Saturday, February 23, 2013

Valentine's Day

Sweet Allie got to go on her first Valentine's date with her daddy this year.

Chick-Fil-A does this amazing 'Daddy Daughter Date Night', and it was
just the perfect thing for Adam and Allie to celebrate Valentine's Day.


They got all dressed up, and went to meet some friends of ours for their big date night.



The best part of their date night...{drumroll}...Horse-drawn carriage rides! What?!




Allie and I made heart-shaped pizzas for Valentine's lunch.
{While she, of course, wore a princess dress and mommy's necklace.}



Bubba wasn't a pizza fan, so he had a good old hot dog.



One of my very favorite mommy duties is getting things ready so that my kids wake up to
exciting, special goodies on holidays. This was our Valentine's morning spread.




We bought Peter Pan for one of the kids' gifts, and had a movie night
with pallets on the floor. So fun! Love these little memories!


One of my little Valentine's. Love her, and I love that I'm teaching my kids
to make these "little" holidays fun and special just like my mom and grandmother taught me.


She's 3!


Our Allie girl is 3! 
And she wanted nothing more than to have a Princess Party.


So that's exactly what she got. 

Now, before I had kids, I had a lot of "famous last words". Some of which included, "I'll 
never be that mom that throws character-themed, Party City birthday parties. Blechk."

While I really would LOVE to be the mom {that some of my friends are}, and throw
Pinterest-perfect birthday parties with handmade everything, professional
photography, and all the things that would reflect back on ME exactly as I'd like them to...


I've learned that these sweet little parties aren't for me; they're for my babies.



So, while I do my best to make them fun and cute, I have to be sure that the ultimate goal
is for the birthday girl or boy to have the most special, fun, memorable party possible.

That said, I have to throw a little bit of creativity in there somewhere!




My brother's amazing fiance happily agreed to do some whimsical
face-painting for all of the little birthday guests.

I'm pretty sure that by the time all was said and done, Allie had designs painted
on both cheeks, both hands, and both arms. Safe to say she was a fan of the face-painting.


Allie requested to be Belle for her party. Of course. The princess dress we didn't have.
You just try going in search of any specific toy-related item the week after Christmas and
see how much success you have. Finally, on the 4th store, I found one. {Thank you, Jesus!}

She also wanted "princess hair". Not sure what her definition of this was, I
figured adding glitter and sparkles would do the trick. I think maybe I'll save the
glitter spray for the next time we're having a tough day. Maybe some mother/daughter princess hair
would lift our spirits a bit!




 Probably the most urgent request of our soon-to-be 3-year-old was a Cinderella cake.

My mom came through on this in an AMAZING way, as you can see.
She should definitely start a cake business. Not only are her cakes always
beautiful, they taste SO good!




Back for more paint... :)



 Even though it was the beginning of January, and half (yes, half) of her little friends
had to cancel on the day of the party, it was a fabulous success. I hope she will remember it
as a fun-filled, sparkly day in which she was loved, valued, and treasured.


A week before, we'd had a little family get-together for her actual birthday.




This girl loves her Grandpa.




One of my favorite party activities was making these tiny versions of her princess cakes.
It was so much fun, and she loved them!


As with every birthday, I cannot believe our girl is 3 years old. She is so full of life, passion, spunk,
love, compassion, and laughter. I wouldn't change a single thing about her. She has changed so much in the last year, and I love seeing the little girl she is becoming! God has great and wonderful plans for your life, sweet girl! I can't wait to see what they are!


Friday, February 22, 2013

{It's Been 2 Months Since...} Christmastime

Yes. This is me. Writing a Christmas post in February. Post-Valentine's day, even.

I decided at the beginning of this year that I really missed blogging, that it was an important part of me cataloging these days with my sweet babies, and a good creative outlet in a season in which it's hard to get out my fun craft projects. I decided that at the beginning of the year...and here I am, 7 weeks in, finally sitting down to act on it.

So...Christmastime. Here are the highlights:

About two weeks before Christmas, we took the kids to see Santa. We did a bit of research (shocking for us, I know) for Allie's first Christmas, and discovered that Downtown Fort Worth is really the greatest place to visit Santa Claus. It's only $7.00, and you can take as many of your own photos as you like. The only problem?

Santa was out sick. For real.


Our laid-back little man didn't mind. He was still up for
some photo op's for mama. How could I resist him in the little
plaid bow-tie? Come. On.

My sweet ones in their "Christmas Best".



Maybe it was all for the best. We got all (re) dressed-up a week later and gave it another go. Allie
was over-the-top excited...until it was her turn. Poor little punkin!

Do I have to go?

My two favorite boys waiting for Santa.

 Then came Christmas Day...and SNOW!

Our little Eskimo at Adam's Dad's house

 My sweet husband gave me his giant coat because I was freezing. Nice look, yes?

Wyatt wasn't a big fan of his first snowy Christmas.

He liked it a bit better when he wasn't sitting in it. (Can't say I blame 'em.)

These babies loved asking Daddy to "pwease make a big big fire" all season long.

Pretty things make me happy. I LOVED my 'Merry Christmas' banner joining
our little stockings on the mantle this year. Pretty sure it's here to stay.

Our Elf on the Shelf, Clark {Griswold}, returned this year!

Allie just *had* to stop and say hello to Rudolph every time we drove anywhere at night. (Luckily, he was in a yard just up the street!)

One of my favorite birthday gifts (a few weeks before Christmas): This beautiful monogram for our front door.

Christmas Eve jammies. I had visions of a perfect picture of these two under
the tree, but this was the best we could do. Love these crazies.