Birthday Celebration #2

Today was officially Lynlee's 3rd birthday! Man does time fly. So for celebration #2 Mommy and Lynlee had a girls only day! We took Owen to Mrs. Kathy's and headed off.

First, we had a Starbucks. Yes, my 3 year old has loved the taste of coffee since she could sip off a spoon. She will drink it black, but she really likes it the way mommy gets it...with lots of sweet yummy goodnes (cream, sugar, etc.). We both ordered tall iced vanilla lattes! Before I get a lecture, Lynlee's was decaf! (Don't worry there are plenty of bad decisions on my part come up...many of them to do with nutrition and sugar. I probably shouldn't mention she had Ritz crackers and Pez for breakfast! I know you all would like to nominate me for mother of the year!)

Starbucks, I know you want to steal that picture!

So where next? Why of course...to get a mani and a pedi!! Ha, this was Lynlee's first ever professional nail experience. While I got a pedicure, a lady painted Lynlee's toes and

fingernails. Lynlee picked purple, her favorite color of the month.

Sorry this picture is so blurry. It was the best I could do. I was so proud of her. She sat so patiently and was talking to the lady. I could not understand a word the sweet lady said, but Lynlee was sure shaking her head yes and no. Once I looked over and Lynlee was in about a 3 minute monologue. I had no clue what she was talking about, but I'm pretty sure the lady didn't either. Who knew a language barrier wouldn't stop Lynlee Kate!

Finished product. The lady drew some kind of white design on her big toes and put glitter on them too! So cute!

So here's a picture of me...I keep getting asked why I don't post any pictures of me. The answer is "I'm at least 20 lbs over-weight." I know Lynlee looks awful in this picture but this is the only one my cheeks didn't look filled with marshmallows and my four other chins weren't showing!! Seriously.

Next on to the mall where we met one of my bestest friends, Michele (Lynlee says "Chele").

As expected, Michele spoiled her rotten. She took her on a shopping spree in Melody's Choices. Lynlee was fixated on the Thomas the Train set up, so Michele got her a couple of trains. She also got her an art easel, which I am super excited about. It has a chalkboard, white board, and rolling paper! Super cool. Of course Michele got her the art accessories that go with the easel. Lynlee was so hung up on the trains that I still don't think she knows she got the art stuff. Toy stores can be so over-stimulating!

After a nutritious lunch of taco bell nacho cheese and chips, we headed to candy craze!

I just let her fill her bag with whatever in the world she wanted. I mean you only turn 3 once, right? You know it is bad when your 3 year old looks up at you in the middle of a candy store and tells you "I think that's all I want!" And within the next hour she demolished most of the bag.

We ended our girls trip with a ride on the mall spinny thingy!

I would say we had a successful day! We headed to Target after the mall and spoiled Lynlee some more! We also had her 3rd celebration tonight, but I will have to post about that later.

Birthday Celebration #1

This week is Lynlee Kate's 3rd birthday/week!! I was going to throw one big party because she is really getting into the birthdays this year...but I wasn't on top of my game. It is hard to dodge all the July 4th parties and summer weddings. So instead of 1 big party she is having approximately 5 little celebrations. So get ready for a picture overloaded week of birthday posts!

Celebration #1 was at Pat's parent's house last night. We had a blast and Lynlee was on cloud 9!

Lynlee started off her night with a wagon ride from Papi Fries. He really wanted to be called grandpa but Lynlee had different plans! They bought this wagon so we could all take walks on our weekly Fries Family dinner nights.

And of course Owen got lots of love. Here he is with Pat's mom, Noni.

Lynlee and Uncle Joe eating some salsa! And Uncle Joe is a handsome, available man with a great job!! Just thought I would shout that out for any single ladies out there!! I won't mention that he and Pat talk not stop about fantasy sports...oops I just mentioned it!!

Time to open presents!! We could barely finish dinner to get to this part!

Lynlee got some petshop goodies from mommy, daddy, and Owen.

She also got some cute books and clothes from Luke and Kirsten!

And we can't forget the gianorm0us collection of princess pez dispensers from Papi and Noni! They know a way into a girls heart!!

Lynlee also experienced pop-rocks for the first time. Surprisingly, my sensitive child didn't mind the pops in her mouth (probably had something to do with the sugar).

Then cake. Needless to say Lynlee had a sugar high for the remainder of the night. This cake was an ice cream cake from Cold Stone. It was pretty good and I guess the sprinkles made up for the lack of icing decor. In case anyone wants to know most cake shops were closed yesterday! Hopefully I can redeem myself for some of the other celebrations.

Poor Trinity has to sing happy birthday at every celebration. To be honest it sounds like someone is being murdered! Seriously, Kirsten has proof!

Here's Owen with Luke's girlfriend, Kirsten. We just love her and can't wait until she becomes a part of our family (no pressure guys!!). She claims she is not good with babies, but by the look on Owen's face I would say she's wrong.

Group shot! BTW the one on the right is single!! Haha Joe is going to kill me ;)

What a lucky gal getting to sit with such handsome brothers!

Ended the night with sparklers! We bought a few too many this past weekend, so they might show up at more than one party!

Another item that you might see at multiple parties is this balloon! Creative moms please don't be disappointed in me...it really is a huge balloon and it plays music! Lynlee loves it so I guess that's what really matters, right?

You might be a redneck if....

this happens on a regular basis!!

Yes, that's right. Welcome to the Fries Family pool! Plastic but just enough room for the whole family (minus baby Owen and momma)!
Here's a precious picture of Owen watching the chaos and wondering what on earth he has gotten into!
Hope everyone can find a way to stay cool in this hot hot weather.

Can I get an AMEN?

Okay, I admit that my hubby is as close to perfect as they come. But if there is one flaw Pat has it is finding things. I know many of you are thinking this cartoon is an exaggeration and maybe it is a slight exaggeration, but it is pretty close to spot-on in our house!

Here's one of our recent scenarios. Scene: Lynlee in the bathtub wanting a bath toy. I told Pat the bath toy is in our bathroom closet in the blue bath toy bucket (it sounds like I have my act together, but that is really just a fluke that something actually has a specific place in this house!). So I heard Pat rummaging through the toys for a good 30 seconds (the bucket is only a one or two gallon bucket so not too big). He comes out empty handed and told us that the specific toy Lynlee wanted was not in there. Lynlee looked at me and said she would go look. Seriously, 3 seconds later Lynlee was back in the bath tub with the toy she was asking for which was located in the blue bucket. I was almost in tears laughing so hard. I mean a 2 year old can beat Pat in the finding things department.

Can anyone relate?

Oh yeah, I do know this probably isn't the best timing for a post making fun of Pat since yesterday was Father's day AND I didn't write anything mushy telling him how wonderful he is at EVERYTHING! But believe me, he knows I don't like serious moments and usually cover them up with a funny joke...that's just how I roll!

5 Years Down...Forever to Go!

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary! I feel like I'm officially in the older person category (like the 2 kids weren't enough)!! Here's a picture from our 1st anniversary trip to Scottsdale, Arizona (pointer: never visit Arizona in July!).

We had a blast and promised we would take a yearly vacation for our anniversary. Well lets just say we are 4 years behind! Kids and pregnancies add an extra element!

I am truly blessed and married to the best man in the world. I could give you all a million mushy reason of why, but I will spare you. Just believe me that he's pretty darn close to perfect and good looking too!

Here's a picture of the beautiful flowers I came home to after a lunch with a friend! They are gorgeous and so thoughtful. He told them our wedding colors and even specific flowers we had at our wedding. So sweet!

Okay, I'm done with the mushy stuff! Have a good weekend!

4 Months!

Guess who's 4 months old today (yes I doubled checked and I actually got the date right this time!)?

4 months is fun because you can legally start feeding your baby rice cereal. By legally, I mean the pediatrician tells you to try! I know...surprisingly I follow the rules sometimes. I always have chunky, healthy, good-sleeping babies so I never see a need to try earlier. Here's some picture of Owen's first cereal experience!

I know all you neat mom's are wondering how I let his face get this messy. Just keeping scrolling, you'll figure it out!

Keep scrolling!

Almost there.....

You guessed it...the mini-mommy herself took control of Owen's cereal experience. I only was "allowed" to give Owen 2 spoon fulls. Let's just say she emptied the bowl of cereal, but I'm not too sure much of it got in his mouth!

She did take occasional breaks to wipe his mouth (or nose as the picture shows).

Is that face not screaming "SAVE ME MOM" or "GOD, WHY ME?"

I bet this face sums up Owen's cereal experience! On Lynlee's defense, he really isn't adjusting to the spoon thing! And yes, I follow the doctor's orders on introducing cereal with a spoon not a bottle. I can't remember why he told me not to give it to Lynlee in a bottle, but I'm going for Owen's check-up on Friday and I'm sure my memory will be refreshed!

I hope everyone has a very happy Wednesday!

Busy Weekend!

We had an eventful weekend full of swimming, parks, sno-cones, face painting, a wedding shower, family, friends, fixing toilets, fixing light fixtures, church, cookouts, and more parks! Here's a few pictures I put together in a collage to spare you all the longest post ever of just pictures! I think you should be able to click on the collage to see it in a bigger window!

Notice Lynlee is swimming and jumping off the diving board all by herself. Of course she has on a floaty-bathing suit thingy!