Party, Princesses, + Pirates

Another post in my effort to catch up on everything!  Back in February, the weekend after Valentine's Day, we had some fun for sure! 

 

First off, I can't get enough of this outfit!  Love the colors :) Perfect for spring!

Gosh - looking at these pictures, Katie has changed so much in the month and a half since this was taken!  AH!  Sweet girl :)

This one may be my favorite.  Love it - and love her!  She was so excited about the fun we were about to have!

And this guy was eating when he saw my camera out and hammed it up for a picture!

Our first stop was our friend Avery's 3rd birthday party!  Avery always tells her momma that she wants "to be silly with Katie" - too funny!  They loved dressing up together...and of course being silly!

Love that I got a picture of Avery blowing her candles out!  And those pigtails are just adorable!

And I got way lucky to catch this picture - such a sweet girl!

The kids always love helping eachother open the presents! 

And a picture of Katie, Avery, and Olivia!  Love that all of us parents were college friends and our kiddos are growing up together (in the same neighborhood no less!)!

And then we had to leave the birthday party a little early to head to Disney's Princess and Pirate downtown! Katie couldn't wait - and she was so excited that we were sitting with her friend Julia!

A miracle!  Katie and Daddy cooperated for a picture!

AND she cooperated for a picture with me too :) Yay!

She just sat there and watched for a little while, but then she got into it and participated!  I didn't realize that I bought tickets just one or two rows away from the stage!

Love this picture!  She loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders.  And I think he is a fan too :)

And then after the show we took Katie to dinner - I think she really loves spending time just the three of us.  I want to make sure we do that as often as we can with all of the kids - special time with just us and them!  We ate at Local Taco and it is now one of my favorites for sure!

I can't believe how big Katie is getting.  I know I will blink and she will be headed to college.  Slow down time!

That was definitely a fun day!  Stay tuned for more catch up as well as some weekend recaps and other fun things!

 

Bunnies + Choo Choos: Our Annual Adventure

Today was our annual outing to a local toy store to see the bunnies they have out around Easter time!  They also happen to have some dollhouses and train tables and then an area with model trains going.  Talk about paradise for children! Whew!

 

I love this picture of the kids - amazing that I actually got a good one!  I won't go into detail about the noises I have to make to get them to look at me AND smile! :)

 And the best way to catch him with a smile? Get a picture of him sitting at the top of his ramp!

 Katie is pretty cooperative for pictures - she knows the sooner she smiles, the sooner we are finished!

 And then we were off to pick Cee Cee up and head to the toy store!  Our first stop once we got there was to see the bunnies!

 Look at how cute those little balls of fluff are!  There were a few hopping around, but most of them were snuggled up together taking a snooze.

 Jack thought the bunnies were pretty fun to watch too! .... He didn't remember that this place had trains though :) Clearly that was his favorite part!

 Jack also thought walking around and looking at all of the toys was super fun.  Cutie boy.

 And then he found it.  The train table.  And there was no going anywhere else!  He made some friends and even shared some of the trains - amazing!

 I had to carry him over to the area where the model trains are out - at first he wasn't happy but then he saw the trains...he loved it! 

 And Katie did great at showing him that he could press buttons to make a fan go and the gate go up and down and swings go - such a fun area!

 I think this is the only picture I got with Cee Cee in it!

 Every time a train would drive by, Jack would yell, "CHOO CHOO!!!" - this is his expression when saying that :)

 Katie loves watching these trains too - she has always loved it!

 Love this picture!  He looks good in pink :) And he was so proud of his new Toms!

 After playing with the train table a little more, both kids picked something out and we payed and headed out.  Jack got a book about trains and Katie picked out a paint with water Hello Kitty book.  She also picked out one more thing to go with a friend's birthday present.  And I got some things to use as favors for Jack's birthday party. I'd call that a successful mission for sure!

 And my mom sort of got a picture of the three of us - whew!  I am 27 weeks 1 day - and I definitely look the part!  Sheesh!

 And then I tried to get a picture of the kids sitting on that wall.  This was the best I got!  At least they are both smiling - even if they aren't looking at me :)

I love that we do this each year!  To see our visit from 2013, click {here}...and for 2012, click {here}!  It is amazing how much Katie has changed...and Jack too!  Happy Friday!

 

Quickest Photo Shoot Ever

On Tuesday, it was clear that Mother Nature was not happy with us here in Middle Tennessee.  One minute it was sunny and nice and then just minutes later I looked outside and could barely see the houses across the street from me with SNOW blowing sideways!  And then 5 minutes later, the ground was covered!  It was at this point during one of the three or four crazy weather times that I got a text from my friend Amanda to see what I was doing (I happened to be taking advantage of both kids being at school since last week was spring break) - she had a vision for a quick maternity photo in the snow.  Unfortunately, the snow was melted within 15 minutes, so the snow picture was a no go.  But, she did get this absolutely STUNNING picture!  I absolutely love it!

Now, I had seen this spot used in some of her pictures before.  And I loved it.  So when she called and said the snow had melted too quickly and to go to this spot, I was super excited.  She asked me to put this chiffon wrap on to have the wind blowing it and all that.  So I put this "wrap" on - and it happened to be about 39 degrees.  And windy.  And I had purple panties on - thank goodness for photoshop! She had her daughter that is Katie's age hold it out behind me for the wind blown look and then the wind actually blew, so there was a natural windblown look!  And there is a building under construction right near this spot - I sure hope none of those workers were watching...cold + pregnant woman + sheer chiffon + wind...you do the math! HA!  I was only standing there for maybe one or two minutes, and I am so glad I was able to hurry and meet her! 

 

This picture has such an artistic feel to it and it is beautiful!  Check out Amanda's work on her Facebook page - {here} - and her website - {here}!  She did Jack's newborn pictures and then will do BC3's newborn pictures as well! 

Valentine's Date Night

On the day before Valentine's (the day of the Valentine's party at school), Brad told me to be ready to go that evening.  Yay! A date night!  His mom came in time for me to take a shower and get ready and then we headed to dinner at my favorite restaurant.  It was so delicious!  We were both starving and actually ordered 2 appetizers (plus their amazing lima bean hummus and bread), so we opted to share an entrée.  It was so good!  And then I got the dessert that was the day's special - I'm pregnant!  I can do that! :)  Needless to say we were both stuffed when we left.  Here we are before heading out!

We had talked about going to a movie after dinner, but there wasn't one that started around the time we finished dinner.  So we sat there and tried to figure out what to do - we had to take full advantage of being child-free!

And where did we end up?  Target, of course!  It seems that is our destination of choice on a date night when we can't decide what to do.  This time we were productive.  We registered for BC3 - there isn't a ton that we need - diapers and wipes probably make up the majority of the list!  And then we do need a new monitor with at least 2 cameras.  Ours is on its last leg for sure.

It's hard to believe that BC3 will be here in less than 3 months.  Eek! We are making great progress in the shuffle throughout the house.  And don't worry - posts to come on all of that.  Hope you all are warm!  Mother Nature must not be happy with us today - it has been sunny, rainy, snowy, and sleeting all within the span of about an hour today.  Crazy weather.

 

Valentine's Day 2014

I'm so glad that Valentine's Day ended up falling on a Friday this year!  That's the only day of the week that we don't have anything we have to do, so it let us really enjoy celebrating!

 

The kids woke up to cards, goodies, and Valentine's donuts from Krispy Kreme - what fun!

 

Katie was so excited about heart shaped donuts and the fact that Daddy got her flowers :)  Jack was more interested in reading his construction book than eating breakfast!

And Katie was sporting her pink and red to celebrate! Such a fun outfit - and the sweater even has heart patches on the elbow!  I also love that she is getting into necklaces.  Well, I love it for now - it could come back to bite me before too long :)

And Jack was sporting his I Dig You bulldozer shirt!  Again, he was more interested in reading bulldozer books than looking at me or my camera!

And my mom and brother came over to celebrate with us - and I attempted a picture of the kids together.  This was as good as we could get!

Jack is fascinated by Will and his wheelchair!  He loves to press buttons and climb up on Will's feet and try to get into his lap!  So sweet!

 And Cee Cee got lots of Jack snuggles when they came over!

And then Cee Cee and Katie did some puppets together!  I got a big kick out of the fact that Katie's puppet had "boobies" :)

Such a fun Valentine's celebration!  And yes - Brad and I actually went out to celebrate the night before Valentine's - whoa!  We usually go out like a month later for a date night and to celebrate.  I just don't like fighting the crowds at restaurants and movies and all that - going a little early or a week or two later works just fine for me.  And we got each other cards and have yet to take time to swap!  OOPS! :) Maybe the next time we have a date night we can swap Valentine's cards.  Another blog post coming on our night out - dinner and an outing to Target!  That seems to be how we roll on date nights!