Happy Birthday Buddy!

So my baby turned 3! I can't believe it.

He is such a little man. Gone is the baby that I had. In his place is a super chatty little boy who thinks he is as grown up as his sister and all of her friends.

Usually I don't really do the traditional birthday party thing. I hosted one for Rea's first birthday and it was so much work that I have stayed away from them since. As you know, we did Disney for Rea's bday this year.

And because Rea got a special day, we thought it would be nice to give Ri a day too. I planned a cute and simple party at a local park. And about 46 of our closest friends RSVPed yes. Not bad right?

Well, I forgot that we live in FL. I made no alternate plans for rain because, well, I'm an idiot.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Girl

Rea turned 5 this past December. We decided to blow off the traditional birthday party. Instead, we invited a handful of friends to join us for a day trip to Disney!

But as you may know, my mom's birthday is the day before Rea's. And since we weren't going to be home for Rea's day, we combined and celebrated at home the night before. With Grimaldi's pizza and cake. Yum.

Christmas Lunch

This is entry #5 if you're counting.

After the beach and showers, it was time for the rest of the extended family to arrive.

We did presents first because that's really all the kids wanted to do. After gifts we moved to the patio for lunch. My Grandma, who my kids call LaLa told me a fantastic story. I'll share it with you after you see all the pics. =)

Rea and LaLa

It's Finally Christmas!!! #4

So Rea woke up at 4:30am. She came into my room, smacked me in the face, and said "Let's go see if Santa was here."

I opened one eye, saw the clock, and replied "No. He hasn't come yet. Go back to bed."

She did. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Shane was the first one up actually at 6:30. He got Rea out of bed, which was not surprisingly simple. My job was to rouse Buddy. He was passed out in the middle of my bed. It took some coaxing... he did not want to wake up. We asked if he wanted to go downstairs to see if Santa brought him any presents, he whined "Noooo.... Santa's NOT here. I'm sleeping!"

Shane carried both kiddos down the stairs, the whole time Ri was complaining.

Christmas Eve Craziness #3

For the first time in many years, my family celebrated Christmas as a HUGE group at my Mom's house. In recent years, my Aunt Amy has played hostess to this holiday meal. She lives in the southern part of our state. And my sister Jack and our TN family usually don't come down to celebrate with us. And in even more recent years, my immediate family plus my Mom, Dad & 2 sisters have spent the Christmas holiday at Disney. 

But this year, almost my entire family tree was in PBG. 

And most were shacking up at my Mom's house... which you might know is where my Crew lives. 

It was full. And so much fun. Really. Aside from the fact that both of my sisters came with little Agents of Death (3 dogs and 1 cat), it was great to have the clan home. I don't know that I have really laughed quite that much in a while. 

Christmas Eve was spent around the house... Steph was making cookies for friends and future family members. Jack was hanging and playing with the kids. Shane was working. That's actually all I can immediately recall about that day. 

Christmas Continued... #2

On the Sunday night before Christmas this year, we attended a Holiday PJ Party at a friend's house. Unbeknownst to the kiddos, Santa was making an appearance!

Reagan was so excited about the party that she got into her jammies the minute we returned home from lunch and church. And she twisted my air to join her (didn't have to twist much, I never turn down pjs).  Then we counted down the hours and minutes until it was time to go.

Daddy had to work, so he couldn't join us. This really bummed me out because Steph and I found some AMAZING footie-pjs at Target in his size! It would have been legend - wait for it - dary!

We paused to pose with our newest Christmas floatie! 

Buddy wouldn't get in the pic with me and Rea... He wanted to fly solo (hahaha).