Waking Up Miss Sunshine

I love waking up to adorable baby sounds coming from the baby monitor next to my pillow. I have never ever ever been a morning person (ask anyone that knows me), but you can't help but get excited to hop out of bed when you hear your baby having baby conversations with her baby doll and stuffed animals. Combine that with a sweet little two year old voice saying, "Mommy, wake up!" and I can't think of a better way to start my days.

...and then there's the giggles and jibber-jabber that await me when I walk into the room as she introduces me to all of her bedtime friends. I've come to really enjoy my mornings :)

Read more...

So squishy

Oh she's so squishy, I could just eat her up! Those blue eyes and that red hair and that porcelain skin. My oh my, she takes my breath away.

...and she doesn't run away when I want to take her picture :)

I often sit and just stare at my babies, or if they're sleeping I stare at pictures of them, and I can't help but marvel at how amazing it is that they are mine. And how beautiful they are. We make cute kids, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I want to squeal with excitement because of how much I love my little girls, and sometimes I actually do. They are amazing, they are beautiful, they are so fun and quirky, and they are mine.

Read more...

Worn out

Getting ready to move is stressful, and tiring, and makes you want to just close your eyes and hope that when you open them all of the packing and cleaning and moving will have been done for you. (Believe me, I've tried that a few times but it hasn't worked yet...) I haven't started packing yet because, honestly, I just don't want to. But we have been trying to get everything else in order...

We bought a house. It's really cute and we are really excited about it. It's actually a brand new construction townhouse and we get to pick all of the colors and fixtures and everything. I think that's why I'm excited. We honestly weren't even looking at townhouses but then we found this one and it was an end unit for a great price so we had to jump on it. I'm really excited to see how it all comes together. We still own our AR house because honestly, the market is just not right for sellers, so we are renting it out. Between long-distance home shopping, getting our house ready to show potential renters, running a business, and keeping these adorable little girls entertained (so they wont make messes), I think we are all feeling like this:

It's hard to believe that this is all really happening so soon. When we first moved out to Arkansas we always had it in our plan that we would move back out west but it wouldn't be until Mike had a few years' work experience under his belt. Well, three years have come and gone and here we are, getting ready to leave our southern adventure and get back to our western roots. We are super excited but it's still hard to believe. As of right now, the big move date is August 8th. We'll have our official new-home walk through on the 10th and be Utah residents not long after that. Eek! When I actually see that all in writing it seems so much sooner than I keep telling myself when I sit on the couch and debate whether I should start packing or not...

Ready or not, 2 more weeks and we're off!

{I found this picture from a few weeks ago and had to post it here so I didn't forget.} When Emily was learning how to walk, the only way she would walk on her own (without holding our hands) was to do it with a bottle hanging out of her mouth. No joke, this is the only way she would do it. It was so funny. Maybe it helped her keep her center of gravity? I'm so grateful for photos and blogs that help to make sure I never forget the silly and quirky things our little girls do.

Read more...

Playing Doctor

Aren't our children's imaginations the greatest?!

Read more...

Strawberry Birthday Party

We threw a Strawberry Shortcake 1st birthday party for our sweet little red head. I personally don't care for character parties, so I knew I wanted to do a little something different but definitely have it all about strawberries. I found some really cute printables online, printed and cut them all out and then forgot to use them... I also made some super cute pink red and green ruffled streamers and never put them up because I ran out of time... but regardless, I think the party still turned out cute and everyone, especially the birthday girl, had a great time.

We started with decorating little pots that all of the little munchkins later planted seeds in. (Did you know that like nobody sells strawberry seeds. Everywhere I went, they looked at me like, seriously? why don't you just buy a plant? So they planted little white flower seeds instead.) You can tell how excited Emmie was to decorate, ha!

She really did do a good job though and really got into it. It was pretty funny. She was very protective of her little pot. Notice the concentration?

Then we played a bean bag toss game. Well, I'm not sure you could really call it a game, we really just had all of the kids line up behind "the line" and told them to throw. There was no order, it was pretty much a free for all, but if you made it into one of the baskets you got to pick a prize. The kids loved it. Emily sat this game out; I'm not so sure how 1yr-old-friendly it was... (Is that the appropriate use of a semi-colon? I never know when to use those things.)

Hanging out, looking bored while all of the bigger kids were playing games. But look how cute she is with her pursed lips and her crossed feet. Ooh, I'm her biggest fan for sure!

We had homemade strawberry cupcakes and chocolate ones too, topped with a strawberry Swiss meringue frosting. I made cute little strawberries out of marshmallow fondant and used those as cupcake toppers and then wrapped Emily smash cake in it too. I thought they all turned out pretty cute.

I made these little ruffled ribbon topiaries just for the party too. Mike said I was just being silly when I made these, but now they are up in Em's room and they look really adorable. I just adore anything with ruffles!

By the time her birthday party came around, Emily had already smashed/eaten a cake for her one year pictures and eaten cake on her actual birthday, so she really wasn't too excited about another cake... but she really liked the fondant strawberry on top and smeared that all over herself. She did end up finally taking a few bites and left just enough of a mess for a cute picture.

Then, she got a little carried away with the cake mess and ended up rubbing it all over her face, in her hair, and eyes... we had a minor melt down over that one. She loves playing in the sink though, so that brought her spirits right back up again.

After a quick little outfit change (it's a good thing I had multiple wardrobe options for the party), and a quick, fake cheese from her big sister (is there a stage that kids go through when they wont look at the camera anymore no matter how much you beg and bribe them? If so, Kylie's there), Emily opened some gifts from her friends.

Haha, and this was her obvious favorite gift.

Wow, they look so big in this picture! My (almost) 3 year old and my little 1 year old... sigh

"Seriously though, is someone going to open these for me or what?"

Happy Birthday, Em! Thanks for giving me a reason to throw a super cute, girly little party!

Read more...

The 4th of July

Our Forth of July was pretty dang awesome this year. We went out to Memorial Park where they were having a big fireworks show. I was nervous about how the girls would do since the show didn't even start until hours after bedtime, but they were great. (I'm always a worrier though...) We laid out our big festive blanket, threw on some light-up necklaces and glow bracelets and played until the fireworks started.

 Kylie practiced running faster and faster and bigger and bigger (as she would describe it).

When the sun went down we cuddled up close and watched the "big booms." Kylie thought they were a little too loud at first but then described them as, "My dream come true!" while holding her hands together under her chin and smiling up at the sky. (She really is a little princess!) Emily was amazed by the twinkling lights and didn't even seem to notice the overwhelming noise. She just sat and watched with her mouth wide open almost the whole time.

Mike and I laid next to each other on our blanket with our little girls cuddled up on top of us. You know those moments that you imagined years ago, before your husband or babies came along, and you wondered if life could really be that great? That was one of those moments. Laying with my family watching the fireworks on a warm summer night. I didn't even bother snapping any more pictures for the rest of the night because I just wanted to enjoy the moment and enjoy my family. It was a very happy 4th!


(Thank you point-and-shoot for doing a good job while the big boy sat this one out at home. True, I do not appreciate your low quality or blinding flash, but you are easy and portable and alot less likely to break when my crazy kids are climbing all over me. You done good, kid.)

Read more...

That's My Girl

If you've ever met Kylie, you know that she loves to be the center of attention. (Heck, if you've ever read our blog, you know that she loves attention. Ha!) While we were doing Emily's one year pictures, Ky was getting pretty antsy and kept asking if it was her turn yet. I told her to go put on a pretty dress and get a hair pretty and it could be her turn next. She came back with her favorite (jammie) dress, put her headband on all by herself, and said, "I'm reeeeeeeeaaddyyyyyyy!" while she curtsied and flashed her cutest smile.

Oh, man! 

(Doesn't she just brighten your day?) 

But she's not always so silly. 

She's a real sweetheart too and can make you completely melt.

How did I get so lucky?

Read more...

The One Year Old

Then and Now.

Kylie was not about to let Emily finish that cake all by herself.

Gosh I love my pretty little one-year-old!

 Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

[I got really tired of the blogger compression messing up my pictures so I uploaded everything from flickr. Can you still see the pictures???]

Read more...

Emily Grace is One

Happy Birthday to our fiery little red-head!!!

She really enjoyed her birthday cupcake.

Emily is growing up so fast! She's almost walking on her own. She takes a few steps and then chickens out and sits down and then just crawls. Her favorite thing to do is grab Mommy or Daddy's finger and pull us around the house while she walks.

She used to be so quiet and passive but lately she's been letting a little more of that inner red-head out and is a fiesty little thing. She is still sweet as could be and so super cuddly but she'll let you know if something is not to her liking. She jabbers all the time and loves to tell us stories. She says "Mama" "Dada" "Up" "nana" (banana) and I think she says "Milk" too. She likes to scream; not like crying screaming, just "listen to how loud I can scream" scream. And she always gives us the biggest, proudest smile after she lets it out. Our house is not very quiet anymore because Kylie likes to play that game too :)

Kylie is still her bestest friend. She loves playing with Mommy and Daddy, but no one can make her laugh as hard as Kylie can. Whenever Em gets sad, we ask Kylie to make her laugh. All she has to do is growl at her and Emily immediately starts laughing (even mid-cry). She especially loves dancing with her big sister. That's her favorite.

She's an awesome sleeper. We say our family prayers at 8pm, read a story together, then give her hugs and kisses, put her in her crib and she goes to sleep (Who knew it could be that easy?!) and she'll stay asleep until 7:30-8 the next morning. And she gives the best big hugs around my neck everytime I pick her up out of bed. It's as if she's saying, "I missed you, Mommy!"

She's lactose intolerant. She can only drink soy milk (and she drinks a-lot of it) but she still loves cheese and yogurt too. And I'm pretty sure she inherited my sweet tooth because she loves nilla wafers and sweet fruits.

She has 12 teeth. 12! I didn't know 1-year-olds could have that many teeth (and I think 2 more are on their way this week). Speaking of... she also really likes corn on the cob :) She get's really really excited and cleans of the entire cob whenever we have it for dinner.

She has lots of nicknames, including: Em, Em Grace, Emmie Grace, Emmie, Gracie, Emmers, Gracers, Lou Lou, Sissy, and Boo. 

Like I mentioned before, she loves to cuddle. If you lay down on the ground, she will crawl over and cuddle up onto your chest with a big smile on her face. She especially loves to cuddle with Mommy but is really starting to warm up to Daddy too . I always rub it in Daddy's face that she loves me more :)

She is so wonderful and makes us smile everyday. I'm so glad she came to our little family just one short year ago. Happy Birthday, Emmie Grace! We love you!!!

Read more...