A Few Magical Details.....

Thanks to my sweet friend Nicole for reminding me that I FORGOT to share the image of Paige's party invitation!  It was the inspiration for the whole party and really got my imagination and ideas where I wanted to be!!  My dear friend Chelsea found about 6 amazing options on Etsy and this was both of our favorite!!

I wish you could read all of the words and quotes!!  I had her add the Mad Hatter quote on the back and also a quote from Alice that reminded me of Paige.  "Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast." Alice 

This is a sweet quote but if you really think about it, isn't it something we all want to instill in our children??  I definitely do.  I want our girls to always reach for the stars and have us behind them cheering and telling them with hard work and determination, you can accomplish anything.  That is exactly what Alice meant and did! 

The Mad Hatter quote reminds me of how I want our home to feel.  Its a little dramatic but I want our home to always be fun and exciting for our friends, family, the girls and their friends.  The Mad Hatter worked very hard to make sure everything was wonderful!  Ok, enough over analyzing Alice in Wonderland...clearly I love the movie...

After seeing the invitations in person in all their grandeur and delicious paper, I decided white envelopes would never do so I ordered Kraft Paper envelopes.  LOVE them!  I also found hand cut/glittered Queen of Hearts envelope seals that I ordered.  This is a little more than I would normally do but the invitations really deserved some special touches!  If any of you are ever looking for an invitation for a special occasion, let me know and I will send you her info!  She even has an option to buy the image from her for your invitation for a very small fee then you could print your own for much cheaper.  I have heard war stories with people who have done this and it ends up as expensive as custom order by the end and doesn't look as good but I think if you are qualified and have good printing equipment, it could be done for very cheap!!  I am a bit of a paper snob and also lack the equipment and knowledge to print out my own invites to this caliber.  So for my special occasions...we will go with custom printing!

Here are a few fun things we served and links to the recipes.  I was a HUGE fan of all of them and will be making everything again! 

Drinks

Homemade Peach and Strawberry Soda (I saw Giada make this several months ago on her show for a children's party and knew we must have it!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/peach-and-strawberry-soda-recipe/index.html

Peach Tea

Snacks

Fruit Tray and Janet's Apple Brickle Dip

Veggie Tray and homemade Ranch

Grown-Up Food

Avocado Chicken Salad w/ avocado dressing (a friend of a friend writes this food blog that is divine! If you like to cook, you must check it out!!  Beautiful layout, lovely gal and most importantly, divine recipes!) Looks like she credits Paula Deen for this creation.

http://thelittlekitchenthatcould.blogspot.com/2009/08/avocado-chicken-salad-with-avocado.html

Black Bean and Corn Salsa w/ blue corn flax tortilla chips

Kiddie Food

PB&J Sammy's

Alphabet Cheezits

Treats

Cake Balls (another Paula Deen delight!) I promise this is the easiest and best cake ball recipe out there!! 

http://www.smithfield.com/recipes/recipe/paulas-cake-balls

Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Balls (Paula Delight!--saw her and her grandkids make these awhile back...Fabulous and soooo easy!!)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/crispy-rice-cakes-recipe/index.html

I can't wait to make these rice crispy balls again for Halloween and Christmas!! Just a change of the sprinkles and they are perfect for any holiday!!  Even your fave sports team for a football party.  In fact, adults loved these more than kids.  I honestly had no intentions of trying them because they just seemed silly...I promise the only silly thing was me almost NOT trying them!  Soooo good and I don't even like sweets that much.  The cake balls are a little more labor intensive but were so good and so worth the 3 day process.  After making them a few times now, I can understand why bakeries charge over a $1 a piece for one bite of cake.  If I made them for a living, I would charge $15 a piece!!!  They are a labor of love...only make them for those you really love--you know, unless you just like spending 3 days on a recipe! 

The After Birthday Fun...

After Paige's birthday we were all exhausted.  It was a full out busy weekend!  Family in town, Tyler had friends in town for his 10 year reunion, his parents leaving town so lunch with them on Sunday and I had plans with some great friends before they leave for one of their weddings!!! Sniff Sniff, I wish I were going!!!  Paige slept for 15 hours straight from 4:30 pm on Sunday to 7:15 am Monday morning!!!  Here is a montage of photos from that time period!

As you can probably tell...she fell asleep in her carseat while we were running errands.  Then I just laid her in my bed and I watched TV while she napped.  When I realized at dinner, after prodding her to wake, that it wasn;t happening--I called in daddy to do the dirty work.  You can see how tough he is can't you??  I married a real tough guy!  He picked her up...she stayed dead asleep--then he let her curl up on him!  I called in pizza and subs and we took turns eating.  I don't believe in eating in bed under ANY circumstance!  Gross! Crumbs in your sheets???  I let Tyler know I was pregnant (as if he needed reminding) and that I would not participate in staying up all night when she woke (even though I don't have a paying job outside the home).  Luckily for all of us, she slept til 7 am!! 
After the great rest, we had plenty to do on Monday!  The house was clean because I scrubbed the day before but we had to organize toys and write thank you notes!!  As I wrote, Paige would model all of her new things!  It was SOOOO fun and she kept reminding me of myself!  I love trying on new things and showing them off and I love seeing her do it!  Even if she changed 800 times in one day...

Something about this one makes my heart melt...I love her face and how excited she was to get a package in the mail from 2 of her out of town besties!!  Thank you Leah & "Natawie"

 New sunnies!

 First dress up clothes!!!!

 "Mom, I can't take a picture in a bikini without sunnies?! Thanks Buffy & Hudson!!!"

 "Now Paige, baking in sunglasses might make you look cool, but nothing good happens in the kitchen with sunnies on, I assure you!"

 LOVE this face and this gift!!!  I think I have blogged about Paige's love for bikes and in particular our neighbor who is a cyclist!  His wife made her the most adorable gift! This shirt and a "Neighborhood Watch" shirt with binoculars!!!  She did her best neighborhood creeper face for this photo:)

And here are just a few more from the weekend of Paige, me and baby bump at 23 weeks!

Someday I will have Tyler take a decent photo instead of always trying to take my own photo...

 Soaking away all of the birthday goodies!!!!!!

 Looking so much like mommy we think!

And Just Like That...She Was Two

This beautiful photo was taken before our beautiful girl even had a legal name!  The most perfect little person I have ever seen.  I remember this day like it was yesterday...but somehow two years have FLOWN by and soon we will be taking this photo of her baby sister!  She still looks exactly like this when she sleeps and even though we thought we were completely full of love for her then, it has grown each and every day since then just like she has grown! 

She is learning and changing so much!  She knows all of her ABC's, lots of colors and well on her way to counting to 10!  I really feel like I was 4 before I knew most of that??  Must be all the vitamins in milk these days:).  She has been mostly potty trained for about a month now and the past 2 days NO accidents and only a diaper at nap and bed time!!!  Her doctor was VERY impressed and so are we!!!  She tells me each morning diapers are for babies not big girls!  HA!  She has even gotten over her fear of poo in the potty and has been taking care of business in her potty!  She knows about 10 songs by heart but the one I beam about the most is Jesus Loves Me...she always sings it quite loud in the grocery stores and old ladies always look at me like I'm the greatest mom ever!  She has memorized so many books so she can "read" them to herself.  It was bizarre when she started doing it because obviously she can't read but its super funny and impressive watching her go through the pages and by memorization and photo cues, she knows the words!!  She reads to her babies, Oscar and her baby sister!  This morning she was telling her baby sister about a bible story and was talking about Jesus.  She then talked about Joseph and Mary, looked at me confused and asked if Joseph stinks.  I hope your laughing...I couldn't stop.  I also didn't really know what to say.  "Well Paige, I haven't ever smelled Joseph but I don't think he stunk.  I haven't read anything that leads me to believe he was a smelly man but I also know there wasn't a big selection of soap or shampoo...lets just stick to he didn't though."  I love the questions she asks and how she wants to know about everything and details of how things work. 

Its amazing how SOON being a GIRL comes out.  She is dramatic, loves makeup, jewelry, accessories, taking fashion risks and playing with babies.  We call sunscreen "makeup" at this house so she will wear it.  She has her own deoderant and lotion because she is obsessed!  (She doesn't get to wear deoderant but likes to pretend putting it on).  She changes shoes 100 times before we leave the house all while saying "I do it myself!"  She loves her friends and mine and even if she hasn't seen someone for awhile she still asks about them and they turn up in her prayers out of nowhere. 

She loves food!  So very much like her mom and dad!  She will eat most anything but prefers home cooked food!  She gets spoiled with having a cooking mama!  Last night she came up to me and said "I want chicken, I want noodles, I want corn, please mommy!"  She doesn't eat a ton of bread or drink much milk but she loves crackers, cheese, yogurt, etc.  I was happy to know the doc doesn't much care which dairy she ingests as long as she gets some from some source each day.  I have also long practiced this ritual. 

At her two year appointment this week, she was 27 pounds and almost 36 inches tall.  50% in weight and 85% in height...seems like she is taking after mama's body!  Its so funny how tall and long legged she has seemed to us lately!  We LOVE it! 

We celebrated her birthday last weekend and it was a grand affair!!!  So many wonderful friends and family joined in on the fun!  We did a Mad Hatter Funky Tea party and it turned out great even with the scorching heat!  Here are a few photos from the event!

 So happy her friends came to celebrate with her!!

Our dining room transformed to Paige's Wonderland!!  Balloons, sunglasses, rice crispy balls, cake pops and homemade fruit soda! 

 
Paige blowing out her candle from her chocolate coated peanut butter rice crispy ball! Oh these are divine!!
 
Hudson & Abigail sporting the super fun sunglass favors!

 Checking out some of her new toys!!

 Mommy and Baby Gaga relaxing after the festivities!!

 I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for us!!! 

Overflowing Love & Thankfulness

Last night, on the eve of Paige's 2nd birthday, we laid in her bed like we always do singing songs, saying prayers, thinking of all of our family we love and miss I was also reflecting on the prayers I would say asking our gracious Lord for a child.  I began telling Paige how hard I prayed for her and when Jesus was ready he gave her to me.  Then every day as she grew in my belly how I prayed she would be a healthy happy baby, full of love and life. I told her I still pray every day over her and I haven't let one day go by without thanking God for her and now for her sister.  A lot of times we pray for things and are so thankful when we get them but soon stop appreciating the miracle of an answered prayer.  I am guilty of this with a lot of things but never with my children.  I explained to Paige the importance of prayer and the equally importance of thankfulness.  She has such a big heart and is so sincere.  I love how genuine her prayers are and the people, things and animals she prays over. 

A good friend of mine said "I'm so filled with love for my children that I feel like I could literally explode."  That is exactly how I feel and sometimes I look at Paige and have to hold back tears because I literally feel like I could explode with love for her. 

Children are the most beautiful, perfect expression of God's love for us.  It should never be taken for granted.  I pray every day for the women who long to be mothers that the Lord will bless them with this precious gift in His perfect time. 

As we celebrate two unbelievably wonderful years as parents to the greatest gift God has ever given us, I am reminded of all of the answered prayers already with this child.  Thank you, thank you, thank you Lord for blessing our family with Paige and answering our prayers for her.  We will work every day at being the best parents and role models for her and will never lose sight of what an incredible gift she is to us. 

We love you so much Paige all the way to the moon and all the way back! We are so proud of you and thankful for you!!!  Happy 2nd birthday precious girl!!!

Time Flies....When You Are Raising a Toddler!

I can't believe I am more than halfway done with this pregnancy!  Holy Moly!  I have a lot to accomplish before this bundle of lovin' arrives!!  I feel great and have so much energy!  Second trimester is like being young, vibrant and in the best shape of your life...well, besides being slightly inproportioned:). 

Time flies a lot quicker when you are pregnant and caring for a mini person that's for sure!  I think about the little baby often and love HER so much but I am not as "obsessed" as last time.  I guess for one, its less scary this time since I kind of know what to expect and everything has been going great so far and just like last time.  For two, Paige keeps me very busy!  She appreciates a lot of attention and activity in her life and I gladly give it!  For three, just like last time, I have a laundry list of things to accomplish before she arrives!  Since Paige came three weeks early, I am using caution and have set a timeline of completion for projects by November 15th.  That is less than 4 months away people!!!  Here is my agenda for the next few months (I will also include my current challenges for at least humerous purposes):

*Get Paige & Baby Sis's swingset built (trying to find someone that will build it for less than $400!!)

*Master Bedroom renovation completion (mattress ordered and need to hang drapes and accessories-also looking for the perfect chest but not in any rush for that-still own my old one and it serves the purpose-want the perfect piece so I can wait)

*Girls' room redo-not too many major changes in here--we love this room!  Just adding a big girl bed that belonged to paige's great-great grandmother!  Isn't that precious?!?!  Janet and I will work on bedding for the little munchkin and probaby make accessories for Paige's bed.  A little re-organization of toys and furniture will also be in order. 

*Powder Bath gut!  I already have the design complete and cash in the bank to pay for this project!!!  BUT I am waiting on the contractor I want to use.  Me no like to wait when I have a plan and $$$$$.  But good things come to those who wait but I am oh so excited to have a clean, fresh bathroom!  I hope he breaks free soon!

*Hall Bath redo-I have a general idea of what I want to do in here but not an exact plan yet.  Need to finalize plan and as soon as powder bath is crossed off, we will move on to this bathroom.  Hopefully two out of three bathrooms will be renovated in our house before baby girl comes!  Our master bath will be last because we forsee it being the most expensive since we want to expand it and move plumbing.  The other two are just clear out and put back together.  I CAN"T WAIT!!! 

*Family room furniture-we have been talking about changing the furniture in this room since we moved in.  We know what we want BUT our d-o-g thinks its his furniture so until we have him 100% off no new furniture!  Hopefully by Christmas we can have this room done.  I can handle a few sofa deliveries after my babe comes:). 

*Tyler plans to replace all of the interior doors and knobs as soon as it cools off and we have some tree plans for the outside this fall.  Hopefully since my new addiction to gardening, I will actually plant tulips this year-Tyler's fave flower! 

For those of you that have been pregnant, you know all about these mad plans for your life, especially home before baby comes!!  For those of you that don't have kids--you probably think I am insane!  I can't wait to start crossing items off my list!  Hopefully the master and the playground get crossed off in the next week! 

I looked for a pic of myself at 21 weeks from last time to compare to this time but it looks like I took a week off so here's how Baby Girl is looking on the oven these days....

21 Weeks!!  She is kicking and squirming and loves for Paige to tell her stories!!  Paige keeps begging to "go see Christmas" because I keep telling her Sissy will be here by Christmas!  Also, Boppy and Grandma will be here and she is obsessed with them!  She will be here before we know it!

               

Herb Garden Update Photos!

So the herb garden I put in back at the beginning of April has done SOOOOOO well!!!  In fact, it is by far the most successful and beautiful flowerbed I have ever done.  *That second part doesn't actually mean a whole lot since my gardening experiences are fairly limited BUT I am soooo excited!!  I have dabbled in gardening for the past 4 years since Tyler and I have been married but not until this year have I finally got it kind of figured out. 

We both love this flowerbed so much and even if everyone on the planet thought it was ugly, we would still be soooo happy with it!  To me, it looks like a professional did it!  Probably because I love herbs and the color combination turned out so beautiful!!!  It smells soooo good in the mornings and in the evenings!  The greatest part is 75% of this flowerbed is perennial, meaning these friends will be coming back for FREE next year!! 

Janet bought me a basket of petunias last year for Mother's Day and I fell in LOVE with them!!  They have the best colors, bloom so long, grow and spread so much and are pretty tough cookies!  They like a lot of water but if you are lazy skip a day or two on watering, they will forgive you!  They don't come back but are super cheap and a tiny little plant goes a LONG way!!  If you don't remember how small this garden started, go visit my original herb garden post!  This was by far the easiest one I have put in with the most reward!  I love how the purple ruffle basil is flowering right now and the lavender is getting its flower shoots!!  My jalapeno plants are starting to produce jalapenos and the petunias are just cascading over the bricks! 

I have another flower bed that isn't all finished...my original plant scheme just didn't work out...these things happen!  Just like when you bring home an ugly rug...gotta start over.  BUT what I DO love are the Denver Daisies I planted!  Next year I will buy lots more of those and fill in that area.  I love the golden yellow with huge brown centers.  They are plenty tall enough to stand out against my monkey grass border.  We have had a serious weed and grass invasion in this area so we have focused on getting it under control before adding anything else.  I think we've finally got it! 

Sweet Memories~!

Today is Tyler & my four year wedding anniversary!!!  It seems like just yesterday we were planning our wedding and our life together and here we are four years later and we couldn't be happier!  Here are some highlights of what we have been up to the past few years:

2007

Our Wedding! 

Honeymoon Staycation to renovate the house I owned that Tyler moved into and we made a home! 

New wood floors and a completely renovated bathroom got us on our way:)

Tyler gave me an early Christmas present, after MUCH research, we brought home our furry son Oscar-a Doberman Pinscher.  He is our first pet (and son) and he filled our hearts and home with so much love and messes!!  We have learned so much from him and about ourselves since being on this journey "raising" him!! 

We began our legacy of "Party Throwers Extrordinaire" by hosting "The Classy Christmas Party 2007"!  It was AMAZING!!!  Valet parking, amazing decorations, food, drinks, party favors, fancy clothes, and literally over 150 people joined in on the fun!!!   

2008

LOTS of fun stuff!!!

Las Vegas with some of our very best friends to celebrate their upcoming wedding!!!  It was one of THE BEST girls trips I have ever gone on!  So much fun and such a GREAT Vegas experience!  The guys had a blast too!!

CHICAGO for a work conference...luckily hubs and I "have" the same profession so we enjoyed a mostly free trip to an AMAZING city!!  I am obsessed with summer in Chicago! 

Lots of weddings!!  We traveled to Houston for one of my very best friends wedding, stayed at The Houstonian-fabulous!, and went to an Astros game.

We officially SOLD our home and became home-less!  Well, not quite that dramatic...we moved in with Tyler's parents until we could find the PERFECT home! 

We celebrated our FIRST anniversary at a Bed & Breakfast and it was wonderful!

We purchased the most special house!!  A 1955 Ranch home that just needed a little (okay, a lot) of TLC!  We blew out walls, floors, kitchen, wallpaper and started putting it back together!  From the moment I stepped into this house I knew it was "the one"!  We moved in just in time for Thanksgiving!

My grandparents came to be with us for Thankgsiving!!! I LOVED having them with us but am so thankful for all the time with them because my grandpa passed away this past Christmas.  He loved Tyler so much and I am so glad he got to see how well I am taken care of:)

CHRISTMAS!  This was a super exciting time!!  My parents lived in Germany at the time I spent a little over 2 weeks with them and was kind of sickly feeling throughout the trip (mainly in the plane).  But it was a SUPER amazing time and I can't wait to go back to Europe with our family! 

2009

January 3, 2009 We found out I was pregnant with our FIRST child!!!  No wonder I felt so crummy on that plane!!!  I took 2 tests before I left--both negative!  We were absolutely, positively thrilled!  I told Tyler at 3 am (he was more thrilled when it sunk in the next morning after coffee:) ). 

We hosted a party to announce the sex of our baby!!  The first party in honor of PAIGE!!!

We hosted our FIRST Kentucky Derby Party!!

Tyler ran his FIRST half marathon!!

LOTS of house projects including the most beautiful nursery, landscaping, cleaning, on and on...

Several amazing baby showers where we received more gifts than you could ever imagine!!! 

We celebrated our SECOND anniversary by taking a long weekend trip to Dallas and staying at the Mansion at Turtle Creek.  I HIGHLY recommend it!  We felt like royalty!  We shopped, ate a lot, were lazy and just had a great time!! 

My bod was stretched to unbelievable limits!!!!!!!!!!!  Tyler and I looked at this pic the other day and were dying laughing!!  There was only ONE baby in there, I DO NOT have one tiny stretch mark and everything went back to normal after...if that doesn't prove their is a God nothing will:) Enjoy this one...

Our first child/daughter was born!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh Heavenly day!!  Our lives were transformed by her!  Our hearts grew out of our chest and our thankfullness reached immesurable heights!

Our first holidays as parents!  Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas was soooo much more fun!!

We spent Christmas in Las Vegas with my parents and it was Paige's first flight!  Now she is a VIP flyer:)

2010

We mainly spent ALL of our time loving our sweet little girl!  Taking thousands of pictures of her...

We went back to las Vegas with my brother and he got to meet Paige!

Our Second annual Kentucky Derby Party!!

Our home was hit by a major hail storm and Tyler's beloved Tahoe was TOTALED! 

Our FIRST family vacation to Vail, Colorado!  We had a wonderful time!! 

We celebrated Paige's first birthday!

We went to Dallas so Tyler could go to the Colonial golf tourney and we made it a little family weekend getaway!  SOOO fun!

I went on my FIRST mini vacay away from Paige on a girls trip to LA!!  SOOOO fun with some of my bestest friends! 

Tyler and I went on our first vacation together without Paige!  We went to NYC with John-Mark and Tiff and it was unbelievable!!  So much fun and I can't wait to go back when its warm:)

2011

We went to Austin so Tyler could run his second 1/2 marathon!  Such a great trip staying with my bestie Beth!!

Tyler had a work trip to San Antonio so he brought Paige and I along and it was a blast!  Some of our best friends Jeff & Jonice went also with their son so we got to swim, enjoy Sea World and SHOP!! 

Did I mention we found out we were expecting our SECOND little baby ?!?!?!  Paige is DYING for a sibling!!!! 

3rd Annual Kentucky Derby Bash!!! 

We spent 2 weeks in Las Vegas with my parents golfing, resting and celebrating another one of my dearest friends bachelorette party!! 

We found out we will be having a healthy, beautiful baby girl!!!  We are so excited Paige will have a sister! 

Obviously these are just a few highlights of the past four years and all of the wonderful, exciting things that have happened in our marriage.  We are so thankful, so blessed and so incredibly happy!  I love this journey that this growing family is on together and I look forward to so many more wonderful memories ahead!  I am so thankful to be married to a man that loves me so much, is the best father I could ever dream of having for my children and takes such good care of all of us!  My favorite place on earth is being right where Tyler, Paige, Oscar and Sista Baby are!  They are my life and my heart!  I pray that my girls find husbands that are like their daddy someday in the distant future!  

Thank you Jesus for the best four years of my life and I look forward to so many more with this incredible family you blessed us with!!!!!!!   

(Envision here a picture of Tyler, Me, Paige, Oscar and my belly.  Someday all of us will be in one photo...)