Aubrey's My Little Pony 5th Birthday Bash!

We celebrated Aubrey's 5th birthday on Saturday! Her actual birthday is this coming Saturday, but since it's a holiday weekend we decided to have it a week before. She chose a My Little Pony theme (no surprise there!) and I went a little crazy.. 

Bffs!

For food, we had Cutie Mark Cookies, Rainbow Dash Fruit Salad, Grand Galloping Gala Apples & Caramel, Scootaloo's Cheese & Crackers, Fluttershy's Bunny Munch, Rarity's Pop-ular Corn, and not pictured were Sweet Apple Acres Apple Juice and Pinkie Pie Pink Lemonade.

Rarity's Fashion Design Center! Our littlest guests designed their own hats with stickers. We also had rings and temporary tattoos.

A Pinkie Pie pinata that I went out and got at 1:30am the day before the party. Yay.

The bounce house was a big hit with the kiddos!

... and the adults, who went a little crazy.

Things got so rowdy I may have fallen out.

Aubrey got some amazing presents! Lots of My Little Pony stuff, and some gift cards, which made her want to leave her party and go shopping. A child after my own heart. :)

My mom & I got Addie a couple presents too.

Nothing too fancy with the cake this year. She wanted a funfetti cake. I made my first one from scratch, along with the frosting, and it came out really good. Recipe to follow at some point!

Make a wish!

I couldn't resist getting this picture of my cutie pie. She kept reaching into the cooler and we thought she looked hysterical.

We had a wonderful party. So many of our friends and family showed up and made our birthday girl feel extra special! 

After we got the kids in bed that night, we decided to sit out on the patio, grill some sausages, and have some drinks. All was going well, until our grill caught on fire. So much for a peaceful evening ;)

March for Babies 2014!

It's that time of year again! The March for Babies walk! This year, we switched our name up a bit to honor not only KRJ, but our niece Lillian, who was born 13 weeks early, as well. I came up with the design for our t-shirts and I couldn't have been more pleased with how they came out. I decided on boxing gloves to represent Lillian, who has fought her way through all of the obstacles and struggles of being born so prematurely, and the angel wings to represent KRJ. 

When we got there, they had free bagels and coffee. Score! Their Area of Remembrance offered free white ribbons to those who have lost a baby, as well as river stones to write their names. I left this one there, and Aubrey wrote "KRJ" on a rock that has taken up residency on my desk at work :)

We had some photo ops before the walk began while we were waiting for a couple members of our team. Love this photo of me and Keith!

K+L's Mamas!

Me and my bestie!

The wagon got stuck on this turn of the ramp for about 2 minutes. Instead of anyone helping me, they decided to take photos and videos. My family rocks!

Crossing the finish line!

"I did it!"

Miss Lillian!

After the walk, we stayed for some bounce house, clown, and balloon animal fun!

We had an amazing turn out and raised over $700 to support the March of Dimes. See you next year, Team K+L Warriors!

Father's Day

Ever since I was 13, Father's Day didn't excite me. It meant another trip to the cemetery, more tears, and more missing my dad. 

On Saturday, my mom & I got up early and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. When my dad was sick and in the hospital, our neighbor took us there for the first time just to get us out of the house, and since then, it's our favorite place to go together. It's comforting to us. 

After breakfast, we stopped and got some flowers and then headed to the cemetery. This was my first time in years going without any kids, so I was really able to get down and dirty. I can see why so many people like gardening. It's really relaxing and therapeutic!

The girls made these handprint stepping stones and I think they came out great! 

It wasn't until Father's Day of 2010, when Aubrey was 11 months old, did it finally start meaning something positive to me again.

He is such an amazing daddy to our girls. I think part of that is because he is just a big kid himself. He loves to get down on the floor and chase them around the house, and they never smile so big as when they are getting a piggy back ride. 

On Sunday, we got up and cooked him his favorite breakfast: french toast, bacon, hashbrowns and corned beef hash. And then, instead of spending the day relaxing, he suggested going to Build-a-Bear to take advantage of the My Little Pony sale. Seriously, what a guy.

I had to work later that night, so we couldn't really do anything fancy for dinner. Keith ended up going to his dad's house for a cookout with the girls. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!