boat or being an airplane these days!

He got so many great things.  He was so grateful and excited about each one.  The boys have since been loving the new Lego sets to add to their first set.  They just started Lego’s this Christmas from Grammy.  I had been holding them off because I heard how annoying the pieces were.  Yes, they are being found everywhere and annoying but the boys sit and use their imaginations to build.  Each of them.

 

The after party.  It was a successful 7th Birthday Party to celebrate our exceptional first son.  We love you Bradley Bear!  

LOVEly Snow- Round 2

The second round of a Winter Storm for us fell on the second week of February.  Guess what is special about that besides that silly love holiday.  Our actual Anniversary.  We celebrated our 9th one this year and still going strong! I will have to say that the days were so blurred.  I was trying to see if we would be able to make our anniversary plans and I had Bradley’s Birthday party plans on my mind for February 15th.  I wasn’t sure if that would be cancelled either.  So, I think the kids went to school all day Tuesday and they cancelled on Tuesday night for Wednesday school immediately because they were expecting the snow to hit fast in the morning.  That it did……Happy Snowy Anniversary to us!

Brad was home so I frantically booked the childcare at the gym at 10am for what they had opened.  As soon as we started walking in we brought the snow.  I ran and did my little ski machine that I feel is helping my legs and I immediately started to become frantic.  So funny how I lost my composure for a bit.  Brad wasn’t even looking out the window and he drove separate because he always works out longer (fine by me) and I am limited with the childcare of how long I stay.  I high tailed it out of there with the kids because it was starting to stick to the roads and I know I need new tires.  We ended up getting 8 or so inches and then a second round came with ice and packed it in. 

 

I didn’t think it was as cold this time and Easton agreed.  He loved playing in it and didn’t cry.  Gavin still would rather be watching cartoons on the couch with the heater next to him while we are all outside. 

I had Bradley take a picture for us since I had to cancel our date.  They didn’t plow the roads until Thursday mid day so their was no way we were getting out or a babysitter was getting in.  Like the trend of the day, they didn’t really turn out either. 

Our Sweet little Loves….

 

When you can’t beat the snow…eat the snow! That’s what we say at least ;)

 

On Friday the boys got a little Valentine’s treat from me.  At that point things were starting to melt so we took the kids to Drop Zone and went to see The Lone Survivor for Valentine’s Day.  We kept it just at that and no dinner since I had lots to do for Bradley’s party the next day and the roads at night.  Oh and you did read that right.  Yes, I am super awesome to go see a guy movie instead of a sappy romance on Valentine’s Day.  I cried regardless and I liked seeing the movie in spite of all it’s sadness.  Oh and in between the two snow storms we had, I took a few pictures for the boys to send out cards to family.

Bradley- So not thrilled! Big kid problems happening.

Gavin is such the charmer….

Then there is Oh so smooth Bubbas.  Liz and I laughed because he took one picture and ran away but he perfected the first one.  How can you resist those cheeks just filled with air blowing some love.

We hope everyone we love were blessed with love too this Valentine’s Day.  We have yet to reschedule our promised babysitter for the boys and go out on our dinner date.  Not quite sure how life got so busy but we hope to get some bang bang shrimp soon. 

Snow- Round 1

The end of January we got our first 2014 snow in Pinehurst.  Everyone was shocked (all the newbies) but really since we have lived here for almost 8 years we have gotten snow now about 5 years out of that.  We waited for the snow all day on a Tuesday with school already cancelled.  We finally got it that night.  About 4 inches and then school was done for the rest of the week.  On Wednesday morning after breakfast we got geared up and went outside to see this beautiful white stuff that has the capability of making you so giddy, cold and trapped all at the same time. 

Testing it out before they had gloves on.  Shocked that is was so cold.  Ummmm, yep, it’s kind of like that. 

Freedom!!!

Easton was exclaiming how cold it was!

Snow Angels are always a must and so pretty.  Of course here you have pine straw mixed in.

Walking through the TALL pines to to get to the sledding hill.  It wasn’t super steep but better than the back yard.  Now the boys are too big for our tiny slanted back yard hill we used when Bradley was two and it snowed. 

Since Daddy works from home when he’s not out of town working he didn’t have a course to teach so he got to join in on the snow fun. 

You can see the path we were aiming for and it worked.  No one was close to hitting a tree. 

Gavin- he refuses to even zip his jacket all the way up to cover his chest.  It really was super cold out!

 

Easton as you can see was wanting to go in so I got a picture right before in anticipation it would be the only time we were all out together.

Once we got in we had some yummy rich hot chocolate.  Their cheeks were all chapped and rosy when they came in. 

We also did something new and made “snow cream” which is snow, milk, vanilla and sugar blended.  It was OK.  I guess the trick is to use sweetened condensed milk instead of regular.  Maybe you would just taste it and see if it needed sugar.  Easton hardly even finishes a dessert so he didn’t this time and Bradley always finishes a dessert but he didn’t.  I let him help me and I think a little too much vanilla was dumped in.

Oh and I almost forgot.  We built a pretty pathetic snowman.  Bradley really wasn’t into it so it was just me but the snow was not the snowball fight snowman rolling kind.  I could not get it to stick together for the life of me.  We had to use big chunks that were pushed in from the roads being plowed to start it off. 

 

This was on Thursday, our second day in the snow. 

Bradley and I went exploring. 

  

On Friday when Gavin was headed to preschool he insisted on switching his nose to a carrot.  By then everything was starting to melt pretty good. 

The boys had a great time experiencing the snow at home together.  It is safe to say that Easton does not like climbing hills or extreme cold and Gavin is really over it all pretty quickly and would rather be cuddled watching a movie.

We survived the 4 inch Snowpocalypse or Snowmageddon as others called it.  We will live to see many more days……