The month of August is a bit crazy with the birthdays in our family. Zach, Jordan, Trey, and Big Daddy all have birthdays just in the first half of the month! And now Tess is added to that bunch too (I mean July 31st totally counts as August…).
In leading up to Tess’s birth I was concerned about how we’d handle all the August birthdays. Our family gets together for each person’s birthday to celebrate and that would just be simply impossible for me to do four times with a newborn. Plus it was Zach’s 30th birthday so we all wanted to make it extra-special! For Father’s Day we had a total CHILL DAY at Mrs. Charlotte’s and Zach LOVED it. We just hung out, didn’t have to rush, and just enjoyed the family. I suggested to Mrs. Charlotte that we could do a Birthday Palooza. We could all go to her house for an entire Saturday and celebrate all the August birthdays at one time. My original idea was to do one birthday per meal. Like breakfast could be Jordan, lunch could be Big Daddy, dinner could be Zach. But the idea morphed and turned out to be two BIG meals, a massive water slide, and a ton of fun!
the kids (mostly Kye) made a special birthday card for the best Big Daddy ever!!!
Tess had her first chiropractor visit that Wednesday and I could INSTANTLY tell a difference in her sleep and comfort levels. She slept awesome on Wednesday and Thursday but on Friday I could tell she was getting gassy again. The chiropractor said we’d be able to tell when she needed another visit so I called and they got us in first thing Saturday morning. We stopped by on our way to Mrs. Charlotte’s and I’m so glad we did b/c Tess had a FLAWLESS day of sleep while we were over there that day!
I nursed Tess at home for her first feeding at 7 then we got ready to go and left at 9:30ish to run by the chiro and got to Mrs. Charlotte’s in time for her 10:00 feeding. I pumped and she ate a bottle and then our “small crew” (Zach’s immediate family) all arrived and we had a MASSIVE breakfast together! We wanted to do gifts and such with just our smaller family so the larger group didn’t feel pressure to have to bring a gift with them later that afternoon.
CFA biscuits!
And donuts!
PUMPED for the FEAST!
The Birthday Palooza idea really snowballed and got bigger and bigger as the plans got made. First the breakfast feast, and then Mr Rusty thought of the idea of having a cook out in the afternoon for dinner, and we all decided to pitch in to rent a massive water slide for the day too! It was a BIG HIT and made the day even that much more fun for everyone!!!
Britt kept up with the big kids the whole day! She’s a trooper!
Crazy Aunt Casey 🙂
Even Big Papa got in on the fun (G-Mama did too I believe? I wasn’t out there for a picture though!)
How many great grandmothers would go down a water slide?!?! Work it Little Mama!!!
I spent the day inside. Being that I wasn’t even four weeks postpartum yet I didn’t want to be out in the hot sun too much. I was still very much in exhaustion mode and I knew I wouldn’t get my nap that day haha. Just loading everyone up and getting over there wore me out so I’m super thankful we did a combo day and knocked out all the birthdays at once! I can’t imagine trying to do that four times!!! I visited with everyone who was inside and took care of Tess and also got all my birth announcements stuffed and ready to mail 😉 It was a productive day!
I loved that everyone got the chance to hold Tess and love on her! It worked out SO GREAT!!!
Uncle Steven’s first time meeting her! I think it was Brad’s first time too but he didn’t hold her so there isn’t a pic!
I loved, loved, loved getting so much time with Casey too! I have missed her since we are both so wrapped up in our babies. Tess and Carter were on the same schedule so we would nurse together at each feeding 🙂 True bonding, right? I can’t wait to watch these sweet cousins grow up together! I love seeing Kye with Colt and Payton and know Tess and Carter will share a special bond for sure!
The big kids had a BLAST on the slide. They FOR SURE got the money’s worth out of it and were WORN OUT by the early afternoon. We let Kye skip a nap (honestly there isn’t anywhere for him to sleep now haha! Tess in one room napping, Carter in another, and Britt in another!) and they were all three exhausted so they piled on G-Mama’s bed and watched a movie. It was adorable!
Some of the most fun of the day, for me, was just being in the kitchen with all the women. We were cracking up and just enjoying girl time together. I’m so blessed to have so many amazing ladies in my life 🙂
There was a big set up outside for everyone to eat but I didn’t ever feel comfortable taking Tess out there. Plus it wasn’t very close to the house and her awake time was SO short that by the time I got out there with her I would have had to turn around and come back anyway! I stuck close to the house but Casey took my camera down to get some pics of everyone!
Trey brought his new girlfriend over to meet everyone for the first time! Poor girl…he picked a crazy day with a TON of people for her to have to meet!
We stayed until after Tess nursed at 6 and then we headed home! It was a great time for everyone and I hope Zach enjoyed the day! I know Mrs. Charlotte did a lot of work to make it happen and we all appreciated it so much 🙂
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