Derby 2015

I'm back-dating this post so it's in the proper month / year when I convert this into our family blog book. I'm *hoping* to do a lot of these in the next few weeks: Beach trip, Vegas trip, 1st day of school for the girls, Vegas trip #2 (wha?!), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!

But, first up...the Kentucky Derby! 

Kinda glad I waited to post this because now we know the Derby winner (American Pharoah) went on to a Triple Crown victory! 

We had a fun little shindig at Grammy and Pop Pop's house.

The girls and I made our hats for the party. I took them to the DollarTree and let them pick out a hat, flowers, and accessories. :) 

I found a cheap sunhat and then perused the hair accessory aisle at Hobby Lobby. :)

PARTY TIME!

It's hard to read in this photo, but the backdrop has the lyrics to My Old Kentucky Home on it...

The menu consisted of hot brown sliders, mutton sandwiches, slaw, chicken tenders, fruit salad, derby pies and banana pudding.

Everyone "picked a horse" to cheer for during the derby. The prize for picking the winning horse was a commemorative derby glass and Woodford Reserve bourbon balls.

MINT JULEPS.

Most people don't care for these, but I love them.

This glass in the middle is my all time fav since it's from 1981 (my birth year!). 

My mom has all kinds of derby glasses throughout the years. SO FUN.

This dapper dude ended up picking the winning horse...he donated the bourbon balls to the adults. :)

This cutie-pie found the chocolate horse suckers. :)

 

And this one snagged a chocolate horseshoe...

This guy is just always happy to have something in his hands with wheels. :)

I wanted to get one "good" picture of the girls together in their derby hats.
"Hey girls, look at me! Girls! Look at me! Giiiiiirls!"

Awesome. Thanks.

Okay, let's try a cousin pic...

How about one with all the cousins?!

Nevermind. 

Now this is how you take a derby pic...

Boom.

(Extreme paleness runs in the family. Obvs.)

This is more of a derby "infield" shot... ;) 

I think this was my second mint julep and post cornhole victory glow.

Overall, it was such a fun time being all together and enjoying the fastest two minutes in sports!

Already looking forward to the next Derby!

Easter

Since it's been my goal to get the "Easter" blog post up before the weekend, I'm going to have to hash this out in warp speed. My big girl gets off the bus in 30 minutes, and my little girl wakes up from her nap in 15. And I really want to go get my Diet Dr. Pepper out of the fridge from lunch.

So...let's get down to business.

Aubrey found some clip-on earrings, which you will see in all the following Easter pictures.

She said the jewelry really completed her outfit.

She's 6 going 16, obviously. 

And this one, oh my goodness, she's something else too...

These two are so vastly different.

One's Type A, Miss Perfectionist, BOSSY.
The other one is a free spirit, Miss Fearless, LOVE-BUG.
I'm totally obsessed with them both.

And as different as they might be...they are absolutely perfect for each-other.

After church and the drive to grandparents -- the girls had a fun surprise awaiting.

My aunt brought her bunny (named Clover, how stinkin' cute is that?!) over for the day.

It just doesn't get much better when there's a real-life bunny on Easter...

After lots of bunny love (and pics), it was time for the highly anticipated Egg Hunt!

Thank the good Lord above that this child found the Golden Egg. 

She had talked non-stop for two days about how a boy from her class found the school's Golden Egg, and how utterly devastated she was that she didn't find it. 

She doesn't handle disappointment well. 

Victory, on the other hand...

"Ooooh, $5! Just think of all the clip-on earrings I can buy!"

It was a good, good day.

Fall Break

We took a little trip last weekend to visit family and kickstart the girls' Fall Break.

Lots of fun going to the apple orchard, riding ponies, feeding the animals, corn mazes, rubber duck races, Aubrey going "deering" with Pop Pop, and just enjoying this amazing FALL weather all together. It was such a great start to Fall Break...

 

The Back to School Shoppe

I have a post in the works to discuss the current status of Kindergarten, but today I'd rather travel back to a time that was filled with tear-free excitement and anticipation.

The day before school started, I stocked a Back to School Shoppe at our house.

I gathered all of Aubrey's school supplies, miscellaneous art supplies, party fans, and a mini shopping cart for the set-up. 

Before the store "opened" -- I read off the school supply list to Aubrey and had her make her own list (she drew pictures of the items).

 (This photo doesn't show the entire list.)

Aubrey grabbed her purse and some play money, and waited for the stock-boy / bagger to open the store. :)

Oh the indescribable joy of buying school supplies!

Aubrey absolutely loved filling the shopping cart with the items and then marking them off her list.

Once she had everything, it was time to ring it all up! The total came to $29, and she decided to pay with her debit card (wink wink). When I asked for a form of identification, she gave me her library card. (I love this girl so much.)

After she paid, she went to the table to label all her items before putting them in her backpack. I had Sharpies and stickers with her initials. 

I think we'll need to do this every year before school starts! It was so fun!

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You can click over to the We Heart Parties blog to see how to make the giant ruler!