happy birthday

One of my best friends, Lauren, turned 30 on January 6th and one of our other friends, Liz, had her birthday back in December. Cammie decided to throw them a little birthday party this past Sunday...only it wasn't so little b/c there were 5 families there and each of us have 2 kids. So here's the breakdown of who was there: 5 women, 5 men, (1) 7 yr old, (5) 3 yr olds, (2) 20 month olds, a 4 month old, and a 5 week old...plus 2 dogs! It was a houseful and it was loud. There was laughter and there were tears. It got crazy at times, but most importantly we all had a lot of fun.

Here are most of the kids minus Josh (the oldest) and the 2 little babies. From left to right: Avery, Emma, Owen, Parker, Julia, Caleigh. In the front: Beckett. Aren't they all so adorable?!? 

By the time all the families got there, the pizza had arrived and tiny little feet pounded the stairs to get to the pizza! The mom's fixed plates (why is it always the moms???) for the littles, the men...well what were they doing?!? lol jk I'm sure they were taking care of the kids?!? Anyway, the kids settled out on the porch to eat the deliciousness that was Papa John's. The womenfolk sat outside with the kids while the men ate inside...plus Beckett who had settled nicely into his booster. It was fairly quiet as everyone ate.

Confession: I dipped my pizza in the calorie/fat laden garlic butter sauce that Papa John's is well known for. Ok, ok, ok. I had 2 slices of pizza. I also had 2 helpings of salad...Cesar salad with delicious Cesar dressing. I'm not on a diet or anything like that, but I try (try is the key word) not to eat too unhealthily and I heard that sauce is artery clogging. I haven't exactly looked up how bad it is and I don't want to know the exact specifics. But it was just soooo GOOD!!!  In fact, as I finished my dinner I was already thinking about having the same exact dinner soon! Is it wrong that I'm slightly drooling

After dinner the kids dispersed between the playroom upstairs, the backyard, and riding scooters on the porch. The men sat inside and talked football (I think since that was on TV) and the women discussed babies and labor. Typical! lol Eventually we all headed back into the kitchen...it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" and eat the ginormous cookie cake Cammie got. the cookie cake...I may or may not have bribed Parker into taking an early nap and being extra good in the car by promising him some pizza (which is his favorite food) and a big cookie cake. Hey, don't judge!

Cammie was very generous with the slices she gave out and Parker was in cookie cake heaven!

My kids love to sing Happy Birthday! Parker went through a phase last year where he would make pretend cakes and stack toys and sing to me. He still does it today. Avery has picked up on this and holds her hands out (sometimes her hands are empty and sometimes she has a book or a train) like she's holding a cake in front of her and she'd sings: "Hah, bih-day to you!" and then blows a pretend candle out. Once in a while she will add "Rrreee" (Avery) It's so darn cute!

I grabbed a smaller piece to split with Avery and was in the process of scraping the icing off (I'm not a fan of icing and tend to scrape it off when giving the kids cake/cupcake). But when I went to give Avery a small piece of my slice, she already had her own piece with icing all over it. Andy gave her a big piece b/c she was the only one who didn't have any yet and she was probably trying to reach over and grab Beckett's.

look at that face!!! it's as if she's mocking me b/c she got a large piece with icing on it! 

look at that hot pink icing stuck on her teeth! lol I know I get a little lot OCD about the sugar intake, but I admit the big smiles on my kiddos was worth it!

After cake the women tried to talk...I say tried b/c the kids were running around yelling and playing. The men were downstairs watching football. When it was time to leave, my kids decided they were hungry. They are such stealers!

Avery said she was hungry so I gave her the other half of her slice that I saved earlier. I knew she'd want it! Here's Beckett, trying to make the moves on Avery and her pizza???.

Trying to hold hands...but it looks like Beckett's eyeing that pizza! I love Avery's expression! It's as if she's thinking: "this boy is really cute and I want to hold his hand, but I'm embarrassed b/c everyone's looking at me and my crazy mom is taking a gazillion pics!"

LOVE these two! Bummed I did not get a clear shot! 

Parker, Owen, and Emma squeezing in a little more play time and playing ring a round a rosie...a favorite!

all the ladies: Me, Lauren, Stephanie, Cammie, and Liz

Finally, we were leaving. I figured this would be a difficult drive. It's 1 hour long, during a time when Avery is usually going to bed for the night, she's teething and I forgot the Orajel at home, we were on day 5 of no binkie (she almost always has her binkie at some point during car trips). I came fortified with "owl" - Avery's lovey. Avery whined for the first half of the trip and threw her owl down a few times. With about 20 minutes left til we got home, Avery, Parker and I (yep, me!) fell asleep! It's almost guaranteed that I will fall asleep in the car if both my kids are asleep. I'm like a baby in a car - it just lulls me to sleep. My best friend from high school and her mom used to laugh at me b/c Mrs. O would drop me off (this was before we got our licenses obviously) from a trip at the mall, which was less than 15 min from my house and I would be in the back seat conked out! Anyway, Parker must have been really tired b/c he slept until 9 am - RARE!!! He is my early riser. It would have been great if Avery would have woken up at her usual 8:15-8:30, but nope, she woke up around 7:50. She just knew her brother was sleeping in and Mommy wanted to sleep in just a little bit! lol