Sweet Maggie Turns 12

Happy big number 12 to our sweet Maggie!  I don't know but something sure feels important about being 12.  It could be that teenagehood is right around the corner or that I remember nearly everything about being 12.  It's definitely a year of changing and growing.  Here we go girl!

We celebrated our sweet girl with a sugary sweet birthday dinner at Sugar Factory.  Maggie had asked for something a bit more grown up than a party, but still wanted to celebrate with friends.  Since she's been in three different schools in the past three years we had three different groups of girls to unite.  

We thought a fun dinner with a couple teaspoons of sugar was just the right idea.  And I am happy to report it was a HUGE hit with all the girls.  Beyond what I was expecting.

Each girl ordered one of these fish bowl drinks.  And although their little faces scrunched up at that initial sour sugary taste, they loved the experience of watching them be poured in front of them and all of the crazy toppings that came inside.  I'm telling you everything from cotton candy to shark gummies.  Basically sugar in a bowl.
 

Can you believe these girls actually still had room for dinner?  We had a lot of chicken fingers ordered, but this was definitely the most eye catching dinner ordered!

We topped our evening with something I may never unsee...the entire wait staff with glow wands, doing a TiK Tok dance to a Cardi B song, around our table, all for Maggie.  I'm pretty sure she wanted to climb under the aforementioned table, but we all got a big kick out of it.

But it was all worth it for this massive dessert.  Check this thing out!

The celebrating didn't stop that there.  On Maggie's actual birthdate, we celebrated as a family.  Maggie picked the restaurant.  She doesn't have a very sophisticated palate so we ended up at pizza joint. 

Let's all be honest, all she really cared about where her sibling gifts...which was ALL Taylor Swift related.  Can we say obsessed?

Happy Happy Birthday my little Sugary Swifty!  We love you more than can you imagine!

The Hometown Team

It's a great time to be a Braves fan! #bATtLe won

These past few weeks have been filled with Braves tees, tomahawk chops, pearls, and many late nights cheering on the hometown team.  There were a few nail biters there and by play off time our entire family was emotionally invested. 

We attended a couple games and watched many on TV.  Clay took the kiddos to a play off game.  And he took me to a World Series game.  The vibe and crowd was incredible, but most importantly we go the W.  I just adore this team.  They just seem like such hardworking, fun and humble guys. Although I am sure I'm a bit biassed.

When the Braves took the World Series title we were beyond ecstatic.  As if that weren't enough the city declared Friday Braves celebration day.  All three of the kid's schools closed and we celebrated by attending the city parade.  It was Ahhmazing!

Maggie and Lucy spent Thursday making signs for the parade.  Some of the players pointed at the girls during the celebration and gave them a thumbs up!

After the celebration we headed up to the sports store to get our official World Series gear and wait in line to get Austin Riley's autograph.  Okay, so we got the gear, but we got cut off right as it was our turn after 2 hours of waiting.  Boo!  But, Lucy did get a high 5 from my favorite player.  

As disappointed as Lu was, you can't really beat that!

 

What an exciting month!  Now, we all need a good night's sleep.  Can't wait to do it all again next season!

Halloween Sunday

There isn't much more difficult than Halloween falling on a Sunday night!  Ugh! Add the Braves in the World Series and this family is near spent. 

Needless to say, I let the kiddos all sleep in Monday morning before taking them off to school {which may have been the sweetest treat of all}.  

But let us rewind to Sunday evening with my Halloween honeys.  

As I mentioned before Lucy has a weird obsession with frogs so it was no surprise that she wanted to dress up as one for Halloween.  But, not only did she dress up as a frog, she convinced her buddies to dress up as animals too.  

They were quite the little zoo.

Per tradition, Grandma arrived to take little Lucy and her zoo crew around for trick or treating.

Maggie still wanted to dress up this year.  Which I can't begin to tell you how happy that made me, as she is one who does not like to call attention to herself.

She and one of her besties kept it simple, but oh so cute, as little aliens.  They even wore space earrings!

And you may be wondering, what was Jack?  Great question.  I do know he had me buy some monkey mask and gloves.  But last I saw him, he was loitering in our driveway in an Under Armor hoodie with his guy gang.  As for a picture?...it wasn't even worth asking for.  

After all the trick or treating we headed over to a post Halloween Game 5 of the World Series.  Talk about a late night.  It got just a little crazy there at the end.  Now can you see why I let my cuties sleep in?

Come on Braves, let's do this!  Our family could use a good nights sleep.

Rockin' 50 Years

Clay turned 50 years old.  Was it this year?  Or last?  And how many times did I reschedule this party due to the pandemic.  Hmmm...let me see.  What it 3? No, I actually think 4.  And did we even celebrate in Clay's actual birthday month? Uh...nope.  But, we finally did it.  No matter what month or even what year it was.  And let me tell you, it was completely worth the wait.

So back in 2000 something, I started planning this party.  Clay loves music.  Like all kinds of music.  So my brain slowly started conjuring up this idea of a Concert Themed 50th celebration.  

I started touring venues around town.  I knew just what I was looking for, so when I finally found it, my plan slowly starting falling into place.  I needed a real music venue, nothing fancy, and something very bar like.

From there things started falling into place.  I sent out amazing birthday invitations that looked like concert tickets along with back stage lanyard passes.  I hired the caterer, the band, had posters, tees, and all kinds of "merch" made.  It was going to be great.

Until....the pandemic.  I packed up all the goods, stored them in a closet and proceeded to postpone and reschedule this shindig and all of the vendors four times!  I was not letting this go.

Fast forward nearly a year and half later and we finally got to celebrate Clay!  

Welcome to the 50th Birthday Tour...

Just check out this "merch" table.  It was MY star of the show.  Personalized tees with "concert dates" of big events in his life, concert posters, button pins, lighters, koozies, and guitar picks.  

50 Years of The Rolling Stones was the guest sign in book.  I loved that it was 50 too!

At some point, in one of those years of planning this, I took myself to a local record store and picked up some of Clay's favorite band's vinyls to decorate with.  It definitely added a personal touch.

I replaced all of the venues band posters with my own...even in the bathroom!

The concert tee...even Jack, Maggie, and Lucy make an appearance.

As much as I loved planning this party, the celebration was even better.  After a year of a lack luster social schedule this was epic.  Not to mention we were celebrating an incredibly loved man!

Dress code: band tee.  Check them out. That was another fun aspect!

Happy Birthday Clay!  I hope you felt the love {even if it was postponed}.  You ROCK!