Sunday, October 16, 2011

Madi's Fourth Birthday.

I surely do wish I had a count of how many times I've started a post with "Better late than never". And like the countless others, here we go again. This time it's all about Madi's fourth birthday!! And that was two weeks ago!! Sad, sad Mel with the very belated blog post.

Staci let us know that the crew would be meeting at Chuck E. Cheese's. We swung by Target, which was right around the corner, and came in with these awesome party hats to surprise our favorite cousin!

When Gabs hits Chuck E. Cheese's, she doesn't do it in "walk" mode!

And there she is, the queen of the hour!

These two are two peas in a pod. They LOVE to play with each other. They never seem to tire of seeing each other, and at our house, first option for someone over to play is always Cousin Madi!

And you better put on yo jacket, cause hell may be freezing over!!! Hayden was at the soiree'! That's just short of a miracle!

I was so excited, I HAD to get him (BRIBE him) to take a picture with me.

We occupied three booths with our crew.

And speaking of miracles... this is Jake's little coinpurse. And those are Jake's little Chuck E. Cheese tokens in it. Staci said, "I am making progress", as she showed me that she was using the tokens for tonight's party.

I was really proud of her. She has several things of Jake's, and whether or not it is "healthy" or not to hang onto a deceased child's things is definitely not for me or really anyone, I suppose, to decide. I guess she just felt like she was "ready".

She also showed me a ticket which I am pretty sure had credits Jake had earned at Chuck E. Cheese's (remember how much he LOVED to go there?!!) We took him for his third birthday RIGHT after he went in for a check up at St. Jude. I can remember that like it was yesterday. He had on a navy blue polo shirt, and both of his brothers were in town for it. Now I'll have to go back and look at those pictures. I LIVE by my pictures!!

And now I may need to put on one of those Poise pads, cause I may pee down both legs!! HUNTER was there too!?? WHAT?!! Both of the teenage boys hangin with the fam. What a great night!



Wonder where Pops is?!

I'll show you in just a minute.

aha!! Here he is, monitoring the comings and goings of one Gabbi Louanne Groves.

Gabbi gets totally consumed with rides and games and action.

Meanwhile back at the PIZZA!





I had to step back and get the sign on the side of this machine!! Wow.

These two liked any machine that required minimal effort and spit out all kinds of tickets!! Ellie figured out which machines did that in nothing flat.



Someone who may like gaming as much as Gabbi Girl is her Aunt Staci. She and Pops, actually, are the two in the fam who could play games all day long.

This is that game where you strategically drop in the coins and they push the other coins forward until some of them may or may not drop off. I can get rather obsessed with this one myself!! It's where I can spend all my money at the fair!

And then we heard this little voice....and it was Gabbi Girl, with her shoe caught in the netting. POPS TO THE RESCUE.

Wait until you see how he got in there!

And then, consequently, OUT of there!



This opening was literally about knee high.

Good Ol' Pops. He saved the day. And out he emerged with little tan espadrilles!!

And this happy monkey continued on her ascent!



Now THIS was FUNNY!! Hunter never changed his expression. AT. ALL.

This boy was wanting to WIN and was wanting to earn himself some tickets!!


Madi and Ellie were at the table taking care of busieness. Ellie was helping Madi open her gift from us. These two are kind of all about Hello Kitty stuff these days.. And Gabbi was loving her "precious" winnings from cashing in her tickets.



Ellie's tickets got her this awesome blue hair headband...which you can get at the Dollar Store. But, here, it only cost us about $20!

What. A. Deal!!

No matter, though, cause it was our fave cousin's fourth birthday....and there's only one of those!!


MO

13 comments:

Amy K said...

OK Mo, this was a bittersweet and emotional post...from smiles to tears and more smiles. Sweet, sweet Jake - and Staci - hats off to her for doing the hard stuff.

Happy Belated 4th Birthday to Madi!
Those are some awesome party hats. Such fun!

Blessings...

Zhohn said...

Of course I remember Jake loved Chuck E Cheese. Very proud of Staci, not sure I could have used his coins.
I laughed out loud at Pops! The things they do for the grand kids!

Sharidrew said...

Well, Happy Belated Birthday Madi!! I think we will be making a trip to Chuck E. Cheese for my son's 9th bday next month. I guess it never gets old! Proud of Staci! Bless her heart! It made me smile and cry all at the same time! And I too laughed out loud seeing Pops climb out of that small hole. Good thing she wasn't in the middle of that thing when she got stuck!

Thanks for sharing!
Hugs from Missouri,
Shari

Theresa Shirley said...

Hey, even if it's a belated post, at least you've got it to look back on! I think Staci did great with spending Jake's coins. I think whatever pace someone needs to take for those kind of things is just fine! Love that Gabbi is so thrilled with all the fun. She sure has a good Pops to come to the rescue! Not sure I could have crawled into that little bitty space..haha

kimybeee said...

okay, is it just me or is staci, don and pops getting thinner???

loved seeing hunter and hayden!!! they are so handsome and such awesome big brothers!!!

i thought jakie-poos coin purse attending the party was precious!!! and i don't think that keeping his things is weird, i think it is important to share things like that with the babies so they "know" jake like we do!!

pops to the rescue - he needs his own super pops cape lol

happy birthday maddi!!!!!!

snekcip said...

Happy belated birthday Madi!!! Love the bond btwn her and Ellie!

Oh how I remember that Sweet Jake and his love of CEC!! Oh and that little coinholder just about done me in.

Good job Pops! I would have never made it!!

snekcip said...

Happy belated birthday Madi!!! Love the bond btwn her and Ellie!

Oh how I remember that Sweet Jake and his love of CEC!! Oh and that little coinholder just about done me in.

Good job Pops! I would have never made it!!

Mary said...

That's just sweet all around! Looks like a great time!

Auntie Mip said...

Oh Mo and especially dear sweet Staci...there is NO right or wrong when losing a child to cancer is involved. I think it is just precious that Staci and Don saved those prized tokens of Jake's and how beautiful to share them with Jake's baby sister! God bless the Massey Raborn Groves family as they continue to move forward in a world with our their beloved Jake Owen.

connie said...

oh mo i love blog of madie's birthday party you all remembering jake too how bitter sweet that was i cant imagine how you all felt that night im sure jake was smiling down on you all that night singing happy birthday to maddie up there in heaven. im sure he got all the angels up there to sing too. i love all the pics too looks like yall had a wonderful time the kids looked like they was having a blast i love birthday partys.. tell maddie happy birthday from me i know it is late well have a great week mo

Marlo said...

I recently found one of Anna's coin purses with two dollar bills in it. I gave it to another little girl named Anna who was in the hospital fighting cancer. Her mom doesn't know me since I gave it through a mutual friend so it wasn't weird for her--just one of those things I was "ready" to do. Baby steps!

Renee said...

My boys are way past the Chuckee stage, but what a fun place. Happy Birthday Madi

Beth E. said...

Happy birthday to Madi! Looks like y'all had a grand time. LOVED seeing Hunter and Hayden. They're so grown up now...don't know that I would've recognized them!