Thanks for coming!

Oops! Forgot one pic---here are the favors that we gave out. Do you think Mommy had slightly more fun than the birthday girl??????????????? :)

Princess Birthday Party

Well, the 3 year old birthday is officially done! We had AM's "princess" party this weekend complete with all the trimmings, and I must say we had a really fun day! The weather was perfect, and we got to visit with so many buddies and family. I just wish I could rewind and take it all in again as just a bystander! :) Here are many shots---some random and out of order, but you can imagine...

The "neds" as we call them in my family...


Our little family (pre-party)


The spread for the kiddos


AnnMarie with 2 sets of her great-grandparents (what a blessing!)


The sandbox (aka "Ariel's Treasure Trove") was a big hit!


Some of our 2/3 year old buddies munching on some grub (Charley, Karoline, Betsy Grace, Watson)


Kid snacks (Fairy Godmother's magic wands)






Carson really liked the princess hopper---better look for a boy version, Miss Holly!


AM in action at the soccer kick


Mommy and my little "baby" girl :) (sorry about the sweaty prego hair!)


Bounce house jumping time!


After the party, the Rackers stayed so we could have a good visit. They were so sweet to drive all the way from Mckinney! (of course princess #1 and #2 were inseparable!)


Our little party stations...






Snow White's "dwarf" soccer


AM proudly displaying her face paint! (Thanks, Caroline, for being our makeup artist!)


Blowing out the candles...


I'm 3!


Riley is her best buddy


After the party we opened all the presents---Uncle Lukey's tinkerbell dress was one of AM's favorite gifts! Can you tell by the giant smile???


Thank you to all of our friends and family who came to celebrate and help us out! Here's to a fabulous year ahead! :)

To all the moms out there who frequent this place...

You will love and relate to this song... :) (Don't forget to pause the blog music!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So in honor of this random holiday, I thought I would start something that my friend, Holly, does with her daughter's artwork. She takes pics of it and posts it to her blog every now and then. I am a clutter nazi so I love to find ways to "save" things without "saving them". :)

AnnMarie called it her "car-leaf flover". so sweet

Happy 3rd Birthday, AnnMarie!

Wow! My baby is thaaaaaaareeeeeeeee! (as she says) ;) I can't believe it. What an amazing blessing to experience another birthday with your child. Yet another wonderful year we've had together!
As I sit down to write this I am not crying (believe it or not!) because I think I got most of it out this morning. (more on that later) We had a great day today, and AM felt very loved!

A look back at this day for the past 3 years...
Right after she popped out! She was the most beautiful newborn to me. She was my greatest accomplishment! Ah, how my life would change...


Her first birthday...Looking back I thought I had done it all, but now I know that it was just the tip of the iceberg!


At her "two for tea" party. This picture cracks us up. (and I guess I was running around so much that day that I never got just a straight shot of her sitting and smiling---well, I guess that's easier said than done with a two year old!) I had too much fun planning this party...


So here's how our first day of being three went down...

We started out bright and early with a trip to Shipley's for a kolache and pink donut with sprinkles. (here's where the crazy crying prego mother comes in) As I was placing our order at the window, I, for some reason felt compelled to tell the lady that it was AM's bday. Boom. The tears came. Soooooo emotional!!!!!! I could not keep them in. Good news is that she threw in a free donut. :)


I promised AM we would make a "princess" cake together---you know the one---totally cheesy with a Barbie sticking out of it. That's right. Well, I did it===trying to win the "mommy of the year" award. Here's AM working on the cake.


While the cake was cooling we got a visit from our buddies, Caleb and Mabry (and Ann). AM loves playing with Caleb so it was a treat for all of us!


While I thought it would be a great idea to take pictures of the cake "mid-completion", I now realize that there are a lot of jokes that could go along with this one. :) Baby brother, it's fine for sissy to have a Barbie cake, but you better not ever have a clothes-less fully developed woman jumping out of yours. Moving on...


I thought this would be all me doing the decorating, but boy, was I wrong. AM was very interested in decorating as you can tell by her concentration in this pic!


AM's decorating...(is it bad that I asked her to focus on the "back"?)


Tada!!!!!!! The finished (very amateur) product! The birthday girl gave strict orders to only use PINK so that is why Barbie (I'm sorry, Sleeping Beauty,---I was corrected) has no contrasting colors in her gown.


Tonight we went over to J & J's for dinner to celebrate. We had so much fun with them as always, and AM got to practice pushing around Baby Brooks's stroller. Oh the poor thing has no idea that he has a mother hen cousin waiting in the wings!


Our family for now. Little missy is SO proud of the cake. Hilarious---one thing to remember with kids---the gaudier, the better.


Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Here she is blowing out the candle!


She got to open some presents from J & J. Aren't those gold sandals so cute? I want some in my size! Thank you Uncle Josh and Aunt Julia!


To top of the night, we all watched American Idol together. AM was really getting down on Anoop's version of "Beat It". Girl after my own heart lovin some MJ!

What a great day, what a great daughter, and what a great life. Thank you, Lord!

Divine Consign

Last weekend we went up to McKinney to stay with the Rackers for one of my favorite HUGE consignment sales in the metroplex. Holly and I (and a bunch of other friends up there) love going every spring and fall to stock up on goodies for our babies. You can check it out at Divine Consign
Anyway, we had a great time as always (Holly and I love the hunt!), and it was so good for my soul to see my old friends.


I was so sad I didn't get a pic with Holly (she got to shop a little earlier than the rest of us), but here are the Bobbsey twins in full dress up gear. I heart little girls!



This is a pic of Whitney, Erika, and I with all of our loot. Erika and I are both prego, and Whitney just had #3 a month ago. We did good!


Yes, I did get a few duds for baby brother. It was so weird heading over to the boy section, but I think it was good for me to start thinking BLUE! :)

Seeing the Zoo with Mommy

Since I found out I'm pregnant, I've been savoring my days that are just AnnMarie and me. A couple weeks ago, we had a day all to ourselves with no plans, so we decided to go to the zoo. (one reason I love Waco! year long zoo pass, nicely kept up zoo, a quick ten minutes away, not crowded at all, plus bonus: it was beautiful weather and all the animals were showing off for us!)

AnnMarie playing on the snake at the play area.


Miss Priss does not like sun in her eyes----I'm surprised she didn't have her sunglasses on in this shot. She's always loved wearing them since she was teeny!


Here she is by the "Baylor bear", as she called him.


A daughter after my own heart...this is how she walked around for pretty much half the time. She couldn't handle the smells! :)

We had a great time, and even ended up bumping into another mommy and daughter. The only bad part about our little excursion was that we had a bad encounter with a bee while looking at the flamingos! :)
Side note---if you've seen my child, you've seen her in this outfit. I don't know what we'll do when this doesn't fit anymore. Seriously, she wants to wear it EVERY day. The good news is that we've gotten two years out of it. The bad news is that she wears it all the time!!! ah! Anyway, Gamma, you picked out a good one! ;)

Late Vday shots

So better late than never...
This Valentine's Day Mom and Dad kept AnnMarie for us so we could have a real date! Of course she never minds going there because she isn't spoiled at all... :)


Here is little miss at her MDO Valentine's party. Sugared up and ready to go!


Our playgroup had a little Vday get together, and here is AM getting some love from sweet Betsy Grace.


Here's our best attempt at getting the entire group together for a shot. Pretty good!


And don't you ever wonder what it looks like on the other side of the camera? Well, here you go!

Something changes when you become a mommy!