371 Family, Friends, Happiness

We spent Saturday in Oxford, MS. My great niece is turning two, and we took the time to visit with our friends the Bergerons. We were supposed to start out early and meet Julie out at the Taylor Market, but the Jackson's are not known for early starts or punctuality. Luckily we could meet for dinner, but poor MollyB apparently had her heart set on seeing us early in the day :( I will try harder next time Molls! For some reason my kids have decided to sleep later in the mornings, not that I am complaining because I love sleeping late, but it means I will have to start setting an alarm if I want to get out early.
We did make it to Oxford early, which is good because we hadn't bought a birthday present yet. Sure, some people buy presents before they are about to go to a party, but we are not those people. We tend to swing in a store and get a really fresh present (which sometimes causes us to be late ... but hey, FRESH PRESENT). When truly late we have to buy presents later .... I still owe a present or two ;) But that is beside the point. Oxford has changed drastically since I was in college. Lucky for me it wasn't this commercial when I was in school. I ended up in debt enough with just a Walmart and a few rinky dink stores. As usual when shopping for birthday presents, my kids all the sudden get very needy and very whiney. They get so jealous! Well, Katie gets jealous, Connor just sees the way Katie is acting and joins in on the fun. So yeah, remind me next time to be one of those people that buys a gift in advance so I can go shopping without the kids. (yeah, I laughed too at the idea of shopping by myself)
Presley had a bubble party. All the decorations were adorable. My SiL Lauren painted the banners and a friend made the cake (there was a problem with the transfer of the cake. heat=melting cake, but it was so darn cute) And you can't beat the doordog. Chiefer is the best dog ever! He is as big as a miniature pony, and I am pretty sure that Connor wanted to ride him, but he made do with following him around and loving on him. Cutest little birthday party! We had a great time hanging out with the family. I met my niece's boyfriend, Parker, for the first time and we all adored him. He was wonderful with the kids. And by wonderful I mean he let them beat him up. Connor and Presley even managed to play together without bloodshed, thanks to my niece Tara convincing them to share. Yummy food, family time, and bubbles. It was wonderful. To top off a wonderful day we headed over to our friends' house. I say friends, though they are really more like family. We are so lucky to have a group of friends from college that fall into the category of family. Every moment with them is completely comfortable. Full of laughter and smiles. The kids act like idiots, and it is completely normal. Even better, the adults sometimes act like idiots. Thank you Bergerons for letting us keep you up a couple hours past your bedtime. I really needed the adult conversation and hugs!And I had to take pics of this perfect little apple the Bs had sitting on their table. They also gave me my Love Thursday contribution for the week, but obviously you will have to wait for that :)