30th Birthday Celebration

My youngest sister, Emily, turns the big 3-0 this month. Along with my other sister and mom, we tried to think of something fun to do for her birthday. Way back when I turned 30, they made me a book of letters from friends which was so sweet! We threw Allison a surprise dessert party for her 30th birthday. Being that Emily's husband is throwing her a party already, we racked our brains for something special to do for Emily. We decided upon a surprise girls' night out- pedicures, shopping, dinner, drinks, and a night at a hotel. Super fun, right?!

In order to have this pulled together in a way that makes sense, Al and I made up '30 things to do in 30 days before you turn 30'. It worked perfectly because we had the surprise night exactly 30 days before Em was to turn 30.

We started with a lunch at Allison's to celebrate Em's and my dad's birthday. This is nothing out of the ordinary so Emily didn't suspect a thing. In fact, when we gave her the list for her present, with the note 'we will cross off at least 5 things from your list today', she was quite confused!

Thankfully my mom made her a little certificate listing out what we were doing, which is when it finally clicked in her cute little brain. 

Her hubby had her bag packed in the car ready to go so we took off for a girls' day right after lunch. First stop was pedicures. 

What is a girl's day without shopping? and price checks? 

We got all dolled up at the hotel before a nice dinner out in Fort Worth. 

After dinner we checked up the newly updated Sundance Square, braved taking a picture in the fountains, and got drinks at a local bar. That's right folks, we went to a BAR! And stayed out until TEN PM! How crazy are we when we don't have kids with us?! :) 

So, perhaps we were all asleep by 10:30. Whatevs. However, we were also all awake at 3:00 am when a guy in a nearby room was not too happy with his girlfriend and was shouting at the top of his lungs. I felt like I was back in college again with all the crazy drama! :)

In the morning we headed back to my mom's house where my dad had a yummy breakfast waiting for us: donuts, corn muffins, pancakes, and bacon. The table was set and everything, perhaps proving my dad is a lot of time on his hands how that he is retired. :)

We had a great time with the four gals. I hope Em enjoyed her special day...and she completes her '30 to do in 30 before 30'! 

 Happy Birthday, Em!!! I love you!

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Thomas' First Birthday Photo Shoot

Sweet Thomas turned one on December 26th. We had  a fun day celebrating by going to The Perot Museum in Dallas and then going to a park for a cake smash photo shoot. We also threw in a quick trip to the doctor and found out the birthday boy had a double ear infection! Poor baby! He was a trooper though.

So today I am sharing a couple of the photos from his first birthday photo shoot. These are all SOOC (and one day I will learn how to edit my photos!). We love this sweet sweet boy!

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DIY Bookplate - free download

As you are well aware, we are closing in quickly to Christmas. I have an extremely short list of presents left to buy. I will actually have to go to the stores for these last handful rather than purchasing online in my pjs. Online shopping has been wonderful this year!

One of the gifts the boys will get each Christmas and birthday without fail are books. So, I again made bookplate stickers to add to the books. I love knowing who gave each book to the boys and I think it will be really sweet when they are older. I have a feeling that there will be two things I save until I have grandkids- books (that aren't torn to pieces!) and their wooden train set. So I think it will be fun to look back at the books in 30 years with the stickers on them!

Here are a couple I have made for this year. Feel free to save these and print onto Avery name stickers to use in your own library. Enjoy!

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Birthday Activities - Tot School

So I know I haven't been posting much for tot school and that is because I kind of have been slacking in that area. Oops! It doesn't help when I read other people's blogs and they do all these awesome things every day and it makes me feel like I am doing a crappy job with John. But then I have to realize I am doing the best I can and I am not trying to homeschool the little kiddo! I am just trying to do activities with him so he has some fun things to do while trying to teach him some basics before going to pre-school. So I decided I am not going to stress out about it and I am going to try to focus on just doing two days a week of tot school stuff rather than 4 days a week. I think that might be more manageable for me right now!

Now, let's get back to the actual purpose of this post! John's birthday is this week. My little baby is turning two! Holy canoli- where did the time go??? So here are a couple things I threw together for this week's tot school. Feel free to save a copy and use how you want!

Uses for Cake Numbers:
1. Put the numbers in order.
2. Match the numbers with our set of magnetic numbers.
3. Count out birthday candles and match to the correct cake card.



Cake Sizes- Cut out and have child put in order from biggest to smallest.




Balloon Matching Activity
1. Cut out each balloon and string. (Laminte if possible!)
2. Hang the balloons on the wall.
3. Have child tape the string to the matching balloon.
4. Once matches are complete, child can find an object(s) around the house that matches the color of the balloon.




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