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This is how Buggy decided to dress for Caroline's family birthday party.

Bathing suit- check

Smocked watermelon dress- check

Princess dress- check

Princess crown- check

Pink converse tennis shoes- check

What can I say? The girl has her own sense of style.

Parties

I have about 8 million things I need to post about but we are going to take it one step at a time.

Today we are discussing birthday parties.

Next year if I do two parties (friends then family), I will be sure to do those parties on two different days. Preparations were a bitch to say the least.

I was busy and forgot to take pictures. Thank goodness for my BIL and SIL. They rock.

We will begin with the invitation. It was done by Fern who also did my Christmas cards. She is awesome and I love working with her!


I highly recommend her for any of your invitation needs.

We had a princess brunch at 10am. It was our first party of the day.

Now, one to the party favors. Of course the little girls had crowns, necklaces, bracelets, wands, ring pops, and castles in their goodie bags. I also made each girl a little jar of fairy dust. Every princess has a special fairy, right? Along with the jar for fairy dust was this little poem:
"Take a pinch of fairy dust,
And sprinkle it around.
The fairies will take notice,
And dance round and round."



I found the little jars at Michael's for super cheap. I filled them with white glitter, put the cork back in, tied ribbon and TA-DA... Fairy dust!

The table was fit for little princesses. Mini spray painted flower pots held crayons because the children colored while parents fixed plates.



The margarita glasses actually held breakfast casserole. We looked everywhere for plastic parfait glasses and we could not find them anywhere. I settled for the plastic margarita glass.

I made all of the food (that had to be made). I totally forgot to take a picture of the food but here is the menu:

~ Cinderella's Cheesy Casserole served in margarita glasses- recipe to come later if you are interested

~ Gus's Cheese Platter- plate of cheeses, crackers, and grapes

~ Princess jewels- prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe

~ Royal strawberries- chocolate covered strawberries that Anna and I dipped ourselves. They were delicious!

~ Snow White's garden- Veggie tray

~ Princess Wands- pink dipped pretzel sticks complete with sprinkles

~ Bowl of watermelon balls and blueberries- I don't remember ever naming this dish

~ We had little huggies for drink complete with princess colored straws


Hopefully the children enjoyed their brunch. I know the parents did. I think some of the food was a little over the top for the 3-4 year old age group.


Anyway, after brunch everyone changed into their bathing suits. Dad rented a huge inflatable waterslide for the weekend. Before they started the waterslide, we sang happy birthday.


Caroline loved her cupcakes. She thought they were too cool. They were made my yours truly... Martha freaking Stewart. I found the crown wrappers and toppers at Michael's. I whipped up Paula Deen's deadly cream cheese icing (OMG! SOOO good!) and just used boxed strawberry cake.


The waterslide was a hit at the party with all of the children... except my own. Caroline cried and wouldn't go down. Emma did too.


(Reason #453,760 my child will need therapy... I made her go down the huge slide and land in a pool of water)


(This slide was more Emma's speed.)

After the waterslide, we opened gifts and said our thank you's and goodbyes.

It was an awesome princess brunch and I hope everyone had a great time.

At 5:30, all of our family members got together for dinner to celebrate Caroline.

Between parties, I had to make more cupcakes...


I also remembered to snap pictures of the snack table:



and the dinner lineup:


Snacks included:
~ Chips and french onion dip

~ Spinach dip and melba toast

~ Islander dip and wheat thins

~ Fruits

~ M&Ms

~ Goldfish

~ Cheese, cracker, and grape platter

Dinner included:
~ Hot dogs

~ Brats

~ Fresh corn

~ Potato salad

~ Pasta salad

~ Texas caviar- super easy and super yummy! 2 cans of black eyed peas (drained), 2 tomatoes diced, fresh minced garlic, a few tablespoons of chopped jalapenos (I use pickled because fresh are too hot for me), 1/2 red onion, green onion, a little green pepper, cilantro, and mix it all together with Zesty Italian dressing. Yumminess in a bowl!

~ All the condiments for the hotdogs and brats

We had a great time with family. I even got Anna to go down the slide with me!

We had a great weekend full of parties. Thanks to everyone (especially my Mama) for everything! Love you all!

cLt

(It is not often that I post such beautiful pictures of myself on this blog. For your birthday, I will. You might thank me one day.)


On this day, 4 years ago, you were born.

You came into this world with your eyes wide open saying, "Ok, world. I'm here. Now what?"

You also came into the world with a cone head due to the fact that mommy just couldn't get you out. I did my best though. It only took 52 minutes of pushing. You're welcome.

You've grown up with me and your Dad. I was 21 and Dad was 22 when you came into our lives. We didn't know how to change diapers, feed you, bathe you, etc. It was a learning process. Therefore pictures such as this exist...



I guess Dad thought you could hold your head up at 2 weeks old. Nice, right?

The first year few by. Amazingly you lived despite our inexperience and young age... by the grace of God I'm assuming. We kept you fed, bathed, clothed, and dry. SCORE!


And now, my sweet girl, you are four years old. You speak in complete sentences (on most days) and can write your name. Speaking of names, it isn't unusual for you to change your name to Lilly, Eloise, or even Pam.

Your independence is overwhelming at times. You must do everything by yourself. You have one more year of preschool and then it is big girl school time. I don't think your Dad and I are ready but we know you are. You can take care of yourself and you definitely will not let anyone stand in your way.

Thank you for making me a mom. You have taught me to do things I never thought I could achieve. I couldn't have been blessed with a more perfect daughter. Keep dancing through life and know that I am here for you always.

I love you,
Mom

Wish me luck. . .

Princess brunch at 10.

Family party at 5:30.

Hopefully everything is prepared and ready.

Wish us luck!

Sisters

As you can see, my blogging is slack in the summer months.

Having two children at home 24/7 with no break at all is... well, hell.

I miss preschool. I really do. Those three hours were so nice for both me and Caroline.

I have been a wreck all week.

Caroline doesn't listen.

Emma and the baba disaster.

Caroline's party is tomorrow. I'm still getting things together and trying to have everything organized.

I'm tired.

I need a date night. Just me and Ryan. It has been almost 8 weeks since out last date night. :-(

I'm off now to clean my house. It has been severely neglected this week.

Pray the parties go well tomorrow.

Cuties

Meet Maddox...


Evan...




The Smith's...

Baba Broke.

"Baba BROKE!" she screamed as milk spilt all over everything.

"MAMA!!! BABA!!!! BROKEEEEEEEEE!!!"

I said a million swear words in my head. My heart sank and then I began to pray. "Please God... if you love me... this will be fixable."

Yeah, no such luck.

Emma's bottle is broken.

Get a new one, you say? Doesn't she have more than one, you ask?

Here's a little background information. Yellow baba has been with us for as long as I can remember. Bug really took to this bottle and refuses to use any other one.

Ryan's mom even tried to be slick and buy her new bottles just like that yellow one. Smart Bug knew the difference.

She loves yellow baba.

She has used it until the plastic ring cap at the top is split in two different places. Yesterday, the ring around the nipple came apart leaving only the top portion of the nipple.

Last night was hell to say the least. She screamed and moaned and cried until 10:30. Of course we tried duck baba and butterfly baba... both of which got thrown across the room. She fell asleep and I did a happy dance. Then, she woke up at 3:30 this morning and screamed and moaned and cried until the sun started coming up. She eventually fell asleep and woke up after 9:30 this morning.

Tonight was a little better. She had a melt down and then Daddy swooped down the stairs to save the day. All four of us climbed in the big comfy king size bed upstairs and five minutes later everyone was asleep... but me of course.

Night two down. Hopefully it will only get better from here.

I was a little angry that the bottle broke but I know that God still loves me. He just enjoys seeing me squirm.

Excuse me while I go do my everyone's-asleep-finally-happy-dance.

Friday Randoms

1. We had a fabulous weekend (a little late I know). 4 days of the beach was awesome.

2. Saturday night we had dinner and Chefs 105. I had the most delicious burger topped with pominto cheese and bacon. It was amazing. The dinner was complete with an order of parmesan herb frites and a raspberry, white chocolate cremem brulee for dessert. I'm still thinking about the amazing meal almost a week later.

3. I played bunco for the first time last night. I played with a group of fabulous girls that I hope to get to know better in the next few months.

4. No more randoms to report. No pictures either... unless you want to see a yard Ryan is landscaping. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Hopefully a fabulous weekend is to come with lots of pictures.

Read it and weap.

Bug,

My sweet, sweet bug. Do you know that there are times that I have to contain myself from just squeezing you? You are the sweetest child I have ever laid eyes upon.

You are super laid back and so easy going that it is ridiculous.

You sport a mini ponytail in your hair now. When it is in your hair you act older. You act more like Caroline.

I love that you and Caroline can play together now. You can follow her directions (sometimes that is not a good thing) and you both get along really well.

What is even more amazing is how much you have grown. My little 2 lb. 15 oz. miracle baby is now potty trained. You tee-tee in the potty more than you tee-tee in a diaper.

I am beyond ecstatic. No more diapers in our future and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Do you know what else is amazing? Your strength.

When you were born, I knew you were a fighter. You were just a little itty bitty thing and you were breathing on your own. I was amazed and could not have imagined how you would amaze me in so many other ways too.

You stand up for yourself and fight for what you believe in. Even if all you believe in right now is "that toy is MINE". You still stand your ground and get what you want. I would like to think that that trait came from me.

You love your sister more than anything in this world. You never leave her out. She may forget you sometimes but you always take care of her. Always. It melts my heart.

Bug, you rock my socks every single day. You amaze me to no end. In a few years those crazy parents will compare children. They will talk about who can write their name at age 2 and who can read at age 3. I will look at them and say, "Well, my Bug was breathing on her own at 2 lbs. 15 oz. and could tee-tee in the potty at 21 months." Read it and weep losers.

My Bug is rockstar.

I love you,

Mom (you call me that now. No more "Mommy". You are too grown.)

lalala

Today, I had all intentions of blogging about our weekend and other exciting things. However, Caroline's birthday invitations took hold and I had to get them finished. I'll be showing the invite as soon as I get them mailed.

Caroline is so excited, she can hardly stand it.

So, now (it is actually Wednesday) I am off to bed with promises of blogging tomorrow.

Let me forewarn you though... I did not take one single picture this whole weekend. I have no idea what happened to me. We were busy and taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. So, sorry in advance.

Peace out.

Hay

Random updates

1. My doctor's appointment went well. The doctor said that the spot definitely looked abnormal but was pretty sure everything was fine. I will have final results in 7 days. Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

2. GNO was a success. We went to the Star Light Cafe. I had the Belgian Frites with garlic aioli, malt vinegar, and ketchup for dipping. They were delicious! For my meal I had an arugula salad topped with cantaloupe, tiny country ham slices and mint dressing. It was probably the best salad I've ever had. For dessert we headed to Your Perfect Cake for the best cupcake I've ever had. I inhaled it. It was butter cake with cream cheese icing topped with heath bar toffee pieces. So yum!

3. I was finally editing pictures and saw this one. I couldn't help but to laugh out loud! This picture is soooo her... up and down. Too funny!


4. We hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!

Bloggy Silence

What: Moment of Silence for Cohen

When: Thursday July 1st from midnight to 11:59 pm.

How: Bloggers participating will post the Cohen banner (above) or simply post Cohen’s name in large letters on their blog.

Why: July 1st Megan and Brent will be holding Cohen’s memorial service. The moment of silence is an opportunity for Megan’s blog community to stand behind her and support her on this difficult day. Linking up will give Megan a chance to see the support at a glance.

Participating bloggers can Link Up on July 1st at Send Love To Cohen. Will you join me and help spread the word?

dear sweet Jesus. . .

It is almost 3:30a,.

It has been a terrible night.

2 diet pepsi's and the rest of my box of milka later... I'm still awake.

I woke up because my phone kept quietly beeping.

Email after email was coming in.

Someone from France hacked into my email and was sending links to everyone in my contact list... AGAIN!

After loads of research, antivirus/spyware/malware scans... I think all is good now.

However, PLEASE do not click on any link that comes from my email. I am extremely sorry if you receive anything from me.

The email is blank other than a link. I don't know who all received it so I can't contact them. I will slowly try to contact everyone in my contact list. Until then, PLEASE do not open any link sent from my email!!!

Thanks.

Maybe I'll go to bed now.