Brantley's FIRST Birthday Party!

The day finally arrived, Brantley's FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!




Kris hung all the decorations, I made the food, and Grandma Sally strolled and entertained Brantley while all the preparation was going on. The menu consisted of Spankopita, petite quiches, blue cheese rolled grapes, Antipasto dip, cupcakes, and AppleBerry Punch. The task I took on with the most excitement was making a video with pictures from Brantley's first year of life and setting them to special music to be played during the party. I'm glad I worked on it the week before the party so that I had watched it at least 100 times by Sunday and had gotten most of the "emotion" out of my system...And there was "emotion". This has been both the fastest and slowest year of my life at the same time. I never knew what the next day would bring. And just when I thought I had figured out what the next day would bring, she changed it up on me! No doubt the biggest transitional period of my life and I am all the better for it. But back to our party...
Sweet Birthday Girl...

"Nana's here! Let the party begin!"

Brantley & GrandPattie...

Brantley & Grandma Sally

"Surely we have a little time before presents and cake, let's play!"



"WHERE is Brantley?!"

Present Time!!!







The Loftuses weren't sure they would have time to stop for gift wrap...

The "Pony Saga"...




"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday DEAR BRANTLEY..."

Sneaky GrandPattie...

"Why don't we have this more often?"

"Let's PLAY!"




Party's over. Time to relax...

Mommy & Me- Brantley's Birthday Celebration

Today we celebrated Brantley's birthday with our Mommy & Me friends. Brantley will be the big 0-1 next Monday so we thought we'd give some things a trial run before her birthday party on Sunday. The highlights of things tried out: baking & icing cupcakes, wearing the birthday tiara, and putting a lit candle in front of Brantley's face. I will proudly say that all went off without a hitch.

Treats for our friends...


Soon-to-be-Birthday-Girl...


Andrew and Brantley, "Where's the party?"


Happy Birthday to You!!!


Mommy & Me Friends...


I was very thankful to have a "trial run" before Brantley's actual party. I learned that I did not like the cupcake mix and that if cupcakes are left in Brantley's sight she WILL get to them. My friend Erin recorded the "party" for me and was able to capture Brantley headed, at warp speed, toward the cupcake basket that I left on our mat. Of course, she promptly put the camera down and stopped her before too much damage was done. And I was pleasantly surprised that Brantley left the tiara on while "blowing out the candle"! Hats are certainly not her favorite things...
It was a great morning as always at Mommy & Me!

Homecoming + Birthdays=Awesome Tailgate

Tailgating this weekend was a LOT better than the game and we'll leave that at that. Since we had three October birthdays among us we decided that it would be fun to add some party flair to our Homecoming festivities.

We had birthday cake...


A great crowd of friends and family, our tents were running over...



A sunken pirate ship (we played East Carolina University)...



A blender for frozen margaritas...


PRESENTS!!!! Great presents for all the lucky birthday people!




There isn't a picture of me opening my gift, but it was a lovely Pandora bracelet with a black & gold charm, a charm with Brantley's birthstone, and a baby carriage charm for Baby #2. I was SO touched by the generosity of our sweet, sweet friends to both Brantley and me. It was a wonderful day!


Fun Fact: My shirt reads "Boy? Girl? Definitely a Golden Eagle!"

Mama's Little Helper

Brantley was being ever so helpful this evening while I was trying to load/unload the dishwasher. Apparently, she felt her "dishes" needed washing also...

Happy Trails

The weather here has been lovely the last couple of weeks. Brantley and I have been taking advantage of the stroller and sidewalk every chance we get during the mornings. And yesterday we went on our first outdoor play date since July! We met our friends at the Longleaf Trace and set off for a solid hour of strolling (at a good pace that I definitely believe would have qualified as exercise). Brantley and Andrew were ready to roll as soon as we got them secured...




Andrew's mom and I caught up on each other's news, thoughts, and general solutions to ending war and world hunger like we do every week but OH! the fun the babies had! They apparently had a LOT to catch up on too, as they babbled back and forth at each other for the first half hour. Brantley pointed out lots of things (squirrels, people on bikes, people walking, trees, etc.) of interest along the way and they took advantage of many, many, MANY hand-holding opportunities. It was soooooo cute! They actually interacted with each other more on this date than in past months (except maybe the time at Andrew's house when he was still doing his army crawl & got Brantley around the waist with his legs then pulled her along while she held on to the seat of his pants). It was a lot of fun and we are certainly welcoming the cooler temps that will bring more outdoor activities!

Tailgating Time!

Well, football season is finally here. I think it is most definitely my husband's favorite time of the year (mine remains the Christmas season)and I really do enjoy it too. We are so happy to have friends that make the trip in for every home game and it has been a great tradition in mine & Kris's relationship from the very beginning. This year looks to be the most fun yet with all the little ones running around and me not being the size of the jumbotron like I was last year when I was 9 months pregnant with Brantley. And I believe that we have the prettiest tailgate area on campus. Our "tent" has expanded to two and we are using a 6' table this year, things are growing and good! Brantley certainly enjoyed her first tailgating experience (despite the hot, humid weather)and looked so precious doing it.





She was also very helpful in the drink serving department...



And certainly enjoyed the social aspect...


This was a night game so after tailgating was over, GrandPattie & GrandDaddy took Brantley home for a bath & bedtime. I see all of the other babies in the stands and think we need to try to keep her out one evening, but I think we will try an afternoon game first...

Three Birds with One Stone...

Or cake in this case...


We celebrated the births of GrandPattie, Kris, and Briggs today and had a GREAT time! The birthday gifts x 3 made it look a little bit like Christmas and that ended up being pretty intriguing to Brantley. It didn't take her long to start "helping" everyone open their gifts. All events involving presents with the Brantleys are handled round robin style with everyone taking their turn until they are out of gifts. Kris held Brantley part of the time and Uncle Briggs the other part, she was loving it as you can see...







And as always, there was a Signature Briggs Brantley wrapping job...

Which was really creative when he was 8...Now you just know it's from Briggs if it's wrapped in a garbage bag. I'm afraid this practice will disappear when the boy takes a wife.

And of course, no Sunday lunch is complete without plenty of playing with Nana...




Brantley decided that all in all birthdays are pretty cool.