THE birthdays...

I've been trying to write this post for a week now but with two very active kids that I am constantly chasing after it's been difficult.  I feel as if every part of my day now is filled with "Noah do not tackle your sister" or "Grace we do not put electrical cords in our mouth" Awwww the life of a SAHM....when do I start back to work? Momma needs a break...BAD!

So anyways in between yelling at the kids and cuddling them all in the same I have been working my ass off at trying to get their birthday party together.  I decided this year to just have them at the same time...one big bang...its not like Grace will know the difference and Noah said he was fine with it so alas here it goes!  I decided on a theme for the party...pirates and princesses.  Cute huh!  I have been surfing the web for ideas on decorations, games etc.  And thats where this post comes in.  Who in the hell decided that in order to have a birthday party for your kids you had to go all out.  Games, cute cupcakes with the theme printed on them, gift bags, wreaths, etc.  What ever happened to good ol fashion open you damn gift kid and eat some cake.  Now I have to give a gift to every kid that comes to a birthday party??? WTF!  What has our society come to??? A kid can't just come celebrate their friends party they have to get something out of it!  SMH!  And I have to entertain them the entire time? Can't they just run around and entertain eachother while I drink my bottle, I mean glass, of wine!

BUT I don't want to jip my kids...I don't want them going to another friends done up brithday party and coming home saying wow mom why didn't you ever do something like that for us.  So I'm working my ass off to make this the best damn theme party ever.  Get ready my friends bc its gonna be cute!  Oh and those of my friends who are bringing your kids to the party the gift bags are filled with candy..have fun with that :D

11 months...we're almost there!

Dear Gracie,


My sweet sweet girl where has this year gone.  It feels like I was just holding you for the first time and now look at you. Growing up in front of our eyes.  Your personality is showing itself and it is so much fun to see how full of life you are.  We are going to have great laughs as a family!


You are crawling now finally...not everywhere yet but you are getting it down.  You get frustrated when you can't get to something you want but you always figure a way to do it.  You do not sit still and it is a pain in the butt to feed you.  You are always grabbing for stuff to put in your mouth or putting your own hands in your mouth and pulling food out.  I can't wait till this stage is over...YUCK!


You talk all the time...you say mama and dada and hi.  You love to wave and do it all the time.  It's adorable.  You scream at your brother when you want his attention and say the same "words" to him so I think thats his name. Ha!


You still laugh all the time and it is the best sound ever.  I don't know a person who has not commented on what a happy baby you are and for this we are so blessed!


You eat everything in sight.  I don't know a thing that you have said no to now.  You would eat all day long if we let you.  You still have 3-4 bottles a day and still love to cuddle and lay your head on our shoulders.  It is so sweet.


You now have six teeth and are on your way to getting 2 more.  You are actually a great teether knock on wood and still sleep through the night even during those terrible teeth.  

You are wearing mostly size 12-18month clothes, and size 3 diapers.  I have no idea what size shoe you wear - I might need to figure that out soon. :)  You weigh around 20-21 pounds...our little chunky monkey!

You are a total ball of energy and so much fun to have around.  We love watching you explore and become excited about the littlest things.  You bring great joy to our home.  We love you, Grace.

Love,
Mommy

On the Road Again...

Summer time in the Topley household is all about travel!  That is one of the reasons I wanted to work for the schools so that I would have the summers off to travel.  Luckily I married a man who loves to travel as well.  So every summer we take at least one week long vacation.  This summer we did two and we still have two more to go!  Our first stop was Phoenix...I know you are thinking Phoenix in the summer!  Well ya!  We own a timeshare through Starwood properties and they have a wonderful resort that we stay at.  It has three pools, two water slides and fun galore.  We have a great time just laying by the pool and enjoying each others company.  This year Daniel's family tagged along as well.  We had over 12 people partying it up with us.  It was a great time.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

Jenny and our little love Julia

Lazy river is fun for all!

Every morning we had a baby convention!

My two sister in laws and Julia (4months)

We went to watch the bagepipes every night

Me and my love sitting by the pool

Yes I have fun!

The view from our cabana

Cutie

Love her hair in this one!

Our next trip was to Amarillo for the 4th of July.  We do this every year with Daniel's family.  They have a nice cabin about 20 mins out of town that we get to enjoy.  Its always fun filled and exciting to go.  Noah loves it and its great to see him getting close to Daniel's Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry (or Uncle Dinosaur as Noah has now named him!)  Here and some pics from that trip!

Noah wearing Pops glasses

It was a dinosaur kind of trip!

Driving his first go-cart! Made me cry!

Playing on the huge bean bags at the Discovery Center

This is how we spent alot of mornings...cuddling with our babies

Discovery Center

SOOOOO Close to crawling!

We had wrestling matches all the time

4th of July outfit

With the hat

Get this thing off of me!!!!

The girls

Playing dinos with Uncle Jerry

Cousins!

As you can see we have a had blast of a summer so far....only two more trips to go :) And here is a video to grow on...this will always bring a smile to my heart and was by far my favorite part of the trip!