half a decade

it's hard to believe that this pretty smile has been in my life for half a decade

but today we celebrated five years for the girl that made me a momma

well....actually, it's been more of a week long celebration

it started a couple months ago when we were reading bedtime stories and peach came up with the idea for a clifford party.

initially, i wasn't too pumped about the idea of a character party, but after a couple trips to pinterest, i warmed up to it

my mom started the week with these adorable snacks for the day care crew

we also sent clifford juice boxes to preschool

according to peach it was the "best day ever!"

the following day we celebrated with J's family

wish i would have gotten some pictures of the cousins!  shoot!

next time....

the festivities culminated at our house today with 9 of peach's friends cramming into our little house...it was a total hoot!

i just loved seeing her name written by all her little friends

we ate out of dog bowls (thank you, pinterest)

colored and crafted to our hearts' content

and ended the night with an impromptu dance party downstairs

to the tune of "who let the dogs out?"

of course, i put in hours of work on this party and what was her favorite part?

the 20 minutes that daddy whipped up at the end

but he does have some pretty sweet moves ;)

so i guess i can't be too bitter that he gets all the glory

and on that note, i'm beat and glad to take a break from the birthday party scene until april :)

phew...my parties these days aren't quite what they used to be, but i'll take it

happy birthday sweet peach
adding you to our life was one of the best decisions we ever made ;)

sick day...and other random thoughts

hmmmmm.....so i just looked at my last post and the promise i had made to myself and my blog to take more pictures come november

i'll be honest.

i'm not doing one stitch better than october or september

shoot.

and my kids keep doing the cutest stuff - why am i not photographing it?

maybe because i'm thinking about the crust of snot on my shoulder that's been there since 7 am (evidence of an early morning hug)

or because the laundry is literally crawling out of the basket to attack me

or because the dog is chewing a paintbrush...that's covered in yellow paint

there we go - i'll blame it on the fact that we have a new guy in our house....the kids call him baxter but i call him lucky

luck that he's still here

he's had a couple chew-fests that have set my blood pressure to boiling....i can't say i love him

but, he's growing on me

we're still trying to decide if he's the right fit for us

i'll give him this....he's cute

too cute to stay mad at

and the girls have been asking for a dog for what seems like forever

i was pretty attached to our last pup

so he's got big shoes to fill

and the fact that he chewed up a 2 by 3 foot section of carpet is not helping his cause

i'll keep you posted on whether he stays or gets the boot

i had a cozy little sick day with this one this week

snuggles, snot suction with the blue bulb thingy and home made chicken noodle soup blended into mush

it was heaven

i even got a few things checked off my to-do list....such as this year's advent calendar

i heard from Santa that Twinkle will be back this year

this time, she's bringing 24 books - one to open each day of december!

homemade green beans?

she smiled for the first few bites, then spit and squawked until i gave in and peeled a banana

i'm with ya' sister...but i had to try

on another random note, peach is writing her fool head off

she absolutely cannot stop herself

she's constantly got a marker or pen in hand with a pad of paper to copy down any words she can find around the house

and if she's not copying, she's asking me how to spell things like:

fireworks

bubble

stocking

and crunchy

her favorite game right now?

i'm not even making this up...

the alliteration game

i'm serious

she learned it at preschool

she's kind of a nerd.

but i like her.

the girls have baked dozens of "pies" in preparation for thanksgiving and word on the street is that J is ready to go all lumberjack and take us tree hunting this weekend :)

a random post

with sparse few pics

but, hey....we got a new dog

give me a break :)

september extras....and october, too

oh goodness...my blog has been neglected

and i'd love to say that it is because we're doing so many important things that i just don't have time....

but the real truth is that the VOICE is on

and i'm hooked

and that's what i've been up to

it's embarassing, really

but it's the truth, so i'll embrace it and share the sparse few pictures i have from the past two months

early morning walk to the bakery on one of those perfect fall days when the leaves are landing in your hair and the sunlight is piercing through the trees - yum

movie nights on the living room floor with our favorite app - disney junior

random costumes....

the art of bathing three children at the same time....we seriously deserve an award for how good we've gotten at scrubbing these little lovelies up and making them shine :)

j went bananas one day and filled up the play house with leaves

our little cukoo birds couldn't have been happier

okay - looking back, the picture taking these past two months was pathetic

i'm blaming it on being back to work

and promising myself that i'll do better in november

a certain someone is turning five and you know i won't let that pass without getting snap happy!

happy halloween

here it is - the beginning of the holiday crescendo that serves as an exclamation point to the end of the year

we started the festivities out right by taking an entire week to celebrate halloween

first, an ECFE party with games, stickers, story time and prizes

then we got our boo on...

it was a trick and a treat

ding dong ditching our friends

and leaving bags of goodies on the front steps

warning:  the following picture is absolutely ridiculous, but i have to include it so that my children actually know that i was along on adventures like these 

the day before halloween, i got to accompany miss peach to her preschool for their harvest party

i took a bunch of pictures, but didn't want to post pictures of the other kids without parent permission

so, i'll just share this sweet pic of peach and her teacher

and the spider hat project that i made with the kiddos - so fun!

finally, the big night arrived

we got dressed and headed out for tricks and treats....

well, mostly treats

have you ever seen such an adorable tin man?

what about glenda the good witch - don't you just want to squeeze her?

the night included stops at our day care providers' house

some of daddy's teacher friends

trunk or treat at church

and watching ITS THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN

good times with my lil' goblins

:)

happy halloween