Birthday Continued

MB ended her birthday week with a trip from mimi to the American Girl Doll Store.  She looked at every doll, book and accessory that they had there and loved it all!  We had lunch at the cafe there and it was great.  They sang happy birthday to her and gave her an ice cream sundae although she originally told them that she didn't want any ice cream.  Our waitress asked her if she was feeling okay because what kids declines free ice cream?  I told them to bring it anyway and of course she changed her mind as soon as she saw the sprinkles and cherry on top.  Bitty baby came with us to celebrate and even had her own place at the table.  Bitty baby also saw the on call doctor to check on the spots on her head.  They suggested we send her off to the hospital to get them fixed but let's be honest, that probably isn't the last time she is going to get spots on there.  That place is totally over the top but lots of fun for a special day. We had a great trip!

Ready for a big day out.

So excited to be on our way into the store, notice Bitty Baby in the backpack.

A totally natural pose checking out the history of one of the dolls.

Not surprisingly, she was drawn to inkspot the cat.

Getting ready for lunch.

Bitty Baby enjoying sitting with the girls.

She was really shy when they came out to sing to her.

Happy Birthday MB!!!

Thank Goodness for Daddy!

Mommy, that is you on the left side.  That guy on the right is a bad guy shooting fire at you.  That is daddy, the super hero, on top of him and he is coming to save you!

Chattanooga Aquarium - Not a Bad Plan B

While my nephews were in town, we wanted to have a fun family day to spend time with them.  Our plan was to go to Six Flags but as you can guess from every other day this summer, we got rained out.  The Chattanooga Aquarium was our second choice and it was perfect for a rainy day!  We love that aquarium because it isn't nearly as crowded as the Atlanta one but it is still really well done.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the day.  MB was in absolute heaven with her cousins!  Ben just loved all the freedom to roam everywhere.  He was a handful to say the least!

At the top of the aquarium about to start our trek.

The penguins were awesome.

Ben getting a closer look.

The sea turtles in the ocean aquarium were amazing!

Ready for a shark attack.

They spent a lot of time touching this snake, these kids have no fear!

Next up, Ben gets caught red handed drinking from this nasty little pool of water.  So gross.

The stroller came in real handy for carrying Ben's diaper bag.  He pushed it through most of the building.

Going through the river building.

They seriously had the BEST time together!

The rain cleared up for some play time in the fountain areas after a late lunch.

It was all fun and games until Ben fell in.  I panicked over his new set of tubes without ear plugs and abruptly ended our day and made a dash for the car.  Such a fun day though!

Big FOUR Year Old

Our big girl turned four this week.  Most days I can't remember what our family was like before her, we must have been so bored with all that free time.  Ha!  She is independent, strong-willed, super sweet, hilarious, compassionate, lover of all living things (yes, even worms!) and there is never a dull moment around her.  We celebrated her birthday for a week and she enjoyed every minute of it being all about her!  In fact, she may have gotten a little too big for her britches and had to be reminded that her parents are the ones in charge, not the other way around.  Although we stretched out the celebrations, they were all low key and we tried to keep things simple by keeping it just family a few friends.  I have to admit, pinterest crazy parties are for the hardcore moms out there and I am enjoying my low stress party themes.  My one year old birthday party throwing self may not even recognize me today!  So, without further ado, I will let the pictures tell the story of MB birthday week. 

Friends party was a movie date with two friends, she picked My Little Pony.  She almost made it through the whole thing but needed a little reminder of how to act about 40 minutes in.

Sweet girls before the show.

We followed the movie with lunch at CFA, I brought a six pack of princess cupcakes.  Easy peasy!

Birthday cousins that love each other so much.

This is what most of their time together looks like. 

We went through two bags of cotton candy, the highlight of the Braves game for them.

Family time!  We were so glad to be on the aisle since we made about 20 trips up to the concessions, bathrooms or to walk around.  I think I watched about three plays of the game.

This little guy had a blast.  The highlights for him were the blue slushy and blue cotton candy.

One day he will weigh enough to keep the seat from folding up.

Braves game was followed by dinner at the Varsity, grandaddy's favorite restaurant.  I love this picture of me with the birthday girl.

Hotdogs, fries and lots of cheese from Ben.

The best we could do for a cousin group shot, it was wild y'all.

The morning of her actual birthday.

Mandatory photo in front of the birthday sign.

Hugs all around for these two in MB's new chair.  This chair was in my room growing up and Yaga recovered it for her.

Hello Kitty was the cake of choice, thank you Publix for making it easy.

Plenty of sass to go around.

Surprise face over the dress up wedding gown.

Minnie Mouse never looked cuter.

The trip to the American Girl Doll Store will be in a separate post because I am having issues with adding pictures here.

Double Tubes

Both kids have had more than their fair share of ear infections and this year things seemed to get even worse.  We finally visited a ENT doctor and she confirmed that both kids were candidates for the surgery.  They both have mild hearing loss but they think the hearing will come back once they had tubes so that is good news.  I had heard great things about the surgery and since it is such a short procedure, I decided to schedule them for back-to-back surgeries.  I am so happy that we went for it!  One day off work, one trip to the hospital and will have one trip for the follow up visits.  Our surgeries were schedule for 7:30am and we had to be at the surgery center by 6:00am.  We woke the kids up at 5:00am so the day started super early.  Everything went really smoothly and the surgeries started on time.  I was able to go to the operating room with both kids and seeing them struggle and cry as they were putting them to sleep was by far the hardest part of the process.  Ben went first and then MB.  By the time MB was put under, I was able to make it back to the post-op room where Dan was waiting with Ben.  He was still out of it and woke up about a minute after I got in the room.  His eyes opened and he sat straight up and started wanting to get down and run around.  He was a mile and minute and the nurses couldn't get over how well he was acting since most kids are really upset and cranky when they wake up.  MB came in pretty quickly after that and she slept for another 10 minutes or so while we were trying unsuccessfully to keep Ben quiet.  When she woke up, she was more out of it and it took her a while to wake up.  We were released to leave and on the way out, the nurse handed me a bag for the car just in case MB got sick in the car.  I'm so glad she did!  We were about 15 minutes into our trip and she started saying that her pajamas were choking her.  I didn't catch everything quite in time but was able to catch most it.  We were home by 9:30am and by 10:00am, MB was totally back to normal and wanted to eat breakfast.  We even went to chick-fil-a for lunch and played on the playground.  We were totally amazed how well they did.  We are really hoping they have had their last ear infections!

Really hope this is the last time my sweet babies will be in hospital gowns.

Trying to keep Ben still

The surgery center had a closet full of gifts for them to choose from.

Getting juiced up after his surgery was over.

Poor baby finally getting some rest on the way home.