4 birthdays & princess gets a tattoo

Let me explain the birthday situation in on our family to you.  When Lora started having kiddos, she must've decided to get all the birthdays outta the way at once.  First was Erin...she's Sep 2nd.  Then Derik came along & he's Aug 14th.  Then Brady rounded out the trifecta by being born on Aug. 27th.  If you look at the calendar...you will see that that is 3 birthdays in 2 weeks.  Sigh.  That's a whole lotta birthdays!  

However, when poor little Cole was added to the mix, he was born in June.  I'm not sure what Lora was thinking?  I mean-that really screws everything up!  

Our summer has been incredibly crazy & I know Lora celebrated ALL of her childrens birthdays, but we were not able to actually see the kids on (or even close to) their birthdays.  We gave Cole his gift about 2 weeks after his birthday this summer.  He got a gift...no one else did.  He's 9...can you figure out where  I'm going with this?

We were finally able to go over to Brian & Lora's last Wednesday night (yea, I'm behind...) & give all the gifts I've had piling up.

Erin & the girls are here & Madelyn's birthday is in July.  She is now 3.years.old.  (I'm not gonna lie, I couldn't remember how old she was...I couldn't decide between 2 or 3.  I have too many people to keep track of.  I DID decide on 3 before buying presents.  You know how they all have those silly age limits...)  She got to open her gifts first...

To try & stop Payton from being left gift-less (she's almost 2, c'mon..I'm not completely heartless...) & resorting to opening Madelyn's presents...

 

I got her a baby doll of her own... And what you don't see in these pics are little Cole...being mad at me because, 'I didn't get a present!'  Sigh...

We got Madelyn some little dolls & lots of Disney Princess stuff... a puzzle, a sticker book (Erin wasn't real happy with me on that one!) & tattoo's...

Derik was next.  He's 19.  Gulp.  We got him an itunes gift card, a necklace & a leather bracelet.  No worries - it was all very manly jewelry.  He seemed to like it.

On to Brady... He's 15 now.  Wow, he was just born like yesterday!  Gone are the days when you get the kiddos little Hot Wheels & monsters & they're happy.  They're men now.  They want cool stuff.  Greaaaat...  We got Brady an itunes card (always a hit!), a U of L lanyard thingie & a U of L koozie.  For cokes...not beer...yet...

Last but not least... Erin.  She's now in her mid-20's... 25!  We got her a scarf & a new PINK watch.  This girl hated pink.  Didn't care about anything pink.  Then she had 2 girls...whom she drenched in pink.  

Now, pink's not so bad...

Madelyn's going through a phase right now where she doesn't like men.  Sadly this phase will pass as she gets older.  Of course, B-rad wants her to talk to him & stuff but she won't.  I devised a plan in which I thought she'd love to sit on Uncle B-rad's lap: giving him a Disney themed tattoo... 

(Can you see in his face he's like, 'What 'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?!")

But B-rad is always a good sport (& after I begged...), he relented!   I let Madelyn pick out which tattoo he got.  You know, so she would be all like, 'Wow, B-rad's cool.  I picked out his tattoo...!'

A princess for a princess.  How fitting...

Sadly, my plan failed.  Madelyn wouldn't even fist pump him when it was over...

But Cole?  Oh, poor little 'I didn't get any presents' Cole was all.over.that.tattoo. 

So I said, "lets tattoo Cole!" (Like I said, I'm not completely heartless...)  Madelyn picked his out as well.  The tea pot from Beauty & the Beast.  This is Cole's 'act tough with your sweet old English lady tea pot tattoo' face.

Even though Erin wanted to wait until the house wasn't full of people to do tattoo's, I ruined that for her. 

I wanted Madelyn to get one so her & Uncle B-rad would match.  

She picked out the chick from Aladdin.  Jasmine?!

She's also suffering from a bashful stage.  She wouldn't let me take a pic of her hand...so I held it down like any self respecting Great Aunt.  (See my big rock of a diamond & my crackle nails?!)

Then she decided she wanted just one more on her other arm.  This time she chose one of the fairy thingies from Sleeping Beauty.

And we tried, yet again, to have her let B-rad hold her.

She had a weak moment & surrendered...but not very long.  Look at that body language...

It was time to leave & since a 3 year old hadn't defeated me enough already, I wanted her to take pics with Uncle B-rad & Uncle Cole in all their tattoo'd glories.  Yea, she wasn't havin' it.  Hmph...