Happy Birthday!

Just a quick note to say Happy Birthday to my amazing husband, Casey Brewer!

I had to go back to January 2010 to find a picture of just the two of us-eek! Rx: Date night, stat!
Anyway, I love you C Brew, so happy happy happy happy 27th (not 26th, seriously what happened to that year of my life?!) birthday!

Wordless Wednesday

Kids will be kids, no matter the age:

Some Firsts for Maddie

Maddie had some big firsts last weekend:

her first Fourth of July

Of course she and Kiley had matching patriotic outfits

her first two picnics

Enjoying some dinner on the St. Edwards lawn

her first fireworks show

St. Edwards puts out the second largest show in Nashville

and she started sitting up solo!

Chilling at the pool

We had a great holiday weekend, as you can probably tell. Sunday the third we went to mass in the morning, then to the store for some foods for the cookout, then back out to St. Edwards for the picnic/fireworks show. It was a great time again (our second year going). We ate lots of delicious food, and I got to try a new (to me) food truck, Fleur de Lis flavors. Oh man, they are good! I am all sorts of craving them now. In fact, I tried convincing the hubby that we just had to go there today before his mom's birthday event, but I don't think he agreed. Sigh. Anyway, Kiley played like crazy on the playground while we waited for the fireworks to start, then when they started she came and sat down. They were gorgeous! Maddie actually nursed through about 95% of the show, and didn't even seem to know anything was going on, then she got up for the grand finale. I covered her ears but let her watch, and she loved it! So precious.
Monday the 4th, we had a pretty low key day. We thought about going to a neighborhood parade and the hot chicken festival in East Nashville, but we were all feeling pretty tired out from the night before, so we stayed at home. Luckily, the rain that was predicted stayed away, so in the afternoon we went swimming with Casey's mom and sister. Maddie was in a particularly good mood, so we got to stay at the pool for over 2 hours! Amazing. She spent much of the time doing this:

While Kiley spent the WHOLE time doing this:

What a little mermaid she is!

Then following the swimming, we had another cookout with more delicious food. I love having a grill. Best investment of the summer. After our dinner, we ate my firecracker cake:

How festive! And yummy!

Friday

{the delicious sweet biscuits @ Tasty n Sons}

1.   My plans this summer include       going to the lakehouse for a week, and a (surprise) Selena Gomez concert & trip to the Atlanta Aquarium!

2.  The best summer I ever had was    oh that's a tough one. They've all been pretty good, but I'd say this one HAS to be the best because we have Maddie now, so our family is complete.

3.  Summer is    grilling out, swimming, lazy days, and firefly catching.

4.  My favorite summer food is   currently...grilled vidalia onions marinated in Sweet Onion dressing. OMG. So good.

5.  The best way to quench a summer thirst is with    ice cold water. Mmmmmmm.

6.  My summer uniform consists of       longish shorts, sleeveless tops, rainbow flip flops.

7.  The best thing about summer is       that it gives me time to spend with Kiley and Casey, since they don't have to be at school all day. Love.

Wordless Wednesday

More Fourth of July pictures to come later!

Musical Petting Zoo, and a Trip to the Real Zoo

We had a great, event filled week last week. On Thursday, we went to the library, where the Country Hall of Fame was there doing a great (free!) event for kids called a Musical Petting Zoo. Basically, they bring a bunch of instruments-auto harp, dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, violin, guitar, plus lots of little ones like bongos, washboards, maracas, etc-and they demonstrate how to play them, then let the kids all have a chance to play them. It was crowded, but so worth it. Kiley's favorite instrument was the mandolin, although I loved watching her play the violin the best. We spent about 30 minutes in there, and I think Kiley played each instrument they had for as long as she could. And at the event, workers from the museum mentioned that they often do free kids events during the summer, and if you go you get discounted admission to the museum for everyone-so if we got to an event, all four of us can get in for $24-that's usually the price of one adult ticket. Needless to say, we will be doing that.

Kiley on the mandolin

My favorite-the violin

Got this one for Papa-Kiley picking on the banjo!

Maddie got in on the action too

Then Friday, we headed out to the zoo. It was a nice morning, not too hot, and miracle of miracles, the zoo wasn't crazy busy! I only say that because every time we go to the zoo it ends up being a mob scene. We didn't stay all day because I wanted to go swimming in the afternoon, but we still managed to see all the animals. I just had to promise Kiley that we'll go back soon to ride the carousel and play on the jungle gym.

Kiley is in there popping up like a meercat

Girls & me at the petting zoo.

Maddie loved the petting zoo part! There was one goat named Amber who was out of the enclosure and she was just laying around letting all the kids pet her and brush her. Well, Kiley loved her so we spent a good deal of time with her, and Maddie wanted her so bad! Casey had the camera at the time, so there are no pictures (why is it that husbands aren't picture crazy like wives?). But it was adorable. We had to practically drag Kiley away from the little goat. So sweet!

Love their flamingo exhibit...you can get so close

Kiley mimicking how a flamingo uses its bill to eat-pretty cool

I don't know if we were just lucky or what, but a lot of the animals were really close up this time! We stood practically on top of the flamingos, then the giraffes and elephants were right up by the fences too

Maddie actually managed to stay wake through most of the trip this time-she finally pooped out on the way out of the elephant exhibit. We stopped off at a misting tent, and she didn't even wake up when the water was hitting her

After we got home, she was up and raring to go from her power nap! We went swimming, where she did the best in the pool she's done so far. Today is our church's fourth of July celebration where they do a huge fireworks show with a symphonic band. We're pretty excited about it, so I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share from that!

Fill in the Blank Friday!

1.   The best news I ever received was       finding out I was pregnant. Nothing beats that feeling!

2.  Something I'm looking forward to is    our lake vacation. Between work, general family life, and this house buying stress, I need a break!

3.  Something I would never do is    go on those crazy rides on top of that hotel in Vegas...here's what I mean

4.  If I could choose someone to be my life coach (famous or not, living or dead), I'd choose   Nancy Botwin. She gets stuff done.

5.  If I had to put a label on my style it would be    Mom of 2. LOL.

6.  One should always       enjoy life while it's happening.

7.  I want to       know we're getting this house for sure! I hate the not knowing.