Our 2016 Birthday Smash Up

As a mom, wife, full time employee and working on building a few small businesses you can imagine life here gets BUSY to put it mildly.

After a 12 hour shift yesterday at my "day" job I realized I have forgotten a few things.... 

1: Post the girls birthday party photos on Facebook for our friends and family to see

and 

2: Share with you all how they turned out! 

Way to go mom... right!? 

Lord knows I will defiantly NOT be award mom of the year yet again.

2016's birthday are over for everyone in the fam and it is always bitter sweet. After the holidays I will be getting things ready for our 2017 celebrations but until then lets recap what 2016 brought us.... 

March: 

March 9th of each year kicks off the birthdays in our home with celebrating our oldest daughter Dakota's. This year she turned 14 and I SWEAR grew up overnight! 

She is now my size and with each passing day is more and more like me...

LORD HELP US ALL! 

I swore I was done throwing themed parties after they turned 13 but Dakota REALLY wanted a horror themed party and I JUST COULD NOT SAY NO! 

 For the first time I personally made the cake and I decided I am NO Betty Crocker and would not EVER try this again...

 But we did manage to make some gross looking party foods with some gruesome names to go hand in hand which was kinda fun! 

 Though we did the chalk board for the birthday party some days I really feel this should actually be out all year as a warning sign :)

 Of course you have to have a picture of the birthday girl too!

We had a wonderful turn out for her party and I feel more and more thankful and blessed each year that we have an amazing group of friends  family here in Arkansas to help make their days special. 

April:

The first week of April is a BUSY one here! 

The hubby celebrates his day on the 4th and our daughter right after on the 5th.

This year my daughter wanted an Avengers themed party and we had everyone wear their favorite super hero shirt! 

We have always celebrated both of their days together and this year made it the 9th year doing so! 

I really epidemically failed with no pictures of the birthday boy...

 I met this wonderful lady through Facebook that does most of our cakes for us and this one was perfect! 

 Of course there is not a party at my house if there is not some DIY party decor and well my infamous chalkboard!

Plus a few pictures of the birthday girl! 

Again the turn out was a blessing and everyone seemed to enjoy the SUPER  day! 

Fast forward to...

September:

On the 27th each year we get to celebrate our middle daughters birthday and this year was a BIG one for her! She turned the BIG 13 and officially became a TEEN! 

Of course she was super excited and of course I was crying on the inside... 

2 teens...

2 teenage girls...  

#godiamgettingold

This year she wanted a bonfire theme and I was thrilled with the idea! 

 Our cake lady did it again and nailed the look Alora was wanting for her cake this year and how do you have a bonfire without smores!  

 My Infamous chalkboard was at it again setting the mood... :)

 And since Alora is my social butterfly...

Plus the birthday girl! 

The turn out was amazing and I am again so blessed and thankful for all of these people in our lives. 

I can not believe how spoiled loved the girls are! 

October:

The first week of October my birthday comes around just one week after Alora's. I really try not to make a big deal out of it. 

Plus I am an adult now so things like being mom, working and being a wife still happens on special days...

I woke up my birthday morning with a clogged toilet... girls fighting and a splitting headache and a full days work ahead of me...

I was very surprised and humbled that work had gotten me a cookie cake and sang a WONDERFUL version of happy birthday! 

I LOVE this new job and the people I work with!

I was showered with well wishes and text messages galore...

2016 was a great year for birthdays and next year we hit the double digit milestone for our youngest and I just have to say...

I AM NOT READY! 

Life Lately

To say that life here has been a little chaotic would be an UNDERSTATEMENT of a lifetime.

We have had so much going on and so fast I have not had the time to take even a few minutes to stop by and say "Hi" to all my readers!

There is SOOOO much to catch you guys up on and I hope that I will get better on doing JUST THAT!

So here is a quick review on whats been happening and some more detailed posts for you all to look forward too!

Life for this mamma has been crazy! 

I will share with you all a detailed post with a behind the scenes look into a typical day as a mom, wife, blogger, photographer and an overnight worker...

As for the girls they have finished another school year and summer has officially started! 

I will catch you all u on some of the fun things the girls got to do in school, what next year is looking like for us and much more!

We have celebrated two of the girls' birthdays this spring making the oldest now 14 and the "baby" 9!

It is still hard to grasp this concept for me and I wish with time it got easier but i would totally be lying my ass off.

I will be sharing with you guys their parties because if you know me personally then you know this is ALWAYS a HUGE deal for me and we go all out each year for them! 

We have also had a few Operation Brace Face updates you wont want to miss and of course there is some Metal Mouth Madness ones in there too! If you haven;t been following either series check them out here and here.

I have also found some more GOT to have apps and I will be resuming my App-y Friday series this next week with apps that earn or save you some money. As a mom you wont want to miss this! 

I hope you all have an amazing week! 

See you soon!

Prepping Season....

This time of year is always FULL blast and our lives feel like it is going a million miles per hour. Spring brings us warm weather which we all know this So Cal girl loves but when you live in Arkansas aka Tornado Alley you are ALWAYS on your toes and prepping for storm season. 

Not only to we prepare and freshen up the kids "survival" skills this time of year but we are also FULL swing into party planning. Today marks just a little over a week before the first birthday party of the 2016 takes place and the planning is no different this year than any other. 

We have hit Pinterest aka my LIFE saver hard for this year birthday themes 

(you can find them here) 

but I am also OVERLY EXCITED about them too. 

On the 12th we will be having my oldest daughters 14th birthday and she has gone with Horror Movie themed... we are talking food, decor and MORE! PLUS this year I am allowing here to gather a handful of friends to stay the night for a horror movie marathon! Can you hear the screams yet? 

(insert evil laugh here)

On TOP of all of this this week is Read Across America and the elementary school girls have this week JAM packed with fun days to participate with each day to show off and celebrate Dr. Suess!

Yesterday we got to wear many colors as they shared his book My Many Colored Days followed by today being crazy sock day of course in spirit for The Foot Book! 

Tomorrow is Cat in the Hat so naturally it's crazy hat day and Thursday is  Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! as the kids get to wear their school colors, but we are all stupid EXCITED for Friday's theme as they will be sharing I am NOT Going to Get Up Today!  and the kids get to dress up as their favorite Dr. Seuss Character and OF course Aaliyah and her bestie JUST HAVE to go as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and it fits them PERFECTLY! 

I started working on these things over the weekend and I just have to say if I was smaller I would TOTALLY be stealing these costumes!!! They are ADORBS if I do say so myself :)

 And because that is NOT ENOUGH this Thursday the Middle School and the Junior High kids are out of school that day for CAPS which is the day that they get to pick out their classes for the 2016-2017 school year....

UGH! 

Of course THIS morning is the morning that it HIT me like a TON of rocks that I will have a "HIGH SCHOOL" student next year....

#maniamfeelingold

But there of COURSE THERE IS MORE!

I am sadly having to get ready to go back into the work force and to make it SOOO much better it will be overnight yet again for at least 6 months. I will be shooting for a department manager's position which will take me to days and a pay increase so here's to hoping! 

Which means I have to swap my sleeping schedule... yet... again... 

Does your house have a crazy prepping season too or is it just me?!

Our Valentines Weekend Recap PLUS Life Lately

It has been WAY TOOOOO LONG!

First I have to say that I am SO very sorry that I have been majorly MIA here...

I guess that I am NOT doing so hot with my blogging goals so far... does it at least count even a little bit that I DO think about blogging daily...even JUST a little?

Anyways...

As you can see life has been CRAY CRAY on my end... SO much has happened since I last left you with my hair-tastic post....

But lets start with a recap of our Valentines weekend recap shall we?

Friday night the elementary girls came through the door right after school all hyped up... of course because they had their bellies full of valentines candy and goodies from their annual valentines parties but also because this particular Friday meant Valentines Dance AND a the beginning of their three day weekend thanks to today being President's Day...

Friday afternoon I managed to cook dinner and get 4 VERY EXCITED and HYPED up girls ready for their BIG night of dancing...

Wonderful #epicfailrealization came later when it dawned on me I only got ONE out of FOUR of the girls' pictures after they were decked out...

WAY TO GO MOM!

Saturday was pretty laid back around here, we ran errands and went grocery shopping because we all  know how fun that can be...

Saturday night we lined up our kitchen table with Valentine goodies for our loves and on Sunday morning you would have thought it was Christmas in our house!

For our LOVES

From MY LOVE! 

 The rest of the day was filled with our wild child's drama and movies in between. 

So it was a typical day after the spoiling of gifts :)

Today all the kiddies are home and since it is wet and rainy out I plan on overhauling some rooms that are in desperate need of some deep cleaning with hopes the rain will let up long enough to get a photo sesh in for my sister and her babies...

As for where we have been?

Here is a quick recap... 

Prepare for pic over load!

Aaliyah had to have a tooth taken out on the fly... no more crowns for this princess! :)

We have been bargain shopping like mad over here :) 

We squeezed in a girls day!

 I am working on a new home decor project... which usually takes a day... has been a WEEK and counting :/

The hubby tried his FIRST ever cinnabon!

Of course I updated my chalkboard for Cupid's holiday!

 A friend of ours was murdered at the age of 20. He had just recently graduated from High School and had his WHOLE life in front of him... I have known Trevon since he was about 12 or 13 years old and he was like a son to me. My heart and mind has been very numb over the whole ordeal...

Trevon you will be missed dearly and never forgotten!

My prayers and thoughts are with his family and friends. 

I still HEART ipsy!

We are party prepping for Dakota's birthday next month!

A dear friend of Alora's is in the hospital. Today marks day 11...Prayers are with Aiden and his family

With a mild winter we have been able to get out and do some yard work as we work towards making our house our home!

There has BEEN SO much more happen here but I of course can't blog it all! 

What have you all been up too?

It Is A Party Over Here!

With my sister now living super close we are now able to tag team birthdays and that means 7 birthday parties a year! 

Since I am a HUGE party thrower and LOVE birthdays I am SUPER excited about this year. 

On Friday I shared with you all the party themes that we have thrown together this year for my kids so I thought it would be fun to share with you all what we have planned for my sisters kids.  

This last weekend we started off our party year with my youngest nieces 3rd birthday!

Of course all little girls just have to have a Frozen birthday and that is just what she got! 

I will share with you all how things turned out later this week.

Bring back the 80's

In July her oldest daughter turns 10 and she is bringing back the 80s with a full blown 80s themed party! 

We are talking neon, big hair and 80's music...

I am super excited about this party and I hope you will be back to see how this went.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

When we hit August we start a marathon of parties back to back...

Towards the end of the month we celebrate my nephew turning 13! Thank God the force will be with us for this party since we will officially have 3 teenagers after this year ends.  

Alice in Wonderland

In September my sisters 3rd kid will be celebrating her 8th birthday and why not have an Alice themed party! We are talking teacups and so much more! 

This years party plans have gotten us pretty excited here and I hope that you will follow us to see how they all turned out! 

Do you plan themes for your parties....

And the Theme Is...

If you stay and hang out with us here on the blog for any length of time you will come to find out several things about me.

#1: Birthdays in this house is a HUGE deal!

#2: I plan for these things WAY in advance...

Perfect example... I have the theme picked out for 2 of my daughter's sweet 16's ALREADY!

#3:  I tend to go OVER THE TOP for them and I REALLY don't care...

Growing up I was taught that each year you are given on this earth is a gift. A gift from God and should be celebrated. As a mom I couldn't thank my grandmother enough for giving me this knowledge to show and share with my children just how important their lives are not only to God but to me. This is one of the things that I hope they will pick up on and continue on one day with their own children. 

ANYWAYS...

As you may have guessed I have already been brain storming what the 2016 birthday parties will bring us and I can tell you that we are SET with themes for my three girls and I am EXCITED! 

Plus since my sister and her kids are here we get  more to plan and that makes me even HAPPIER and we are one shy of having them worked out. Once we do I will share them also. 

So without further ado...

Here are our birthday party themes this year!

HORROR MOVIES:

 My oldest turns 14 in March and to be honest I am SCARED TO DEATH! 

I think it is really the number that gets me but the knowledge of knowing the things that I did at 14 worries me too but that is another story we WON'T be going into :) but either way I am fearful. A TON has changed in a year and she is no longer Mommy's "baby" but a young woman and recently that fact hits harder and HARDER each passing day...

Dakota chose her party theme this year since I said no horror movies til she was 14 and she thought it would be great to make it a BIG deal and use her birthday party to do so.

Since I am SCARED to death of her growing up it fit well for us both. 

I am not a horror movie fan these days and refuse to watch them anymore but it is HER day and I am REALLY EXCITED to do this one...

GHOSTBUSTERS:

My youngest Aaliyah will be 9 in April and I am really unsure why she decided on this one but since I was a ghostbuster fan as a kid myself you can say I am kinda proud...

She has never picked a simple party for mommy so I love the challenge she gives me every year for her big day!

The hubby's bday is also the day before her so when she picks a unisex party like this it is easier for mommy to feel a little less guilty that daddy got the shitty deal of a birthday party that is well peacock themed like last years... 

I am grateful he is a good sport about these themes because LORD knows it takes a strong man to embrace pink, fairies, Minnie Mouse and peacocks as a birthday themes...

BONFIRE:

Alora ends our birthdays for the year in September and this year she graduates from the tween status and graduates to being a TEEN...

YES THAT IS 2 TEENAGE GIRLS IN MY HOUSE!!!!

Since her birthday is in the fall she opted for a bonfire themed party... 

and since we ALL LOVE bonfires you know I am game!

Ideas are running 90 to nothing in my brain and I am keep having to think about I still have A MILLION other things to worry about first.... 

Speaking of birthdays this weekend we get to celebrate my youngest nieces birthday with her Frozen aka Elsa Party! 

Stay tuned for more updates!

Which party are you most excited to hear more about?

 

Our Weekend Recap: My Birthday Weekend

FRIDAY:
Friday was the first day it felt like fall here in Central Arkansas.  We didn't even reach 75 which is a HUGE difference from earlier in the week where we were kissing the high 80s low 90s. We had a nice breeze the entire day and I could NOT help but get out of the house for a bit even though the last few days I havent slept much thanks to my  slap you in your face out of now where cold and fever hit me. I decided I would spend the morning grabbing a few last minute Halloween decor items for the girlies so they could FINALLY decorate for our spooky holiday coming up. You will soon find out I really LOVE holidays!!!

Since Friday also kicked off my birthday weekend I treated myself to my all time fav iced pumpkin spice coffee from Dunkin Donuts while I was browsing for the must have decor.

After I got home from running around I spent a few hours working on deep cleaning in the master bedroom since I am hoping to have a yard sale sooner rather than later and it was the next room on the victims list. I have already hit up the living room and dining room and I am snaking my way through the house. My kids will hate me when I am done but trust me it NEEDS to be done!
After the girls got home from school we hit a few local stores to try and pry some Halloween costume ideas out of the kids and still we are only settled on Aaliyah's. Of course the preteen and teenager HAS to be difficult.
Since I have been under the weather most of the week the hubby decided I didn't have to cook and we grabbed my favorite fast food (HELLO. TACO BELL!) and we all piled up in the living room for family movie night with the new Avengers 2: Age of Ultran movie.
We saw it in theaters but what can we say we are into the super heroes because everyone has a little geek in them right? And of course in true teenage form Dakota will only watch the movie because the guy who plays Quicksilver is hot... smh... girls 

SATURDAY:

Saturday morning I got to sleep in until almost 9 which is a small miracle in itself since my hubby is the up at the butt crack of dawn kinda guy...
The girls had already ate since daddy made pancakes (another miricle), and were dressed for the day.
Our Saturday mornings really consists of the same routine here. Get up, eat, get dressed and then it's out the door to go pay bills. We all know how EXCITING that can be.

Since Dakota (my 13) year old was going out on a "date" we broke up our typical Saturday routine (ANOTHER miracle) so her boyfriend (We shall refer him as C)  could pick her up from the house, (of course his Mimi was driving) so they could go to lunch and then off to go skating.  While we waited for Dakota's beau to show up the rest of us grabbed a bite to eat for lunch.

Since Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and of course the girls LOVE to dress up we took the younger two to go check out  Halloween Express in Litthe Rock.

Usually by now Little Rock is infested with the seasonal Spirit store. If you have never heard of them they are HUGE costume and decore store for Halloween only and is usually our favorite one to go to but the only one we have seen so far this year is the Halloween Express off Chenal. Let me just tell you... HUGE disappointment!!! Like bad, bad. Selection on costumes was good but the creepy, scary, wet your pants and cry for your mamma decoration shit SUCKED!  BAD!

Since I figured this weekend would be the weekend we started decorating for All Hallows Eve we would make the day checking out ideas for additions to add later this year or a MUST snatch it up and stash it for 2016. The next stop we went to was a home decor store called At Home, ours in Little Rock is located right off of Cantrell across the street from Sam's Club.

If you don't have one of these locally I am so so so very sorry! This store is AMAZING. They have a HUGE selection of anything and everything that can go in or outside your house to make it your home. The majority of their items are decently priced and they have some things you won't find any where else.


Since Aaliyah had requested to go to the  Bass Pro Shop (blah) I was able to sneak a peak at the progress of our new outlet mall opening the 16th of this month. Its located right off of I-30 so it's in a good location and I have to say I LOVE a good Outlet Mall! This will be a MUST go to place for us in the very near future!

We decided to head back towards the house since I needed to grab a few things from the grocery store that I was going to require to make homemade chili and corn bread for dinner. This is one of our favorites especially in the fall and winter months. I will share the recipe with you later this week.

By the time we got home Dakota was headed home from her date. She had a great time at the big skating rink in Little Rock which offers not just skating but year round ICE skating which D got to try for the first time. Later that night C messaged me on Instagram thanking me for letting her go and told me that they had a lot of fun together. (PROPS TO HIS PARENTS! )

Since all my brats were home I took the advantage and grabbed them and dragged my hubby (Ant who is SO NOT in love with the holidays) to start the decorating!  We started outside and worked our way in doors. I will share more about our spooky home make over later in the week also so stay tuned.

As I tied up some loose ends on a little of  the inside decor I threw together dinner (I am telling you it is SO easy!) that way we could set down and watch a movie as a family. Honestly we are some movie watching folks. I'm personally not huge on TV but if it brings my little family together and there's NO fighting I'll take it! The movie:  The Avengers.  Ant has been in  this weird let's watch a series of movies but backwards kind of mood as of late... last week was the Fast and the Furious movies... I'm telling you weird!

SUNDAY: aka.... I turned... sigh... 31

So let me start off by saying I DO NOT make a huge deal about my birthday, I LOVE and HAVE huge parties for my girls and hubby but when it comes to myself I'm like whatever. My birthday has not been a huge deal to me since I turned 16 so I'm used to it. I'm not one to be the center of attention.

ANYWAYS....

Yesterday was a typical day honestly besides my phone and FB going nuts. Sunday is our grocery shopping day and it did not fail that is what we did. I am pretty sure the kids would have thought they we're going to STARVE TO DEATH (yes they are a tad over dramatic but they are girls after all) if we didn't follow routine.  I mean after all a girls got too eat right?

We came home and spent the rest of the day there doing odd and end things. I dyed Alora's and Aaliyah's hair since Alora bought it last weekend with her birthday money and they both needed it. I finished up a few odd and end Halloween things I didn't get done the day before, like my chalkboa&rd...

And apparently October 4th happens to be NATIONAL TACO DAY!  Hell yeah! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Mexican food so it was a PERFECT dinner idea and I whipped us up some homemade tacos for dinner.

Like I said it was a very NORMAL day here and as you will soon to find out when you have 3 girls you  REALLY REALLY RRALLY enjoy the quiet days with just you and your little family.

What did you do over the weekend? Anything fall or Halloween related or did you guys celebrate National Taco Day too?

**DISCLAIMER**
This is not a sponsored post. Stores were of my choice and the opinions are of my own personal perseptions