Celebrating Kayleigh - Part 1

This past weekend we loaded up again and  headed to Dallas to celebrate our special niece, Kayleigh. She is such a light and a miracle - we are blessed to be her aunt and uncle. And I've said it about a million times to friends but I could not be prouder of my brother and Christina. There is just something incredibly special about watching two people whom I love dearly embrace parenthood. I've seen a whole new side to both of them and it makes my heart sing. (Ok, enough gush. Christina is rolling her eyes at me now :) )

Anyway, it was a VERY busy weekend with VERY little downtime but well worth it. Just to document a bit...

We headed out Friday a.m. (just 15 minutes later than our expected departure date - we're getting better at this!) After the requisite potty stop at Buccee's, we kept on trucking to Corsicana so give the kids a break and eat a Chili's lunch. They just need that unwind time (and so do we). A few scary storms later, 2 movies, and we were in Plano.

The kids immediately saw Gigi and Steve's new pool and wanted to strip down and get in their swimsuits. We kept them busy until proper adult supervision could be attained. Then we left the kids in the capable hands of the other adults and headed to the hotel to check in and get all our gear settled. By the time we returned, Aunt Lace & Uncle Rykert had arrived. How special they came as well to celebrate this special weekend. It was wonderful to catch up with everyone and the kids had a blast playing in the pool, eating junk food, and enjoying all the attention. We finally wrapped up SUPER LATE and headed back to hotel where we prayed for a good night sleep.

(Side note: My mom and Steve have worked SO hard on the backyard --- basically redoing our entire pool plus adding tons of landscape and goodness knows how many bags of mulch. It looked GORGEOUS. And they did it all themselves (well, not the pool, but no landscapers --- just them, every weekend working on every detail. So proud of you guys --- it reminds me so much of how it used to be and it was perfect.)

We apparently forgot to pray for power though because just as I was settling the kids down with a book and Matt had half a foot in the shower, the entire power grid at the hotel went out. Cue freak out. From all of us. We finally settled back in with the kids and prayed that the lights would return by morning. And they did. At 2:30am wherein Matt and I scrambled to turn off all the other power and lights before the kids woke up. Back to bed. And then my little sleeping partner Ryan decided that 6:45 was an acceptable wake up time after not going to bed until 11:30am. LOVE that.

After wiping the sleep from our eyes, we headed back to mom's house to help get things ready for the party. Christina, the party decorator extraordinaire did an AMAZING job with the decorations. She is so flipping talented. I did what I could, peeling shrimp and cleaning stuff, oh and cooking a cake - but that's a whole long story. Matt ran around doing various errands so my mom & Steve could focus on the house. By 12:00 it looked debatable if it was all going to come together --- but by some miracle and a lot of helping hands, by 5:00 it was ready to roll!

I can't say I was a huge help from 2:00 to 5:00 since I headed to The Dry Bar at the Shops at Legacy. I had heard awesome things about this place so I decided to treat myself to a blow out. Not that I "needed" it but it was sort of a vacation, so I went for it (Kudos to my husband for watching the kids at the "potel" so Mommy could get pampered. That place ROCKS. Complementary drinks and professional blow outs --- no matter what you choose, all $35. Amazing wash and amazing style. Anyway, I can't wait until they open one in Houston. I'm sure Matt can.

In keeping with the Dr. Seuss theme, we all dressed in coordinating shades of red, white, and blue (yes, we were THAT family). I was lucky enough to find this adorable dress from my friend Jen's shop, Twisted Simplicity in Frisco. Actually she posted it online the week before the party and I loved it so much that I bought it right then and there. And talk about customer service, she was lovely enough to drop it at my mom's house that week so I would have plenty of time to try it on and exchange if need be. But it was perfect! 

And in keeping with Clanahan tradition we failed once again to get a family picture. OMG. But when we arrived to the party, I needed to put the finishing touches on the cake and somehow between the time I finished that and greeted some friends, the kids ended up out of their precious outfits and into the pool. Oh well, what are you going to to do? Next time, next time. 

The party was adorable, all of the touches were perfect, and I think everyone had a lovely time. It was so great to celebrate with so many special friends --- many of whom have been around for every special Anderson/Clanahan occasion. And the star of the party could not have been more adorable. I just love her.

Here are some pics that my brother and Christina took with a few thrown in from me. The blurry ones are clearly mine, straight from my phone :)

Matt, me, Lisa & Adam (our matchmakers and my favorite couple friends)

Ashley - one of my best and longest friendships. Love you!

Ok, this wasn't the exact cake for the party but my test run -- it looked similar though :) Dr. Seuss colors. Or my attempt.

Christina, K-bug, Quinn, me, and Aunt Lace

My hubby

Me, Ashley and Lisa - love my girls!

Q is just IN LOVE with Kayleigh. IN LOVE.

And Kayleigh LOVES jewelry. Smart girl. 

Best photo of the night - Blaine & Kayleigh photo bomb

Oh, random - this was the inside of the cake on the test run. 3 colors. Who am I? Betty Crocker??? Please understand the sarcasm in that statement. I would be voted most unlikely to make a cake for a party ever. But I did. That's some trust from family.

Quinn liked it.

Ryan thought it was too sweet.

Ok, seriously the only picture I have of my daughter in her precious dress. Mommy fail. It was SO cute though.

My mommy!

She was too busy eating to take a picture --- my 3 year olds are becoming increasingly annoyed with the camera. 

They enjoyed spinning. This was Q's 3rd outfit change I think. Posting this so you can see Ry's adorable matching outfit. I figure I only have 1-2 more years of this twin coordinating thing so I am living it up while I can.

Another late night and back to the hotel. Kids crashed. And so did we. Part 2 coming next...

Random Assortment of Summer Pics.

So these random pics pretty much sum up our summer. If you follow me on facebook then you've probably seen a few of these. But I wanted to make sure I post them here since I am sooooo awesome at posting pics on my blog . Maybe I'll get their 3rd birthday pics up here soon. Maybe.

Cooking with mommy. I've tried to do this at least once a week. This was a homemade granola bar recipe. They were super yummy Day 1. Day 2 they were not as yummy. And Day 3 they are rocks. If you have any good and healthy granola bar recipes, please let me know! I'm trying to break my kids of the nutrigrain bar habit.

It was the perfect recipe though in terms of number of ingredients. Plenty of opportunity for both kids to pour, stir, and pick out all the chocolate chips and raisins.

Ryan watched Wimbledon for one day and now he is convinced he is a tennis player. So my wonderful hubby went to Academy and got the kids oufitted with real tennis rackets and headbands. OH MY.

Also handy dandy to use as a guitar.

We pretty much spend every early evening in the backyard or front yard. And by "we", I mean Matt and the kids. I scoot out there every now and again but come 5:30pm I am hot, tired, and done. And it's my turn to get the cooking done while Matt has time with the kids. 

Their sweet soccer goal. Q would like to play soccer. This thrills me to no end. I am definitely signing both of them up at the Y for fall soccer this year --- can't wait!

3 year olds are camera shy. They thought they were hiding from me in this picture. It's a NET, guys. I can see you. And you are adorable.

Actually, for a petite little thing, Q is getting some strong legs. And if you notice the little brown leg in the right-hand side of the picture, that's MY son. He is getting quite the tan this year, even with multiple 50 SPF applications. Clearly, he got that gene from his grandmas, both of whom tan rather well. Matt and I are white, white --- then we burn and peel. 

During the summer, you can wear whatever you want. Q picks out her clothes almost every day now unless it's church or a birthday party. She comes up with quite the get ups. That's 2 skirts, yes. And multiple accessories, including fairy wings. Hey, you are only young once. Go for it, sister. 

This is at our local Papa Murphy's. Pretty much every week we pick up a pizza from here. It's the best. The kids get to see their pizza being made and help me bake it when we get home. Plus, on Tuesdays, you can get a family size with 5 choose your own toppings for $10. I can't beat that price for dinner. AND the best part? Our favorite is canadian bacon with spinach, bell peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. AND THEY EAT THEIR VEGGIES. That's huge, people. 

This is Q after a birthday party. Ry was having a meltdown at the moment. He gets way stimulated at parties and wayyyy tired. Q just gets more amped. But birthday parties have been a staple this summer. Their preschool class was grouped by "young 2's" and "old 2's", so all the young 2's from their class are now having their birthdays. It's been a lot of fun to get to know the parents this summer. And we actually like them :) This is a good thing because a lot of them will likely be in their 3 day class next year. 

And of course, swimming. We swim and snack usually 3 times a week. Sometimes I take them by myself but most of the time we meet friends. It's also our Saturday morning staple to hit the pool with Daddy for a couple of hours and then everyone crashes for afternoon naps. THE BEST. 

Although he doesn't look thrilled in this pic, Ry is starting to love the water. He is very cautious when it comes to new thing but he is growing increasingly comfortable at "our" pool. If we go to a new pool, then all bets are off and I end up carrying him around for a good portion of the time. So we tend to mostly hit the pool that is about 5 minutes from our house. It's wonderful with lots of shallow areas for the kids. 

And even the grown ups love the splash portion. And I love this man :)

Q just chilling. She always wears her sunglasses like a little diva.

The kids also got their picture in Katy Magazine along with a quote from me. I guess it helps that I write for them and know the editor but whatever. It's always fun to see your kiddos "published". (Picture by Kendra Martin Photography)

This is also a new summer thing. I am baking. WHAATT??? I.am.not.a.baker. But I came across these bundt cakes and I have been kinda obsessed with making them. It makes no sense at all because with 4 eggs, I really can't even taste the darn thing. But Matt seems to like it and every week recently he's brought the leftovers up to the office. This was a rainbow sprinkle one I made for the kids' official birthday. They liked it too. I've probably made 7 or 8 and I've only screwed up one. Not bad.

So that's a portion of our summer in pictures. I have to admit, I was pretty negative at the beginning of the summer. I mean, I detest the heat. And I was worried about what I was going to do with the kids all day long when clearly you can't play outside for hours on end. But now that we've discovered I can take them to the pool and not have anyone drown, the arrangement of multiples playdates, baking/cooking time, book reading, coloring, and lots of forts --- it's actually been pretty darn fun. Not going to lie about it though --- we have spent a couple of days just watching "Up", "Nemo" and "Monsters, Inc" multiple times. Everyone needs some downtime every now and again. And if I could stop crying at the beginning of "Up" every.swinging.time, that would be great.

Hope y'all are having a great summer!

Ready for LSU Football.

I suppose some parents work with their kids during the summer on their academics.

Around these parts we work on football chants.

Quinn is almost a master at this oldie but goodie LSU cheer.

45 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 25 seconds until kickoff.

Enjoy :)