Sunday, April 26, 2015

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby James!

FASTEST year of my life! Whew... I feel like I barely turned around and my baby boy is already walking and having his first birthday. We have had twelve months of fun being the parents of two amazing kiddos. There are days when I am flat out exhausted and feel like a very sub-par mama, but there are also days where I stand totally in awe of the fact that the Lord choose me to play a role in shaping these two incredible little human beings into vessels for His glory. I get to be a part of their story, and I am thankful and blessed.
James - we have had such a fun year watching you grow! There have been some challenges with your breathing and throat at first, and your crazy bad eczema and egg allergy, and your horrible sleeping patterns, but we have overcome them all, and you are a super fun, sweet and snuggly, determined, quick to laugh, adventurous, and laid back little dude. With your crazy hair, and smile that lights up your face it is impossible to not just be wrapped around your little finger. Thanks for a year of fun and laughter. Thank you for challenging mom and dad to pray harder, let more of the little things go, and to be fully present in everything.

This past month has been full of fun with birthday celebrations and Easter, but also some yucky sick days for James who had his first real virus and terrible, scary fever. Sick babies are not for the faint of heart!
Park playing during a visit to NC and Gram's house!
A fun day with sweet baby friend Parker Lang
We enjoyed some nice sunny picnic days... and as James' shirt says, Life is REALLY Good at Grams house! 

Pitiful sick baby. It was awful to see him so miserable with such high fevers.  I did enjoy the snuggles and became even more thankful for our young living essential oils and thieves cleaner! 
James' first Easter at Papa and Gammie's house with our fun cousins!
Mickey Birthday party craziness... more about that here!
These two lucky ducks got a picnic table from Gram for their birthday.... They both LOVE eating there, and James even likes getting a little adventurous and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from up top. 

Lots of playtime in our jammies! James and Caroline got a little mini piano for their birthday too. James has been practicing his music skills... and loves to dance when Caroline plays! 
Some Backyard swinging... 
and even more baseball hat wearing. 
Tons of eating! And quite a bit of mess making too :) 
Tried out the hammock for the first time and had a blast!
 Several wagon rides this month... and I suspect lots more to come through the summer...
And we got to check out the plane that Daddy has been flying and the one he first flew solo while getting his private pilots license. Cant wait to fly with him soon!

We have loved this past month.. and can't wait for many more outside adventures with our all-boy little guy this summer!

HAPPY ONE YEAR JAMES!




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Monday, April 20, 2015

Our Big Mickey + Minnie Party!

So Caroline and James are 2 years and 12 days apart. Basically, April is a busy birthday month at our house. We {for very obvious reasons} decided that a double birthday was in order for our two littles, and Caroline, the only birthday person to have an opinion on the matter, was SO excited she got to have a party with James. {Planning to enjoy this shared birthday party excited for as many years as possible!}

I threw out several boy/girl party ideas to our almost three year old, and she was dead set on Mickey and Minnie... and I am so glad she did because it was such a fun first and third birthday party to plan! Since we were doing boy and girl we focused on Mickey and Minnie and used red, black, and white with lots of polka dots. It turned out super cute in my opinion. We also decided we have officially outgrown our house for birthday parties and decided to have the shindig at Chick-fil-A on Sunday afternoon. Hello free indoor playground! It was perfect! Here are a few an overwhelming amount of pictures from our celebration!

The food table... It was fun to come up with Mickey Mouse Clubehouse themes for the snacks!
Minnie's Bow bites were two strawberries and a blueberry on toothpicks. So easy and cute!
"Oh Toodles" trail mix. We used mini marshmallows, and Chocolate Chips, and Red M&Ms to add some Mickey Color. I had a cute helper sort the M&Ms too. She loved "making things for my party"!
We made "Mickey's Cupcakes"... they were just a chocolate (eggless for my sweet little egg allergic man) cupcake with cream cheese icing and two mini Oreos on top for ears. 
My awesome husband made Chick-fil-A nuggets (on a Sunday!!) and recruited our awesome cousin Steve to help! They had fun!
Our whole set up! 
We also had "pluto's potato fries" and "Chip & Dale's Chips and Salsa". 

For favors we made Rice Krispie treats (Caroline's favorite!) and cut them out in the shape of Mickey. I got an awesome cookie cutter off amazon for super cheap! We also used it to cut out Mickey shaped sugar cookies that kids decorated at the party with mini red m&ms and mickey mouse shaped sprinkles (found on amazon too!)
My helper rolling out sugar cookies! She is seriously the best little helper and made getting ready for the party so much fun!
 I used dollar store condiment bottles for icing so we could avoid messy bowls and knives. It worked great and kids were able to use them much easier!
We also used Macaroni noodles and little mickey clubhouse character for a sensory table. It was a wayyyy bigger hit than I ever imagined! 
I also had some mickey and minnie coloring pages and stickers (that I found for 10 sheets for a dollar at Michaels.) So easy and simple. 
A few other decorations....
We made Mickey + Minnie Ears out of black ribbon around fabric headbands, and Black felt cut out in the shape of a figure 8. I fold the "8 shaped felt" over the head band with hot glue in the center. It was pretty simple, but a tad time consuming. My sweet mama added red and white polka dot bows to half to make them Minnie Ears. 
We really had SO much fun, and were completely and totally blessed by all the family and friends who helped us celebrate these two special little people. 
This perfect shot was right when they both walked in and saw their "chick-a-lay" decorated. James was SO excited and all smiles, and sweet girl was totally overwhelmed. 
My amazing aunt and cousins. So thankful for the way they love our kiddos incredibly well!
Kisses from Gram for the birthday boy! She helped me in so, so many ways in all this party planning.  Couldn't be more thankful she is my mama and their sweet, sweet Gram! 
Mimi and Mema with little mister!
And the cupcake smash. It was so fun to see James be hesitant to dig into his cupcake and for caroline to "help" by feeding him. He eventually got the hang of it and was ALL ABOUT IT! 
My people. LOVE them. And our memories and celebrations. 

Couldn't have asked for a better day to shower these two with love! 






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