Party part 2

Please excuse my tardiness in the blog matter. We were without cable and (gasp) internet for like a year...o.k it was a week, but seriously in dog years that is an eternity! I even missed the Bachelorette finale so don't even get me started on that!
Here are other pictures of Mary Grace's 4th birthday party!

As you can tell, everyone had a great time!

This is Mary Grace's self proclaimed boyfriend, James.

That is the sound of my heart stopping! "Not so high dear"



Mary Grace got to leave her hand print on the wall of the place she had her party! I thought that was kind of cool!

Mary Grace's 4th birthday!

Yes! you read right! My baby girl just turned 4! In one way I am happy because I remember Wylie turning 4 and everything changed. His behavior basically changed overnight... No joke.

I am seriously hoping this is the case for Mary Grace. Her little sweet self has been very challenging lately (not looking forward to puberty and girl moodiness!) Good thing she's got those golden ringlets and that smile to back up those tantrums.

So, since we just spent a week at the beach, Mary Grace basically spent her birthday in the car. It did not help that we got stuck on Atlanta's hateful 75 North, or the fact that I may have told her she had presents awaiting her at home. You all can draw a mental image of that! I don't think I will plan a major trip around birthdays again. Lesson Learned.

Anywho, we planned a really cute birthday party with an Alice in Wonderland theme the next day, and though I am dumb enough to tell my daughter that she has to wait through an entire car ride to open presents, I am smart enough to plan the party elsewhere. Therefore letting someone else do the set up and clean up. M'kay?

I have decided that since it took two memory cards for all of the vacation pictures and MG's birthday party, I will probably do multiple postings for her birthday...well that and I am lazy.

Here is MG's invitation. Probably my favorite part.


I found it on Etsy, and it is by the cutest company Anders Ruff. They have the cutest blog, and I wish I could say that Mary Grace's party was as cute as the Alice in Wonderland party they have photos of, but like I said, I am lazy. Please go check it out.

We got Mary Grace an Alice in Wonderland costume for her birthday, and she got wear it to the party. My favorite part.


Mary Grace and her cake. My favorite part.


The place we had her party is really neat, it has a giant foam pit, trampoline, ball pit for little baby Jefferies, and at one point they blow up a bounce house. My favorite part!

These suckers went in the goody bags, along with a tiny pack of playing cards. I downloaded them from Anders Ruff and then put them together. I have more pictures, but they are on the other memory card, so stay tuned!

Beach Trip

As you can tell, the Binghams just got back from our first ever week long trip to the beach. It was a fabulous week. We went with my brother, Tripp, and his family. We even splurged on a sitter, and if you have access to an Annamarie like we do, I highly suggest you take her. Thank you Annmarie, it would not be the same trip without you!
That being said, it was a trip I will always remember, and guess what ya'll? No trips to the doctor! We usually have some sort of illness occur during our trips, but not this time!!!!
We ended up going to St. Simons because of the oil spill in the gulf. We had great weather except for a couple of showers in the evenings. I will not bore you with the 300...yes, 300 pictures that we took, so here are a couple of highlights.
P.S. The best photo will be starring on our family Christmas cards, so you will have to wait!

These two pictures basically show what baby Jeffery did the entire trip...well that and eat.

From left to right, Wylie, Connor, Jeffery, Mary Grace, and Anna Beth.At the lighthouse.Now that we are back I have a mountain of laundry to do. Stay tuned for pics of Mary Grace's birthday!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last Saturday after Jeffery's Birthday Party, Drew took Mary Grace to a Daddy Daughter Dance. This year's theme was a luau. It was really cute.


I snapped this awesome picture of Hollie and Mary Grace before the dance. I won't dare post the one of Mary Grace and I because after a day of party coordination, I look nowhere as gorgeous as Hollie.

Jeffery's First Birthday

We spent the last weekend celebrating Jeffery's first birthday with our wonderful friends and family.I had so much help pulling this off, that I would like to send a shout out to those of you that helped...you know who you are!
The weekend started out with sweet Aunt Hollie coming in for the festivities and bringing with her the most adorable and delicious cookies. Here are Wylie and Mary Grace's special cookies.

Here are the ones for Jeffery's party! If you like these, you really should visit her Tumbler site. Hollie's Hobbies.


We started the next day bright and early getting ready for J's party. Here he is opening our present to him, which is the coolest thing. It was a Bonzai Baby Splish Splash Pool, and it is the greatest thing ever. There are pictures of it below.

Mom and Dad with the birthday boy!


For the party, we got our huge slide and let the kids play. For the little ones, we used J's new toy.

Greatest gift ever! It's basically a really shallow baby pool that squirts water, and has all of these inflatable toys. He loved it!

The cakes!



Jeffery wasted no time digging in, once he figured out what was in front of him!


All cleaned up and ready for presents.

What a wonderful day! Thanks to everyone who was there!

Book recommendations!

This post is not really about my family, but really more about me on the quest to find a good summer book to read.
I was in the grocery store the other day and walked down the aisle that has the magazines and books, when I caught a whiff of the paperbacks. You know that smell. It immediately brought back wonderful memories of spending summers with my nose stuck in a glorious page turner. I realized then how much I wanted to find a really great book to read, and to find the time to read it! I started, of course on that aisle in the grocery store and was quickly disappointed. Seriously, I am not at all interested in a book about some kid's right of passage or blood sucking vampires! I guess as I have gotten older and wiser, or more cynical, I am just not up for wasting several weeks of my life on something that is not life changing.
If you have any good recommendations, please send them my way. As I have said before, I am not really a Nicholas Sparks fan, or a Danielle Steele fan. I am taking my kids to the public library today so maybe I will have some luck!

Mary Grace's First Dance Recital

Last Friday was Mary Grace's first dance recital. I thought it was pretty ridiculous because the recital was at Georgia Tech, yes, all the way in town. Not only that, there was a dress rehearsal, at that location, and, I had to hire a sitter to watch Jeffery and Wylie while I took Mary Grace all the way in town to Georgia Tech to practice. I also had a really hard time dealing with the fact that I had to pay for; the monthly lesson, the costume, the tickets, the $40.00 DVD of the show, the flowers, AND the sitter to watch Jeffery and Wylie during the show. Did I mention that she is only 3?
Having said that...it was ALL totally worth it!
It was such and incredibly special night! She did very well, and we were all very proud of our little girl.

Here are some pictures of MG on stage at her dress rehearsal. The theme was Alice in Wonderland, and Mary Grace's class were the white rabbits.





The night of the show. Here we are about to leave at 5:00 in order to get down there for the show that starts at 7:00.

Changing into our tap shoes before the show.

Flowers, hugs and photos after the show.



Ahh... the final reward...chocolate!


It was definitely a night I will always remember!