little squirt

first off...happy 18th birthday to taylor! i remember 18 years ago being sent down to the neighbor's house because mom had to take danielle to the hospital. i can't believe you're old enough to drive, and that you're about to graduate from high school and go to college. seriously, you grew up way too fast. i hope that you enjoyed your birthday party!!! {pictures forthcoming}

and back to the man that has taken over our house...

here is brandon sporting his little squirt outfit from his auntie crystal! it's a good thing he looks cute in the outfit because his little temper tantrum is not so cute! he's just going to have to get used to this camera being in his face all the time!

of course...a matching binky!

okay, now he's in a better mood. thanks to said binky.
this afternoon my mom stopped by. she arrived in time to watch brandon so i could go pick up jared and lauren. as much as i love brandon, it is such a pain dragging that carrier around during pick up times! when i got home, my mom still needed to go to the grocery store to pick up some goodies for taylor's birthday party so she took the big kids with her. (as i'm typing this, i'm wondering why i didn't go for her and use it as a mini vacay?!?!? ha ha.) so she comes back home with several bags from randall's. apparently the kids talked her into buying them a bunch of empty caloried foods! ummm...she has become quite the softie...she would have NEVER given in to us at the grocery store!

jared wasn't into helping us make food for the party, but lauren was. but we had to stop her from helping because most of the stuff she was dipping was going straight into her mouth! my mom made some of the best chocolate covered cookies. yum! i love times like this. i love seeing my daughter making things in the kitchen with her grandmother. i remember helping my grandmother in the kitchen. those are some of my favorite memories.

we had a fun time at taylor's birthday party. the food was really good. especially the cowboy caviar! the cake turned out really cute thanks to my friend katie who decorates all my cakes. james and harold had a nice time visiting while the girls gabbed. and taylor got some pretty awesome gifts. we headed back around 9 p.m. and mom and harold came in for a few minutes. the kids insisted that grammy tuck them in. during that time, harold held brandon for the first time. awww...he looks like a natural!

looking forward to tomorrow though...they offered to keep the kids so james and i can go on a date sans kids. yee-hah!