My Baby Boy Turned Two!

There aren't too many people who make me laugh at just the sight of them. I mean that in a good way too. My little man turned two on March 16 and he is always running around saying "here I come" and I swear that's what he said when he came out at birth! This little guy puts a smile on my face everyday with the things he says and does.

We had his party a week earlier just because the way Cory's schedule fell and we were trying to decide what we wanted to do as far as taking time off and the rest of the year. It worked out well doing it that way and we spent his actual birthday as a family after Alyssa got out of pre-school. We went out to lunch at one of our favorite places and afterwards went and got ice cream at this cool place in downtown Snohomish.

All of us like to go down there and kill some time. They have great little stores and lots of stuff to do for all ages.

Knox got his gift from us in the morning, a new bicycle! He was excited and I think mainly because Alyssa got one for Christmas and he like hers. That afternoon he got more presents and we relaxed and enjoyed the evening together.

Of course I had to get him another cake! You can't celebrate a birthday without one can you?

Overall I would say this little man enjoyed both his celebrations

A Birthday Party For My Favorite Boy!

I loved the idea of having kids close together but when it comes to planning the party not so much. They are within three weeks and it can be expensive and exhausting. I thought about doing them together but for me birthdays are a big deal and I'm not sure that I want them combined.

We decided that we were going to have Knox's party at the house since we got jipped on Alyssa's and essentially had to pay twice. I had a hard time deciding who I wanted to invite. I decided to just invite our friends who had children his age. It was hard because some of our good friends that we hang out with all the time have older ones but with family here too it would have been way too crazy.

Cory ended up getting the flu a couple days before so he spent most of his time upstairs in his bedroom. He was starting to feel a little better and wasn't contagious anymore but still didn't have any energy.

The house was packed with all the people we love and Knox's little friends. I somewhat did a car theme because that is what he is obsessed with. He is a typical boy!

The party started around four and the last of our guests left around ten thirty! All the kids had a blast playing together and getting a long great! We got the party catered by our favorite Italian restaurant. It's a authentic Italian place and if you have never ate at one before, let me tell you there is a huge difference! The food was amazing and Knox was blessed with so many wonderful gifts from everyone!

Sun Cove

We have been planning a weekend away for awhile with my two good friends and our husbands sans kids! My friends husbands family has a house in a little community over near Chelan called Sun Cove. All of us got to enjoy a nice weekend over there.

One of my friends got to enjoy the ride over with us since her husband found an extra job over there to do so he didn't have to make the drive twice in two days. We had a good time with some good conversation. We got over there around five that Friday evening and let the good times start!

Later that night our other friends arrived and we all headed to bed to begin the next day of wine tasting in Chelan.

The weather was great over there. It wasn't cold, sun breaks, and most importantly we were with good friends! What was really nice about hanging out all together is we don't waste any time and were all up bright and early cooking breakfast and getting stuff done!
There is a really cool store right down the road that has local fruits, vegetables and specialty foods. They make their own donuts there, among other things, and we were able to enjoy some that morning along with our yummy breakfast casserole.


Around eleven we all piled in and headed out to do some tasting! It was a beautiful drive over the rive and through the hill to Chelan. Our first stop was Wapato Point Cellars, one of my favorites in Manson. We were able to pick up our wine club shipment and we also got two free bottles along with a 20% discount because we weren't going to be at the dinner that night and we had a friend sign up for the wine club. We scored there! I was a little bummed about dinner because that would have been fun to go to but I wasn't aware of it. They haven't been good about me being on the email list and or my husband hasn't been good at forwarding it. Probably a little of both. Anyhow we got the dates for the rest of the dinners through the summer and I'm happy to say we will be attending! What I like about this place is they have a cool place for the kids to play and they will be free at the dinner.

We made a few more stops at winery's before stopping in town for what was a supposed to be a quick stop but ended up being a little while because one of the guys bought some guns. The rest of us went and got some lunch and wine and enjoyed ourselves before all heading out to our last stop of the day, Tsillan Cellars. This is my favorite in Chelan. It's a beautiful place with great staff and great wine! We are members here as well and picked our shipment up and after our tasting got a bottle and enjoyed it. Our other friends joined this place too and I foresee a lot of fun happening on the other side of the mountain in the future.

We headed back to the house after that and enjoyed another great dinner and some good times. The next day was just about getting the house cleaned up and laundry before we headed home, after heading into the hills to do a little shooting. It was a beautiful warm day! After we got back and got the laundry going and cleaning about done we enjoyed more sun. It's not bad waiting for laundry to get done when you are sitting in the sun with great friends!

After that was all done we headed on home. We were a little bummed to be leaving but missed the kids and already have several trips over there in the next few months planned. It's going to be another great summer!

My Little Girl Is 4!

On Alyssa's birthday we were planning on having a quiet day. The family was just going to come over for dinner and celebrate with us. When Alyssa got up she still wasn't looking right and I decided to take her into the walk in clinic. We found out that she had an ear infection. Thankfully we got medication right away and it didn't put a damper on things too much. She didn't have too much energy but she was still a champ.

I couldn't believe how many presents this kid got. It looked like Christmas morning! For dinner we decided just to do it simple and got some take out for everyone. Since we still had cupcakes left from her party that is what we had for dessert.

Her grandparents all spoiled her rotten as always, along with other family members. This kid doesn't mind getting clothes but it has to be a dress. When she opened an outfit she received from her Fairy Godmother, Nicole, she said it was cute but it wasn't a dress and threw it to the side. She hates wearing anything else. She got her American Girl Doll that she wanted. She had a smaller one, Rebecca, and she wanted the bigger version of it. One of my favorite gifts that she got was the battery pack for her leap pad and "purse" for it. That thing goes through batteries like crazy!

Overall I would say she had a great day and as usual was spoiled rotten!

Princess Dance Party

This year for Alyssa's birthday we decided to give her a dance party at her dance studio. This little girl loves dance so we thought what would be better. Well at the beginning of the year I had changed studios from the one she went to last year and chose one closer to home. Well without any notice the studio closed, we were out our money and were looking for a place for her to dance and have a party at. Of course this all happened the day I sent out invitations. Finding another studio wasn't that hard but trying to decide what to do about the party was another. We were out our money and of course getting no where with the owner. She did say she would refund the money but haven't seen any of that.

After a lot of consideration we decided to go ahead and give her a dance party and I'm so glad that we did. The studio she is at now is where we had it and they did a superb job! I couldn't believe what we got for our money at the studio. They provided decorations, a dance instructor, full use of the whole studio. Alyssa's teacher, Ms. Brenna was the one who was at the party and did a fantastic job! One of the rooms had mats, pom poms, and a disco ball and music going for all of them to enjoy before the dance instruction. They got a 40 min dance class and then in the other room was where we had pizza, cake, and presents.

It was such a great day! She loved every moment of it and having all of her friends there to celebrate with her. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. We were there for about two hours which was perfect. Alyssa had seemed a little out of it but wasn't sure if it was from all the excitement that had been going on all weekend or what. She couldn't have been happier though with the party, her two besties were there, and all her other friends. Even though the planning started out with a black cloud it quickly became clear that it was the best thing that happened and I think we ended up with a much better party than we ever would have.

She got a lot of great gifts that she has been enjoying. I'm so thankful again for the great friends that we have in our lives and our children's.