thankful!

so much to be thankful for. praise God from whom all blessings flow.


yes, we spent some time on the beach today. yes it was nice and warm. :)

caroline's costume party

caroline's birthday party this year was just about as simple as you can get... well, at least as simple as i can get. :) caroline loves to dress-up, so it was pretty much a no-brainer to have a costume party. she has been saving her brand-new princess dress for the big day... after weeks of it hanging up in her closet, she could not wait to wear it to her party! ethan chose to be superman, though he has never seen a superman movie or comic book. and amelia? well.... three days before the party, i remembered that she needed a costume, and caroline's old fsu cheerleader outfit was only a little too big. so there ya go! my kiddos and their costumes...


caroline's friends savannah and avery were the first to arrive, and i loved watching caroline and savannah go off and play in their "castle" (the space between two doors). their shoes crack me up.



so how do you decorate for a costume party? you don't! the costumed guests are the decorations! i made it pink enough to make caroline happy and simple enough to make daddy happy, and after the very easy clean-up... we were all happy! here is the birthday table. i found the felt banner at hobby lobby the morning of her party, and i was so happy with my last-minute purchase. the other tables had a tablecloth and balloons on them as well.


and here are the real decorations at the party! caroline loves her friends. how do you get a group of 14 children to stand this still for a picture? you tell them that this is the line for the pinata! (which it technically was...)


i loved seeing the kids' costumes. i think my favorite was construction man joseph and his little worker. noah even has on work boots! :)


when the children arrived, they had their faces painted by kristie and heather.



after that, they all ran around like crazy playing with balloons for the next half hour. :) and then. THEN. it was time for the pinata. caroline didn't really care too much about what we did at her party as long as there was a pinata! when she woke up that morning, she went straight to the full pinata and said, "i smell chocolate!" ha! here is the silly birthday girl sneaking a whiff of chocolate. :)


we had no choice but to let darth vader go first.


all the little princesses were no match for the pinata...



so the queen of the party, natalie, helped us finally whack the pinata to the ground.


and then those princesses weren't so dainty! it was a candy dogpile!


i am sure all the parents were loving us for sending their kids home with a bag of candy, but at least it was good candy. :)


and then we noticed that some princesses had 4 pieces of candy in their bags while other construction workers who will remain nameless had half a bag full.... so.... with a room full of conservative republicans, we put a little socialism into action. here are heather and my mom redistributing the wealth. just don't tell hannity.


and after the sugar rush of candy? bring on the cake! caroline adored her "4" cake. gram did another fabulous job. and i'm enjoying the last piece of it as i write this blog post.


i also made some cupcakes in case the "4" was not big enough. we are not running out of cake at one of my parties. annnnd of course, i brought half of these home.


the birthday girl and her cake. she kept saying, "it looks like a chair this way!" yep, it does!


singing happy birthday....


caroline was a complete goofball during the birthday song! she sang the song with us and said, "happy birthday to YOU!" as she pointed to us. she was cracking herself up.



my kiddos love these girls!


superman and darth vader take a break from good vs. evil to enjoy a little ice cream.


and have you ever seen a cuter pit crew guy!?


after cake, we had just enough time for presents. last year, caroline looked so mad while she opened her gifts... but this year, she was full of expression. she lit up with excitement with each gift, usually with an enthusiastic "woah!" or "ohhhhh my gooooodness!" loved it. :)




after the presents, it was time to go. i was ready to call it a wrap when avery came up and asked me if we were gonna play the parachute game. it was a game i'd planned on playing before the pinata, but the kids were so happy throwing balloons all over the place, i just skipped over it. i don't even remember telling avery about it, but he sure remembered! so i asked the dads to start cleaning up, and i taught the kids that were still there how to play. i called out two names, and those kids had to run under the parachute and switch places before the parachute landed on them. they LOVED it! and we just used a round tablecloth. it worked just fine, but a bigger parachute would've been even better. when i got tired of calling out names, someone else took over, and this kept the kids occupied while we cleaned up. it worked out great to do it at the end. they never would've wanted to stop this to finish the rest of the party!



caroline was so blessed to have all of her grandparents, two of her great-grandmothers, and her great-great aunt and uncle at the party! brian's grandmother somehow snuck out without getting in a picture... we will have to take one with her and caroline tomorrow at thanksgiving!





this was such a fun little party to throw for caroline. what a blessing to celebrate four years of spunk, love, and silliness! we are thankful to have caroline in our family! happy birthday one last time, caroline grace! :)

the day caroline turned four.

this is the first birthday we've had in awhile that fell on a sunday... the last one being ethan's very first birthday. so caroline's birthday morning was a little bit rushed so that we could make it to church only slightly late rather than really late on time. but before rushing out the door, we made time to continue our birthday muffin tradition. caroline was already awake but stayed in her bed... i think she was waiting for us. here she is blowing out her first birthday candle of the day.


who doesn't love having "happy birthday" sung to them!? i really love this picture of my birthday girl.


caroline was so excited to see the magic wand candle! i'm glad the candle was out for this rendition of bibbity-bobbity-boo.


birthdays are just so exciting!! she could not contain herself.


we were planning on having her open her presents at lunch, but after she saw her tower of presents.... i couldn't make her wait. thus the rushing out the door part...


caroline has one pair of footie pajamas that fit her. she would wear them all day and all night every night if i would let her. so when i saw these pjs with desserts all over them, i couldn't resist.


cinderella slippers!


her very own pink soccer ball!


caroline loved this princess memory game. it is played a little different than regular memory, and she adored all the princess playing pieces. a bargain at target!


caroline's last present was a card from cinderella.


the inside read, "i was so glad to meet you the last time you came to see me. please come have breakfast at my castle the next time you are at disney world. love, cinderella" caroline had no idea that you could actually go up in the castle, and she cannot wait to have breakfast there with mommy, nana, and amelia in less than two weeks! (she knew we were going to disney...)


she just can't believe it! and i was smiling just as big because i have had this reservation booked since june... and i don't have to keep it a secret any longer!


after church, we went to caroline's restaurant of choice: tgifriday's. she did not mind the attention she got for her birthday.


i guess we need to work on how to eat like a little lady before dining in the castle!


caroline opened a "preview" of her present from karina, aunt k, and uncle jeff.


gram gave her lots of money with mickey mouse on them! caroline will love having her own disney shopping money!!


this was a quick, quick attempt at a family picture. love the mint sticking out, caroline.


i do not get many pictures of the two of them like this these days. they have their moments (often. very often), but they do love each other and are great friends and playmates.


one more picture of my birthday girl!


her party is tomorrow! let the festivities continue!