Happy Birthday James!

We got to go celebrate with our buddy, James, on Saturday. He is turning 5 and had a birthday party - we love us some birthday parties! :)

Starting at the top going clockwise:

Jacob, Josiah, James, Callie C. (can you believe there's another Callie!), and Michael
The little girls' table:
Joy, Callie, Anna

Happy Birthday James!

We met James' sweet family on one of the first weekends we came down to SC to candidate. They have 4 sweet children and are VERY near the same ages as our kids (their birthdays are a few months off, but very close!). We've had a great time getting to know them and loved spending some of our Saturday with their sweet family! Thanks for inviting us!

Some of us can't let Christmas go....

I can't say that I blame her. After I took down all the Christmas stuff, I put all of the Christmas cards and letters in a pile to go back through and read ONE more time. Well, Callie has been doing it as well. Almost every night - seriously - if not SEVERAL times a day, she climbs up to the bar and looks at EACH and EVERY card. She says everyone's name or at least asks "Who Dat Friend?" So they are still on my bar - I can't bear to put them away yet!! So if you sent us a Christmas card, it is being VERY much enjoyed by our family!!! :)

Look what Joseph taught Caleb how to do...

Joe is such a happy boy. I LOVE having cousins so close in age!!! (This picture looks like he's against a studio backdrop doesn't it? Actually just sitting on the brown leather sofa...)
Caleb decided after seeing Joseph in the sitting position, that he was ready to do it too! He'd been able to sit in the tripod position for a couple weeks, but he finally was able to do it for REAL! (as you can see from this picture, my Mom was VERY nervous about it. Caleb would get so proud of himself, that he'd start giggling and throw himself backwards. Tutu was close by!!)

There's the big boy - sitting like a BIG boy now!! :)

It was a great weekend - I am SO thankful that we live close enough to be able to be a part of these special occasions. The kids and I drove back home on Sunday (they did great) - we stopped at a DQ Grill & Chill (a whole restaurant - not just Dairy Queen ice cream) drive through and discovered that their kids' meals come with free ice cream!!! Now THAT was a fun treat for the way home! :) Thanks for hosting us Kelli - you know how to throw a party! What's the next party on our calendars...OH YEAH - March 13!!! The WEDDING!!!!

the "after-party" fun!

Kristen, holding her"bouquet"....she was mad that we did this, but we insisted!!! :)

Chris came by afterwards to see everything...

...and taste some party food...

He enjoyed looking at all the fun gifts they got....

We had a great time hanging out with Debbie & Heather (Chris' mom and sister) and getting to know them a bit more.

the girls relaxing on the hammock :)

Kristen's Bridal Shower

Author's note: I can't even believe that I am posting about my BABY SISTER's bridal shower....

Seriously, the weather could not have been more perfect. 74 degrees, sunny, slight breeze - gorgeous!

I had hoped that Callie would take a nap during most of the party, but she didn't want to miss it. Every girl loves a party, right?

We had a great time meeting some of Kristen's friends from work, church, biblestudy, etc. It was fun hearing about how they all knew her.

Kristen was pretty emphatic about not wanting any crazy games (those are the kind that Kelli & I specialize in!!!). So our only game was that we had a basket filled with 13 things (I think) - we showed everybody the items, and then they had to write them down (from memory) and figure out what significance that item had about Kristen and/or Chris. For example, we had a toy piano because Kristen plays piano for biblestudy. A palm tree because she lives in Palm Beach. A number 13 because they are getting married on March 13 - it was fun!

Kristen got the coolest, most beautiful Tommy Bahama trashcan - I don't think I'd let my kids put any actual trash in it - it was that nice! :)

Callie just kept walking back and forth to the coffee table and taking handfuls of m&ms that were on the table...see how she thinks she's being sneaky since we're all distracted watching Kristen open her presents?

Part of my gift to Kristen was putting together a "Maxfield Family Cookbook" - it had 50 or 60 recipes in it of all of our family favorites - things mom always made for us growing up as well as our own favorites now from Kelli's kitchen, my kitchen, and Kim's kitchen. It was so much fun putting it together, and I think Kristen was really excited too.

Mom got Kristen a crockpot (with this awesome lid that seals so you can transport it somewhere without it spilling all over your car....been there done that!!!)....Our family should have stock in crockpots - we all love them!

Heather's girls passed out the favors they had made to the ladies. It was a lovely shower!

Almost Time for the party to start...

Kristen's future mother-in-law brought the cake...
Here was the food (yummmmy!)...

The menu included chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, shrimp tartlets, proscuitto wrapped asparagus, fruit salad, mozzarella and tomato skewers, and lemon bites.

We had the prizes for the game (NOT the toilet paper one....), some yellow roses (that's the other accent color for the wedding), and the candy favors that Kristen's future sister-in-law & nieces made for the shower.

Only in Palm Beach can you host a bridal shower in January OUTSIDE and have it be gorgeous!! Kelli rented tables, linens, and china and we ate out on the patio - it could not have been more beautiful!

The bride-to-be!!!

The 5 Ks

Katy, Kristen, Mom, Kelli, and Kimberly

Katy, Kimberly, Kristen, Mom, Kelli

Mary, Callie

After we took this picture, it dawned on us - this is ALL the girls in our family!! There are 3 husbands, 1 fiance, and 6 sons NOT pictured in here.

Debbie (Chris' mom), Heather (Chris' sister), Samantha & Grace (Chris' nieces) and Kristen

It's almost party time! :)

Saturday morning was so fun - some last minute details for the shower, Kristen came over to be a part of the fun for a little bit (before we sent her back home so she could make a grand entrance at the shower), and we were waiting for the last sister to arrive! Kim and Mary (her 13 year old daughter) drove down for the day from Tampa, and we were so excited to see them too (and watch THEM be surprised by Mom being there!)

It's too bad Caleb never smiles! :) He sure does LOVE Tutu!!!
Kelli picked up the flowers from the florist and was showing Kristen - they were beautiful!! Blue hydrangeas (sp?) which is what we bridesmaids are carrying down the aisle! :)

Kristen didn't want to miss all the fun of being together that morning, so we let her come over for a little bit. If you stick around too long, you end up helping in the kitchen! :) She was working on the proscuitto wrapped asparagus in this picture! :)

We had Mom walk downstairs after Kim & Mary arrived so they could get the full surprise too - it was hilarious! Kim said "why do you guys always do this to me?" (Remember 4th of July? When every day was another surprise?) We died laughing and assured her that NONE of us knew what our crazy mother was scheming!! :)

Kelli - doesn't this make Joseph look old? Standing up like a big boy!!!

Mary and Joseph! :) I can't help but smile when I say that!

Kim & the smiley boys!

Fridays in Florida are ALWAYS more fun!!

So after Josiah got home from school on Thursday, I turned him over (along with Jacob) to David, and the two younger ones and I hit the road! The kids did GREAT on the drive down to Florida - we only had to stop twice!! I took us a little over 9 hours and we got to West Palm Beach a little before midnight. Callie VERY much enjoyed being queen bee in the car - getting me all to herself (since Caleb isn't all that demanding yet!) She talked my ear off and LOVED getting to watch HER own movies - My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake - not transformers or any of that boy stuff!! She was a hoot!

Friday morning, we woke up and had to run a few errands to make sure we were ready for the bridal shower on Saturday. First stop was the Party Store!

Callie ran over to see the "big Dora" right away! (Do you notice that she's wearing her "princess" shoes and a medal around her neck? What a mess she is!!

Caleb liked sitting in Josiah's high chair and wearing his bib....

...and trying out his food! He got to try some of Joe's Squash stash in Kelli's freezer! Not super thrilled about it, but not terrible!

And THEN....came a HUGE surprise!! I'm feeding Caleb in the high chair, and Kelli was in the backyard with Callie and Joseph. Kelli's house phone rings and I hear that it's my mom leaving a voicemail. So I grab the phone really quick to say hi to her. Mom asks what I'm doing, and I tell her that the babies had woken up from their naps, I was feeding Caleb squash, getting ready to run a few more errands for the shower, etc. Then she says, "Do you have room for one more for the shower?" I'm like, "WHAT?!?!" Mom says " I'm at Kelli's front door!" OH MY WORD - I was dying! I run out there, and there stands my mom - with her little wheelie suitcase! She TOTALLY shocked me! Decided last week that she was NOT going to miss Kristen's shower, booked a ticket, flew in, and took a cab to Kelli's house to surprise us! This coming from my MOM who does NOT like surprises...at all!!! I gave her a huge hug and then said "does Kelli know about this?" Mom laughed and said that she didn't tell ANYONE so I made her stand there while I ran to get Kelli. I told Kelli that "someone" was at the front and she needed to get the door...while I went to get my camera to catch Kelli's reaction to seeing Mom!

So here's Kelli seeing Mom at the front porch!!

And then Kelli squealed so loud that Joseph started crying....she is quite noisy and exclamatory! :)

And then here's Mom sitting down telling Kelli and I how she totally did this all on her own and at the last minute to surprise us. Note that Kelli is in shorts and a tshirt (it was BEAUTIFUL weather there that weekend) and Mom is in a turtleneck - it was supposed to snowed DC that morning!!! Man, we were just so excited that Mom was there!!

These boys are hilarious together. They are 3 months apart, and we always have so much fun putting them together!! Caleb is on the left, and Joseph is on the right.

Callie got in the mix for a while - she sat right there in the middle and was going back and forth rubbing each of their heads....

Then Kristen came over after work, and we had fun surprising her with Mom too!! We had Mom hide upstairs and then she called Kristen on her cell phone and was saying how sad she was that she couldn't be here this weekend....and then she walked downstairs and said Hi to Kristen in person!!! WHAT FUN!

And then after the babies were in bed, I had to do my long run that night (9 miles) because I knew that the morning would be too crazy with shower preparations. It was awfully nice running right alongside of the intercoastal...even if it was 30 degrees warmer than I've been training in!! I ran the first 5, and then Kelli met me and ran the last 4 with me...while we talked through our checklist of things for the morning! :)