Einstein's PARTY!

This year, we had a pirate party for Einstein. It worked out perfectly since he's had pirates on the brain for months (his birthday is 8 days before Halloween).

Now, I am NOT a good cake decorator. The professional result always turns out tons better than my attempts! I'm sure that if I had a teensy bit of training, then I could totally become Cheff Duff (Ace of Cakes. Check out the viking wedding cake, holy crazy)! Anyway, I tried my best. I made a pirate treasure chest, and I realized at midnight the night before, I failed to buy 'treasure', so I had to make do with what I had. So I suppose it was an already-pillaged treasure chest! :)

We also had a pinata, which is always a hit. No pun intended! (I must be in a silly mood) There was so much candy in there; at least 12 pounds! I was really happy to see it go, and there were no leftovers! A ton of kids, you know. Awesome!

Fun was had by all, and I was happy it was over at the end! October is always a crazy month for us :)

Giveaway!

I know I've been such a SLACKER. I totally know that, and I embrace it! :) I haven't even blogged about summer yet. But it's my blog, and I'll blog if I want to? :) Yeah, that's it!

Anyway, there's a blog I follow that does frequent giveaways. I just couldn't pass this one up! Go HERE to enter a chance to win the cutest flower clips! They are simple, adorable, with a touch of bling. Just how I like them (I think. As you all know I'm still so new to this whole 'baby girl' thing. So I'm collecting my stash now!).

Go enter! :) And I promise that I'm going to have really good posts from the past coming soon!

I totally get it now

To all of you who have girls... I get it now!

I understand why everyone 'oohs' and 'awes' over baby shopping. I understand why you just can't help yourself 'just looking' at the baby clothes, and snagging a great find or two. Every shopping trip. I now understand why it's so easy to get in trouble at the checkout counter!
90% of everything is super cute! I mean, adorable! It's such a different experience! With boy gear, about 30% of it is really dorky. Like, 'if I put my kid in this they will get beat up' dorky. Not to mention, the selection of clothing/shoes is slim to none compared to the smorgasbord of girl items. Really.
I have sooooo much less of that while perusing for girl items. I don't have to scrutinize each and every purchase for the dorkiness factor. AND... there are actually cute shoes that I have several kids' sizes to choose from. It's so refreshing! And really scary that I can blow so much money on an infant who won't be born until late February.
There is a flipside, however. Modesty is already an issue??? Wow. I mean, holy WOW. Baby string bikinis? I'm just worried about sunburn! :) Who on earth thought it was a good idea to make g-string underwear for a 3 year old? I can see this being a potential lifelong battle. So maybe having to worry about the dorkiness factor isn't so bad. :) But it's still way fun to shop for all things delicate, girly, and feminine!

In case you haven't heard...

I'm over the moon! And Bryan won't have to get into any trouble (haha, inside joke). And this is really the only appropriate time to show private parts and not blush about it, or be reported as a slimeball, so here goes:

Those are definitely girly parts!

This girl was pretty much rockin' and rollin' in there; she didn't stop moving for a second! It was really cute to see her strike so many poses and wiggle around, like she KNEW she was on camera or something. That's totally the McBride side of her; no fear with the camera rolling!
We saw her kicking and twisting, and even opening her mouth a few times. It was too precious.
The boys came with us in their PJ's (it was a super early morning appointment), and they were also mesmerized. So cute! Now Einstein says "I have a baby sister!" Curly is indifferent. I think he's still a bit young to care until he actually sees her for real.
I thought this one was pretty funny, so I had to add it. She's looking so dramatic, like she can't bear to hold her arms up for another second!
So, there you have it folks! We are finally evening out the score here. A little more estrogen in the family is definitely a good thing. So now I have to re-learn all the girly-girl stuff! Hopefully it will all come back in a hurry. :)

Best. Week. EVER.

***Pictures to come***
(that is, if I remember)

This week was SO awesome! Despite the yucky heat and humidity, I had such an awesome time with my husband and boys!
Bryan had basically the whole week off, so we spent most of it goofing off and just spending TIME together. How I love doing that! I wasn't worried about money (which hardly ever happens to anyone, really), and I wasn't stressed about his work. I was just content, and that is a gooooood feeling!
Wednesday was our 4 year anniversary, so we whooped it up by heading down to Ikea to replace our dilapidated, mismatched bedroom furniture! Actually, all the furniture we own (except our bed, that would give me the heebie-jeebies) has been bought/gleaned from the wonderful world of Craigslist, all acquired at different times. So none of our stuff matches or coordinates!
Anyway, going to Ikea was great because two things happened: we got matching his/hers dressers, and I FINALLY convinced Bryan that Ikea makes good quality furniture from actual wood and not particle board. And it's relatively cheap. I like that, too! :) He had never been to Ikea before, so it was fun to see him enjoy most of the showrooms and get his take on furniture items. I'm not a fan of all their stuff, so it was interesting to see what he liked and hated versus my likes and hates!
After Ikea and lunch, we dropped the boys off @ my bro & SIL so we could have some grown-up fun! We spent the rest of the afternoon at Disneyland. It was hot hot HOT! And super humid! But it was still so fun; not having the kids there (dare I say it) made it even more fun. Just the fact that we were there together. alone. able to talk about adult things and not worry about lost/hungry kids was a major plus. Since it was later in the afternoon, all the lines had died down quite a bit. It also helped that most kids were already back in school!
We ended up walking around Downtown Disney, which was pretty cool, too. We ate on Main Street and walked wherever we wanted to; no stroller to maneuver! :) Thanks again to Lisa and Nate for watching our kiddos for us! :)
This week would have been just as awesome with just our anniversary. But we found out some GREAT news this week, too! Bryan got a letter in the mail, congratulating him on his recent 'Alan and Ruth Stein' scholarship award. HELLO!!! It was a huge undertaking to get all that paperwork filled out! And it ended up to be a substantial amount of money, which we are so incredibly grateful for! He was one of ten recipients, out of thousands entered. I couldn't be more proud of him!
As if our week couldn't get better, it actually did. Our great friends Eric & Katie Harding offered to watch our kids so we could go to the temple this week. Wow, what alternate universe am I on this week; TWO dates in three days??? And we had a great time!

I love weeks like this. I've always been a strong believer in opposition, and how everything has an EQUAL opposition. I know that's not written anywhere exactly that way (I've looked!), but I think that's how it works. Anyway, that belief kept me going through our many many hard times last year (I could list them out for you, but believe me, I don't want to depress you). Things have been building up for the better for us, and this week has reaffirmed that to me!

So Bryan, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I love you so much and I'm so glad that you convinced me that it would be okay to date you, even with the funky familial connection. You know as well as I do that we've had our fair share (or more) of downs, but we've pulled each other up by the bootstraps and relied on one another. And of course, Heavenly Father.
I'm so proud of you and what you have accomplished! You are a great man; hard working, full of integrity, a wonderful Patriarch to our family, and an amazing example to our children! I am aware of the sacrifices you make, they do not go unnoticed. I love you! Your boys love you. Can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with you. Starting today...

Te amo!