Lily's 3rd Birthday Party!!

O. M. G. I cannot believe that Lily is turning 3 tomorrow!!! That is nuts! Today we celebrated her very special day with a party at Monkey Joe's...in Roswell. This may sound odd, since we actually live about 35 minutes from Roswell and there is a Monkey Joe's about 15 minutes from our house. However, Lily has been to both Monkey Joe's and prefers the Roswell one. So much so that it got to where she wouldn't even really play when we would go to OUR Monkey Joe's, but when we went to a party at the Roswell one she said "Mommy, I want my party HERE." Okay. I was fine with that because even though it didn't allow me to buy fancy pink things like last year's tea party, it was very easy. As in, all I did was talk to Monkey Joe's and then order a cake easy. I was planning on doing some cute favor bags as well, but thought about it 2 weeks ago and didn't think of it again until we were in the car on the way to Monkey Joe's today and Lily said "Remember when we went here for Essan's (Ethan's) party and got those goody bags." Oops!! Oh well, I hope everyone still had a great time--I know we all did!! Lily played and played and played...primarily with Ashton and Collin, whom she calls "my best boy". She was actually old enough that she didn't need Bryan and I to help her a lot, which was nice. I got to sit around and chat with friends, which I badly needed. Between the sleep deprivation and the constant rain, which has been keeping us inside so much, I've been feeling a little less like the old me and a little more stressed than I should be. So, it was fun to see some friends and just enjoy a couple hours of laughing and having fun with them. I have so many hilarious friends, who, if not saying something inappropriate themselves, always enjoy hearing me say something inappropriate. I also have so many unbelievable wonderful friends, who brought Lily amazing presents and kept me from losing Caroline in Monkey Joe's. I am so grateful!


This is Cheryl with her son, Matthew, Emily with her twins, Sarah Jane and Nathan, and Beth with her son, William---These girls are 3 of my old roommates from college, whom I still stay in touch with. I met Beth first--she lived down the hall from me in the dorm freshman year. I spent just as much time sleeping in her room as I did in mine, because I would hang out with her and her roommate so much. She also has a little girl named Sarah, who loves princesses and all things girly even more than Lily, if that's possible. Through Beth, I met Emily--I met her briefly freshman year, but didn't really become friends with her until we lived together my senior year. Beth knows Emily because freshman year she dated Emily's brother, who later became my roommate, but after he had been roommates with my ex-boyfriend, who I also met through Beth because they worked at Pizza Hut together, which I later also worked at and is where I met my husband. Got that? Cheryl I met through my ex-boyfriend. She also worked at Pizza Hut and was dating another guy who worked there, who was the roommate of my ex-boyfriend. She was the one who convinced me to get a job at Pizza Hut. She and I became good friends and remained close even after we broke up with the losers we were dating! I frequently say she set up Bryan and I because after we'd had a fight (as friends) and stopped speaking, she was the one who called him to come over and hang out since she knew we both secretly liked each other. She also set up Beth with her husband! She has been a wonderful friend throughout the years--she has let me stay with her on two occasions--once with Lily and for 5 weeks!!! That is asking a lot from somebody and not only did she not complain, she actually seemed sad when we left!!

Becky holding little Evan. Becky is one of my friends that I have met through Northside. I feel lucky to work with such a great group of women. Becky and I discovered early on that we have a very similar sense of humor with each other and have enjoyed working together for over 5 years now (minus the almost year that I was in Mississippi). We now also have a shared love for the Twilight series!! She is a good friend and Lily LOVES her. Evan is our other friend from Northside's (Elizabeth) youngest son.

Lily in the big birthday girl chair--she got very embarassed when we all sung Happy Birthday to her--I understand that because that embarasses me, too.

Collin and Ashton--Lily's cousin, whom she loves playing with. I think Lily will be very sad when she grows up and realizes she can't marry Collin!!

Beth, Ty, Sarah and Will.

Robin, Ramsey, Marley and Lilah--Ramsey is another old Pizza Hut crew member, though he is actually Bryan's friend from high school as well. He just happens to also have a very cool wife, who I enjoy doing stuff with--it works out!!

Aarya, Anna and Ethan. Aarya is the daughter of my other friend from work, Ronnie, who was hired to fill in for me while I was on maternity leave, and stayed on even after I came back. She also laughs at the same things that Becky and I do. I am arranging a marriage between Aarya's cousin and Lily because he is so cute with big wide eyes and I think they'd have cute kids together. Plus, he is Indian and it would be so fun for Lily to have an Indian wedding. Anna is Lily's cousin--the daughter of Bryan's brother and his wife. If you don't know who Anna is by now, you obviously haven't been reading the blog for too long!! Ethan is Elizabeth's oldest son--he and Lily are only 4 months apart in age and they like to play together. Elizabeth is another great friend to me who has helped me through so many motherhood milestones. She had to lead me sobbing from the daycare on the very first day that I dropped Lily off!! It wasn't pretty, but I'm still asking her for advice--including regarding what I needed to do to have a Monkey Joe's birthday party!

The table of party-goers.

Mary with Allison and Chris with Anna--Bryan's sister and bro. Mary, Adam and Allison won the award for traveling the farthest to the party and we appreciate it so much!!