Brandon's 3rd Birthday Party

I cannot believe that Brandon turned three in March. It like blows my mind how quickly time has passed since he arrived. It is so cliche but I now understand why parents always say that kids grow in the blink of an eye. It truly does feel that way. I do my best to soak up each age as much as I can because I know that Brandon will be my one and only child (barring any surprises). 

I am definitely the type of person who makes a big deal about birthdays. I feel like they are mini-holidays for the birthday boy/girl (or ourselves for that matter) where you get to be and do whatever you please for that one day a year, without having to worry about what everyone else thinks.

We are lucky that we live in a home that has a huge backyard to host outdoor parties (land is scarce and expensive here since we are within a stone's throw to the beach). I didn't want to go overboard for this year's birthday like I have for Brandon's previous birthdays where we had 50+ guests.

We decided on a much smaller party this year since we will also be taking Brandon to Atlanta in April for his first Braves baseball game and a few other fun adventures. We kept the guest list under 20, mostly just family and a few very close friends. We enjoyed the warm, summer-like weather and had a cook-out with lots of fun and games. By fun and games, I mean, we all took turns taking the kids for a ride on the SpiderMan Quad and played some baseball with tennis balls in the backyard. 

It was a great way to end Brandon's birthday weekend!

Our Quickie Wedding

So, remember how I told you Nick and I got engaged during our cruise in November. Well, we were planning on waiting until Spring 2016 to get married and then decided mid-January to just go ahead and do it as we didn't want to wait until then. I mean, gosh, we had already been together 7 years, why wait? So, we didn't. We planned our "quickie wedding" in 2.5 weeks and got married on February 1, 2015 in Nick's parent's backyard. Yes, you read that correctly. 2.5 weeks to plan and execute a wedding! I like a challenge.

We kept it small, about 50 guests or so, mostly just family and very close friends. We didn't do invitations since this was a bit spur of the moment. Invites were via text and phone call. I know we upset some people that were not invited but this was more our style, low key and relaxed. It did rain a bit during our wedding, which was outside, but that didn't stop up from having a great time and in the end we ended up with some beautiful photography from some close friends of mine that do that kind of thing for a living. 

My handsome hubby

The Groomsmen - Ray, Nick, and Chris

The Bridal Party - Brooke, myself, and Hollie

I know that I am biased, but this child o' mine is one photogenic little guy. He helped walk his mommy down the aisle which I loved. I know we did things a bit out of order (kid first, marriage second) but I am so glad he was able to be apart of our big day to finally make our little family complete.

Our cakes were amazing. I found both toppers for the wedding cake and groom's cake on Etsy. We fashioned the Groom's cake after Walking Dead as we are huge fans.

Both of our immediate families were in attendance. Again, our families live very close by so it made it much easier to plan a wedding on the fly. 

Our officiant was actually our very close friend who Nick has grown up with and is really "Nick's brother from another mother" as he would say it. He got his officiant's license just to do our wedding.

"Uncle Jesse" as Brandon would call him. Our Wedding Officiant.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We actually had a fairly tame Christmas holiday. We did Christmas Eve dinner with my parents at our home and then spent Christmas morning opening presents with the little guy. Christmas afternoon was spent at Nick's aunts house and then Christmas night was spent at his parents.

We are so lucky to have our families so close, especially during the holidays. I love that Brandon gets to see his grandparents and cousins on the regular and hope it instills how important family is as he gets older. 

Funny story about this first photo...I posted this on Instagram on Christmas Eve and had someone that owns an online shop for girl's clothes extend an offer for Brandon to be a brand rep. I had to decline as he is obviously a boy. I think the hair throws everyone off. 

Please excuse the Gator basketball hoop in the background. House divided and all.