We Are Blessed

It's hard not having family nearby but we were seriously blessed to have family only 6 hours away.  Offutt was the closest base to home for us and now that we're moving, little weekend road trips won't be quite as easy.  So the weekend of the kids party we were so blessed to have our families drive to Omaha to celebrate with us.

Layla snuggling up with Grampa (my dad) after she woke up from naptime and everyone had arrived.

And later being silly after she'd had a sucker.

The first night we went to Texas Roadhouse while the boys golfed. That's Layla with Brian's sister, Aunt Cat, and Brian's brother's wife, Aunt Dana.

And Brady with Gramma (my mom). He loves Texas Roadhouse because of the peanuts and the dancing.  He calls it the peanut store whenever we drive by too.

A Layla and Mommy selfie during dinner.

The kids swinging with Aunt Dana

So lucky to spend time with their aunts!

That night we all went out to Midtown to do some wine tasting. I'm an only child so these 2 are my sisters.  I adore them to pieces and wish they were closer so we could do wine nights like this more often! 

And then there's these two...silly brothers.

I was pretty impressed with us, we stayed out till almost 1 am!

Brian with his brother and sister

And closing out the night with a fun group selfie.

Just had to share this picture of Layla with her Uncle Danny at their party. So sweet!

Since we were all together I made everyone take some family shots. Brian with his parents and brother and sister.

And Brian's family.  Brian's grandpa made the trek out from Ohio and we were so glad he was able to come. He's hilarious and so sharp and I'm so glad we got to see him again!

My camera's battery died and the kids were pretty much done taking pictures but here's a shot of my family! :)

Lunch with Great Grandpa before he flew home.

So like I said, we are blessed. Our family may not be physically with us at all times but they are so supportive and always there for us when we need them!  I hope we can have a lot more weekends like this one with all of us together!

A Pirate Party...Aaargh!

If I haven't said it before, I will say it again. I have the WORST luck with outdoor parties, the worst.  Having birthdays in April and May I think year after year that it's a good idea to have an outdoor party.  The past couple years it's either been rainy, cold, windy, or a combination of all 3.  This year I figured waiting until Memorial Day weekend we'd be safe with nice weather, ha nope!

The second we pulled up to the park to set up, it started POURING rain. Thunder, lightning, all of it. It didn't rain all weekend except literally the second we pulled up. So we waited in our cars or under the shelter and just had to laugh at how hard it was raining. Because really, I have the worst luck sometimes.

But then magically the skies opened up, and it was blue sky and sunshine!  Ahoy mateys, welcome to Brady and Layla's 2nd and 4th Birthday Party!

We were so blessed to have so much family in town and so many friends that braved the wacko weather to come out and celebrate with us.

The kids in their shirts my sweet friend made for them. Aren't they adorable?

And there's the back of their shirts. With the family 'razzi.

It was a mad dash setting up all of the food and decor with the rain delay but we did it!  It's hard to tell but we had:

Fish and Chips (goldfish and potato chips)

Pirate Booty

Seasoned Pretzels

Polly's Crackers and Cheese

Veggie Tray with Palm Tree Veggies and Dip

Fruit Bowl in a Pirate Ship Watermelon Bowl

Pirate Taco Dip

Potato Salad

Cannonballs (Cheeseballs)

Blue Jello with Swedish Goldfish

Hot Dogs

Hamburgers

Brats

and Cake! Lots and lots of cake!

There's the pirate ship my mom's co-worker made for us, so cool!

The whole spread

And the grillers

Not sure who had more fun dressing up at this party...the kids or Brian. Probably, Brian. Most likely. He rocked that pirate vest.

Layla was there rocking her full sass. And hands full of snacks, of course.

The sass monster and Grandma

The aunties. Everyone was pretty great sports wearing their pirate hats!

Aarrgh!

This kid kept stealing cannonballs. Not so sneaky!

Our pavilion was right by this cool park so the kids got to eat and run off their energy.

It was pretty great

And Layla conned Papa into pushing her on the swing...for about an hour straight.

Then it was time....for the pinata. 

But first the kids had to walk the plank

Brady had his serious face on.

Swinging for the fences

And then little miss stepped up to the plate

She cracked me up with her swings

A bunch of kids and a bunch of swings later...candy everywhere!

Next up was cake!  You can't really tell but these are actually cupcakes.

70 cupcakes in total!

And just in case that wasn't enough sweets...a cookie cake too.

Brady had been looking forward to this party for months. Look at the complete joy on his face!

Layla was pretty excited about the prospect of cake. I think that's about it.

Really Dad? I could light that better with my eyes closed.

Daddy of the year!

We can't get a good picture of us all looking and smiling to save our lives.

Nope

Family picture!

Gettin silly!

Such a fun time celebrating Brady turning 4 and Layla turning 2!  Even though I didn't have a ton of time to go all out with the pirate theme I still was able to have a ton of fun with it. The important thing is that the kids liked it and that's really all that matters! And big thanks to my friend Kristen who not only made the kids shirts but took pictures of the whole party too. It was such a fun way to spend one of our last weekends in Omaha!