The Big 3-0

Well the big 3-0 birthday has come and gone! I had pretty low expectations as it was a dreaded birthday and a welcomed birthday. Big B told me plans a few weeks ago and they sounded great so I was excited about the night he was planning. He took me out on Saturday night (3 days before birthday) and told me to pick out an outfit for my gift and that I could wear it to birthday dinner with friends the night of my birthday. We went to Anthroplogie and then over to Nordstroms and finished at Forever 21. Big B was a trooper and he said he enjoyed Anthro the most since it had a comfy couch. We went out for Sushi at our new favorite spot. It was a fun night and one I look back on as "my" kind of night. Def not his :)

Sushi from the date night

The plan for the day of my birthday was to meet a friend, Turner, for brunch at Pinkys. Yummy flavored coffee and a delicious frittata at Turners treat started the day off perfectly. Then after I picked up Little B from school and dropped off with our sitter I headed to get a haircut. I hadn't had one since April so I made an appointment in hopes to refresh my hair and have an hour of guaranteed down time. While getting my haircut I was talking with my girl who has done my hair the last two years about my birthday plans. The plan was to meet The Cullums and The Darnell's at a speakeasy that has gotten great reviews called Ciro's. She offered to curl my hair for the night out and I am glad I took her up on it!

Loving Turner's pants :)  T- Big B thought you were announcing something :) whoops.


 

That night we fed the kids pizza and had cupcakes to celebrate before we headed to dinner.  Watch video for a good laugh of singing Happy Birthday to me.

http://youtu.be/WQdxsYlIvp4

Our favorite cupcakes in Tampa


Our babysitter snapped a pic of us before we headed out.  On the way to the dinner spot Big  B mentioned we needed to go by Datz to pick up a cake to take to Ciros.  I immediately started questioning him and making sure he had checked with the restaurant about bringing in outside food.  Then when we got there he couldn't find a parking spot so I offered to run in and pick it up.  He said he had to show me the options.  Then I encouraged him to park illegally since we were just running in and back out.  He said he the cops were strict and he didn't want to take a chance.  By this point I felt like something was up but had no idea what was in store. 

We headed to the place where the desserts were and standing right there was Laura Farrell.  I am not exactly sure what I said but I was speechless.  Then Bradford pulled me quickly to the other side of the restaurant- apparently he took me the wrong way....When I walked through the curtain I couldn't believe how many people were there.  I kept saying, "How did you get in touch with all of my friends!"

 

Laura flew in that evening and flew out the next day.  Best. Birthday. Gift. Thanks friend for coming!  

Some of our favorite people who we are walking through life with.  I call it our "Book Club" but it is so much more than that!  More like "figuring out this parenting thing together"

  

Amazing women that I categorize as mentors but they probably wouldn't want me to call them that.

Jenn my neighbor across the street! aka Max, Miles and Evan's mom

Turner was such a stinker- can't believe she had a whole brunch with me and didn't let on to anything.  

Danielle and Marta!  Marta hung out at my house for an hour that day and again didn't give ANY clue. 

 

Lins, Betsy and Amber.  Love these ladies and so so thankful for their presence in my life. A and L are bfeeding so it was already such a treat to have a dinner planned with them- let alone a big party.   I want a rain check on going to Ciro's though

  

Lisa, my BSF leader this year

Katharine has a 3 week old at home!

Thanks Big B for an awesome night.  I still can't believe you pulled it off.  You are amazing and I feel very loved and celebrated. Best. Birthday. Party. EVER. Thankful for the sweet memories made and for a fun night with our incredible Tampa friends.

Thanksgiving pics from phone and SIL blog

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Daphne this year with all of the Boneys. Slackers didn't once pull out our camera but my neice enjoyed taking pictures of everyone and you can see them here:

http://boneyfamily.blogspot.com/2012/11/thanksgiving-through-caroline-lens.html

Here are a few from my phone and hope to get some more from Pops from his camera.  

The Babes- Connor and Hampton are 6 months apart

The kids rolling down the hill

The land out there is dreamy

The famous tractor at Soos and Pops house

Q teaching Little B how to play with his baseball players- Thanks Q, Caro and Connor for our gift!

Can you see Little B way at the top of the hill?

Saturday the girls spent some time in the Quiet room at the Grand Hotel.  Thanks Soos for an awesome Christmas gift.  Ahhhh...peace, quiet, meditation and a good massage. 

Other big news- Big Bradford got a 9 point- need to get that picture on here too! Thankfully only horns came home and not the entire deer. 

A glorious weekend in Auburn

When we found out our dear friends, the Lamberth's, were moving to Auburn in August the first thing we did was book a stay at their home for a weekend.  We(Big B) had our eye on the Texas A and M game as they were new to our conference and it was later in the season so we picked that date and anxiously waited for the end of October to be here!  It also worked out that my brother's birthday was near and he lives 40 minutes from Auburn in Columbus so we thought we could see him and celebrate that too!

We originally planned to leave Thursday afternoon and drive while the kiddos slept but Big B had something come up for work down in Miami so we chose to leave early Friday morning.  Glad we did as it turned out great and is looking like the way to do it when we have long drives ahead of us. We woke the kids up at 5:30am and landed in Auburn just in time to picnic on Samford lawn.  We had a blast.  Hampton was so happy to be out and about and see people.  He had been in confinement since the beginning of October and just smiled and smiled at everyone that walked past.  Little B was a little tired as he didn't nap at all in the car so he laid himself down on the sidewalk and declared "nap. time"

We picked up Amsterdam's turkey wraps- yumo

That afternoon after we all had naps at the Lamberth's awesome house we headed into campus for a tour of the football locker room.

 B and Daddy in front of his all time favorite player- Bo Jackson

 The Lamberths! Our only photo of all of us from the weekend

 Best. smile. ever.

 Boys were fascinated by the Jumbo-tron.

 And of course we had to get a picture in front of my all time favorite player- CAM

 After the tour we grabbed dinner at the Architecture's Fall Festival and met up with one of my sorority sisters, Kathryn Herring and her little girl, Ellis.  Bummed we didn't get a pic but it was SO good to meet her little girl and hug her neck.  We let the boys eat in the back of the car- they loved it

Then we headed to the Auburn Baseball field to watch a home run derby that Tim Hudson puts on every year for charity

 Ma C and Ranger met us there!  These two are hilarious together. 

The next day we were up early ready to tailgate and see our cousins.  

 

Yay!  We hadn't seen these guys since Christmas!  

 The Boney cousins

Hampton teaching everyone an Auburn chant :)

 This kid was happy all weekend.

 Gotta get the traditional Auburn picture :)

Ma C watched Hampton while we took Little B to the game- Thank you! 

 H was all over the place!

Since the game was at 6:00 Little B got a good nap in at the Lamberth's before we headed back to campus.  It was FREEZING so we only stayed the first quarter- but Little B loved seeing the eagle fly and watching the band march onto the field.  

On the way back to the car we stopped by to see the new Coliseum and Auburn Museum

Pretty cool that Little B got to see 3 of Auburns sports venues in one weekend!

It was a great weekend and one we look forward to doing again- if the Lamberth's will have our crazy crew again :)  Sad I didn't get to see a few people as I had to head back to get the boys naps and missed some people at the tailgate.  I keep telling myself that this is a season and I am really thankful for a whole weekend in Auburn.