Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sorry your grandkids are all sick and that we had to cancel your Birthday Dinner,

I promise we will make it up to you.

I have 40 chile rellanos and 24 angel food cupcakes all sitting in the fridge all ready for you. It's the thought that counts, right? Blame your grandkids! We love you. XXOO

Poor Kids!

Some of you know that I have had a hard time staying healthy the last few months and apparently I influenced the kids because all 3 kids are home with strep throat today and tomorrow. ALL THREE! Poor kiddos. It started with Brady on Sunday, he was complaining of a sore throat and head ache all day, I thought he was just tired because he had played 5 basketball games last week but no luck; he went to bed not feeling well last night and stayed that way throughout the night. He woke this morning feeling pretty bad. 20 minutes after waking him up, Mason woke up and said he had a headache, sore throat, and stomach ache; 15 minutes later, Rachel came upstairs and said she felt awful. I just threw my hands up at that point, told them to all go back to bed, called in sick to work, and called the doctor for 3 appointments, we'll take strep throat and amoxicillan for 3 please! Stay away from the Strong Household, it is contaminated.

WOO HOO!

Brady scored tonight. I was so nervous and so excited for him. We have a busy basketball week coming up and I hope he gets more and more confident and comfortable with his team. They ended up losing, 20 - 14, but 2 of those 14 belonged to my kiddo. Such a proud basketball mom. Don't worry I ordered my sweatshirt today!

Not a little boy anymore

We redecorated Brady's room over the weekend, and thought we would share. Here are my interior decorating skills at work. We have had to take the "little boy" room and turn it into a "tween boy" room. Out with the toys and in with the i-pod player, snowboards, guitar hero, and flat screen tv. Somewhere in the last decade, I lost my sweet teddy-bear-holding, pacifier sucking, cuddling baby and got a sports-playing, sweat-smelling, i-pod listening, handsome pre-teen. Wow! How did that happen? I told Brady that this is probably the last time we will paint and change the theme of his room before he leaves for college, his reply, "that's fine with me mom, cuz this room is sick" (fyi: sick means cool, good, awesome, etc.). So, I guess that's good, I must be a "sick" mom.

Happy New Year!

This is the first year that we didn't have Rachel and Mason for New Year's Eve so it was a little weird. Normally, we have all of the kids and we do family game night and eat snacks and junk food for dinner with chocolate fondue for desert. We have never been much for partying because we have always wanted to spend the evening with our kids.

Because Rachel and Mason were with their mom, Brian, Brady and I just stayed home and hung out. I had been fighting a cold all week so I was glad to be able to relax and take it easy. I made filet mignon and shrimp with twice baked potatoes, and cherry cheesecake for desert. The three of us had a great meal together, however we did miss Rachel and Mason.

On New Year's Day, we surpised Brady with a weekend in Glenwood just to get away. We also surprised him with inviting a friend. So we picked Seth up and spent a really nice day at the hot springs and just relaxed. The drive home was a little frustrating, taking us 8 hours to get home.

My Dancing Princess!

Everyone that knows me knows that I absolutely love and adore my nieces and nephews. I love being an aunt (TT) and can't believe how blessed I have been by these little people. Being a mom is amazing, but loving your siblings childen like your own is so special. Not only do you see your sister or brother being parents, which is cool, but seeing people made from them is awesome.

Because I don't have any little girls and Rachel doesn't let me dress her up anymore (weird, huh?) I have adopted my nieces (Emma, Ally, and Lilly) as my personal princess projects (see Bippity Boppity Boutique blog post). I have very girly nieces and I am fortunate that they put up with me. When Emma was born, she was the first girl born in our family since my sister was born and I had a basket of dress up clothes and accessories ready for her before she was even walking.

Ally is the dancer in the family and she had her first dance recital in December. I can't even tell you how cute it was. My sister had let me take her to dance class a couple of times, but you don't get the full affect until you see her all dressed in her outfit and on a stage.

This dance recital was quite the production. My sister had to stand in line and purchase tickets. It packed an entire high school auditoriam. When she started, I went from crying because I was so proud to be her TT and she was so beautiful to crying because she made me laugh so hard. To see a 3 year old do her version of the dance her instructor taught her was hilarious. She did a dance to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and she did an amazing job. After the recital, I had to present her with a bouquet of flowers as each dancer should have. She was not really sure why I was giving her flowers, then mommy and daddy gave her flowers, then her godparents gave her flowers. She was like "ok, thanks" and didn't know what to do with them.

Please enjoy these photos of my dancing queen. I am so proud to be her TT.