Keep the Celebration Going!

We like to celebrate birthdays in a big way, including multiple celebrations!  Grandma, Papa, Uncle Russ, Aunt Sissy, and Audrey got in town on Braelyn's actual birthday so of course we had to celebrate at our favorite place-Mi Rancho!!

Birthday Surprise

Today was such a fun day!  We started a couple years ago giving the girls the choice of having a special surprise activity or a gift from me and Shawn.  Braelyn chose an activity but it kind of had a gift wrapped into it!  We had a girls day at the American Girl store getting their dolls hair done in the salon, Braelyn's doll's ears pierced, and even had lunch at the Bistro.  From there, it was on to the other big surprise...we decided to allow her to get her ears pierced if she still wanted to.  We went to Sweet and Sassy and I was so anxious to see if she would go through with it.  She did amazing!  She didn't even flinch or cry!  When they were done, all she said, in a very calm voice was, "Ow, that hurt."!  She looks so cute with her little birthstone earrings.  Happy birthday sweet B!

Em, Grase, Ellie, and Brae

The little salon chairs for the dolls were too cute.

When our cheese sticks arrived, Em didn't miss a beat giving Grase one!

Such a special day!  I love being these girls Mom so much!!!

No birthday celebration is complete without an amazing dessert!

Why not 2 desserts??!!  After we finished our sundae, the waitress came to sing to B and brought her a little cupcake.

I really get to get my ears pierced????!!!!!

Poor little things heart was racing and she was shaking, but she still had a sweet smile!

That look says it all!

She did it!

Definitely helped to have Big Sis in her cheering section!

Em had shopped so hard for her sister and couldn't wait to give her her gift.

She got her the earrings she has been wanting at Target for so long, a princess headband to wear to her party and an Old Navy card to buy more jewelry.

We Have Pets!

The girls have been begging to get a pet and at this point, we have not felt that a dog would be a good choice for us...we are NEVER at home!  That being said, the girls did so amazing this year in school, they definitely deserved an award.  So after dinner a couple nights ago, we went and looked at Pet Smart and they both fell in love with the idea of getting a fish.  Pet Smart was about to close so we didn't get them then and they were so disappointed.  On the drive home we told them that we would get them a fish.  Did you hear the squealing wherever you are??  The next night we went and let them each pick out their fish and got them their own aquariums to keep in their rooms.  We came home got them all set up, and were slightly concerned with how the fish looked.  They weren't very active at all.  We had read that beta fish can get pretty stressed easily, so we thought that was probably all it was.  Unfortunately not the case.  By the next day, Braelyn's had already died!  Thankfully Pet Smart will replace them if they die within 14 days.  When we took the fish back, they determined that it was our water than was the problem.  They had us buy special aquarium water so we headed home with another fish to try again.  When we got home, we found Em's fish was dead!!!!  I was a little embarrassed to head right back to Pet Smart with another dead fish but they weren't at all surprised to see us and home we came with a 4th fish!!  The new water did the trick!  Flash and Clara are the newest members of the Brooks fam!

Their excitement coming home was priceless!