It's A Surprise Party

Kathy's Birthday

I've been on Pinterest lately and I came across a birthday idea that I HAD to do for my momma.  She was turning 50 December 3rd so with the help of Mackenzie, Madison, and Lisa we pulled it off.  I rented out the Sky Box at the High Velocity Bar in the new J.W. Marriott downtown.  She thought she was going to St. Elmo's.  She really wanted St. Elmo's...(maybe New Years) but she was truly surprised until the very end.  I wish I would have been in the car with them on the way down. Kenz was texting me updates about how she was freaking out and did not want a party...

Well she got one.

These were her special requested Chocolate cupcakes with caramel icing.

I loved her gift. (Pinterest Idea)...
I asked 50 friends and family to write mom a letter sharing their favorite memory of her.  They E-mailed them to me and we put them in envelopes and numbered them 1-50.  It was a really special gift.  We got through 9 of them at the end of the evening. Madison's letter was #9 and after all the tears... we decided to wait till the next day to finish them.  They came from old friends, new friends, coworkers, long lost relatives, Germany, and even famous people (not really... we made one up haha) They all varied from funny memories, sweet memories, loving memories, quotes, and novels.  We spent most of the day reading 10 through 50.  It was good. It was special just like my momma.

Mad and Drew were my helpers and did the last minute stuffing of letters, and helped me decorate the room before people started arriving.  Karol and Kathy beat us there... It was the Big Ten Championship game in Indy the same night.  I had a mini heart attack thinking we didn't leave early enough to get there and park... then the valet was full and that threw a kink in our plan. I'm not the best at being on time so it was going to be close.  Gavin dropped us off and went to park - bad idea letting him go alone to park because he is the most directionally challenged person I've ever met, he cant remember where he parked at Walmart so you can imagine how the end of the night went- Yeah, he couldn't find the car... 15 min of up and down stairs, up and down rows of cars.. BUT he remembered seeing that empty case of Keystone light on that trash can when he walked in. Yeah... it was RIDICULOUSNESS.  Anyway... We made it on time.  It was kinda awesome because the bar was super packed and we had this whole room to ourselves... people were jealous and thought we were VIPs. No, not really.

The moment... SURPRISE

Mackenzie and Cameron

Me and Magellan

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday dear momma, Happy Birthday to You.
We passed out cupcakes and turned the lights off and lit them all.  It was a very happy moment.

Something was funny...

Our clay birthday cakes.  She loves these things... and once again we decided to make a cake and got 3 very different interpretations of a cake. Guesses?

Greg is trying to keep it together...

Birthday cake shot for the birthday girl.  She made me split it with her.

Happy Birthday to the best momma in the world. We love you.

Turkey Day '11

Happy Thanksgiving.

My beautiful sisters...

At Lala's for the Groninger Thanksgiving.

At the Gentry house. Harper and Charlee are playing hide-and-seek... not sure who is hiding... but they were enjoying themselves.

Charlee taught Harper to climb all over the couches and dive off then ends like a crazy person.  Harper is helping Charlee climb back up.

Both girls stayed up very late with all the big people playing scrabble. They were great entertainment. Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day.

Decorating the Tree/ Crowes Thanksgiving

So as you may or may not know... I'm kind of a freak when it comes to Christmas.  Last year Gavin surprised me with an early house decorating party the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Tree, lights, jamies... Everything.  It was awesome and I love him for just embracing my freak-flag.

This year it was two weekends before Thanksgiving.  It just happened that I had a stretch of days off from work and I would end up having to work the weekend before Thanksgiving so basically... we were forced into it. Yes that sounds right. And Gavin was super excited for Charlee to see the decorations and lights this year.

She was such a cute little helper. I'm not sure when she started posing, but I love it.

Don't be fooled by her sweet face... she was very rough with those special ornaments.  We ended up going to Target to get her some of her own ornaments (unbreakable) that she could place at the bottom of the tree where she could reach them. I didn't even get out the bulbs this year for fear of a reenactment of last year when she thought it would be great to smash them together.  She was a big help decorating the house though.  She thought everything I pulled out was the best piece of decoration ever. She thinks I'm pretty cool for having a secret stash of fun things to play with... like the advent calendars, pine cones, jingle bells, Santa hats, a scary Santa that dances when you push his hand... that sort of thing.

The best part was putting lights on her tent in her toy room.  She thought blue would look best, and she loves her special little tent that is all ready for Christmas now, complete with the Grinch and Elf DVD's. Did I mention I love this time of year?



We had another Mom & Me and this one was at Brandy's House. We all brought something we were "thankful for" as a dish.  It was yummie.
Skylar and Charlee are listening to Angela read them a book.

All the littles scrunched on the couch. Sawyer, Skylar (sisters) Charlee, Kaleb who is holding Denali and Carter.  Love this picture.

Turkey Day at Grandma Crowes
I'm kinda obsessed with this highchair.  Its so vintage!! Charlee kinda liked it too.  She was a bit big for it, but it worked.

Kathy took this picture believe it or not... she is getting better!! Thanks mom.

Charlee loves stairs at Great Grandma Crowes house.  There are 2 sets of them. There is a section at the top of one set that has the banister wrapped around it and the ceiling is super low that it kinda resembles a cage (cozy nookish) and she yells down that she is trapped until one of us come to rescue her. Then we must slide down the stairs on our bottoms as fast as possible. See below...

Isn't this a great picture.

These girls are crazy.

She is trying to pose again...

With Nina and Papaw.

And as usual she gives the best smile when she is with daddy... Whatever Gavin.

ha ha... Nina is sliding down the stairs.

Trick -OR- Treat

Happy Halloween

My sweet little Minnie Mouse.

Her Makeup was so clean and neat when we first got in the car.  She then smeared it... I didn't even think about the smear-factor.  I should have done more research.

Oh how I want to squeeze her.

We started the evening at MiMi and Papaws house. She walked up like a big girl and ran the door bell and said "Trick or Treat" like a pro. Daddy video taped it.

MiMi and papaw had a present for her to open. They spoil her (and Gaeton) like that. They get gifts on every Holiday!!

A Motorcycle-dude showed up.

She loves her Uncle Gaston.

At Lala's house.

And of course Lala has full meals she gives out.

Spinning is a new favorite thing. 
I picked her up earlier that day from Lala's house and when I walked in Lala and Charlee were wearing matching Super-girl costumes. I didn't think I was going to get her out of that super-girl costume and when Gavin got home he had to fly her around the living room over his head to the Superman theme song... okay- Gavin totally added that himself, I do have an awesome video of this on my phone.  The Best part is Gavin bend over sucking wind because he did a few suicides with Charlee over his head.  But she did decide she wanted to be Minnie Mouse (maybe because the spin was a little bigger with the Minnie dress.  She still will ask for a cape (my tank-top around her neck) and run through the house singing "Du-Du-Du    Dudunt Du Dunt Du" (think superman)

On to Poppy's House and Grandpa Dons...