Thank you, Pinterest.

Yesterday we hosted Brady's birthday party - full of food, friends, and fun! Considering she never took a good nap, she was a trooper and went with the flow pretty well.  It was a costume party, so all the little ones came decked out in their Halloween best... and boy were they cute!  

I feel this would be the appropriate time to get something off my chest, so here goes... I must admit, I'm a bit of a "Pinterest-a-holic."  There, I said it.  I take full responsibility.  I browsed and browsed the Halloween ideas for just a little help. I had a couple things in mind and then it hit me... If I only do a few things here or there, what kind of "Pinterest user" am I?  This should be the perfect time to go all out, right?  How could I justify not using Pinterest to it's full potential?  So I started to go a little crazy (ask Brad).  I came up with a great plan of what to make and how to decorate, and it actually sounded relatively easy.   Well let me just tell you that the planning and executing were a bit stressful - okay more than stressful.  But, in the end,  it was all worth it for our sweet little girl.  After all, you only turn one once! 

Helium balloons up the walkway using golf tees to anchor in the grass... thank you, Pinterest.

Stacked pumpkins on the doorstep with our initial in glitter... thank you, Pinterest.

A "Make Your Own Cupcake Station" full of frosted cupcakes and all the yummy fixins... thank you, Pinterest.

Lots of great fall recipes... Monster Munch... thank you, Pinterest.

Caramel Apple Dip... thank you, Pinterest.

Cheese Ball in the shape of a pumpkin... thank you, Pinterest.

White Chocolate Covered Straw"boo"ies... thank you, Pinterest.

A fall mantel with more glittered pumpkins... thank you, Pinterest.

A banner of pics of Brady from her first year... thank you, Pinterest.

Our little watermelon... thank you, God.

Kissing one of her favorite big girls... Miss Lainey.

She loved opening her presents.

Mmmmmmm.............

Nothing like a cake that's bigger than the person that's supposed to eat it!

A sign of a good time... icing in your ear.

My sweet, sweet baby girl!

Love to y'all,
Tracy

A Great Wedding and Some BAAAAD Luck

That pretty much sums up last weekend.  The bottom line?  My little brother, Trent, got married to his beautiful fiance, Kara, in a very touching and intimate wedding in a little town outside of St. Louis.  I have never seen my brother happier than he was that day.  Honestly.  In all his life.  It was a blessing to be a witness to.

Now for the BAAAAAD part...

Here's our original plan:  Brad, the boys, and I would drive to St. Louis since we'd need a big car once we got there.  My parents would bring Brady with them on their flight and meet us there - she's not fun to ride with.  We'd celebrate, eat, and dance the night away.  Then return safely on Sunday evening, ready for a great week.

Now... here's a brief synopsis of how our weekend actually went:

My parents and Brady get on the plane and the flight gets canceled (yes, they were ON the plane) - thank you, American Airlines.  The next flight is Friday morning, which they can't wait for, so they get on the road a few hours behind us.  We spend Friday entertaining kids while finishing up last minute errands.  Did I mention that St. Louis is 45-50 degrees and rainy the ENTIRE weekend? Brady starts having NASTY diapers and proceeds to have diarrhea in the hotel tub while Brad is getting her ready for the rehearsal.  We get lost on the way to the church and of course, are late.  Knox won't cooperate during the rehearsal and is yelling from the pews, "It's NOT quiet time!" when my mom is telling him to be quiet.  We leave the rehearsal dinner before Kara even arrives because the kids are refusing to eat, Brady is crying, and the boys are running around like crazies and rolling all over the restaurant floor.  

Saturday morning, Brady's belly is still upset.  She and Knox scream like banchees as we try to get them dressed.  Knox refuses to be still enough to put on his bow tie and suspenders.  Time to walk down the aisle - Knox won't stand with Tate so I drag him down with me.  He wants me to hold him... which I do for the entire 45 minute ceremony.  Brady is screaming with my parents in the front row and eventually leaves with the pastor's wife, who takes her to the nursery, where she proceeds to scream for the ENTIRE ceremony.  (45 minutes, remember?)  The kids drive an hour and a half with my parents to the reception, while Brad and I go with the wedding party to take pictures on our way to meeting them there.  And again... it's 45 degrees out (and falling fast!).  The reception has to be moved inside.  The kids let loose a little - we let the boys bring Monster Trucks which keep them busy and Brady is happy to crawl around for a bit.  By 8:00, we make our getaway, glad we made it through the day.  

We get to the Bed and Breakfast that we're staying at, and within minutes, Brad is laid out on the couch complaining about his stomach.  An hour later, he's throwing up and um... you know - which lasts ALL night.  At 11:30, Knox wakes up and decides it would be fun to be like Daddy, so he pukes all night as well.  No sleep for any of us!  Tate gets up around 7:30 and is hovering over the toilet by 8:00, joining the rest of the crew.  Why not?  My parents and I pack up our things and I stuff my sick family in the car for a very enjoyable ten hour ride back home.  

Needless to say, I didn't get near the pictures I had intended to.  But here's just a few...

 Monster Trucks make everything better.

 A rare smile.

  The sweetest touch... yellow balloons on my chair.

 Cutting their pie.

Love him!

 My mom and her baby.

Not the best picture, but doesn't it shout, "We're SOOOO happy!!!"

And that, my friends, was how we spend our weekend!

Love to y'all,
Tracy

Catching Up... Again

What is with me lately???  I can't seem to get myself to sit down at the computer long enough to type out a post.  Let's play catch up from the last few weeks.

Tate is LOVING kindergarten.  Everyday he comes home and tells me all about his day.  He adores his teacher and is making lots of good buddies already.  Every time I see him in the hallways, he's got his "bubble and tail" (picture cheeks blown way up like there's a bubble in there and hands clasped behind his back) just like he's supposed to.  I honestly couldn't be prouder of him.  In addition, he learned to ride a two-wheeler and he's been playing lots of baseball and soccer, so that takes up a couple of his nights with practices, games etc.  Needless to say, he is EXHAUSTED every night when it's time for bed.

Here's Tate's first attempt at riding without training wheels...

 

 And here's Tater practicing his swing with a new "bat"... the widest tip of the barrel is about an inch and a half wide...and notice he's hitting golf-ball-sized whiffle balls

 

 

Knox started preschool (with the same teacher Tate had four years ago) and I can FINALLY say he is really likes it.  The first few weeks were really rough on him... and poor Ms. Christie!  He cried literally on and off the entire five hours.  But thank God for a patient and loving teacher who wouldn't give up on him.  Like Tate, he adores her and tells me how much he loves her everyday.  

 These are both pics that his teacher sent me last week... she sends me TONS of pics every single week - I told you she was fantastic!!!

Miss Brady is officially eleven months old!!!  I'm planning her big first birthday bash as we speak.  We're going all out for her big day - this is our last little one to have a first birthday, you know... and honestly, ever since Pinterest, I can't really get away with skimping on a party!  I'm trying to hone in on my inner Martha Stewart... wish me luck!  But seriously, Brady is walking up to like ten steps at a time and she can climb like a little monkey.  She wedges her tiny toes on the little ledges that a closed drawer makes and can pull herself up on Tate's dresser far enough so she can see herself in the mirror.  I'm praying she doesn't get brave and try to get out of her crib... I was stressed when Knox did it at 18 months - I can't imagine trying to figure this one out!

Nothing like playing with your big brother's cup before a baseball game.

Loves brushing those four and half pearly whites.

It's been a quick first month of school.  I can't believe it's practically October... now if this Texas weather would just cooperate, that would be much appreciated... 95 degrees on the first day of fall?  Come on!

Love to y'all,
Tracy 

Favorite Time of Year

Baseball season is in full swing at the Sievers home.  Tate was so excited for his first game of this new year.  Like I've said before, there's not many things better than watching someone you love do something they love so much.

Some of the kids on Tate's team have played together now for five seasons.  And we only have four new kids out of the thirteen on the team.  The boys are really getting the hang of things and have grown so much over the years.  Yesterday, Tate and another boy tried a couple different times to make a double play... not too shabby for kindergartners.

Safe at first.

Throw to first from short stop.

Covering second.

My own little Ian Kinsler.

Watching her favorite team.

Watching his favorite team... while modeling Brady's bow.

Love to y'all,
Tracy

Brinker Bear

Tate now has one week of Kindergarten under his belt.  He LOOOOVVVVEEEES it so much!  I can't tell you how many times I heard him say, "I just love Brinker, Mom."  Is there anything better than that?  This little boy would spend all day playing playing baseball or messing around outside, but he is having the time of his life inside the four walls of his classroom.  In fact, as we were cleaning up dinner tonight, he asked me, "Mom, do I have Brinker tomorrow?"  I said yes and his response was, "YES!" with a big fist pump!

Two Brinker Bears!

Thank you, Pinterest.

Unpacking his backpack.

Putting his lunch stick away.

Finding his spot on the carpet.

I couldn't be any prouder of my Tatertot.  I've been waiting a long time to bring him along to school with me and I am thrilled that he is so happy there.  I have to say, we have the most AMAZING kinder team at Brinker and he really couldn't be in better hands.  Mrs. Cherry, his teacher (isn't that the best Kindergarten teacher name ever?), is top-notch and I have no doubts that he is going to have a fabulous year!

Love to y'all,
Tracy

I'm Baaaaack!!!

First off, I feel like I should apologize for not posting on here for so long... it really might be the longest I've gone without a new one.  I've got a couple of good reasons for it, I swear.  

Let me give y'all the quick run-down of what's been going on at the Sievers' household since we've been back from vacation a couple weeks ago... 

We officially ended our Pinterest-inspired summer.  We ended up doing about a third of the ideas I originally came up with (which was probably close to fifty different activities).  I'm pretty proud that I actually followed through - and the kids (mostly Tate) really seemed to enjoy having something new and fun to do each day.  Some highlights: building structures with marshmallows and toothpicks, building forts, Boardgame Days, and making dinner together.   

 Tate's holding the ring of activity cards that we completed. 

Sooooo.... I've been debating whether or not to tell y'all the biggest excuse as to why I've been a little lazy lately.  At first, I was going to keep it hush hush.  Then the more I thought about it, I figured, "What the heck... I'm pretty open about everything else that happens in my life, so why not?"  So... drumroll please...I went under the knife!  Yep, no joke.  Last Monday, I got a tummy tuck with muscle tightening.  I know, I know.  I can't believe I did it either.  But after four babies in five years, I had some extra "stuff" going on and was getting sick of sucking it in all day everyday.  

I'm obviously still on the mend, but I can already tell the results are AMAZING!!!  I am soooo glad that I actually went through with it.  My doctor is awesome and totally put me at ease.  My surgery started at 7 am and I was at home in my bed by 11:30 am.  Quick and painless!  Well, not exactly painless, but it's funny how pain is much more doable when you're excited about the reason behind it.  In fact, I actually had to go to work last Friday - which was day four of recovery.  And all in all, I did pretty well considering.  So needless to say, last week I was completely worthless and was in bed almost all week.  See, that's a valid excuse, isn't it?

 I'm not the only lazy one in this family... Here's lazy bum #2.

 And #3.

 And #4 (#s 5 and 6 were napping when I took these).

 And here's my little lazy spot... lots of pillows, heating pad, phone, Nook, and a much-needed Sonic Coke.

Maybe someday if I'm reeaaaallllllly brave, I'll post before and after shots.  Like I said, I'm pretty candid about stuff, but that may be a little much.

Besides my little nip/tuck action, like I said, I went back to school last Friday and then had a full week this week.  The kids aren't back yet, but teachers go back a week early for meetings and to get ready.  So I'm back to being a working mom.  But the bonus?  This year, Tate is coming to Kindergarten at the school that I teach at.  I'm sooooo excited to have him!  Be thinking of my Tatertot on Monday morning as he officially becomes a Brinker Bear!

Love to y'all,

Tracy

Road Trip!

We got back Wednesday from our annual trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  My mom and I packed up the three kiddos and headed east.  We stayed in not only the same place (The Beach Club), but the exact same condo as last year.  Like any vacation with three little ones, we were exhausted when we finally got home, but we had a great time and made lots of good memories.  Here are some highlights...

Monster Trucks in the sand.

The view from our balcony.

Brady on the beach for the first time.

Miniature golfing.

Tate's second hole-in-one!

Miss Blue Eyes.

Three peas in a pod.

Despite the lack of sleep, the occasional tantrums ("Yes, Knox, you have to wear shoes when we go to dinner."), and a little bit of rain, I look forward to taking them back again next year.  What a fantastic family tradition.

Love to y'all,

Tracy