Happy Birthday Brandy!!

Today my baby girl turns 16!!

She returned home around 6PM from a long day at school and swimming practice. I greeted her with a hug and a kiss and a happy birthday swat! heehee

I told her to hurry and get ready to leave or we will be late. She had no idea the events that would take place.

First let me type a list of things she wanted for her birthday.

CD's -POD, Since October, 10 Seconds to mars

Money

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Then, she stated in previous weeks that she wanted to go to dinner at Olive Garden and have her friend -aka "boy of interest"- come as well.

Brandy also has been window shopping for a purity ring at various places we went previously. And, has asked 2 times for a new Bible. Duke felt like he needed to feed on a couple pages of the word. :) :) LOL!

So, back to the story. So the day before Brandy's birthday I fished through the caller ID to locate her friend Mason's phone number to secretly call him and see if his parents would allow us to take him to dinner on Brandy's birthday. I left a message as he was at baseball practice. He returned my call a couple hours later. Luckily I had answered the phone as quickly as possible so noone could read the caller ID!! Needless to say, he was able to come with us.

As soon as Brandy was ready, Greg walked in the door and we left. We had to go pick up Mason which was in the opposite direction. On our way out of the neighborhood, there were police cars, a bicycle and a lot of people standing around the sidewalk across from Bailey Boswell (right across the street from the elementary school neighboring Jeremy's middle school). The cops had all traffic halted and the street going west shut down. That was the way we were suppose to turn.

The story was that a little girl was hit by an 18 year old driving an SUV, but later it was revealed that she had minor bruises and a broken bone and was going to be ok. :(

We were forced to drive back into Fort Worth and drive towards Haslet only to do a semi U-Turn back towards Baily Boswell to get to Mason's house. When we turned down his street, Brandy was like, "Why are you going here?" Greg said, "Well, since we had to drive this way we might as well say hi right?!"

Brandy went up to the door and Mason came out and said, "Good to see you, let's go."

Mind you, Brandy kinda was grumpy because she had a long day at school and was sore and tired from swim practice. Apparently she had to run stairs at the stadium as well. Yup, that would definitely wear me out! Anyway, as soon as she realized Mason was going with us to dinner, she perked right up! ;) Ha!

So, we headed over to the Hurst area to eat at Olive Garden, of which was yet another surprise to Brandy. Here we all are at the table.

Here is the very large balloon I purchased earlier in the day at Party City. It was our centerpiece at our table. Of course, when I pulled it out of the back of the car (Brandy had no clue it was in there, yes- I am THAT good!! haha) Brandy was NOT thrilled and asked if we HAD to bring it in. Of course, I said YES!! :) :) Deep down.. SHE LOVED IT!! lol
Here is Brandy and Mason.
Brandy did NOT want any of the waitresses to come over and sing to her. One of the ladies asked us if we would like for them to come sing (after they sang to another birthday couple a few tables over). Brandy spoke up VERY quickly and said NO. :) So we didn't further embarrass her.
Here is one of the gifts, the purity ring. You can barely see her gifts, but here is the list as follows.

Purity Ring

New Bible (Students Study Bible that will follow her through college)

Since October CD

Chinese Necklace with translation "forgiven"

Dating 101

And another book on how to stay Real and recognizing when others aren't being real. (Forget the name of the book)

Brandy had a wonderful night. She was very happy, mainly because Mason was there ;)

Birthday Shopping Find!

It is April 13, and my lovely daughter turns 16! Aside from the reality setting in about how old I am getting, I was excited to pick up a few things that I know she would love to have.

After lunch with Daddy, we went over to Mardel's Christian Book Store. Brandy gave me a list of a few CD's she would like to have and money. What she didn't bank on was mom listening to a few of her requests over the past several weeks. :) More to come in her birthday post.

After Mardel's, we meandered over to the Party City store to see if I could find a reasonably priced princess crown for Brandy to wear. (Not by her choice of course haha)

We did manage to find a huge balloon which, too, will be included in her birthday post.

As we were checking out, the store has this long "car" that Kien was facinated with. So, I let him out of the stroller to check it out!

He really did think that the doors opened.
Trying to get him to pose was so difficult due to how intrigued he was.
I guess he had to see if the tire was real. :)
FINALLY! A smile! :) :)
Kien was not eager to leave, but I was able to talk him into helping me carry out the items purchased. And no- we didn't find a crown for Brandy to wear!!

Lunch with Daddy at Carino's

Greg has discovered a yummy Italian place to eat on occasion by his work that has great lunch specials. Anyway, I had to run a few errands to plan for Brandy's birthday that mid morning, so we thought it would be a treat to eat lunch with daddy.

Gabe was not thrilled sitting in his chair so Greg and I take turns holding him.

Kien loves anything bread or rolls anywhere we go. So he of course first started on the yummy bread.
Gabe wanted to reach for EVERYTHING. This was so cute, had to get the cheeks photo!
Here Gabe was happy and Daddy wasn't exactly expressing happiness.
But here, Gabe is not very happy and Greg smiled for me.

A Sunday Walk

Greg and I took the two little boys for a walk (or ride rather), while Brandy and Jeremy finished their chores so we could go for a drive around the lake.

Kien likes these dandelion "flowers" as he would call them. I tried to direct the direction he should blow because it was a bit windy out and I didn't want them to have it all in their hair and clothes.
He collected about 3 of these on his ride. By the time we got home, they were all blown off.
Kien didn't want Gabe to have one of these, because he was too little! :)

When we were walking down the street, we noticed that a neighbors fence had been plowed down by a car. You can see the tire marks even! I hope they know who did it!!

Men of the House

Our church hosted a "Men of the House" Breakfast/Car show early Saturday morning at the Apex building at the Grapevine Campus. Greg, Terry and Tristan rode together on their bikes. What a handsome bunch!

Here is Tristan riding along.

This is Terry enjoying the ride.
From left to right: Tristan, Greg and Terry.
Here are a few of the motorcycles that were at the event.
Cool graphics!
Here are some of the exotic, rare and cool cars!

Pastor Ed Young revving up the engine!






This limo has an actual dance floor inside!
The guys had a great time. Greg spoke with a gentleman at Church on Sunday discussing monthly meetings and future rides for motorcyclists. We are excited about these events that we have been missing out on! :) :)

Randoms

It was once cute for Gabe to sleep on his daddy's chest when he was little, and it was a regular occurrence. It is difficult to get him to take a nap again on daddy since he has discovered how to sit up and crawl around. Here was that moment once again! Too cute!!
Kieney decided that if Gabe can swing, so can he. He weighs just a little less than Gabriel, so he fits the weight criteria!
Kien noticed that Jeremy's backpack was empty in his room. So, since Kien has taken a liking to playing hide and go seek, he crawled into the backpack! Jeremy then decided to put it on and carry Kien around! I LOVE IT!!!
Gabe likes to reach for things. Very inquisitive!
Here is the video of Gabriel surprising us on how he can pull himself up now. He is sitting just fine with no support and can go from sitting position to crawling position in no time. He just hasn't figured out how to go forward just yet! Enjoy!

Wakey Wakey Gabe

Easter Sunday! ~Grandma's Version~

Grampy with the boys at home.

Daddy with the boys at church.



Daddy is asking here, "Do we look alike?" LOL

At church, Cathi wanted to try leaving Gabe in the nursery for the first time.

We stood in the hallway for about five minutes as he continued to cry. That was it! He came to church with us!

Gabe was passed down to Grampy,

And Grampy put him to sleep!

Grandpa and Grandma got the babies a new wagon for Easter. Daddy assembled it, and put the boys in.


Actually, we didn't expect that Gabe was old enough to ride in it, but he did just fine!!!!


Naptime.



After naps, I had a candy hunt ready for the kids. Jeremy set up an egg hunt outside for Kien, then Jeremy wanted one too, so Kien helped me hide the eggs for Jeremy.

Then Grandpa and Grandma took the little boys for another wagon ride; this time, we went all the way around the block. Gabe did great until we hit a big bump about 3/4s of the way. Then Grampy had to carry him the rest of the way.

Kien wanted to ride more of his toys after the wagon ride.

Kien asked to see pictures of Guinness my on computer, so, as I was looking them up, we saw pictures of Kevin at our house last week, and we saw the Easter Bunny pictures. Kien said, "Who is in that?" He KNEW it was not a REAL bunny, but a person in costume!!!! He is only 2 1/2!
We had Easter dinner at Greg and Cathi's favorite restaurant.


Brandy looked up YouTube videos of pieces her band is playing. We followed along on her French Horn music so that I could see/hear what she was playing.

The dogs and Kien love Grandpa.

Look at this awesome cake Cathi made! And we never got to eat it!!!

We had to say "good-bye" to our precious angels tonight as we are leaving tomorrow and will not be seeing them in the morning. :'(