We spent a couple of days...

with our toes in the sand.

Thanks to some good friends who invited us to spend some time with them.

And it was such a blessing. 

TWO!!!

This sweet guy is two years old today! 

Welcome to the terrific twos.

It's gonna be a great year!

Ummm... maybe she's watched a little too much TV this week

Yesterday at the DR I gave GG a kleenex to wipe her nose. She looked at me, threw it behind her and informed me," You'll never find it now! HA!HA!HA!".  She also ran up to me yesterday and said, "Mommy! How will we cross crocodile lake?!?!". I guess my response should have been,        " The map!".

Little too much Dora going on in our house. 

A Little Bit o' GG

Cereal with milk. This just makes me look at her and know she is no longer a baby. She's a big girl that can eat cereal with milk for breakfast without making a mess.

And it's that time of year again. Footie pajamas. This makes me feel like she's not so big after all. She is so small and cozy and warm when she wears these. I love to snuggle up with her like this. 

It's also time for the first cold of the season. And it's a doozy. Fever and everything.

Get well sweet girl.

I'm a big kid now

Not too long ago GG was giving me a hard time about going down for her nap. I decided maybe she was ready for her crib to be a toddler bed. I took the railing off and put it in her closet. It didn't work out so well, so it quickly went back on. I guess I didn't secure it on well. Sunday evening I went in to her room and she had somehow pulled the railing down and was climbing into her bed , loading it up with stuffed animals and books. I picked it up to actually take it off, she thought I was putting it back on, and she threw a fit. She pointed to her closet and said " No No No, in dere". She remembered I had put it in the closet the first time. So off it came and her sweet daddy ran to Walmart to get a safety rail. 

So far it's worked out pretty well. She goes down for her nap and at night as I'm walking out of her room she says " Goodnight Mommy". 

Do you think she's proud?

And on another note...

yeah, it's a ladybug chair. 

Don't judge him... he has sisters :)

the marathon birthday weekend

... we survived! :)

September 12th through the 14th are always a crazy few days for us. Sophie and G.G. are exactly 10 years and two days apart. So we can't really have a birthday party together for them. This year Sophie really didn't even want a party. She just wanted a couple of friends to spend the night. Which was fine with me. I picked them all up from school and they came back and hung out at our house for a while. Josh has been out of town but he made it home in time for dinner Friday night. We ordered pizza and then had cake. I took them to a late movie that night. They loved that. They got all dressed and ready and when we got there they wouldn't let me sit with them. Oh the joys of being a mother to a pre- teen. They did let me sit in front of them though because I told them I wouldn't share my giant bag of m & m's I smuggled in. Bribery always works.

Anyway, it was lots of fun and Sophie had a great birthday. I can't believe she is TWELVE!!

As for the pictures below. G.G. broke my digital camera Friday so the only thing I had to take pictures was our video camera. Not great quality. But we did get a new one on Sunday, so GG's pics are better.

GG wanted so bad to be one of the big girls. It was so funny hearing her try to talk as much as they were. 

Sophie's favorite cake. The " best sheet cake ever" recipe by Pioneer Woman. It was a hit.

She was surprised! She got a pair of shoes she really wanted but didn't think I would buy. I love those moments.

Our birthday card mantel.

So Sunday was GG's turn. We had a party for her at a local park. It worked out great. The kids had a lot of room to play and roam around. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and just had a great time visiting with everyone. I was worried about the weather, but the rain held off. It was overcast and a little windy. That was actually great though because it wasn't horribly hot and we had a little breeze to cool off.

Sandbox time!

She picked out her Dora cake at the bakery. And even blew out the candle by herself.

Time for presents! She got the hang of this pretty quick!

She hugged her friends goodbye.

And this is what happened before we even were out of the park. 

Completely pooped! 

I can't believe they are 12 and 2! My girls are growing up. 

2

2 years ago today, my second little angel baby was born. She made me work a little harder than the first. And that still holds true today. She is a spunky, opinionated, independent little two year old. Due to some complications after her birth, she got to bond with her daddy for about an hour before I could hold her. And she is a daddy's girl, that is for sure. 

She absolutely lights up our lives. Her sense of humor kills me. She is so funny. She makes us all laugh out loud just about every day. She loves her big sister and copies everything she does. She adores her baby brother and greets him every morning with a "Moning li'l buddy".

I am so proud to be her mother. She is such a blessing in our lives and I can't imagine it without her in it. 

Happy Birthday G.G.!

We love you with all of our hearts!

Mommy, Daddy, Sophie and Shep