Easter 2014

As always, I love looking back at the posts I do annually to see how the boys have changed. So bittersweet to see their baby faces.
Easter 2013
Easter 2012

I can’t find a blog post about Easter 2011 when I was 8+ months pregnant with Dexter. I know I have pictures on the external hard drive but don’t feel like dragging it out right now. Bummer.

Anyway.  We went to Cincinnati for the dual purposes of celebrating my nephew Spencer’s 9th birthday as well as Easter.  The weather was so perfect, I could not have asked for better. My little fall and injury was the only downer to the entire weekend. We enjoyed great family time, amazing food, and the boys weren’t half bad considering they were getting no naps and far fewer hours of sleep each night than what they are used to at home.

Just a little light (and upside down) reading on the way to Ohio.
Morning Lego play between cousins. 
Cousin Spencer loves his little pals and he is their hero.

Some sleepy boys in the car.

Playing “which hand is it in” with Uncle Bob.

Little boy in a big world.
Loungin’ with pop pop.
Dexter decided to help himself to some frosting when no one was looking.
The birthday boy, in all of his royal silliness.

Easter morning cutie.
Easter bunny popped by!

Eager little boys.

Do you like our audience (in the neighbor’s yard)…haha! They love watching the kids have fun.

Anyone that knows me in real life knows I won’t shut up about the weather right now. It’s my absolute favorite time of year. Did I mention how nice the weather was over the holiday weekend?

After the neighborhood’s little egg hunt, we headed back home in time to play outside a little more and grill hotdogs for dinner. Perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!
I hope you and your family had a great weekend too. 
xo,
~C~

theo’s fourth birthday: a lego-tastic celebration

The celebrating started two days before Theo’s birthday, on Thursday March 6th.  His Montessori school has a neat birthday tradition and invited us and Theo’s grandparents to attend.  My mom even drove up from Tennessee the night before to be there in time.  We were quite the crowd in his little classroom but I loved it and wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Here’s Theo’s teacher, Ms. Holly, talking about Theo and asking me what Theo was like each year of his life.  I made the scrapbook page with one photo of him from each year.  Theo got to hold the globe and walk around the sun one time for each birthday so far.  They sung a couple of cute songs as well as the traditional birthday song, then we went outside for treats – Theo asked for chocolate muffins so I made enough brownies in a mini muffin tin for the class and teachers.  
Not wanting to take time away from that brownie to pose for a picture with Ms. Holly. 
Friday was extra nice – the first time in many years that I just spent a day with my mom. We sent the boys to the sitter to get things ready for Theo’s small party on Saturday.  It was nice just hanging out, shopping, eating lunch, and talking without the constant distractions from my sweet little energetic, talkative, attention-sucking boys.  We picked them up, let them play outside for an hour or so, then continued working on party stuff. 
First time the grass got mowed in 2014. 

Making minifigure cups and gift bags for our guests.

Saturday – Theo’s 4th birthday! Party day! Swim lessons and so much stuff to do! 
Dexter helping Grammy with the lemon bars.

Aunt Chelle and Pop Pop are ready to party. 

Some of Theo’s favorite foods: assorted berries.

My mom made the awesome banner!

Even though it’s not a Lego, Ryan and I decided Theo needs a bike. It wasn’t the most popular gift and we were prepared for that.  He’s such a homebody – he loves to play Legos, games, read books, etc. so we wanted to do something to encourage him to get outside this spring and summer.  He liked it.  I wouldn’t say he looooved it.  Don’t worry, we also got him a few little Legos.

Three minifigures and two small sets to be exact. 

Create your own Mini-fig table.

Lining up for that tasty food.  We had:
-Cocktail Meatballs-
-Mini Corn Dogs-
-Assorted Veggies & Dip-
-Queso & Chips-
-Berry Salad-
-Lemon Bars-

Fun with punching balloons

Not too sure about this.

Of course, one of the best parts of the day was seeing his excitement as he opened his gifts.

At Theo’s request, Nana made him a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It was delicious. I found the cute Lego cake topper (that was not technically a cake topper) on Amazon. 

Our “not-really-a-party” that turned into a little bit of a party was so much fun. We were so happy to have all of our guests in attendance at our little bit of a party. 
Salazar Family
Weir Family
Nana and Pop Pop

Grammy
The Beals/Jeffries
Too bad little buddy was done-zo with pics by the time we got around to attempting …
Sunday, coincidentally, Brickworld was going on at the State Fairgrounds. What better way to round out this little guy’s Lego birthday bonanza than to surround ourselves with MORE LEGOS?

45,000 square feet of massive Lego displays. The boys were in heaven.

It didn’t hurt that they got yet another mini-figure. I mean, at a place like that, how could we say no?

Loved the look on Dexter’s face when he spotted me watching him from outside this madness. He was so excited to show me his tower. It was funny, there were several kids in there his same age and they were all building the same things…towers. It’s a start to the Lego addiction!
It was a really great weekend and birthday celebration for my FOUR year old boy – that still sounds weird! 
Dexter is already talking about his Batman & Robin party so the bar has been raised…the expectation is there. Here we go again!
xo,
~C~

music city getaway

My best friend Emily and I have known each other for over twenty years. We met early in high school and became inseparable almost immediately.  She was a year ahead of me in school so went off to college and we briefly lost touch.  It wasn’t long before we found each other again and our friendship has just continued to grow as we move through various stages in life.  She’s been there for me through some tough and triumphant times and I’m so thankful for her.

I moved to Indiana when I got married in 2003 and a few years later, Emily began travel nursing as an RN. She moved to a different part of the country every few months for several years.  This was while I was in my baby-making hay day so it was hard to make time to see each other for awhile. She’s settled down in Nashville and now we have come up with a little way to stay involved in each other’s lives and see each other face to face a few times a year. We take turns visiting each other every 3 months. We’ve been doing this for a year and a half now and I love having our visits to reflect back on and look forward to.  I love that she will be active in my kids’ lives and memories as they are growing up.

A good friend I met in Indiana during undergrad went with me to visit Emily and her girlfriend, Lauren, this past weekend. Usually Ryan and I take the boys but this was a girls’ weekend bonanza extravaganza.

Whitney and I Friday night before heading out to see Brett Dennen live at 3rd & Lindsley. (Such a great show!)

Super awesome coffee mug Emily & Lauren got me for Christmas from a shop in Chicago. They know me so well! I adore it.

Heard that saying about a really good restaurant…”the line was out the door”?  Well, it was. Brunch on Saturday at Mas Tacos Por Favor was out the door and out of this world.

Whitney, Lauren, and Em waiting on their food.

My food: The chilaquiles special and iced coffee y horchata.

After brunch/lunch, we went to a flea market at the fairgrounds that comes to town once a month. Whitney found some weights. I window shopped and enjoyed the warm (hot) weather.  It was magnificent! We saw lots of neat things. I didn’t buy anything but enjoyed the vibe and scenery.

After shopping around the flea market, we went back to the house for some rest and to get ready for Saturday night. We had talked about going to several honky tonk bars on Broadway but we all ran out of steam. We’re not 21 anymore after all…

Of course, another highlight of the weekend : Eating more food at The Family Wash.

I love this lady.

And I love these lovelies!

After dinner we stopped at a local brewery’s taproom to try one of their signature beers.  Sorry, I didn’t like it. I’m a huge beer wuss. The more it tastes like water, the better.  

Broadway was busy!
The one open souvenir shop had some real treasures…
We went home and went to bed after briefly walking around downtown.  Sunday morning it was time to pack up and get ready to head back to cold Indiana. But not before eating some more good food.  

My Bed and Breakfast suite 🙂

Chicken n’ Biscuits at Edley’s. I can’t wait to go back and take the boys to this family friendly and delicious local restaurant. It’s a bbq joint with amazing atmosphere. As much as I love a pork bbq sandwich, I couldn’t pass up that amazing biscuit and local honey. It was my favorite part of the whole meal. Aside from the part where I was basking in 70 degree weather. I thought I was in Destin for a minute.
Whitney and I made it back to my house by about 7:30pm.  Just in time for me to play a few games and read bedtime stories with my sweet boys, who were very excited to have mama back home.  It was a perfect friend-filled, fun-filled weekend. Wouldn’t trade the memories for anything and can’t wait til I see them again in May!
xo, 
~C~