Happy Tay-Tay...

Today was my 35th birthday. I celebrated with my two loves and had the best day. We started the day with brunch at Mimi's, our favorite weekend spot.



Our bellies were full so we headed out to do a little shopping. We forgot Amelia's stroller so girlfriend had to walk the entire day. I hadn't really thought about it until today (because she's always in a stroller when we are out) but she has never been on an escalator. She was a fan and asked to ride it in every store.



After a little shopping, it was time for a cupcake break. I chose red velvet and Amelia chose vanilla with sprinkles. She ate the entire thing along with a cup of milk. She was one happy girl!



Alex and Amelia gave me a pair of boots for my birthday that I just love! My girl loves shoes...we shopped a few shoe stores today and she was taking off her boots and trying on heels before I could stop her!

We ended the day with dinner at Big Orange.



We had a little wait so we snuggled up by the outdoor fireplace with our girl.



Once inside I ordered my most recent craving and favorite drink. They make fresh lemon-limeades and they are DELICIOUS. I had two with my dinner!



Little Miss stayed busy with her "magnet girl" as we waited for our food. She can take the magnets and change the girl's clothes...she just loves it. I bought this especially for restaurants and really don't let her play with it at home. I always keep it in my purse for when we're out to eat. If I see she's getting antsy, I pull it out and it keeps her attention the entire time. I bought it at Cracker Barrel...best $7 I've ever spent.



It was such a fun day. We had Amelia out for 9 hours and she was pure joy the entire time. I think my favorite part of the day was when Amelia sang "Happy Tay-Tay" to me. It's the cutest thing ever to hear her sing. She also answered us with "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am" without being told. We've been working on this because she usually answers with "yeah." I cringe every time I hear her say it. It just made my day that she has been listening and is starting to remember what we're trying to teach her.

And I have to say, my husband gave me the best birthday present of all. He had planned a wonderful trip for us to take for my birthday, but since I'm almost 6 months pregnant, we decided right now isn't the best time. So instead of just cancelling vacation - he's taking off an entire week to be at home with me. I'm so excited to have him at home all week!!

I'm a blessed girl. Happy "Tay-Tay" to me. :)

Love to all,

You belong in the ZOO...

Saturday was BEAUTIFUL. I immediately thought we should take Amelia to the zoo and Alex loved the idea. It was really cute how excited he was to take Amelia to the zoo for the first time.



There was a long line when we arrived...we ended up buying a family pass for the year and I think we'll use it a lot. Buying the family pass also allowed us to bypass the long line - SCORE!



Amelia was cracking me up. She just sat back and enjoyed the ride!



After seeing several cool animals, we shared a fresh squeezed lemonade and a funnel cake. This was Amelia's first funnel cake. She was a fan. We put the lemonade in her sippy cup. I've never seen her drink anything that fast.









We wanted Amelia to ride the carousel while we were there. My M-I-L was telling me that she and her sister used to ride this same carousel when they were little girls. How neat is that?? Amelia LOVED it. Every time she would circle around and see me - she would smile so big and laugh and wave! I was laughing so hard! I probably took 100 pics of her on that thing. It made my heart happy to see her enjoying it so much.









We took our time and ended up only seeing half of the zoo. Not a problem though because we now have a season pass! :) It really was the perfect day. We loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back! We of course bought Amelia one of those cheesy t-shirts that says "My First Trip To The Zoo!" You can't leave without buying a souvenir. Seriously. They make you walk through the gift shop just to get out of the place.



Amelia was worn out and fell asleep within a few minutes in the car. Bless her happy heart.



I also wanted to say thank you to my blog friend, Charne. She sent the Valentine shirt that Amelia wore in her Valentine card picture and also this outfit that Amelia wore to the zoo. She sent us this sweet package all the way from South Africa. These clothes were made right there in SA and are just precious!



Love to all,

Amelia's 1st Birthday!

I'm finally posting pics from Amelia's party. I had over 200 pictures to go through, so it took a while to choose. All pictures were taken by Karin Fulgham. Thank you, Karin for all of the beautiful photos!

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

I found this Happy Birthday sign a long time ago...before I even knew what the color scheme for Amelia's party would be. I pulled it out of the closet a week before and was excited to see that it matched! My S-I-L, Jen made the sign for the front door. She started painting not too long ago and has stayed busy with orders ever since...she's so talented!



My S-I-L, Elaina made the birthday pennant! I loved it. She also made the ribbon "skirt" that we put around Amelia's highchair, which was darling. I was so grateful for her help! She made Amelia the most special birthday gift. It was a book filled with letters to Amelia from family. Something Amelia will treasure for years to come. I tried reading some of the letters at the party, but I started crying, so I waited until afterwards. Such a thoughtful gift.



The table decor was really simple. I used a variety of glass candy dishes, jars, and cloches in the center of each table. I filled them with yellow, white, and hot pink gumballs and then tied balloons to float above each table. One of the candy dishes that I used was Amelia's Great-Great Grandmother's. I prayed over it before I put it on the table...that it wouldn't get broken! (LOL)



I painted 12 frames for Amelia's monthly pictures and hung them with ribbon on the fence.




I wanted the food to be simple. We had regular chili and chicken chili to make frito chili pies. We made them like we used to do at our fall carnival - opened the bag of fritos, poured the chili right inside the bag and topped with cheese & sour cream. It was easy and we didn't need bowls! :) We also had mini pulled pork sandwiches.



We did veggie sticks served with ranch & Joy made pecan pie bars and homemade caramel corn. The caramel corn was SO GOOD!!



I wanted a pink and yellow drink to serve. I chose pink lemonade & apple cider punch. The apple cider punch was my favorite. I found the recipe HERE. I'm going to make some at Thanksgiving & Christmas...it's so yummy! I found these drink dispensers at Walmart. I just switched it around and used the bottoms of the dispensers as ice containers on top...it worked perfectly! I found the water bottle labels on etsy. She changed up the colors to match the party and added Amelia's name. She also made the round labels for the cotton candy favors!



I really loved these hot pink & white striped paper straws! You can find them in just about any color combo.



And then there was cake! This was Amelia's "smash cake."



She was a fan! You'll see in that last picture, she's raising her hands in praise over her cake. That's my girl.



I bought her a little dress from Carter's that had a birthday cupcake w/candle embroidered on it. It had a cute, tulle skirt. I didn't want her to get her party dress messy and didn't want her to wear a bib in the pictures, so it made perfect sense to have an outfit change for the birthday cake!



I loved the larger birthday cake that we served to guests. I wanted it to look homemade and to be very simple. Mickey's did a fabulous job and it tasted SO GOOD. They're my favorite bakery to use for special occasions. I found some glittered letters to spell ONE and I thought that was all it needed. We used the cake server set that was given to Amelia from Dr. Lew & Sue before she was even born. It has her initials engraved on it with a sweet message from them. We will use it at every birthday party & then she will use it on her wedding day...MANY, MANY, MANY years down the road! (LOL)



Here are the party favors. I love cotton candy. It's so light and fluffy, I don't know how it could be bad for you.



We had a bounce castle, face painting, balloon animals, and the large frame for pictures. My brother, Andrew made the frame for me. He called and asked what color to paint it and I told him the colors of the party. He just happened to have some bright yellow paint in his garage, which worked out perfectly! I found the frame at Hobby Lobby. I got it 60% off, since their was a chip on it!



Our family & friends had fun with it. :)



We had over 60 family & friends come to celebrate with us. We are so blessed!



The birthday girl with her Granny & Papa (my parents) and her Nana & Daddygrand (Alex's parents).



Amelia had her picture taken with just about everyone at the party. She was such a good sport. I just stuck a balloon animal in her face and she would perk right up! (LOL)



She had a little dance with her Daddy. They do this a lot in the kitchen. :)



She had lots of cousins to help open her gifts - she didn't really know what to do. She was more interested in the tissue paper. She received some fun toys and cute clothes! She thanked everyone by blowing kisses. :)



She had to get some pictures with her BFC (best-friend-cousin), Millie Beth!



I love this quilt she's sitting on. Alex's Grandmother gave it to her. It's very old, so I put another quilt under it, so not to mess it up. Mimi wasn't able to be there, so I wanted something out to remind us of her.



I think this is my favorite picture of her. I'm just curious what's going through that sweet head of hers. :)



1 year old. How can it be?

Love to all,

Valentine's Day Weekend...

We had a fun, relaxing, Valentine's weekend.



Amelia received a new Valentine Fancy Nancy book. I definitely see a Fancy Nancy party in Amelia's future...such cute books!



Amelia also received some wonderful things from her Aunt Joy! She looked so cute in the little onesie and striped baby legs. We love you, Aunt Joy!!



Amelia and I gave Daddy this picture in a silver frame. The frame was engraved with "Remember This Moment" at the bottom. He loved it. He decided to take it to work for his desk. I'm sure we'll be changing out the pic in that frame often...lots of moments with his girl that he won't want to forget! :)



My Valentine surprised me with this! Okay, can I just say that I'm not a cheap person. I spend money on things. But a phone is something that I don't like to spend a lot of $ on. (A pair of shoes - that's another story) Any phone that I've owned (that is really nice) - Alex has bought for me. I'm excited to learn how to use it! He also surprised me with Amelia's birth story...this was the most special present of all. He wrote it for Amelia and as I read it, tears just started streaming down my face. I don't remember a whole lot from those first couple of days in the hospital, so to go back and read his feelings through it all was very emotional for me. I will probably post it sometime this week. Such a special gift.



We spent a lot of of the weekend at home. Look at her holding that head up like a big girl. :)


Do you see my daughter's bald spot on the back of her head? (LOL) When does their hair start really growing??



We pretty much ate our way through the weekend. Friday night, we went to Kobe and enjoyed my favorite meal. Filet, fried rice & veggies!!

Saturday night, Alex picked up take-out from Olive Garden. I get the same thing every time. Angel hair pasta w/marinara. Boring. Yet so yummy!



Amelia always gets the same thing too.



We went to Panera on Sunday night. They have a caesar salad that Alex loves and a veggie soup that I can scarf down within seconds. You should see me.

It's attractive.

I hope you had a lovely weekend. I'll be posting my February giveaway tomorrow, incase you want to come back and check it out!

Love to all,