La La La La, Tanner's 2!!

Can you believe it?!?  Our baby boy is 2!!!!
On Saturday, our house became "Tanner Street" (near Sesame Street) & we celebrated with Elmo!!
The party was brought to Tanner & his friends by the letter T & number 2.  It was a fun time!!

I think I see the birthday boy peeking in. . .

Yep, there he is!

Still in his pjs, but already rockin' to his Elmo music!

Check out the Elmo chair Tanner's big brothers got him!

It swivels & talks!!

Elmo Goody Bags

(filled w/ goldfish, crayons, & lollipops -

all the things Elmo & Tanner like!)

Do you see the green roll on the floor?

It's the green "street" carpet that will be rolled out

when it's time to eat!

Juice boxes & water bottles on ice.

Oh yeah.

Cupcakes courtesy of Publix.

Elmo faces courtesy of Mommy.

(Shout out to Mama D for helping w/ eyeballs!)

There's the birthday boy . . . ready to party!!

(Shout out to Jessica Evans - Shirt Maker Extraordinaire!)

Tanner's friends have arrived!

Time to play!!

Are those ice cream cups???

Must be time to sing & have cake!

"Happy Birthday to you,"

"Happy Birthday to you."

"Happy Birthday to Tanner,"

"Happy Birthday to you!"

It's tough being the center of attention!!

So sad I didn't get pics of all of Tanner's guests,

but here are a few . . .

Jaydon & his mommy

Sam & his mommy

Raegan & her mommy

Anne Fulton & her mommy

Timothy, Addie, & Taylor

(best buds)

Andrea, Tanner, & Bubba

(there's Allie & her mommy in the background)

Time for presents!!

Watch out, Allie!

Wild man opening presents!!

Really Amber???

DRUMS?!?!!

AND NOISEMAKERS & WHATNOT???

Wow!! Books, stickers, puzzles, music, water stuff, tools. . .

...AND SHOES!!!

Airmax from Bubba...

Polo Boat shoes from Bubba...

Jordans from Mama D...

Elmo water shoes from Reign & Dayvd...

As Bubba would say, Tanner's shoe game went SLAP!!

So did his sports equipment!

Ball & glove from Mama D...

(now the fights over Taylor's can end!)

. . . & basketball goal from MaMa & GG!!

(will games ever end in our house???)

Thanks for the ups, Bubba!

Tired mommas have to eat too!

Later that night . . .

Check out the shoes

(he wouldn't take them off!)

Remember the Elmo chair?

Tanner figured out it could spin &

proceeded to spin ,

& spin,

& spin!

Sunday, March 4 is Tanner's actual birthday.

We saved 2 last presents from us for him to open Sunday morning.

A few cute shirts & some big boy cups (w/ straws!)

Cars (which he loves) w/ Sesame Street riders -

Elmo, Ernie, Big Bird, & Cookie Monster

(Tanner's been playing w/ & talking to

them since he opened them up!)

Turning 2 has been just 2 much fun!!

We hope the TERRIBLE part of turning 2 holds off for a while. . .

(What do you think?!?!! Ha!!)

We love our wild, crazy 2-year-old!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANNER!! 

A boy, a step stool, & goldfish . . .

Yes, that is a step stool & box of goldfish on our front porch.

My youngest loves to sit on the step stool & eat goldfish. 
He does this quite frequently.
His big brothers were outside playing & he was watching them.
He kept coming in & out of the house to grab some goldfish, then go back to watch them play.
Finally, he took the step stool, then the box of goldfish, out to porch.

Problem solved.  Smart boy. :)

Ambassador Bowens

Timothy is a member of Edgewood Ambassadors, a group of 5th grade leaders at our school. 
On Monday, they had a leadership breakfast with the mayor and his administrative assistant.
They had a big meal and a big discussion (they had prepared questions beforehand) with him.
There was even T.V. coverage!!

I meant to get down to the breakfast & snap some pics, but I got busy in my classroom & TOTALLY forgot!! (So mad at myself for missing it!) 
Timothy mentioned that he sat right next to Mayor McBrayer. 
(That just twisted the knife even more! Ugh!!)

Timothy read to his brother's 2nd grade class later that day.  I had no idea, so I missed another photo op.

To sum things up . . .
Timothy was involved in a leadership breakfast.
Timothy sat next to the mayor.
Timothy read to Taylor's class.
This blog could have included some great pics. 
I got none.

Oh wait! I did get two of my big ambassador before he headed off to school . . .

Bball All-Star

Taylor was selected to be part of the Homewood All-Stars.  His team has been practicing twice a week for the past couple weeks & today they participated in a tournament that included Hoover, Vestavia, & Jasper.

The game was ugly, but my son is always cute!! He got a pretty snazzy uniform out of the deal, too!

Love & Happiness

It's Valentine's Day!!!
LOVELY days like this make us burst with HAPPINESS!!
The Bowens Bunch just LOVES showing our LOVE for one another!!

Sweets for my all my Sweeties!!

The boys took valentine treats for their teachers too.

Tanner was also in charge of his classes' treat today.

Oooohhh!!! Surprises for me!!

From my class. . .

From my boys . . .

From my hubby . . .

Ending our day with dinner!

Highlights of my Valentine's Day . . .
*Getting Tanner dressed and having him sing "I Love You" (a Bowens/Barney classic) & blow kisses to me the entire time!
*Wearing my festive heart shirt!
*Seeing the boys' excitement as they looked at their valentine treats!
*Finding a valentine surprise from my valentine in Goldie!
*My valentine surprising me with lunch!
*Giving my main valentine, plus my 3 little valentines, valentine surprises!
*Having a nice dinner out with my valentine!

Hope your day was full of as much LOVE as ours!!



Our Houseguest

So, with the month of February, came a houseguest!!
My cousin Amber started a fab new job here in B'ham a couple weeks ago.
Her apartment won't be ready until March, so she's crashing with us until then.
She's joined right in with the Bowens Bunch craziness & we love having her here!!!

Bulldog Basketball

The Bowens Bunch headed out on Saturday afternoon to watch some Samford Bulldogs basketball. 
The Bulldogs beat Elon in an exciting game.  We had fun cheering them on!!
#bowwow bulldogs