The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

A decade

On Sunday Maxwell will be TEN! A whole decade! Two whole hands!

Just born…

just born

One year old…

mob one year old

Two years old…

two years old

Three years old…

3 years old

Four years old…

four years old

Five years old…

mbb 5 years old

Six years old…

six

Seven years old…

seven

Eight years old…

eight

Nine years old…

nine

and now TEN!!!

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Maxwell is so easy to celebrate. He’s such a good kid. I’ve said it all before but he’s a curious listener and so aware of the world around him. He’s constantly taking it all in. He wants to please but he’s also pretty confident in what he likes and what he doesn’t. He’s not going to do something he doesn’t want to do just because someone else wants him to. He makes me so proud. He has so much potential to do big things (we just need to get him to really apply himself and live up to that full potential!). I can’t wait to see what he does in life. I am forever grateful that I get to be his momma and watch him grow up.

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He’s really into playing Fortnite right now (and talking about it all. day. long.)! When he’s not on the Nintendo, he’s happiest outside with some sort of ball in his hands. Football, golf, basketball, even tennis! He’s developed a group of buddies and is a loyal friend. He and Spencer bicker and fight but they also play together and stick up for each other. Maxwell still thinks Samantha is the best thing around. He’s the best big brother and I’m so glad they all have each other to go through life with…even if he doesn’t like posing for my pictures! ha!

pics

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I do love it when I get a little exasperated laugh though!

laugh

Favorite book? Diary of A Wimpy Kid books
Favorite TV show? Big City Greens
Favorite movie? Pirates of the Caribbean
Favorite color? Green
Favorite song? don’t know?
Favorite number? 29 – his football number this year!
Favorite restaurant? Moe’s
Favorite thing to eat? Moe’s
Favorite friend? Jack and Frank
Favorite toy? Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch
Favorite dessert? chocolate chip cookies
Favorite sport? football
What do you want to be when you grow up? a lawyer (huh?!)

ten

Happy ten years to “my most useful engine!” 🙂 We love you so much and hope the next decade is just as good as the first!!

Celebrating five!

Samantha’s birthday party was on Saturday and it was a the perfect celebration of my little FIVErcracker! We had the party at Trifusion where she does her weekly tumble class and she was SO excited for her LOL themed party!

cake pop

cake

party

party

party

We couldn’t take regular cake up there so I made this cake pop “cake” and thought it turned out so cute!

cake

She had lots of friends there and they warmed up…

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party

party

party

party

did forward rolls, handstands, and cartwheels…

roll

party

they did an obstacle course…

party

played with the parachute…

party

and even some yoga!

party

party

party

I think their favorite things though were the trampolines…

party

party

and playing tag! They all wanted to get Spencer!

tag

It was a cute crew and a cute party for my cute birthday girl!!

party

cake pop

cake pop

cake pop

Happy birthday Samantha!

party

We love celebrating you!!

Birthday day

What fun it is to be the birthday girl! Samantha is so easy to love and even easier to celebrate! The day started with lots of balloons and a chocolate doughnut…

donut

It was then off to school with cute cookies for the class!

school

school

carpool

After school she had tumble class where everyone sang Happy Birthday to her!

tumble

After tumble we headed home where I had a full slime making station set up! Lots and lots of glitter slime makes for a happy birthday girl!

slime

slime

That night we had a great dinner at The Club and then it was back home for cake (Olexas’s of course) and presents!

cake

cake

presents

Samantha is really into LOL Surprise dolls and she was SO excited to get three of the big OMG LOL dolls! Oh boy! These dolls are something else! ha!

doll

lol

lol

lol

I also got her an American Girl doll. She honestly barely acknowledged it but I’m hoping that once the LOL phase wears off she’ll really appreciate this awesome doll!  🙂

doll

But, the important thing was that this birthday girl was VERY happy!

doll

doll

Happy birthday Samantha!

samantha

We love to celebrate you!!

Birthday fun

Of course Mrs. Susan knows how to celebrate a birthday best!! She picked up Samantha on Friday afternoon and took her to see Frozen 2!! I don’t know who was more excited?!  🙂

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Then she spoiled them all with treats for the boys and the most beautiful Elsa dress and fancy shoes for Samantha!

shoes

shoes

shoes

Samantha was obviously THRILLED!

elsa

We sure do love Mrs. Susan and we love how much she loves birthdays!!

susan

The best!

Samantha is FIVE

Samantha is FIVE!! One whole hand! How in the world is she already five? She’s my little piece of sunshine every single day and I can’t wait to celebrate her!

From this precious baby girl (born on her due date at 1:04pm)…

skb 1/27/15

To this happy one year old….

sob one year old

To this perfectly perfect two year old….

two

To this lively three year old…

skb 3

To this sweet and sassy four year old!

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To this sunshiney FIVE year old!

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My goodness I love this child. Sometimes I just stare at her face and can’t believe how perfect she is. She’s just a happy kid – always smiling and showing off those big dimples! She loves to watch all kinds of videos on YouTube Kids, make slime, and play with her LOL dolls, My Little Ponies, and Barbies. She still loves to dress up and do anything girly like get her nails done. She wants her hair in a ponytail every single day and, thankfully, still lets me put a big bow in that ponytail! While she has strong opinions about her wardrobe, we can still come to an agreement…most days! She’d wear purple every day if she could because purple “makes her stay alive!”.

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I wrote this for her birthday last year and it is still 100% accurate: “She knows the power of her snuggles and hugs and uses them to her advantage with Maxwell! He would hug her all day if he could and she never lets him! ha! Maxwell loves her the most. She and Spencer are buddies and, if it’s just the two of them, they shine! The play well together and are the best of buds. She loves Dad and lets her light shine on him occasionally but Samantha is definitely a Momma’s girl and wants me to do everything for her. It’s wonderful and exhausting.” Yep, still 100% true!

This made me laugh…

sky 5

Samantha loves dance and is often the leader in the class. She’s doing great at gymnastics and her tumble class and is clearly athletic and coordinated. This has been a fantastic year at school – she has lots of friends and loves going every day! I am cherishing our Fridays together – gymnastics, lunch at Chick-Fil-A and a little girl fun. I sure am going to miss her when she starts Kindergarten in the fall.

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My little girl with the big personality! She’s friendly and happy and just a true joy. She’s also strong-willed and full of opinions. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

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A few questions with my favorite FIVE year old!

Favorite book? The Golden Egg Book
Favorite TV show? anything on YouTube Kids
Favorite movie? Aladdin (we just watched this last night, I’m going to say it’s actually Frozen!)
Favorite color? Purple
Favorite song? Oh, Holy Night
Favorite number? 5
Favorite restaurant? The Club
Favorite thing to eat? Mac and cheese, strawberries and raspberries
Favorite friend? Julia
Favorite toy? LOL Surprise dolls
Favorite animal? snakes
Favorite dessert? Oreos
Favorite sport? Trifusion tumble
What do you want to be when you grow up? a mom…I mean a doctor!  🙂

five

I love this little bright light. We are so thankful she brought her sunshine into our world five years ago! She is and will always be the biggest dream come true.

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Happy birthday Samantha! We love you so much!!!