If You're Baby Looks Like This...

You might be a Catholic!

Alternately titled:  Holy Baby!

Everything Must Die...

To Rise Again!

Happy Easter...

On the Third Day!

3 More Things

1.  Noah hit Emily and subsequently pushed her face into the carpet.


2.  Emily pottied in her panties.  Later, she poopied in her panties.


3.  Molly bit Emily.


Ahem.  In case you were under some illusion that these things are the only things that happen in my home on a regular basis, you were wrong!

In Celebration of ONE!

After a year of joys, struggles and everything in between, we had a family luncheon in celebration of Miss Molly turning ONE!


The guest of honor was decked out is a sweet outfit made especially for her in honor of her first birthday!

She immediately noticed the table decorations; especially those on her special little chair.  And she toddled her little ruffled bum right over to her seat to check it all out!

In honor of our own little cupcake, I decorated the table in a cupcake theme with bright colors...

Miss Molly herself was the main centerpiece with rows of pictures highlighting her monthly growth...

We served sandwiches and salads...

And of course, lots of cupcakes & cake pops!

I enjoyed using scissors, paper, ribbon, and glue to jazz up my own serving pieces and make lots of sweet little details on the party table...

To say that the guest of honor was excited was quite an understatement...

She delighted in the attention and somehow seemed to have an awareness that the celebration was all about her!


We did the ceremonial singing...

And watched as our baby girl devoured her cookies-n-cream cupcake by hand!

After a quick clean up, we got her looking shiny and clean again...

And started on the present opening!

Molly received 3 baby dolls... one from Bubby, one from Sissy, and one from Nonny & PaPa!

Her most favorite gift, though, seemed to be the one from Mommy & Daddy...

A Vacuum Cleaner... like mother, like daughter!  (I have a healthy obsession with vacuuming!)

After all of the celebration, our sweet girl was ready to rest.  

And that concluded our day of celebrating ONE year of being blessed with Molly!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!  

You are a joy, a blessing, and a very much loved little girl!

P.S.  Now that you are ONE, do you think you could slow down the growing up a bit?

Please... for Mommy?

3 Things

In the spirit of stopping to take note of the little things that make life with three small children special, I thought I'd share 3 things that made me smile today.


1.  Noah is so sweet with his baby sister.  Today, he made block towers with her and knocked them down while saying "boom!"  She loved it!

2.  As I was cooking dinner, I heard Emily tell Molly to "sit in that chair".  She then proceeded to turn on the Backyardigans portable "boombox" music and perform a dance for her baby sister.  Molly thoroughly enjoyed it as she sat there and watched her Sissy dance for close to 30 minutes!

3.  Molly is a chipmunk-tyle eater.  She fills her cheeks as full as possible before she swallows!

Stopping to Enjoy...

the little things in life!

Life has been much too busy around here recently!  Spring is almost over and before I know it, Noah will no longer be a Kindergartner and the hot days of summer will be beating down upon me.  

Amidst the flurry of business these recent days have brought, today I am choosing to stop and reflect on a few little things make me smile! 

Her toothy grin

My sugar and spice Emily Kate... she can absolutely push me to my breaking point, but with a quick flash of her toothy grin, I am forced to smile back at her.  I love the little space between her two front teeth!  And the way her smile reveals both her sweetness and her sassiness all at the same time!

Painted Toes & Sandals

The hot weather has allowed us to break out the sandals!  I treated my sweet girl to her first ever pedicure to get our toes cleaned up for the Spring!  She delighted in every second of it.  I'm so glad she inherited her Daddy's feet and not mine!  She has long, pretty toes and narrow feet - perfect for summer sandals!

Newfound Courage

Noah's newfound courage in the water is nothing short of astonishing to me!  On a recent family vacation, he amazed me when he climbed to the top of this very, very tall and windy water slide and without even a flinch, happily slid down it and swam, unassisted, to the side of the pool!  Over and over again!  This is a kid who didn't even go down a playground slide until he was nearly 4 years old!  And who refused to even put his head under the water until about a year ago!  

And if that wasn't amazing enough, he recently had his swimming lessons assessment at a big pool (not the pool he normally has lessons in) and he did this...

Into 12 foot deep water, with his swimming teacher OUT of the water, my baby boy didn't even pause as he took his first ever jump off of a diving board and swam to the side with absolutely NO assistance!  I nearly had a heart attack as I watched from the required distance, but my boy... he demonstrated a newfound courage and I am so, so proud of him!

Toddling

I absolutely adore the way a baby toddles in the very early days of walking... holding their little arms out as they try desperately to steady themselves.   My Miss Molly has mastered the art of toddling and she is absolutely precious as she toddles everywhere, picking up whatever might happen to be in her pathway!

Sweet Siblings

Noah and Emily certainly continue to have their fair share of arguments and bickering, but more and more, I am overhearing them playing make believe with their puppies/babies, or playing Wii together, or riding bikes together.  And occasionally, I catch them doing something super sweet, like having a late night slumber party in my bed!  Although Noah would probably not admit to it, he enjoys Emily's maturity and they are developing a brother-sister friendship that makes me ever so happy!

Bubble Baths

Enough said!

Childhood Pranks

Even though we were not happy with the prank itself, the retrieval of the pink puppy from the roof was a sight that caused us all to break out in the giggles!  And in case you were wondering... the offender was Noah, the victim was Emily (or more specifically, her pink patchwork puppy!).

A Perfect Fit

As much as she enjoys toddling to and fro, Molly prefers my hip to just about any other mode of transportation!  And she is at the size where she fits just perfectly on my hip!  I love how she wraps her little legs around my waist and is content to go along with me.... fingers in her mouth and eyes wide open watching, with wonder, where her ride might be taking her!

Easter Clothes

I wish I could sew, but I can't even sew a button on a shirt!  Fortunately, I have a really great friend who is an amazing seamstress and she is making all 3 kids matching Easter clothes!  Yep... even Noah will have a matching element and I can't wait to see them all lined up wearing their sweet handmade clothes!  A little thing, indeed!  But one that I get a thrill out of, nonetheless!

Ice Cream & Sweet Teeth

After not eating ice cream for nearly a year due to Molly's temporary dairy intolerance, I have recently indulged in my all time favorite food!  Over-indulged might be a more appropriate description!  And my little Emily, she has inherited her Momma's sweet tooth!

Tiny {Window}Dancer

As Vance and I were busy cleaning out our house in anticipation of an upcoming garage sale, I inadvertently walked past Emily and saw a sweet tiny window dancer!  She had changed into her ballet clothes on her own and was happily using her bed and the window ledge as her dance floor and barre... dancing to the sound of her own singing voice!  I stood in the doorway, unbeknownst to her, for several minutes just marveling at her... so tiny, so imaginative, so graceful.  And then she noticed me and was happy to continue her window dancing as I snapped a few photos!

{Partial} Sleep Success

We have sleep issues in this household!  When we shuffled things up month ago and put Emily in Noah's room, it didn't work.  At all!  She kept him awake much too late with her antics and strong will.  So Noah started sleeping in the guest room until we could get Emily sleeping through the night again, without having to close the door!  After lots of battles, Emily is finally able to sleep through the night again and do it with the door open!  And so we tried transitioning Noah back into his room again this week.  I was pessimistic, but they proved me wrong!  They have a week under their belts of sleeping in the same room.  Now... once Molly starts to sleep through the night (or at least wakes only once), we will go for the gold and move Emily back into her room with Molly!  And when that happens, it will not be a little thing, but rather a massive, ginormous accomplishment!

Just {Happy} Her

Although she is very good about not allowing me to capture it on camera, she is a HAPPY baby now!  She smiles, laughs, interacts, explores, talks... everything a HAPPY baby should do!  After so many months of solemness and fussiness, her new demeanor is so incredibly wonderful!  And her funny faces make me smile too!

 No description needed!

These just make me smile... and melt my heart all at the same time!

It's the little things in life 

that truly are the big things!