this is how two year olds party...

what could be more fun than having a SUPER HERO party when you are TWO?
(okay, so brody was not officially 2, before his party. we did his party early, but boy howdy we celebrated!)

this is how it all went down...

here's the invite i designed...





my attempt at making brody his super hero cape!



and everyone was greeted at the door...



we decided to keep it simple and just have a fun BBQ with friends, so the food and drinks went a little something like this...

















and all the kiddos played and brody ran all around! he was loving it all, especially being outside playing! he did not want his picture taken. can you tell? he's like, hello mom, there is not enough time for pictures...we need to PLAY! :)



and while all the kids played...the grown-ups played a nice game of Rock-Paper-Scissors....and everytime someone won, they'd get a "stratch it card" that i made, and some lucky winners won a prize. this was definitely awesome!





SUPER HEROS...



and probably my most favorite picture out of ALL the MANY pictures that were taken was this one of brody and our friend Rachael. Brody "pound'in it" with Rachael. too cute!



and of course a group shot...i always forget to take a group shot...so atleast before everyone left i got one. we are missing quite a few friends....but nonetheless we got a shot! :)



thanks to all our SUPER friends who made this party so special!

brody turns 2!

my baby turned 2 today!

he got lucky and got one of his gifts when he came downstairs this morning...

he's in love with it!



after a test drive on "buzz" as he calls it...

we took advantage of the warm 95 degree weather and went to the water park Zoombezi Bay! Brody loved every minute of it!





for his birthday theme we went with THOMAS the TRAIN! Brody loves Thomas aka "CHOO". it was a big hit!

of course there were pom-poms and bunting banners! always a must!



i also made a big banner that had these signs hanging on them...



Brody is 2! we are still working on the fingers, but this is him holding up "2".



brody had a super yummy dinner and of course his two favorites kelli and neal joined us for dinner and birthday cake!



a THOMAS the TRAIN theme...calls for a THOMAS CAKE!





mmmmmm delish! he LOVES frosting! just like his mom!!



best friends...



a tired little bear who had a very great day!!!



happy happy birthday!
we love you more than anything!
xoxo

MY tiny tumbler...

brody did another 9 week session of 'tiny tumblers' and last friday was his last class. he did a a winter session and loved it. so i figured why not do the spring too! he love, love, LOVED it. nothing better than being able to roll around, jump, run, swing and play!











oh my little monkey! it's so much fun to see you learning and being adventerous. you are so strong and so brave! i love being able to do such fun things with you! i love you!

circus fun:

so back on friday the 13th, while i went out to dinner with some girlfriends, tyson took brody on a little man-date to the Circus! The two of them had sooo much fun watching all the acts, laughing and clapping, eating lots of yummy popcorn and red vines! brody was in heaven and loved it!! brody especially loved the elephants! these two had a great time together!

Party Time...

more to come from Brody's 2nd Birthday Party.
i was busy being hostess.

so between tyson and i tryng to get some shots, we ended up with quite a few pics.
once i go through all of them i will post.
thanks for all who came and made it so special.

xoxo.

Pictures on the Run...

dare i say that the past couple of weeks have been nice outside? yeah, up until yesterday afternoon when the temperatures dropped and it's been rainy and cold. but up until then spring was here almost summer like! it was lovey. and every morning brody and i have been getting up and going for a run. pure bliss i tell you! he loves it. i love it. doesn't get any better than that.

so last Thursday was a particularly nice morning, so i thought i would take my camera along and take some pictures on the run. i LOVE running in my neighborhood and in Columbus for that matter. we've lived in a lot of places and Columbus is by far my favorite place to run. so a few of the pictures i took while in the midst of running and the rest i actually took after we ran and we did a cool down walk. nonetheless it was fun to capture pictures of all the fun things we see...

so without further ado'...

pictures on the run!



(getting ready to go)


(dandelions are a must! this kid is obsessed with them)


(hello shadows)


(my neighborhood has lots of little churches all around. i love the red doors and the ship above the doors... the ship above the doors makes me think of Invictus -"I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.")


(afri:cola) click on the link to learn more.


(many of the streets where we live are orignal cobble stone. i love the cobble stone roads they just seem so historic)


(hello kitty. pretty sure brody was in heaven. he LOVES cats. this cat was nice enough to jump up and say hello. brody loved every second!)


(love me some flip flops! it was HOT on thursday. like 90 degress 100% humidity)


(big huge bushes line a whole street with these pretty flowers)


(this is the epitome of living right next to campus. pizza places EVERYWHERE. once we counted that we had over 20 pizza places within .25 mile of our house. it just so happens that this x-large pizza for 6.25 is actually really good and during the week it's only $5.75, yes we'd know! :) )


(red)


(bikes)

welp, there you have it. we went on a 3.5 mile run and a half mile cool down walk and we had views of all sorts of cool things.

the end.

circus elephants...

the barnum & bailey circus is in town this weekend, and the animals are here! a friend of mine told me that the elephants get off the train in there neighborhood and then make a 3 mile walk up to the Nationwide Arena. so we went to see the Elephants! and it was so fun! i love how the hold onto each others tails. love it!

we hungout at the park for a bit and then headed across the street to the train tracks where the circus train was...



brody LOVED seeing the "chooo"



can you believe the elephants fit in the train cars? it just didn't seem like the cars were big enough. but sure enough they are!

the elephants came out of the train cars and they were all lined up and then started to head our way...





once they passed us, we walked over to the street to watch them pass by. they walked wayyyy faster than i thought they would. we thought that maybe they would kinda like mosey along but i think they were happy to be out of their train because they were fast. fast and CUTE!







yay for the elephants!

we also took a little video! seriously i can't get over how cute they are hanging onto each others tails!

moms day.

(brody and i playing with the ipad camera . mother's day 2011)

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley

this quote is among my favorites.
it reminds me every time how much work motherhood really is and how it can truly mold you in all areas of your life, if you let it. there is a constant desire for mothers everywhere to do it all and look good doing it. i strive every day to just do my best and i know i have a long way to go. with my own mother as my role model, i take baby steps to where i hope to be. remembering the little things, and what's truly important will get me there. (with a lot of prayer).

i feel so lucky to be this little guys mom.

happy mother's day. xoxo.

tut-tut...

looks like rain!



dear mother nature,

we are totally over all this rain. please stop. we want warmth and sunshine. we miss it. this is by far the wetest spring we've had since living in Columbus. i get that i grew up in oregon and i should be use to it, but let's face it, this is not oregon! so, we get it. so, ya know... let's move it along somewhere else. thank you.

love,
we are tired of alllllllllllllllllll the rain crowthers.

the end.

no need for many words...

i can't get over these pictures because they exude PURE happiness. it kills me.




he is so sweet i can hardly stand it.

that's all for now.

The Royal Wedding :: William + Kate

to be honest, i wasnt really planning on watching the Royal Wedding friday morning. but when i woke up and turned on the t.v. to the Today Show, William and Kate were just coming out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace, i was hooked! Seriously, the only thing I was able to think about all day was that amazing dress! Didn't Catherine look incredible? Like a princess! (Not to mention her sister Pippa's dress was stunning too!)

i was wishing i had caught it all. but no worries, i have an awesome friend who DVR'd it and invited me over friday night to watch it. i had just wished we would of had cool little hats to wear! ;)

I found my myself getting sucked into the fairytale of it all and (I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it)! but i got all warm and fuzzy inside when I saw William mouth to Kate "you look beauitful"! She was quite the sight to behold. I loved every minute of it.

all weekend i watched different "recaps" and specials about the royal couple. tyson was very happy he didn't have to watch any of it. :)

So what did you think of the Royal Wedding? Do you love these two as much as I do, or am I just a big fat sucker for a good "happily ever after?"