Sophia's Birthday!

Wow!  Sophia would like to thank everyone for all the fabulous birthday wishes she received!  She was thrilled to see all the sweet messages.

We kicked off her birthday celebration with a pancake breakfast - her favorite!  I used mini pancakes and piled them on top of each other to create a Birthday Palooza Pancake Tower.  Between the pancakes were thinly sliced banana, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup, then topped with more whipped cream, sprinkles, and a couple shakes of powdered sugar.  Sugar overload, I know. The bananas balance it out though, right? :)

Birthday Palooza Pancake Tower

And for my little girly girl who adores pink, I made these cupcakes for her to share with her friends at school:

Pink Ombre Cupcakes

You can find the pom-pom toppers here.  Thank you to TiTi's TuTus for the rush order - the look on Sophia's face when she saw the cupcakes was priceless!

We ended the night with Sophie's Sundae bar and opening presents.

Once Marvin came home from Miami, we were able to celebrate her birthday together!  So, we headed to NYC to spend the evening at the American Girl Doll Place.  We had a fancy dinner, ate delicious cake and did a little shopping.  Fun was had by all as you can see! 

  

Sophia teaching dad how to properly drink tea at a tea party.

Sisters Shopping in NYC. Empire State building in the background.

Cheers!

Pinkies up!

Birthday Smooches!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  Being a mom can be challenging, but it is the absolute BEST challenge because it's the most rewarding.  I am amazed at how many GREAT moms I know personally.  I wish you all a bright and happy day with your children.  I am so incredibly blessed to have such a fabulous mom.  I've never known anyone with a bigger heart than hers.  She's taught me so much.  She didn't always agree with my choices, but she never loved me any less.  She rocks the mother AND father role for me and my siblings, and does so brilliantly.  I am grateful that my siblings and I have such a supportive mom.  So, mom, I'm sending you a gigantic virtual hug to thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for me, Jenna, Amir, and Jada!  Happy Mother's Day, mom! I love you.

To my phenomenal daughters:

My heart bursts with an immeasureable amount of love for the both of you.  You have shown me how to love, taught me more than you know, and challenged me in ways I never imagined.  I'm so blessed and honored to be your mother.  Your smiles and laughter bring me so much joy.

Paris, your random "fact of the day" continues to impress me each day and I admire your genuine heart.  You are kind, loving, smart, funny, and have a beautiful heart of gold.

Sophia, you're silly, spunky spirit makes me laugh every single day.  You can light up a room!  You are smart, hilarious, strong, positive, and goal driven.

As you girls get older, I hope you continue to learn, read, grow in faith, love our Lord, love your family, and love yourself.  You both have so much to offer the world and I'm so blessed to have a front row seat to watch you tackle all of your dreams.  Remember, that you can do all things through Christ.

I'm extremely proud of you, my daughters. Girls, you inspire me daily. 

On this Mother's Day, I want to say 'thank you' to you both for being my beautiful, sparkling baby girls.

I love you NO MATTER WHAT.

xo,

Mommy

Saying "YES" To The Dress

Last weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to New York City with four amazing ladies to try on wedding dresses at Kleinfeld!  Marvin was such a good sport and drove us 1.5 hours to NYC while listening to the Destiny's Child Pandora station, my backseat driver chatter, and lots of girl talk.  Oh, and the complicated Starbucks order that nearly sent him over the edge - grande coffee latte, with soy, extra ice, half of a Splenda, and one pump of this and that, sugar free.  My mom, future mother-in-law, my best friend and maid of honor Alynsia, and my sister and maid of honor Jenna were with me to start the search for THE dress!

Handsome Chauffeur  

My gorgeous mother-in-law & mom

Me & My Maid of Honors in NYC

Ready To Shop!

As soon as Marvin left us, my nerves kicked in.  I have gone through millions of bridal magazines and tons of online catalogs and had yet to find a dress that I was DYING to try on.  I just knew that this operation was going to be grueling and that I may not find my dress in the one hour appointment I had at Kleinfeld.  I can't even find a pair of jeans in one shopping expedition...how was I going to find my dream dress to marry my dream man in my dream wedding?

The consultant took me and my ladies back to a dressing room to ask the typical questions - wedding date, wedding size, style of ceremony and how I wanted to look on my wedding day.  She was so great to work with!  She was patient, kind, and detail oriented.  She did not pressure me into anything and made sure that my appointment was specialized to fit my needs and wants.  

Unbeknownst to me, an amazing designer by the name of Pnina Tornai was having a trunk show on the day that I was there.  So, I began by trying on a selection of her dresses.  All of them are absolutely stunning!  The first dress I came out of the dress room in was amazing!  I didn't have an emotional reaction to it, but I felt great in it.  My ladies had a great reaction to it as well.  As my consultant was putting on the second dress, I immediately said, "I'm not sure that I like this one." The consultant told me to wait until it was all the way on and I'm so glad that I did because I found THE ONE!  I was in the dressing room with the consultant with tears in my eyes and told her that this was the dress I was going to get married in.  I walked out of the dressing room and into the showroom and my ladies all agreed!  Still, I tried on a handful more just incase and each one just didn't live up to the second dress I had tried on.  I wish I could give more detail, but I don't want to provide any details to my groom!  

If you are engaged and ready to try on dresses, I highly recommend finding a designer you like and looking to see if they're doing a trunk show.  The trunk show allows you to meet with the designer and usually there is a significant discount in the price of the dress.  It also provides you with a wide array of the designs that you wouldn't normally see.  It definitely worked out in my favor because I was able to meet the designer of my dress, Pnina Tornai.  She was gorgeous, so sweet, and we were able to have a "Say Yes To The Dress" moment when she asked me, "Brittney, are you saying 'yes' to my dress?".  It was absolutely incredible!  It was also fabulous to meet her because I had a tiny issue with the fitting...  My rump isn't exactly in proportion with my top half, so we have to add more fabric to my derrière (insert Sir Mix A Lot's anthem).  Pnina was gracious enough to give me a deal on my God given ASSets!  They're going to take two different sizes and mold them into one. Hilarious!

So, I have my dress!  I love it and can't wait to put it back on again!  Spending time with my lovely ladies was amazing and I will never forget the time we spent in NYC!  Here are some more snapshots from our weekend:

Chocolate Martinis!

One of my favorite pictures from last weekend - my little brother & Marvin grilling up some steaks!

In other news, football has obviously started.  My chore list has doubled.  Goodbye, off season! :)

Leprechauns & the Easter Bunny

We have had some great times over the past few weeks celebrating St. Patrick's day and Easter!  

St. Patrick's day started out with a bang with our "Top O' The Mornin'" breakfast.  We had green pancakes, rainbow on a stick (fruit kabobs), Pinch Proof Potion (green milk), Pot O' Gold eggs, and toppings for our pancakes.  The toppings: Lucky Charms cereal, Clouds in a Bottle (whipped cream), Shamrock Syrup, Magic Clover Dust (green sugar), and Chocolate O'Hersheys.  The girls had a blast loading their pancake with all the toppings.  This will definitely be a new tradition in our household!  Later, Marvin and I skipped over to a local brewery for some green beers! I was absolutely thrilled that they had green beer - I was nervous they wouldn't, so I packed some green food coloring in my purse. Yes, I take St. Patrick's day VERY seriously and you know I'm a sucker for a good theme!

Kiss Me I'm Iowish. :) 

I mean, c'mon.  I love him.

Goodies I made for Paris & Sophia's friends.

Easter was a perfect day! The girls woke us up at 6am. You read that correctly, 6am. The collected 54 eggs around the house and picked through their Easter baskets.  Sophia immediately figured out which eggs had the money in them and was ALL over finding the money eggs!  We went to a wonderful church service at our church - I loved it and it had me completely refreshed to start my week.  I'm so thrilled that the girls are also falling in love with our new church.

Next up, dress shopping! My mom, future mother-in-law, and my two maid of honors will be here soon to help me find my wedding dress!  I'm nervous, excited and realllllllly hope I find "the one" while they're here.  Otherwise, I might have to depend on Paris & Sophia's opinions...scary.

One More Question to Pop...

Will you be my bridesmaid/groomsman?

Since Marvin and I don't live close to any of our bridesmaids or groomsmen, we wanted to come up with a special way to ask them to be a part of our big day.  I decided to make my ladies pretty little boxes to pop the question and Marvin used cards with an attached cigar to ask his groomsmen - Marvin obviously took the easy way out. ;)

Marvin's cute self before sending out his groomsmen requests.

Of course, chocolate cigars for young men.

I ordered plain cigar boxes, painted them, and stuffed them with information, bubble bath, confetti, nail polish, and a mini bottle of Rose Moet (cheers!).  It was at about the 4th box that I considered cutting my bridal party in half because the painting had suddenly become less exciting.  Is it just me or does painting always take 4 times longer than you predicted?  The reaction for all of my bridesmaids was well worth the work!  I'd do it all over again just to see those smiles and some happy tears again!  Or to hear my sister scream in the middle of Granite City restaurant!

Finished product!

I flew to Iowa last weekend to surprise my mom for her birthday.  It was a fabulous trip and I was thrilled that I had the chance to catch up with some of my favorite ladies!  It was perfect timing for me to also give some of my ladies their bridesmaids' boxes.

My baby sister's box :)

My mom's surprise birthday dinner.

Now that's a birthday girl, my gorgeous momma!

So, how stoked are you all for St. Patrick's day?  I wish I was in Iowa to celebrate my Irishness (just made that word up!) with my crazy Irish mom, Ms. Farrell, but I have some fun things planned for the kids!  I think Marvin and I deserve a nice ice cold green beer too - yum!