We LOVE Birthdays!!!

We do lots of celebrating when it comes to birthdays!  In addition to celebrating on the day and on the day of the party, I always try to let the girls celebrate at school too.  Thanks to the chaos of the week, it was Thursday before B got to celebrate with her class!  The pictures are a little grainy thanks to the disposable camera but I am so happy to have them nonetheless!

Yummy!!

Really, Braelyn?!  Please tell me that just some frosting went up your nose!

Wacky Wednesdays

The children's ministry at church has been doing what is called Wacky Wednesdays for summer.  This Wednesday it was Emerson's age group for art camp on Wacky Wednesday.  Emerson loved every second!  They made several crafts and built their own pizzas for lunch.  I was so thankful that Ms. Becky sent me a few cute pictures from the day!

Playing with Mr. Potato head...

Making a potato head!

Flapping her beautiful butterfly's wings!

Showing her catepillar that became a beautiful butterfly.

Challenging

This week was a somewhat tough week at the Brooks' house.  As mentioned before, Braelyn was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday to have her ear tubes replaced and her adenoids taken out.  Before that, I had already scheduled her 2 year well child check up for Monday.  I figured we might as well go ahead and get it all over with!  Monday morning rolled around and we were hurrying to get out the door.  Every time I looked up, Emerson was laying in the floor.  I kept asking her what was wrong and she would just tell me that she was still tired.  I told her that I was sorry but that we had to hurry to get to Braelyn's appointment.  We raced out the door and got in the drive thru line at Shipley's to pick up some doughnut holes.  While we were waiting I looked back and Em just looked terrible and then told me her tummy hurt.  We got the doughnuts and got a little ways down the road and she then said the words you never want to hear: "I need to throw up"!  I quickly pulled into the HEB parking lot and pulled her out of the car just in the nick of time.  I had no idea what to do.  It was 15 minutes before Braelyn's scheduled appointment...not the ideal time to call and cancel.  Emerson was so sweet and told me that we could go ahead.  When we got to the doctor they gave us a bucket just in case.  Wouldn't you know that this would be the time that Braelyn reverted back to her old ways of screaming if somebody just looked at her.  The nurse and I had to actually lay on top of her to measure her!  Shots were going to be fun!  Right about the time Dr. Fershtman got done examining her and I got her calmed down, the nurse came in to give her a shot right when Em started throwing up!  I thought I was going to cry!  Thankfully Dr. Fershtman said that developmentally Braelyn was doing great and that hopefully after her surgery the next day, she would start feeling better and therefore eating better.  She was 25 pounds(26%) and 34 1/2 inches(65%).  While her weight was in the lower percentile, he was not concerned because that is pretty much where she has fallen since birth. 
Thankfully Emerson started feeling much better by lunchtime.  We were good to go by the time it was time for Braelyn's surgery.  Daddy and Emerson waited in the waiting room while I went back to get her prepped for surgery.  The surgery was a success and the hilarious thing was, the only reason Braelyn was super fired up afterwards was because of the IV in her hand.  She was so mad, she decided to just take it out herself!  The nurse realized that she was not going to calm down until the IV was gone so she started taking off the bandages.  The error came when she let go of her hand after getting the tape off.  That was the opportunity Braelyn was looking for...before I knew it that little hand was flying and out came the blood!  After we got over all that, got her home, and got a good 2 hour nap, you would never know she had had surgery-thank you God for the resilience of children!

Enjoying a post-op snocone looking pretty traumatized, huh?!

Just chillin', playing Angry Birds!

Braelyn's Clubhouse

Even though Braelyn doesn't care too much about TV, she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...especially Minnie!  I jumped at the chance to do something other than a princess themed party.  Grandma and Papa were already here, Mikala and Russ came down Friday night and Gransan and Janet joined in the fun on Saturday.  We had so much fun!

This picture says it all about how hot it was...I couldn't take a picture of this sign on our front door without the camera fogging up!

These cupcakes win the prize for my favorite birthday cake/cupcake so far, I think!

I was pretty proud of my Minnie hanging lantern!

Keeping with the theme...lunch was easy!

She was not too sure about her Minnie ears but looked so cute in her birthday shirt!

Papa feeling festive...

Daddy maybe not so much!

The girls loving "racing" with the scooter and tricycle.  The only problem with that is that Momma has to push since B can't pedal yet!

Janet, Grandma, Em and Gransan braving the heat for a little while before lunch.

Aunt Sissy helping Braelyn show off her birthday outfit.

As hot and humid as it was, her curls got crazier by the minute!

Emerson being silly with Gransan

Aunt Sissy doing the song from Yo Gabba Gabba with the girls.  Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and FREEZE!

Sorry I ran out of Minnie ears Russ!

Emerson was so sweet and shared her chair with Momma!

Help Papa!  I can't get it open!

Uncle Russ, Aunt Sissy and Grandma

The birthday girl hard at work on her new puzzle.

Janet, Gransan, Braelyn, Daddy, and Emerson checking out the new Dress Me Emily doll.

Grandma, would you rather read a book or work a puzzle?

Make a wish!

She wasn't too sure about her cupcakes yet again so Daddy helped get her started!

Oh no, it's on my hands!

Hmm, that's pretty good!

Emerson likes cupcakes but especially likes the ice cream that comes with it!

The blessing of family