Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson Patrick!

Let's talk about Jackson Patrick O'Hare turning 3 years old! We did things a little differently than I had imagined. I had planned a HUGE Pinterest-inspired party for Jack's birthday, but we got thrown a curve ball when a dear friend of mine had a work conference here in town, and I decided I did not want to share the little time I got with her by throwing a big extravaganza. Unfortunately her plans fell through about a month before they were supposed to be here, but luckily Kevin's parents decided they would come and celebrate the big day.  I wanted to make a BIG deal for his birthday since all he asked for was a party. We talked about it daily for weeks and I had let him pick out the very inexpensive party decor at Wal-Mart. On Saturday when he woke up he had found balloons all over downstairs and a wagon. But really who cares about the wagon?  Balloons were the hit especially with Brecken. He loved to chew on them. It was a fun day filled with opening presents throughout the day, playing outside and eating as much junk food as you can imagine. I thought Jackson was going to throw up in his bed that night. During naps I set up for the big party of 6, and when they woke up, we set out to Red Robin for some dinner fun. Jackson has not been to Red Robin in quite some time. Actually we avoided going to restaurants until just recently because it was so miserable with him. Luckily on this Saturday night it was not too busy, but that may be the case every where at 5PM. Both the boys just stared at people. I mean really stared. It was embarrassing that Jackson's face was so close to our neighboring booth's food. I would tell him not to stare, and he would tell me, "NO! I want to see them!" This kid loves people. The staff eventually sang Happy Birthday to him, and I think he was almost in tears. He had no idea how to react to this. But he did know how to react to the HUGE scoop of ice cream they laid out in front of him. After this we came home, ate cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday 3 times, blew out candles 3 times, and opened the rest of the birthday loot. I know he felt special on his very special day.

My. Heart. Is. Melting. 

Pop Pop is silly!

  Some of the birthday loot!

Singing Happy Birthday 

Delicious!

Weeeeeeeeee!!!!

Painting with a twist

Last week I finally used a Groupon that I purchased back in November.  I am SO glad I did not let this expire because it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. I went with 4 other women, and we did a painting called "Red Blossoms". It was not my favorite when we looked at the selection, but they only offer one painting per night and well this was the night that everyone who bought this Groupon could go before it expired.

Of course Leah and I carpooled, and we were late getting there because Jackson had an ear infection and Brecken can not stand the sight of his mother leaving these days so it took a million years to get out of my house. It was a little intimating walking into a room filled with canvases on easels while everyone was staring at us. But I saw my friend Jackie smiling, and I wanted to get my glass of wine poured and eat a cookie or two. We sat down and chatted for a minute before the instructor started the class. She painted one section at a time and showed us how to do it in front of the class and then you let your creative side go.  I loved watching Leah paint as she is also an art teacher, and I adore the paintings I have seen of hers. As the wine flowed I started to admire my own painting. A lot. I went from giving it to my own mother to keeping it to myself in a matter of 75 minutes. Sorry mom. I did have good intentions. At one point the instructor came over to help me a little, and she picked up my canvas and it hit me over the head. She apologized, and I laughed and said "That's okay, you just gave me an concussion." She did not laugh or say anything. I guess it was one of those times where I think I'm funnier then I am. I loved painting, drinking and laughing with these women. I will do doing another class like this soon.

Can you find me?? I'm next to the girl with the brown painting...:)

Jackie, Leah, Beth, Me and Danielle

I'll Have Another!

It is that time of year again where we break out the checkbook, make ridiculous bets on horses and have mint juleps. This year Kevin and 4 other guys rented a RV and went up to Kentucky for the big day. I am SO jealous!! In two years hopefully I will get to join them on this adventure that I experienced not so long ago. This year the women and children of the men who left on the trip came over to my house to have a little Kentucky Derby party of our own, which included a sleepover. We had 4 adults and 7 children. Phew! We put on our prettiest dresses and our biggest hats and had some fun. We made bourbon balls, sausage balls, baked Marconi and cheese, grilled asparagus and banana pudding for desert. So yummy!! After we put the last child to bed at almost 11 PM, we continued to laugh and drink MANY MANY drinks until after 2AM. I woke up early and picked up my disgusting house and watched the kids while my friends slept. It was so fun to see the kids playing in the morning. It was a glimpse of what sleepovers would be like. It was my favorite part of the party.

Kelly and Baby Harper!

I love these ladies!

Leah, Me and Jackie

These ladies still look good at 2AM

Kevin did not win any money and he slept (wink, wink) through 5 hours of the races. The most fun part about the going to the Derby is betting of course and trying to sneak your booze in. Kevin succeed in doing so this year as some of the others did not succeed. They finally made it home about 6:30 PM. They drove an almost 8 hour drive with no air conditioning. You can imagine after having the crazy two nights that they had had, that the last thing they wanted to do was CLEAN the RV and take it back. Yuck! After a week, I think we all have finally recovered from our Derby experiences.

This hat was actually Paul's but Kevin sure did look good in it!

Kevin during his 5 hour nap...Don't these ladies look lovely???

We are always having fun!

My goodness is it already May 10th?? We have started the birthday chain leading to very special days for all of our friends! Our first birthday party of the spring season kicked off with little Landon. Brecken and Landon are almost like brothers. Brecken LOVES Landon to pieces. So much he won't stop touching him and hitting his head and so on. Landon does not like this so much. It is already like siblings. Landon turned 1, and he had an AWESOME Qdoba/Mexican fiesta! It was so relaxing, and the party went so smoothly. Leah is definitely an organized mama. The kids got mustaches and sombreros for their "gifts" ,and once the pinata finally broke, it was filled with candy and little tiny animals for the kids to play with. Landon's grandpa got him the BEST gift ever, a cozy coupe, and it was the hit of the party.  Landon also ate his first bag of chips (Jackson had 10), and Brecken took a 2 hour nap on his daddy's chest. What a happy happy "birth"day!

Brecken with the birthday boy Landon!

Molly and Jack

Our hostess with the mostess....mustache

Little Bethany Lane looks so cute with a mustache.

Caleb turned 3 on May 1st!! Last Friday they had a drive in movie birthday party. I really can not explain how awesome this party was. While all of the kids ran around like maniacs in the backyard, NOT one fight broke out between them. There were some broken hearts caused by my little heart throb Jackson, but luckily he redeemed himself and hugged sweet Lera and made up for any hurt feelings. Shanna and Dave had all kinds of movie theater snacks such as popcorn, boxed candy, pizza and mozzarella sticks, and boy oh boy it was so yummy! They put up a sheet, and had the movie Car's projected on the screen. It was so fun. Caleb got some great gifts, AND he got a motorized JEEP. It was cute seeing all four toddlers driving, and then watching the movie in their cars. This was one of my most favorite birthday parties yet!

The beautiful birthday boy! We love you Caleb Eugene!

This picture cracks me up. Jack was hilarious with his popcorn and Caleb was such a maniac behind the wheel. Makes me a little scared for what life brings in about 12 years.

Lera and Jack. They love each other. Boyfriend and Girlfriend by age 15 is my prediciton.

I love this little girl, Isla.

Oooooo...the first date.

Oh boy.

Michelle, Natasha and the girlies!

Playing Catch Up

We have been very busy the last month with play dates, birthday parties, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and a weekend away at Charleston that I have not had much time to keep up with my blog and pictures...Okay really just a blog or two behind. And since my computer crashed it took most of my pictures with it. I'm quite devastated. So I will spare too many details and just give the basics.

St. Patrick's day came and went so fast. I don't think I even had one decoration up. How is this possible since at one point in my life St. Patrick's Day was my all time favorite holiday?? I remember in high school I made a cake in Home Ec. It was awesome, and it had a very intricate four leaf clover drawn by me on it (or at least this is how I remember and picture it). I pretty much carried it everywhere for a few days just showing it off and it eventually made it's way to Butte, MT where there is the biggest party ever in the world on St. Patrick's Day. However, I never got to take even one bite because when my girlfriend LeeAnne and I returned home after a long night of trying to find a hot dog to eat, my cake had been devoured by many college boys, none of which I knew. So I'm fast forwarding to this year and it was definitely not as exciting as it was 10 years ago. We went to a parade with friends and it was so hot and Jackson had a little sunburn on his nose (mother of the year). Afterwards we went to my girlfriend's house for a party but it got ended short because Kevin was sick. God forbid he ruin all of our fun. Next year I promise to have a better story.

This is a really flattering picture of us girls

"waiting for hours" at the START line.

 Shanna, Michelle, Me, Leah, Jackie and Brittany!

LOVE YOU LADIES!

Leah, Jackie and I at the rooftop bar!'

Charleston was great. I made some really everlasting memories with these ladies that I will never forget. The race was insane. It took us 5 hours from the time we left the house to the time we made it across the START line...not the FINISH line, the START. I do not do well with these kinds of delays, however it was probably the easiest race I have run and it was fun to run with several women who I admire. I will probably not run this race again, but I smile when I think about the laughs we shared and feeling like I was 17 again. It was truly what the doctor ordered until I got home and Jackson threw up all over me. Kevin had managed to get Brecken to sleep through the night while I was away but that only lasted about a week since he got sick and then started teething....now we are back at square one and I am so upset!! I need sleep!

We had an Easter Egg Hunt and party at Jack's school. We were outside on the playground and this kid behind Jackson is his best friend. He talks about Max all the time. They were adorable together.

Look at Jackson's hair!! I almost died when I was posting these pictures. I had no idea his hair was so long and beautiful. :) He really looks like a girl. Sorry baby Jack!!

Jackson and Carter dying Easter Eggs together. CUTE!

This was at Jackson's Spring concert at school. Notice everyone is standing but Jack sat down like a "good boy". He was so cute singing all the words and doing all the gestures. To bad Kevin and I were at the very back of the gym and it was SO hard to see him. :(

Easter kind of snuck up on us this year.  We went to an Easter Egg Hunt that was absolutely the best one I have ever been too. They had a puppet show, face painting, and all of Jack's friends were there....Jackson ran around like crazy and got many eggs. It was a perfect warm, sunny day. We dyed Easter Eggs that evening, and Jackson of course was a very big asset. The very next day was Easter so in preparation of the EB we laid out carrots by our front door.  I was very anxious for Jackson to wake up, and when he did he was very excited to check out those carrots. His face was priceless. I love kids. There were half eaten and there was a trail of eggs that wrapped around the house and lead to the back yard FILLED with eggs. And then he saw it. The coolest Easter Basket ever. The Easter Bunny left Jack a bug vacuum, a bug net, bugs and of course candy. He left Brecken a Mr. Potato head and a mini bug net. Jackson liked Brecken's basket better. We ended out day with a lunch at Uncle Kyle and Aunt Leah's house that led into the evening. The kids were exhausted, Kevin was sick, but I was happy and that is what matters most right?

All the mommy's and their babies!

Brecken was so happy just sitting here. Actually all the babies were!

Brecken, Madleline and Landon

We are ready for the EB!

WHOA!

A few weeks ago was our annual trip to the Strawberry Farm! I love this place so much. I feel like every time we go it is overcast and wet. I was better prepared with the kids in jeans and boots. They have added more for the kids this year, which they loved. Brecken was cute and just kept taking out my strawberries and eating them and then tossing them aside. Jackson picked and ate one strawberry and followed little Ms. Molly everywhere. We were so lucky to have most of our favorite people there with us! I did not manage to bake anything delicious with the strawberries. However, I did manage to make muddled strawberry martini's for Amanda and me!

Aunt B and Brecken. Look at those boots!

Best picture EVER!! All they need is their pitch forks.

Jack and Molly.

Which brings me to my latest and last paragraph. I have been waiting to see one of my best girlfriend's that I have known for almost 20 years. Insane. It has been since our Denver girls trip when Jackson was just 15 months old when I saw her last.  She of course looks the same. Beautiful and smiling in her Boho Chic attire. Me...older and another baby on my hip. We are both so different but exactly the same. Seeing her and being with her gives me such a comfort and much nostalgia.  Amanda is one of those women who you meet and love instantly. She really is always smiling and always ready to have fun. She is also someone who honestly drops everything to make sure you know she cares, even in the busiest times in her life. She is now a lawyer. :) I like to brag about it because I'm so proud of her. We talked about EVERYTHING and nothing at all. We went to the winery (the best place on earth) and went shopping at  Nordstrom RACK. The boys adored her. Especially baby Brecken. I think he had a bit of a crush on her. He would get excited to see her, run over to her and wrap his tiny arms around her neck and lay his head on her shoulder. I never imagined he wouldn't love her. But I am very disappointed because we did not take 1 solitary picture while she was here. We talked about it of course because we talked about everything. We miss you Amanda!!

Beautiful Amanda!!

PS: Yes I admit I did steal this from your facebook page. xoxo