Pre-Birthday Party.

Harris' birthday is tomorrow.  Tomorrow.  I will be the mother of a seven-year-old tomorrow.   SEVEN.

 Best seven years of my life. :)

We always celebrate birthdays with the fam at (where else?) Chick-fil-a with a homemade (thank you, Betty Crocker!), Daddy-decorated, birthday cake.  We typically just pick the Tuesday night closest to the actual birthday we're celebrating, but because Ben will be at school next week, Harry got to celebrate a little early. He didn't mind one bit!

Harris had some pretty specific requests for his cake this year:  it needed to be a "haunting" color, include a tunnel, and feature Obi Won and R2D2 battling a haunted dinosaur.  Oh, to be inside his brain for a day.  Or an hour.

Anyway, he and Ben worked hard on Monday night getting it just right:

Babe and I worked hard at cleaning up all the icing:

The end result was this:

We loaded that puppy up on Tuesday night to share with our peeps (both family and Chick-fil-a staff).  The kids were ready to dig in!  Especially Raven...

We didn't open any presents at Chick-fil-a but we did make a family trip to Target after dinner and Harris picked out a couple of small toys he'd like to receive from Ben and me.  Granti also bought him a Nijago Lego set for his big day AND let him take it home straight from Target.  He was pretty pumped.

I still can't believe he's getting so big...

He makes me laugh every. single. day.  He also makes me step back and take a deep breath every now and then.

Man, I love that kid.  Can't wait to continue his celebration this weekend!

The Ariel Cake.

We tend to spread birthday celebrations over a week-long period around these parts. :)

For Babe's final "party," we celebrated with Granti, Auntie, Cody, Mo, Sam, and Raven at Chick-fil-a (DB had to work and Tyler, of course, is too far away.  We got in a little Facetime action with Ty Ty, though, so it was all good.)  We usually eat at Chick-fil-a on Tuesday nights but had to change the day due to Harris' baseball schedule.  I'm so thankful for a family that values time together and is willing to adjust their own schedules to make time for my kids!

Ben always makes the kids the cake of their choice for the Chick-fil-a celebration.  This year, Hadley chose an "Ariel cake."

I'm so thankful I took a picture of the finished product before we left the house, because I ended up forgetting my camera and not taking any pictures there.

He's got skillz, that man of mine. :)

Happy Birthday (yet again), Sweet Pea!

The Inaugural Chick-fil-a Visit.

January 29, 2013.

Thatcher slept through his first Chick-fil-a family dinner. :)

The Chick-fil-a Tuesday night dinner is one of my most favorite family traditions.  Every Tuesday, for the last 14 (?) years, my family has eaten dinner together at Chick-fil-a, courtesy of Mom.  And even though we've recently changed locations (we're splitting time between our old stomping ground and the new store that's a bit closer for most of us), the company is still the same...

We should seriously buy some stock in that place.

A Chick-fil-a Christmas.

Now that Harris can read, nothing gets by him. 

He saw the advertisement for the Chick-fil-a Christmas party and made the decision that since it was on a Tuesday, our family should definitely go, even though it was at the "Chick-fil-a close to our house and not the Chick-fil-a by Granti's old work."

And our sweet family agreed.

It was crazy and crowded and chaotic.  The kids had a blast.

There was a gingerbread making station,

an ornament making station (Hadley made an ornament for Ms. Audra, her Pre-K teacher),

a Santa Claus station,

and an elf cow.

And almost nowhere to sit. :)

We managed to eat dinner, participate in all the crafts, get in a little playground time, and get home before anyone lost their sanity.

Now that was a Christmas miracle.

Date Night.

I am so thankful I made an effort to take Harris to the Mother-Son Date Knight hosted by Chick-fil-A last night.  We spent a long, hot day running between the Spring Fling and Flag Football and I actually had second thoughts about attending the evening event at all, but we went.  And it was so worth it.

We've watched Ben and Babe go off on a few of their own Chick-fil-A Date Nights and Harry was more than stoked for it to be our turn.  On the drive over, he told me he was so excited that his "tummy felt funny from the bottom up!"

We talked a lot about appropriate date behavior.  He opened doors for me and (begrudgingly) paid for our dinner with my ATM card and then promptly asked me why "boys had to do everything!"  He also informed that he would not be taking a "lovely girl on a date" anytime soon. 

We had a blast answering the conversation starter questions and creating our own shield.  Harris LOVED the "would you rather" questions and kept asking for more.  We also ran into another mother-son pair that are very, very dear to us, so after eating dinner on our own, we joined these guys for dessert.  I'm so thankful we found them before my sweet date ditched me for the playground!

We also, of course, had the best waiters in the joint.  Clayton and Travis are two of our very best guys!

I'm quite certain we were the last ones to leave the event.  We had such a fun time on our double date and can't wait until next time!

I love this guy!!!!

CFA Celebration

Granti made Daddy a birthday cake for his celebration at Chick-fil-A.  She used chocolate cake and vanilla icing (his absolute favorites!) and the closest number candles she had at home.

42, 36...at this age, does it really matter?

We had a fun time celebrating Ben...for the last time this year!!!!!!!!!!

Chick-fil-A really is our home away from home.  We love that place.  And that place loves us.  :)

Daddy/Daughter Date Night.

Luckiest man alive.



Chick-fil-A.

In case you didn't know, my family eats at Chick-fil-A every Tuesday night.  Without fail.  For the last 13 years.

It's a crazy tradition, I know.  But then again, most of ours are.

Anyway, Emmy made her official Chick-fil-A debut last night.  She pretty much slept through the entire dinner.

Harris and Hadley were soooo excited for Emmy to make the trip.  Dinner at Chick-fil-A actually marks our first outing as a family of five as well!

Welcome to the chaos, Emmy!  As your Daddy jokingly told you when you were born, "the best 9 months of your life are over, little girl." 

And while we all know that's not true, the most peaceful 9 months of your life have certainly come and gone!

Welcome to the family, baby girl.

Happy Birthday, Granti!

In our family, when your birthday falls on a Tuesday, there's no other choice than to celebrate at Chick-fil-A.  With a Bruster's ice cream pie.

And pretend prom pictures with your family members.

I mean, how else would you commemorate 50 years?

I love you, Mom.  Happy Birthday.