Call Dad

My dad turns 72 today and we had a really fun night celebrating him last night.

He's our go to guy when anyone needs help for anything.  

Shutter falling off your house - call Dad.

Need advice - call Dad.

Lawn mower not working - call Dad.

Need help with watching the kids - call (Mom &) Dad.

Need a kitty sitter - call Dad.  

Want to go to a baseball/basketball/football game - call Dad.  

Have a tricky police question - call Dad.  

Want to know who to vote for - call Dad.

Need help with a project that feels too hard - call Dad.

Have a Pinterest project that you want to make happen - call Dad.

Dead car battery - call Dad.  

Any house project - call Dad.

Want to have a bonfire - call Dad.

You want to run a quick errand - don't call Dad.  He knows everyone, everywhere and the people will all want to talk to him.

You get the picture.  Dad can do anything and fix anything.  We all know it.  Even my kids will say - You better call Papaw! - when something goes wrong.  He's always around to help and we're so thankful for him.

My mom made the yummiest dinner - bacon wrapped pork tenderloin, roasted veggies, loaded mashed potatoes, fruit, bread and peanut butter pie for dessert.

We love you, Papaw!

Double Birthdays

Since the boy's birthdays are just 8 days apart, we started the tradition of celebrating them together with family.  They love to play video games together so we went with a colorful gaming themed party.  Olive designed their Canva invites for me to text out.  She's the best.  I bought plates and napkins and she made the invitations to coordinate.

I made their favorite bundt cake flavors for my side of the family party - lemon, Funfetti & yellow with chocolate.

I served a taco bar and this is the only picture I got.

5 & 9!  Fletcher noticed that they are Lightning McQueen numbers now :)

Sweet big sis.  She helped with all the boy's party stuff all weekend.

Uncle Ty building cars with Leo.

Mr. Mittens & my Dad.

The cousins!  They're all growing up way too fast!

Party #2!  We celebrated at Kevin's parent's house.

I made a fruit and veggie tray, chips, ordered pizza and donuts for dessert.

Kevin's mom always gets birthday balloons for the kids!

The weather was gross, but we still had a great time.

The boys got some really fun gifts and had the best time celebrating with family.

Mr Mittens was excited to have some birthday balloons to play with at home.

The boys loved having Spring Break parties and having extra home days to play with their new toys.

Happy 9th Birthday, Fletcher!

Fletcher turned 9 on Saturday and we had a great time celebrating him.  He was so excited to enjoy his Spring Break birthday.

Fletcher loves to cook, camp, be outside, play video games, grocery shop, wake up early and stay home.  He makes friends wherever he goes and animals love him.  He can start up a conversation with anyone.  Fletcher is doing wonderful in school and we are really proud of him!  His favorite gift: his own drink fridge & snack station for the kid zone!

I'll do another post on his mini fridge set up, but let's just say he was THRILLED.

He was sweet and let Leo help him open some gifts.

A Messi soccer jersey made him smile.

WOW!

Survival first aid kit was a hit.

And he got some really fun games.  Stay tuned for all the game links on my Friday post!

We're so proud of this sweet guy!  Trying new things.

He loves coding and robots and technology.

Wishing him a really wonderful year ahead!

Birthday Weekend

My birthday was on Saturday and we spent the weekend doing all of my favorite things.  I was treated to all of my favorite things at work on Friday, saw my favorite people, we shopped and ate my favorite foods.  You couldn't ask for a better birthday!

We couldn't wait to eat this yummy tuxedo cake from Sams.  We sampled it a few weeks ago and decided we had to come back and get one for my birthday.

Birthday dinner at my parent's house.  Adult table with a delicious meal by mom.

Kid's table.

My birthday is the 16th and my BIL's birthday is the 17th.  My sister made this cake and we also had cheesecake and s'mores.  No one left hungry.

My dad has been working hard to build a fire pit at their house.  This was the first time we got to use it.

Kevin got me a beautiful Fall bouquet!  My very favorite kind - tons of variety and colors.

Birthday paper goods are always my favorite to put together.

My assistant surprised me with my favorite drink and I got treats all day from people at school.  Some teacher friends had lunch delivered for us, another made my favorite dessert cheesecake for our whole team and the kids were cute with surprises all day.

Leo wanted to help me open gifts.

We met friends at the playground.  Our friends brought doughnuts, fancy coffee drinks and good conversation.  It was so much fun!

Jacque is the best!

We headed to Sams to do our usual Saturday shopping because everyone still needs to eat.  We bumped into school friends and grabbed all our favorite foods.  The samples were flowing, we grabbed soft pretzels for lunch and it was just fun to be together.

I got lots done around the house, finished some projects like a closet overhaul, had fun with my family and the weather was perfect.  It was a great birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday, Kev!!

We are so happy to celebrate our favorite guy today with his favorite foods and fireworks!

Olive loves...

going on new adventures with him.

Fletcher loves that...

he pushes us to try new things and whenever we're nervous to do something he helps us to feel confident about it.

Leo loves...

going to Notre Dame and Wisconsin with Daddy.  He's so fun.

I love that...

Kevin puts the fun in our family.

He's spontaneous and thoughtful.

He notices every little detail - like new eye shadow or a new shirt.

He loves hanging out at our firepit and planning all of our trips.

He plans and I pack and organize.  We make a good team!

He's my biggest cheerleader and helper.

He loves treating the kids to fun splurges and surprises.

Kevin enjoys watching all sports, but he counts down the days until college football returns.

He loves to read, loves to cheer for Notre Dame and he loves to pick up dinner for us on his way home from work.

He's got some exciting things ahead at work and we couldn't be more proud!

We love you, Kev!  43 is going to be a good year!

Fancy Sheet Cake

I tried something new for Olive's birthday cake and it was so much fun!  

I made her favorite cake - homemade carrot cake - and did homemade buttercream frosting.  Instead of icing the whole cake with a knife, I used a piping bag to ice each individual piece of cake.  I added pecans to some and left most of the cake without nuts.  It turned out so pretty and was so much fun to cut and serve.

Carrot cake

Butttercream Icing

Swirl it on in a pattern of 4x7 swirls on a 9x13 pan.  I added a row of pecans for those of us who wanted pecans.  The cake was pretty, delicious and so much cheaper than buying a store bought birthday cake.  Everyone loved this fancy sheet cake and it was so easy. 

Enjoy!