Birthdays & Baseball

Sunday nights always make me a little sad, don't they for you, too? The work week drags by until it is Friday afternoon and you are giddy with excitement at the prospect of two whole days of nothing (well, not nothing - Kroger, Target, laundry, and cleaning always seem to wiggle their way in there). The weekend flies by in typical fashion, and the next thing you know it is Sunday night and you have another long week that lies ahead of you.

This weekend was particularly wonderful for us, full of a birthday celebration, family visiting from out of town, and almost pleasant temperatures (around 90 as opposed to 100 - hey, I'll take it). Friday was my husband Ryan's 35th birthday and I picked up a dozen cupcakes from Gigi's to celebrate.


These cupcakes are downright sinful - every one of them (and I do mean EVERY LAST ONE of them) that was eaten this weekend was devoured but there was a huge gob of buttercream icing left on everyone's plates. The icing is as tall as the cake part itself.


They are about as delicious as they look, though some were better than others. My personal favorite was the Strawberry Shortcake that you see in the middle of the box. Ryan's pick for his first taste was the White Midnight Magic.


Ryan's dad and step-mother, and our nephew, John Michael, came up Friday night to visit for the weekend and stayed through Sunday early afternoon. After breakfast Saturday morning, the kids headed outdoors to play with sidewalk crayons/chalk.


Maybe I'm just a bit OCD, but man are those things a mess - chalk was all over every square inch of Alexandra's skin. Plus, the texture of chalk really makes my skin crawl. Perhaps I am just a bit sore because one furry and lovable misfit of ours made off with two of the sidewalk crayons and had a green tongue as proof of her shenanigans.


After our adventures in chalk and a little time spent on the slide, we headed in to watch a movie - John Michael was adamant that Ryan and I had to watch "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", which he assured us was hysterical. It actually was a very cute little movie, we were glad we watched it with him. Alexandra climbed into the seat right next to John Michael and seemed to be spell-bound for the first 15 minutes before she got distracted.


She did love sitting next to her big cousin, and he seemed to enjoy himself as well. This picture is my favorite from the weekend - Alexandra had just leaned over to give John Michael a hug, and just laughed and laughed afterwards! He's a pretty good sport!


Following lunchtime and naps, we headed out to the backyard again so John Michael could show us what a great t-ball player is and how he could knock the wiffle ball over the house or across the fence, which he did repeatedly. What surprised me was how much interest Alexandra had with the wiffle ball bat - she picked it up and did NOT want to let go.

This series of pictures cracks me up...

Biting her lower lip with excitement...


Showing Pappa how far she will hit it...


Wrinkling her nose in concentration...


Pure joy!


With so many wiffle balls flying around, Pearl was beside herself with excitement - you could see in her eyes that she was just begging for one of the balls to play with and call her own.


I finally lured her away from the wiffle ball bat with promises of the water table. I ask you, is there anything cuter than a toddler with bouncy curls and a little ruffle on the butt? I think not.


Hope you all had just as nice a weekend!