Celebration Time!!!

We finally got a date in Mid May to celebrate the girls' birthday with our families. At this point we have only had family gatherings, which is fine with me & the girls too as they don't get to see their cousins very much. We were blessed with beautiful weather. The rain held off until all guests had gone home. It wasn't deathly hot. My only complaint was the mosquitos. They were out in full force and got in the house with the rotating door. I was selective on pics as not to overload.

simple decorations for simple parties

(just the way I like it!)

Morgan's Cake

her own creation

I asked her if she had seen this cake design somewhere before. She likes to look through the cake book at Jewel while I am getting stuff at the deli. I thought maybe she had seen a picture there. She said, "No, I made it up myself in my head"! She wanted flowers going around the edge with big flowers in the middle.

forced to stop playing to get a picture

results in forced smiles!

gift card for the momma to buy for her babies!

porcelain doll

always happy to get "stinky" crackers

it's the simple pleasures you know!

she loves her oranges too!

crazy monkey

dog for her doll

stuffed - the only kind we will have in our house!

another happy cracker eater!

also holding another favorite - pistachios

Shelby decided on a bunny cake

count 'em - 7 candles! :(

sharing some swing time with Reese

Shelby & her Aunt Ashley

2 peas in a pod some days!

Uncle Al and Nonny Martha took the kids on a neighborhood walk. Unfortunately, they stopped at a garage sale. Even more unfortunate, it was to the point in the sale of $1 for all the JUNK you can fit in the bag. And to add to that, I had just said the day before that people needed to stop buying my kids stuffed animals. We have enough to open our own zoo! They bought not cute but ugly stuffed critters among a bunch of other disgusting things. Shelby's prize was this hat. She may look cute in it, but my head itches every time she wears it!

They have so much fun playing and before they know it the party is over and the tears start. They hate to see their cousins go hours away both north and south. Thanks to everyone who came and for the gifts. I couldn't post all the pictures but they got some fun stuff. Happy #7 & #5!

Morgan's Mother's Day Luau

On May 4th, Morgan's Preschool hosted the moms for a Luau. Nate's mom was in town for Shelby's birthday and the AWANA awards night and I thought she'd enjoy this as well. They set up several activities for us to do together before performing a short program. There truly isn't anything more entertaining then preschoolers on a stage. Here are some pictures from our day at the Hawaiian Luau.

hula hooping

in our grass skirts with our "sand" cupcakes

making a necklace

Nonny Mary helping with the necklace

that tongue always makes an appearance

when working hard or deep in thought

the monkey posing with a monkey

the crew ready to perform

Morgan was a butterfly

take a bow!

frames we made for the pictures

Here's a little video. At the end of the program, each child took their turn saying their name and answering the question, "My mom is as pretty as _______"

Yes you heard right. I am as pretty as a UNICORN!

Shelby is 7!!!!!!!

On Wednesday our Shelby Maddux turned 7 years old! That's just crazy! Since it was a school day and the AWANA awards program at church, it was a busy special day. Daddy also had an out of town baseball game so we did gifts before school. It is amazing how early one will rise when it's their special day! Both girls were up a good 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs earlier than usual or necessary as far as that goes! I have several pictures from the day so I'll just tell her birthday story through those.

dressed up pretty for school

Nonny Mary accepted my invitation to come for a visit. On top of the birthday and the church program, Morgan had a Mother's Day Hawaiian Luau at preschool. Grandma enjoyed that as well.

chocolate donut with sprinkles & a candle

enjoying her donut while taking one of her many phone calls

I think Aunt Dana got to enjoy listening to her eat while they chatted!

I had purchased a bunch of socks on sale last season that I had stashed away in the basement. I got those out and wrapped up 3 different boxes of socks. By the time she opened the last one, she was pretty irritated. She grumbled and tossed them aside. It brought back years of memories of my sister doing the same thing whenever she opened new clothes at her birthday or Christmas! Just one more way Shelby girl is like Aunt Ashley!
Any time Shelby is shopping with me she wants me to buy her pistachios. She doesn't care if it is Walgreens and they are like $10 for a small bag! She was more than excited to get her own jar!

she decided she really likes the Newsboys so I got her their latest CD

DSi game

just has to wait to not be grounded from the DS to play it!

opening her gift from little sis

cowgirl gun and holster to complete last years Halloween cowgirl outfit

Shelby had seen that gun at Cracker Barrel when we were there a few weeks ago for Morgan's birthday. I took Morgan back to buy it but wouldn't buy anything for her. She was so mad. She kept crying and saying it was the worst day ever and I was ruining her life! Guessing that won't be the last time I hear that!

personalized journal

she requested a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting & sprinkles

flowers & balloon delivered from Papa & Nonny Moe

Before church we stopped at Moe's for a quick birthday supper. She told anyone who would listen that is was her birthday. She finished the night with a few more phone calls. While at church my brother Jamie left her a message. Before she went to bed I played it for her. She thought it was my dad but he had already talked to her earlier that morning. I told her it was uncle Jamie. I got a kick out of her response. She said, "Ahh, he never says anything that sweet to me. He's always saying harassing things to me"! Happy Birthday to our drama queen!

*Post Edit: It was late last night when I posted this, and I forgot to include her big surprise for the day. Nonny Mary and I decided to join her for lunch at school. I have never endured this before as I have heard quite a few stories of what goes on during the lunch hour there. I think the assigned seating by classes has had to help. There wasn't any chaos or trouble, just loud. But what can you expect in a gym with all of those kids? The last few weeks of school they are going to go from 2 lunch groups to 3 to see if this will be a good idea for next year. Anyway, I survived and she was so excited when I walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder and asked if we could eat with her?

Easter

We had a quiet Easter here at home just the 4 of us. It has become the only holiday we spend here in Normal and at our church. No traveling involved. With Nate's baseball schedule, they do not play on Easter Sunday but they do on Good Friday and Saturday. That would leave travel for 2 1/2 hours to family south or 3 1/2 hours to family north (one way). Our spring break is not associated with Easter so it would be round trip travel on Sunday to be back to school and work on Monday. No thanks! The girls did get ready for church in order to look for the hidden baskets and take a few pictures. The bunny has to get creative as the kiddos are remembering from year to year where they have found their baskets.

Shelby found her basket in the toy box

Morgan's was on the bottom shelf of the end table by the couch

this is a staged pic since instead of eating breakfast, she was snooping around

checking out the goods

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick!

Splat the Cat

one of our favorite book critters

Princess Peach DS game

After church we went to a new restaurant (for us) for an Easter brunch. Then we headed home for some Sunday rest (for me) while Nate and the girls played outside.