Birthday Party!

I had so many ideas that I had tossed around in my mind about the theme of their birthday party and I had all these great ideas of how I could make alot of the decorations and plan a cool scavenger hunt or something fun for all the kids to do.  What I didn't have was alot of time.  So in the end I planned a relatively easy 'ice cream social' theme party.  We had been buying ice cream from Halo Farms and it's really good and thought we could just buy a bunch of different flavors of ice cream for everyone else to try.  Along with a bunch of different bunch of toppings and waffle bowls and of course a cherry on top everyone had a great time.  I got alot of compliments for the idea and how much fun it was.  I didn't plan anything special for the kids to do, but we did have the giant water slide out and our little pool.  It was a nice sunny day and Tony and I didn't get into any fights the night before or the morning of... so that's a WIN in my book!
The party was a weekend after Tony's dad's funeral and not sure if people would be in the mood for celebrating, but all went well and I'm sure he was with us in spirit. 
Some pictures from the day...

We had guests sign in to the party in sidewalk chalk!

The waterslide!

Pull-apart cupcake cake from House of Cupcakes

Singing for Amelia...

Singing for Olivia...

and singing for Tony...

Opening presents

Tony got a Jake sword!

Savannah helping Tony read his new book.

Olivia enjoying her cupcake... Amelia not so much!

Me and my mommy!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

The kids birthday was back on August 7.  It's been a crazy month and I'm just glad that I actually got to post this during the month of August!
We took the kids to JCPenney's for pictures a few days before their birthday and actually got some really nice pictures.  I remember previous times having a relatively easy time picking out the 'good' pictures because they were few and far between.  This time I just couldn't decide so we actually sprung for the disc with all of the pictures!  Here are a few of my favorites!

Sad news

Tony's dad - Anthony Sr. passed away this past week.  He had battled with cancer that just ended up taking over.  I'm sad for my husband, his brothers and his mom, and for my kids that won't grow up with their grandfather.  The obituary is here.
Looking back, I only have a few pictures of him with the kids.  I know he held them alot as babies - he used to come over regularly to help Tony feed them after I went back to work.  I just don't have any pictures.  I'm hoping that Tony does so at least the kids can look back later on to know what he looked like.  Unfortunately, I don't think they're going to have any memories of him when they're older.  They're just too young.  It's sad.
Here are some of the pictures that I do have.

Little T taking a snooze with grandpa

From this past Father's Day (2014)

...from their 1st birthday party with his two brothers