Birthday Party Weekend

We had 3 different birthday parties to go to this weekend. Each were with different groups of friends and each child is very important to us so we were glad to help them celebrate their special days.

The first party was Saturday morning at Chuck E. Cheese for Joe Meloy who was turning 2.

The girls are getting ready to take on some games with their tokens.
I have to admit that Mommy and Daddy get a little competitive when we go to these places. We want to win those tickets. The girls just care about pressing all the buttons. The next party was Saturday afternoon at Noah's Ark for Justin Michaelis who was turning 3. Daddy and Carter stayed home for this one so we got to enjoy some girl time.

The birthday boy was having a blast!

Emery is definitely the most adventurous Hall child right now. She will climb, slide, bounce or jump off just about anything.

Capturing a moment of observation.

The whole group of kids (with a few parents for crowd control.)

The Michaelis family.

The final party of the weekend was Sunday afternoon at Ty's grandparents house for his 1st birthday. Aubrey and Meyer enjoying a swim.

Eating dinner.

The guys with their babies.

The Davis, Heuring, Farr, Scalise and Hall kiddos.

Ty enjoying his first birthday cake.

Emery, Shelby and Lily would not get up until they finished all of that cake and ice cream.

Emery and Aubrey loved these little scooters.

Happy Birthday to all of our special friends!

32 Hour Adventure

Due to the amount of time we would be spending in the car and a hotel room, MIMI and I told the girls we were going on an "adventure" to make the experience more exciting. Janet and I took all 4 kids to Frisco/Plano/Little Elm for Ashley's baby shower.

Thursday 11:00 a.m. - Load up in the car

1:00 p.m. - Stop halfway for lunch

4:00 p.m. - Arrive at hotel in Frisco

5:00 p.m. - Shannon picks me up to help get ready for the shower

6:00 p.m. - Uncle Drew and his girlfriend, Kim, come to the hotel to watch the kids while we are at the shower

7:00 p.m. - Celebration for Aunt Ashley and Baby Graham

The Hostesses

Shannon came in town to visit Wendi and once again did a great job of being the photographer during the party.MIMI with her daughter-in-lawsHoney with her daughters
All the pregnant women at the shower.
After a delicious fajita dinner, we played bunko.11:00 p.m. - Back at the hotel for a quick chat with Uncle Drew and Kim then off to bed. (MIMI slept with Aubrey, Carter slept in the bathroom, Emery slept by herself and I ended up with Lily in my bed.)

Friday 6:00 a.m. - Everyone awake and ready start the day.

9:00 a.m. - Visit Mema in Plano.
Papa and Carter
Lily loves her Papa.
Mema and Carter
The kids love playing with the toys that Mema has at her house. These are the toys that Daddy and Uncle David played with which makes them at least 30 years old.

Aubrey found Snoopy.

What is that Lily? Carter diggin' in to all the cars.
Carter chewing on a car.
Carter chewing on a whisk.Carter chewing on Mickey Mouse.
Jackpot...Mickey Mouse and the whisk at the same time.
The girls take a time out for a quick snack.
Papa and MIMI discussing what adorable grandchildren they have but boy to they wear them out!
11:00 a.m. - Arrive in Little Elm at Honey's for a playdate and lunch with the Junods, Michaelis' and Halls.
Watch this Anna Lou!
A "Cousins" picture
2:00 p.m. - Loaded everyone back up the in car to head back to Houston.

7:00 p.m. - HOME!

Katie's 30th Birthday

My dear friend Katie turned 30 this year and for her birthday she wanted to go for a girls weekend to float the river. We stayed in this house that was within walking distance to get on the river. We spent much of our time at the house playing what has become one of my favorite games, Whoonu. It is the perfect game to play with a group of people you don't know very well and people you think you already know. Wow, I learned a lot that weekend and had a blast doing it.

Here is the group before dinner at Gruene River Grill. We didn't get to dinner until 9:30 so this was the extent of our night life experience in Gruene but we made the most of it.

Carly (Meggan's best friend), Me, Shannon, Katie, Shelley (Katie's friend from Sugarland), Alyssa (another friend from Sugarland), Meggan (Katie's sister)

The group getting ready to float the river.
Check out all of our shoes. Yes, mine are the tennis shoes....although they were not stylish, they did the job.
The group heading out.
While I was gone, Mike had all 4 kiddos all by himself for the weekend (MIMI was in Canada.) He did an amazing job. They went to the park and played on Saturday. He also took the opportunity to dress Carter in "boy" clothes.
He took them to Sunday school and church on Sunday. I was so impressed that he had them all dressed with their hair fixed and still had time to take pictures before they left. Everyone at church was very impressed also. Although he did get questioned about why they weren't matching :-). Not only did Daddy have a wonderful time with the kids, he also had the house clean and dishes done when I got home. What a guy!