A Pirate's Life For Me

2 Years, 48 Weeks.


We never would've guessed how fast time would fly six years ago as new and novice parents, holding tiny Braelyn in our arms.

Now we are a mere 10 years shy of our eldest daughter turning 16, and everything else that comes with that stage in life.

But we are so happy and proud of the big girl she has become, and look forward to many many more adventures with her!

May the Lord continue to bless her and her life, her siblings, and our family.

Here are this week's highlights:

• We started Braelyn's birthday weekend with a little celebration with her class at school.  We had worked out with her teacher to bring in some cupcakes and goodie bags for her friends.  Partly because we had done the same thing last year, and partly because we couldn't invite them all over to our house for Sunday's big birthday bash.  We had already passed the maximum number of guests allotted, and then some.  We met Mommy there at the school.  Afterwards I took the twins back home for their naps and mowed the lawn, while Tangie, Nana, and Brae went and got manicures and pedicures.  We joined the crew at the Food Trucks for dinner.

Wearing the birthday hat at school.

Happy her siblings were there to celebrate!

Such a girly girl!

All the kids thought it would be fun to walk around the tree.

Lounging around in the kitchen.

• Sabbath we went to church, and Brae's Sabbath school class sang to wish her a happy birthday.  We had lunch and then headed back home for naps, but it was such a gorgeous day outside that we resorted to just hanging around in the backyard, playing in the playground and under the pergola.  We got some BBQ for supper from our local place in Winter Garden and then started our prepping for the main event.  We were exhausted when we plopped into bed around midnight.

Birthday girl striking a pose before church.

And another one.

Maddy wears her crown.

Kohl sporting his seer-sucker blazer.

Maddy's photo of Kohl.

Kohl's photo of Maddy.

Birthday candles at Sabbath School.

Our attempt at a family photo, green theme!

Mommy and Maddy at lunch.

He insisted on cutting his own bread!

Nana and Daddy with the birthday girl.

The twins helping Mommy with the jello cups.

Can you tell she was happy with her birthday present?

Spoiled by her Nana!

A glorious evening in Winter Garden.

Back to work, Tangie makes the banana pudding.

Marshmallow pirates awaiting their fate.

• Sunday morning came quick and early, and we set to put decorations up and get set for the party at 11:30.  My parents along with Lyka drove up from Avon Park early;  Lala was so generous and tremendous in helping us in the kitchen with the food prep while Lyka helped Nana take care of all three kids and brought them to a local playground for a couple of hours so we could get everything done!  Thanks guys for all your help, we couldn't have gotten it done without you! And apparently we don't know how to do anything small anymore ~ we went all out with the pirate theme this year!  Tangie was in charge of the menu and she got some really cool ideas from Pinterest, while I was in charge of the games and activities.  We had close to 60 children and adults show up!  It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect, we couldn't have asked for anything better, especially since her party a year ago was drenched and sopping wet at Sea World.  Jennifer, of course, created this amazing mint chocolate cake shaped as a treasure chest complete with pearls, gems, and gold coins!  Everyone had a great time and we were very happy it turned out successful.  Now to start planning the twins' birthday party only a month away!

"X" marks the spot!

Front entrance.

Made some authentic looking signs.

The backyard party central.

Orange slices boats, banana pudding with "sand", and pirate marshmallow pops.

"Seawater" drink.

Cheese and Olives.

Fruit salad ship.

Hot dogs boats.

Jennifer's amazing treasure box cake!

The pirates getting ready to party!

These pirates had pretty good table manners, actually.

Jennifer doing the honors.

Maddy swings away!

A mad scramble for the treasure!

Some of the dads just taking it all in.

Braelyn showing off her loot.

A couple of fabulous! pirates.

Under attack!!

Digging for more treasure with cousin Lyka.

The after party with the big kids.

Opening up her birthday gifts.

Learning to jump rope!

The two grandmothers share a moment.

Washing some very dirty pirates' feet.

• The rest of the week was for recovery from Sunday.  Monday evening we continued the birthday celebration and took the kids to Chucky Cheese for pizza and games.  Nana would fly back out to Denver Tuesday afternoon so this was our last hurrah with her.  The kids and I took her to the airport after picking Braelyn up from school.  We enjoyed having her with us over the past 2 weeks!

Sitting pretty in her tricycle.

She loves helping with the laundry!

Having some fun with leftover props from the birthday party.

Meanwhile, Nana took Braelyn on a school field trip to K's Restaurant in College Park,
where she and her classmates picked and made their own salads...

and baked and ate their own cupcakes!

Excited to be at Chucky Cheese's.

Maddy playing the video games

while brother wanted to do the rides!

Always having fun.

Waiting to pick up big sister.

Pretending to be asleep.

Breakfast on the patio, watching the rain fall.

Playing hide 'n seek.  If we can't see him maybe Daddy won't find us!

Gotta teach him to keep his feet off the table!

What happens when nap time is unsupervised.

They thought the headless mannequins were funny.

Playing around while in the checkout line.

They were using pepper mills as microphones.

A lot of gorgeous afternoons this week!

Using the leaf blower to clean up after the sandbox is quick and effective!

Telling each other to shush.

Gotta love Spring in Florida!

Showing her new pet fish, "Goldy-tail"

Dinner with Mommy at Chili's.

Randoms:

Saw this brilliant green lizard on the swing set.

Is it just me, or are sunsets just beautiful?

Nothing like shooting the gap between two semi trucks!

Leftover condiments from Sunday's party, all opened.  Yes, there are 4 ketchup bottles!

First day of Spring meant trying to balance an uncooked egg.  Success!

Tangie went to the Bayhill Golf Tournament with some co-workers.
This was part of the group following Tiger Woods.

Quotes:

• Brae and one of her random questions:

          Brae:  "Mommy, can doctors check our privates?"

          Tangie:  "Yes."

          Brae:  "Why?"

          Tangie:  "To make sure nothing is wrong with them."

          Brae:  "That's disgusting!"

• Another random:

          Brae:  "Mommy, when you get really old, you can't work, right?"

          Tangie:  "No, I guess not."

          Brae:  "I'll take your place, ok?  When I'm older."

          Tangie:  "Sounds good!"

• Braelyn was talking about how she couldn't read a letter that was far away.  She asked what that "dot" was.  Tangie told her it was the letter "e".

          Tangie:  "Uh oh.  You may get Daddy's bad eyes."

          Brae:  "So...I get his eyes and he gets new ones?"

           I wish!

• On their way to school traffic had slowed and it looked like there was a pedestrian on the ground and a van halfway in the lane:

          Tangie:  "Oh no.  It looks like that man was hit."

          Brae:  "How?  Like a belly flop?"

          Tangie:  "Well, it looks like the car hit his chest and he fell on his bottom."

          Brae:  "Well, I'm glad he had his hat on!"

          So random!

• On our drive back home from school:

          Brae:  "Daddy, I learned a new word today."

          Me:  "Really?  What is it?"

          Brae:  "Fillion."

          Me:  "Fillion?"

          Brae:  "Yeah, Fillion.  It's more than a hundred.  More than a billion!
                     It keeps going on and on."

          Me:  "Oh, you mean, infinity?"

          Brae:  "Ah, right...   Infinity!"

          And beyond!

Yo Ho, let's go!  Yarrr!!

Have a great weekend!