Bye bye Paci

It's been time for awhile now to get rid of Ethan's paci or "bee bee" as he's always called it. He only takes it at bedtime but even so, we meant to get rid of before two like Braden-oops! Well he's my baby and my last and you know how that goes. :) Well after his first trip to the dentist last week (which I accidentally deleted the pictures-urgh!!!) the dentist said it could be effecting his teeth so I said, "Ok, that's all I needed to hear" and it was gone that night. We did the same method with Ethan that we did with Braden....sending it up in a balloon. Miraculously, it worked just as easy as it did with Braden. We waved bye and when he asked for it at bed we reminded him about the balloon and he didn't ask again. WOW! So easy and I'm so grateful! :)

Kissing it bye bye

BYEEEEE "bee bee"

Braden's party

Braden's party was on Sunday the 8th. He was VERY excited for his Star Wars party. I love my kids' parties because we get to have all of our family together in one place-it's just nice. :) He had a blast with everyone, of course loved the special visitor and got tons of cool presents! Thanks everyone for making it such a special day for him!

My mom and her famous cookies :) He loved the star wars ones of course :)


Ethan wanted to pose by the yummies

Some of the Spencer gang

We told Braden to stand by his presents for a picture....this was his face when our special guest, "Darth Vador" showed up. I just loved, loved watching him. He was excited but a little nervous. He whispered, "wow!" So cute!

Excited and in shock! Isn't this costume the greatest?!?!

Checking him out with Uncle Jeremy

Even his lightsaber was so cool!

Ha! A little family shot with Darth. Ethan cried when he arrived but then warmed up if I was holding him. :)


We had a taco bar for dinner. Braden loves "chips and cheese."

He of course got lots of star wars toys

He hugged everyone after he opened their present. He and Izzie are just too cute when they hug. :)

What a cool batman raincoat!

Star Wars bedding! He's been asking for a star wars room for months

Happy birthday sweet boy!

Big wishes!

Yummy!

* I cannot believe you are 5 Braden Alan! Mommy and Daddy sure do love you!! You are so very special to us and I am so proud of you!!

Braden's birthday

Braden's 5th birthday was our first day back to school after winter break. We made cookies for his class the night before in our makeshift kitchen. :) They didn't turn out very pretty but the kids ate them all the same.

These were supposed to be 5's and B's but the cookies expanded way too much. ha!

birthday morning....he picked waffles

Ethan enjoyed them too

At school, I snuck over to Braden's class while the kids sang to him. He was so proud. :)

Then they cheered his name. ha!

Since his party wasn't until the weekend, we had to do something special that night. He picked chic-fil a of course...it's always there or McDonalds for his favorites!

Then we headed over to Krispy Kreme for dessert. Oh my! He had never been in there and thought it was the greatest place on earth.

One happy birthday boy

Watching the glaze donuts being made...since we were watching they gave us 4 warm ones free. Oh my again! I had to eat them since they were free. Duh!

*Braden said it was the best birthday ever! ahhhh

New Year's Eve

This year for New Year's, we wanted to be kind of low key and cheap. Christy was nice enough to host for us and several couples went over for some yummy fattening food (my favorite) and games. The favorite game of the night was the Dance one on Xbox. I'm not sure if I burned more calories dancing or laughing. ha! It's a ton of fun watching everyone. :) It was a fun adult night ringing in the new year. :)

Self portrait

The gals

Dancers practicing...ha!

Jenn shows her moves...:)

* I didn't take too many pictures and the ones I took are of people looking kind of funny dancing, including myself so we'll just leave those off.

French Lick Water Park

Several families got the Big Splash water park groupon a few months ago, so we all loaded up on Dec. 29th and headed to French Lick for some fun! Since it was so close to Braden's bday (which is the 4th) and tons of his friends were going, we also made it his little birthday party along with his buddy Walker. :) It worked out perfectly. The kids had a blast swimming, eating, playing with their buddies and the adults had a pretty good time too!

Our deal came with a pizza/breadstick dinner. Works for us! Braden and Jackson pose during dinner. :)

The boys LOVED the game room! Ethan shot some hoops. Check out that form! :) We are pretty sure he's going to be our ball boy.

After a full day of swimming and playing, we attempted to gather all the kiddos and sing happy birthday to Walker and Braden. They were SOOO adorable listening to everyone sing to them. I just love their little faces.

Yummy cupcakes complete with Spider man and Star Wars paper products...their favorites.

Lots of kiddos

Ethan was enjoying his chocolate!

More kids devouring cupcakes

Later that night, the big boys got out their DS's...oh my, this was an all night event :)

Cutie Patooties in their pjs. Ethan cheesing in the background :)

They were pretending to go "night night."

Ethan tried on Alivia's nightgown. ha! He loved it and pretended to "fly" in it...guess he thought it was like a cape. Chris died of course. :)

Second day more swimming

What a fun, fun trip!