5 Girls and a Baby

Well, we had Chloe's first slumber party last night. Cooper was sent for his own fun sleepover at "Lynn's" house so Chloe wouldn't have to worry about her kid brother wanting to play with her friends. Brody ended up being the hit of the party until his bedtime though.

So the girls arrived at 6:30 and we proceeded to eat pizza, dirt cake, and ice cream. Once we were done with the food, we got out the crafts and party favors. The girls made fun little purses and picture frames to go along with the theme of the night, "A Fashion Show". All the girls brought their favorite dress up outfits, play makeup, and accessories. They got all gussied up and we planned our big fashion show! Each girl was photographed in her favorite outfit and the best photos were put into their homemade frames for their party favors. Our audience and judges were Beth, Caela, Cade, Amber, and Ethen. I think Cade was having much more fun then he'd allow anyone to think...especially when he got some blue streaks put in his hair by Lexi!
And although he was loyal to his cousin and best buddy, Chloe, and voted for her outfit, he was clearly smitten with one of the other girls!

After the fashion show was over and the extra guests went home, we snacked on chips and salsa and popcorn and then the girls started doing their thing with their favorite Hannah Montana and High School Musical songs! Just click http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t304/minimomma3/?action=view&current=Picture345.flv to see how much fun they were having!

I think that they finally gave up and fell asleep sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 A.M. For little things, they can hang for a party! I'm exhausted and going to bed ULTRA early tonight. So, goodnight all....and be thankful they didn't stay at your house.

20 to 0 South Fulton Red Devils 3rd Graders WIN!

So I get to be a proud aunt and momma last night! Chloe cheered the team, and cousin Cade, on to victory tonight in the first 3rd Grade Football game against the Dresden 3rd graders! Wooohoooooo! This was the first year for the team to wear full pads and play tackle. And they did great!

Unfortunately, it rained most of the night, so I didn't keep the camera out for long. The girls did a great job! And those of you who know Chloe first hand, know that she's usually quite reserved and shy in public. Cheerleading is bringing her out of her shell! They even cheered in the rain! Standing with umbrellas didn't seem to last for long and they decided to toss them aside and just play in the rain! There was no thunder and lightening, but it was a hard, steady rain. And everyone was wet by the end of the game.

SURPRISE CHLOE!!

Chloe turned 8 years old today!! She was born on 9-9-99 and it's been eight years already! I did the math, so I know it's true. But it's still so hard to believe.

We decided to let her believe that we were too busy to have a party today. Hahaha! We had church this morning of course, and she had cheerleading practice in the afternoon. That gave me exactly one hour to prepare! Fortunately, I had the help of the Robertson clan! We all made a dish or two, I went and got some balloons and party supplies, and poof! Suddenly we had a party!

The kids were armed with silly string when she came in the door. She was attacked!

Of course, we then had dinner, cake, and ice cream (and Caela's pie!! MMMMMmmmmm...) And then it was time to open presents....


Which lead to playtime with Chloe, Cade, and Carly. Cooper was a little shy, but he and Brody had some fun too...


We had so much fun! Wish you all could have been here too. Now to get ready for her "real" party...a slumber party for 6 girls on Saturday night...y'all can start praying for me now.

The Boys had a good day...

We spent a rainy afternoon at the USWA Picnic. It was cool, rainy, muddy, and crowded. The timing of it all made us have to skip nap time which is never a good idea where Cooper and Brody are concerned. But there just wasn't any way around it. We got there just in time to eat and just as we were about to take to the fair rides, it started pouring down! I mean, it was raining buckets! Everything flooded, and they took down the rides. The kids were not happy. But all was not lost! There was still the door prizes to be given away. Last year, Chloe won a bike! And this year, it was the boys turn! Brody won the first one. Of course, he's a bit too small for it now, but I'm sure he'll be big enough for it before we know it! Cooper's is the perfect size for him! And he's pleased as punch with it! I know that you can't tell from the picture, but keep in mind, there was no nap and we are all pooped at this point! The boys are actually happy, they just can't remember that right now. Chloe was the only one disappointed this time. But tomorrow is her 8th birthday and unbeknowst to her, we're having a surprise party for her! So her disappointment will hopefully just add to the greatness of tomorrow's festivities!

Walking in Memphis...

O.K. So it was actually RUNNING in Memphis! We ran so much that I didn't even get to take any pictures. I'm still pouting about that. But we did make it in time to see The Lion King! It was spectacular! If anyone has the chance to go, please do!! Pawn your Cd's if you must. Sell your blood if it's necessary. But GO!
So, to start at the beginning of our journey....I picked Chloe and McCade up a few minutes early from school and we met up with Beth to make the trip. She and "Cade" had to come back home after the show, so she drove separate and we were on our way. We made great time of I-40 and got to Southaven, to my parents' house, in less than 3 hours. Beth only had one travel nightmare in her car...we won't disclose here for fear of humiliating an 8 year old, but it was really a travel nightmare! In my car, the boys and Chloe were great, other than the occasional whine and "Are we there, yeeeet????"
So we dropped Cooper and Brody off with my parents and headed to a quick dinner. We got a little carried away and lost track of time. When we got back in the car, we realized that we had less than 17 minutes to drive from Southaven to downtown Memphis, find a parking spot, and get in our seats at the theater, or we'd have to miss the first 8 minutes of the show. From what I had been told, the first 8 minutes are the absolute MUST SEE portion! So I drove like a native Memphis driver and we actually got into a parking spot one block from the theater and had 3 minutes to spare! Whew!
So we're walking to the front doors, when a theater usher yells at us, "If y'all are coming in here, you better run! You don't want them babies to miss the first part! You DON'T want them babies to miss it!!" So Cade, Chloe, and I turned to see Beth making her way...she waved us on to go without her, much like a classic disaster movie. And we started to run! We made it in the theater just in time! Beth quickly followed us and we got in our seats. And I have to say...our seats were great! Much better than I ever thought they'd be!! Orchestra Left, on the row. Probably about 20 rows back. Just far enough away from the stage to see the full view of the scenes and close to the rows so that we could have reached out and touched the animals if we'd wanted as they did the walk throughs. And the usher was so right! We did NOT want to miss the first 10 minutes!! Forget the babies! I would have been crushed if we had missed that!! Of course, being the musical theater nerd that I am, I teared up with every crescendo, and loved every moment of it! And judging from Chloe, Cade, and Beth's reactions, they were just as impressed. I was very proud of both Chloe and Cade for their behavior during the show! To be as excited as we all were, they were quiet and respectful of the other theater guests and the hard working actors! And it only took 2 or 3 threats of bodily harm to get them that way.
And here's the bragging portion for the boys....Cooper and Brody stayed with my parents while we were at the show. I had expected that we'd be headed back to Southaven around 9:30. The show was much longer and we didn't get back to Southaven until 11:00! Cooper, of course, is an old pro at staying with Grandmomma and Poppa for whole weekends at a time, but 10 month old Brody is going through some classic separation anxiety. Add to that the runny nose and teething, and I was a little worried that he would spend much of the time there in tears and worrying his doting Grandmomma to the point of tears herself. I couldn't have been more wrong! They were happily sleeping when we arrived. My parents were bragging about how well behaved they were. Whew...again.
The kiddies and I stayed a few nights, playing with cousin Becca. We went out to eat with the whole crew and quickly found out that, contrary to popular belief, the Glass family is NOT the loudest group in Shelby county! There were some teens at an adjacent table that were joyfully celebrating a birthday. They were so jubilant that we didn't even bother keeping all our little rug rats down to a roar. You know that a group is loud when the 3 and 4 year olds at the table start to complain!
Spent Saturday visiting Memaw and Nonnie in Holly Grove, TN. Memaw is gratefully doing much better!! She's more herself these days than I've seen her in a year or more. Eating better, sleeping better, talking more, crying less. It's a blessing to see her this way again! And it's great to see Nonnie getting a break from the round the clock care that she was having to provide a few months ago. She and Ray Ray and Momma have been so dedicated in caring for Memaw during this time.
After swimming at Nonnie's and a few more hours of chatting, we made our way back home to spend some quality time with Michael Jon on his night off. It's good to be back home again. Now to get all the laundry done and the kids back on a regular schedule.