A weekend to remember

We had one of those weekends.  The good kind, the kind you catch yourself saying, make a memory, hold onto this moment and remember it next time you feel like nothing is going your way.  I felt blessed to have grown enough to notice the gifts that were given to me, to stop and listen to the laughter that was filling my house and just listen, to realize that time spent with the people you love is important, really important.

It was Kylynn's fifth birthday and we began the party on Thursday and kept on all weekend long.  She awoke bright and early on her special day and put on the fancy outfit she had deemed appropiate and was rewarded with her first present before I was even out of bed.  She spent the next hour bouncing on her new swing and seeing if her friends were home so she could show it off.

That evening we gave her the gifts from us.  Roller skates (ice skates she calls them), a baby seat for her bike, some summer dresses and googles.  We marveled at her grown up responses to her gifts, "what I've always wanted, forever...it's so beautiful...oh my word, and wondered if it was possible to love a girl more.

The next day my sister was there, I had reinforcements and I took full advantage.  She took Kylynn off for a little date while I took just two kids to speech therapy.  Aunt Jessie took Kylynn for her first manicure and I'm pretty sure she will have gotten more manicures than me by the time she's 12, but I didn't have an aunt Jessie.  Kyle and I snuck off for our first date in 8 weeks! with Chloe in tow (having just a one year old still counts as a date in my book).  We went to an estate sale at the oldest house in Bryan and just got to enjoy the view because the prices were laughably high.  We ended up finding a rug for our study and sneaking off for a lunch out.

That afternoon my sister and I took the kids to the pool and had such a blast.  It was Chloe's first time to go to the pool and the girl LOVED it, I'm talking wanted nothing to do with me, never cried when she fell in, and wanted to be able to walk right on into the deep in.  We ate up a bag full of oreos and apples but still manage to eat the yummy lasagna waiting for us when we got home (yes my handyman can cook too!)

Saturday the rest of my family was here and it was time to celebrate the five year old again.  We headed out to the Hullabaloo diner because it had made it's way onto the Food Network and the food is amazing, it was the perfect place to take guests.  When we got there there was a long wait so they sent us around to the patio to wait.  We get back there and they have live music, actually good, live music and strangely enough the first thing he says is I have an extra mic if anyone wants to join me.  Well, now that you mention it we are the proud owners of a musician in our family (my brother in law).  So we spent the next couple of hours listening to them sing for us, eating amazing food, and enjoying the beautiful day.  It was by far the most fun I've had in ages, it was magical, I kept wanting to stop time and live in that moment a little longer.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching Kylynn open every Barbie/Princess item they sell in the stores and eating an amazing cake.  As I'm sure you are all aware, I did not make this cake, nope that would be crafty and I am nothing if not the opposite of crafty.  My sweet friend, Crystal, has begun her own cake business and I was blown away by what she came up with when I asked for a strawberry shortcake cake.  I have never seen anything like this in real life, she made the strawberry cake by grinding up real strawberries, wow!  If you need a cake, cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, you get the idea I'll put you in touch with her, anything you can dream up she can do.

When they left Saturday evening I was so full of joy.  It was hard to see them leave but I felt blessed have taken the time to live in the moments of this weekend, not to mention there was still two days left of it to enjoy!