My Tuesday version of Hello Monday

I wanted to recap the weekend, but the weekend kind of wore me out. I posted my 10 on the 10th yesterday because I had written my answers to that prior to the weekend.  

Today it's Hello Monday on a Tuesday. It's fine. 

Also Monday was a blur too, so no rest for the weary I guess. 

Back to the weekend...hubs and I road tripped to daughter2's house on Friday because our littlest grand was celebrating her birthday. We ended up not getting on the road until almost noon because hubs needed to run an errand with my son-in-law and my daughter1 was out getting her haircut, which meant I was in charge of the grands for a couple of hours. 

We had an uneventful drive to Tennessee and listened to a book most of the way, the third in a series of legal thrillers we enjoy. (Book 3 is The Southern Killer by Peter O'Mahoney).  

The other set of grandparents beat us there and neither of us brought our dogs which was kind of nice. Having daughter1 in my house means we can leave the little brown dog with his 'birth mother' ha! She texted us a picture of my son-in-law taking him for a walk and hubs said he shouldn't get any big ideas. She texted back he will honor the adoption agreement. 

Friday night daughter2 made a really delicious baked spaghetti for dinner and we chatted and did a little bit of party prep before calling it a night. 

Saturday morning was the big day. Happy 1st birthday to this little sweetheart who is positively precious. 

The party had a heart theme because when your birthday is less than a week before Valentine's Day you might as well embrace all the hearts and shades of pink and red.

A year goes by in the blink of an eye. 

My son-in-law put a brisket on the smoker before we went to bed Friday night so we woke up to the aroma of that. The men spend a lot of time discussing time tables, temperatures, and taste whenever grilling is happening, but they love it and it's kind of cute to listen to them. Grilling is an art. 

Also, the brisket was sooo delicious. I think the best one yet, perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked, and the texture was like butter. 

My daughter's mother-in-law and I got to work creating the balloon arch which would be attached to the bounce house. Go big or go home on a first birthday, right? These arches are far more time consuming than one would think, but I knew this from past experience. 

I loved the happy colors and the confetti balloons are so much fun. 

Sweet baby J would be happy with a balloon and nothing else. This whole pile was hard to resist. 

He did have himself a big time in that bounce house too though, which was a hit with all the littles. Friends started arriving around 3:30 and it was a party! My daughter and son-in-law have the nicest friends and we enjoy them a lot. 

Sugar was her usual sweet self and the star of the show even though she didn't know it. I always say first birthdays are for the parents...you have navigated a tiny human's first year of life and that should absolutely be celebrated.  

Daughter2 made a sheet cake from scratch with homemade strawberry icing and the prettiest sprinkles, then made a smaller heart shaped smash cake too.

It took baby girl a minute to figure out what to do with the smash cake, but big brother walked over and took a big bite out of one side and that was all it took. 

Sugar liked playing with the icing but wasn't interested in eating the cake. She's dainty like that. 

Also, it's hard to be the first born on the second born's birthday lol. At one point the other grandmother said to sweet baby J that he should let sissy have a turn at something because she's the birthday girl, to which he replied, 'Well I'm the birthday brother.' True little man. 

He's sweet with his sister and the first two gifts she opened (well, her momma opened) were darling little outfits so he wasn't too overwhelmed by that. 

We bought Sugar a baby doll stroller and then I got her momma's Bitty Baby out of the attic and put her in it. I wasn't sure I'd give her the doll this time or not, but when I pulled Bitty Baby (Julia as she's known here) out of the box she was stored in she was wearing her Valentine's Day dress, so how could I not? 

When everyone left we all crashed. We got up Sunday morning and got ready to hit the road. My son-in-law picked up donuts and hubs asked J to pick the Superbowl winner-

And he did! We got home about one and hubs got to work setting up the grill for his famous wings and brats. I slept through most of the third quarter, but was so happy with the win. The Eagles are my hometown team and they showed up for this one. 

And now somehow it's Tuesday and I have book club, and a tax organizer to finish, then a dinner to attend this evening. I thought February was quiet and dull?

Linking today with Hello Monday hosted by Holly and Sarah and Talking About It Tuesday hosted by Joanne