Dressing Up is Fun

In no particular order, here are pictures of a very Happy Halloween.

A little princess, a little chick, and two happy parents.

Lucy tried and tried to suck out the good stuff from inside those wrappers....and she eventually did.

We set up shop in the nursery room at our rained out Trunk or Treat. Everyone was in heaven, as you can see.

Getting ready. I'm not sure what Abigail was more excited about--being a princess or being able to wear makeup.

Adding curls.

Fairy friend Chloe, Giraffe friend Gavin, and Princess Abigail take a little break from all that walking.

Dancing around at home afterwards.

That is one cute chick in our opinion.

A happy night was had by all.

Bubbles, Balloons, and Butterflies

Abigail turned 3 in August. She was really excited about her birthday this year and talked for months about her "Happy Birthday".

Butterflies were a main theme for the birthday--here is an up close look at my masterpieces of the cupcakes I made for the big day.

A butterfly banner welcomed everyone as they came in.

All the kids played with bubbles outside (unfortunately though, I didn't get any pictures of all the craziness of bubbles everywhere--so I took pictures after the fact of Abigail playing with the bubbles).

Next came the balloon part of the party. All the kids picked two or three balloon items to have made for them.

The balloon creator extraordinaire.

Swords were the hit of the day. We squeezed in a few flowers and butterflies, but swords definitely were the popular request.

Some of the lunch spread.

The Goodie bags--filled with crayons, water colors, treats, and then I made personalized coloring notebooks with each child's initial.

Butterly cupcakes.

We had butterflies up for weeks after the party

The birthday girl wearing a butterfly skirt I made for her just for her special day.

The birthday crew. Abigail is still talking about all of her friends that came and knows each gift they gave her. It has been really cute to hear her talk about it. When we asked her what her favorite part was she said, "I didn't have no favorite parts. Just all my friends coming over. And the balloons. And the cupcakes. And my presents. And my friends coming over." Really--I think her favorite part was her friends coming over.

Off the Charts

If you read this blog you most probably know either Tyler or me (is that the correct grammar even?) or both of us....and you then definitely know that we are not tall people. So imagine our continued shock and amusement when check-up after check-up we continue to learn that Lucy Mae continues to be "off the charts" in height for her age group. What a girl!

Before and After

When we first bought our house I had dreams of making a few changes.... and last August we did. Yes, this post is a year old. Most of the work was done in August of 2010, but we had one small invisible finishing touch (trim to the tile) that was just completed a few weeks ago...and so now I can officially post our before and afters.

Before:

After:

Check out that travertine tile---cut and completed by Tyler himself. Tyler borrowed a tile cutter and for days worked meticulously on planning, laying out, cutting, getting the tiles perfect around the small black tiles, and then putting up the tile.

He is basically super awesome.

We consulted a lot and sent pictures and samples to a gal that helped my parents re-model and decorate their house, Julie. She was so so so fabulous in her recommendations and suggestions. One of our favorite suggestions was the black hardware on our white cabinets--such a pop. We also loved the suggestions of having a black faucet (which are amazingly hard to find actually).

I love this sink. And I LOVE the soap dispenser... I had no idea how much I would love not having to have anything on the counters (and of course.... there is hardly ever anything on these counters....Tyler wishes.) It is just nice to have that option.

Needless to say, we love it.

And yes, granite does make a difference to my happiness level in the kitchen.

I Know It Isn't July Anymore...

...but here are a few 4th of July pictures.

Abigail and Chloe are the dearest and sweetest of friends. Buffy (Chloe's mom) and I are also the dearest of friends.... so the 4th of July was just another reason to get together and work late into the night making these matching dresses.

Story Time Love

The girls LOVE story time with daddy. Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Lucy is especially entranced -which says a lot about this squirmy girl's devotion to this special time of night. She will stay relatively still while listening to the story and looking at the pictures.

Did you know pajamas come with skirts now? We're in love. Carters has us sold with these pajama sets and we also have a pink ballet pajama/skirt set that is just about as darling as these "ABC Pajamas (really it says, "Snow Belle" but Abigail calls these her ABC pajamas because of the letters).

Yes--we love the squishiness (not a real word, I know) of this girls legs and cheeks.

Saying Hi

Abigail sitting at a table she set up by herself (as in went into the garage and dragged in the 4 chairs and 1 folding table and then got all the food and plates) for her restaurant "Morble".

Lucy being Lucy---happy as can be.

Abigail and friend Spencer playing/drinking the sprinklers. And...we have a garden again this year which is now speckled with red tomatoes. Today I harvested 12 tomatoes.

She is seriously smiling most of the time.....and she is especially loving sitting up and....CRAWLING. This girl is 100% mobile and into just about everything.