Bas-kick-ball

Saturday Annabelle had a big day planned with her Daddy. She was going to the “Bas-kick-ball” game.

DW had been promising to take her to a Gator basketball game and a weekend game always works out great for that.

She started the morning off with some breakfast and then Uncle Adam & Aunt Nen came and picked her up. They’re getting a new puppy and they took AB over to meet him. She thought she was big stuff getting to go somewhere with just Uncle Adam & Aunt Nen!

When they got back, we fed her lunch and got her changed for the game! She was so excited! She was chomping and yelling “Go Gators” all around the house!

One of her favorite parts, as always, was riding the bus from the parking lot to the O’Dome!

DW said she was so great at the game. He said she loved it and really got into it, too.

Of course she was excited to see another fave, Albert!

She ended the day with a few hours at Grammy’s house Saturday night. I’d say it was a pretty perfect day for our girl. :)

~amw~

Beauty & the Beast…

My mom and I were so excited when we saw that Disney was bringing Beauty & the Beast back to the theatre in 3D. Annabelle (like her momma & Grammy) LOVES the movie and will tell you quickly her favorite princess is Belle. We knew we’d have to take her to see it!

We decided to go on a weeknight and leave Maybree at home with her Daddy for a couple hours while we took AB to the movie.

Wednesday was the night our big girl had waited all week for!

We kissed Daddy & Maybree goodbye and grabbed some quick dinner before heading to the theatre. We got our tickets and 3D glasses and AB was so excited to see the special edition kids’ Beauty & the Beast glasses she got.

She was so adorable waiting for the movie to start. We got our seats (we ended up being three of about 15 people total in the whole theater…it was perfect) and then mom went to get some popcorn. The previews started and AB yells, “Grammy, come on, you’s fixing to miss it!!!” She was relieved to see Grammy make it back without missing anything, but even more excited about the popcorn and M&Ms Grammy was carrying.

She was so into the whole thing, even the previews, that she wouldn’t even look over to get her popcorn. She had those tiny glasses fixated on the screen and without moving her head, she’d reach over and grab another handful of popcorn every few minutes. It was the cutest thing ever. Mom and I were dying over how stinking cute she was.

She was over the moon excited to see her other favorite, Tangled, in a short movie during the previews! AB thinks the little cupid guy on Tangled, is “Ho-Ho” so she yells, “look, even Ho-Ho’s at them’s wedding!” Ha…

She did so good with the 3-D glasses and wore them for about 3/4 of the movie. The problem was she would touch them with her greasy buttery fingers and smudge them and then take them off. Mom and I were cleaning glasses half the movie! :)

The movie was so great in 3-D and there is nothing like those Disney songs. Mom and I sang and hummed along the whole time! Thankfully the theatre was empty enough for us not to embarrass ourselves! :)  How can you NOT sing along to “Beauty & the Beast”??? In fact, I loved that during the credits, they played the song again (the Celine Dion/Pebo Bryson version) and not one person got up to leave until it was over! Such a sweet song…

When we got home, AB was excited to tell Daddy & Mamie all about it…she even insisted that Mamie wanted to try on her glasses. :)  Baby girl looks thrilled about sister’s request.

Speaking of little miss… She had her one month well-check on Wednesday morning!

Waiting at the dr’s office

Her stats are:

9 lbs 15 oz  (75th percentile) & 22 inches long (50th percentile)! She’s growing, growing, growing!

~amw~

Photo Shoot

I’m working on a few projects for the playroom. One of which had me wanting a picture of both our girls. I found a big frame in one of our closets that I am going to hang in there but I wanted to get a (black & white) picture of the girls together to go in it. Since the weather was so great today, we had a little photo shoot to try to get one.

Trying to get a perfect picture is impossible with a three year old and a one month old! :) At least for me anyway. But I don’t think I could love these pictures any more if they WERE perfect. They are going to be great in the playroom. The only problem will be deciding which one to frame in the big frame! :)

~amw~

Maybree–1 month

 

Scooter Girl…

AB got a scooter for her birthday. We hadn’t had a chance to let her try it out until this past weekend.

She was so excited about “skating” on her scooter and was the cutest thing ever “riding” it around our yard.

She was quite proud and worn out by the time she got to the front of the house. She stepped off, and started walking back toward the garage and yells to us, “Yall put it up.” Riding a scooter is hard work and apparantly she likes exercise about as much as her momma.

~amw~

Lately…

We’re still staying close to home these days. We’ve been out a couple of times for doctors appointments and when we have been we’ve been sure to keep baby girl covered up and out of the germs reach! :) We’ll start to venture out more once she hits that 8 week mark…maybe…I still don’t know how it will be to keep up with a three year old and a newborn, so we’ll see how brave I am. :)

Here’s what we’ve been up to…

 

We spent New Years Eve at my in-laws.

My New Year’s Cuties

 

They do fondue with some friends every year and invited us to crash this year. :) Dinner and dessert was so good and we even got to spend some time with Sam, who was in town. AB had the best time playing dress-up with her cousin, Gracie.

Maybree had her two week well check. We switched pediatricians recently and couldn’t be happier. (Our previous dr., who we’ve been using since Cooper was born, and we LOVED, retired…I wasn’t really happy with the rest of the group she was in, so we decided to switch). We LOVE our new doctor and the entire practice. I’m SO glad we switched and so thankful for a good friend’s recommendation of them.

Baby girl weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz! She’s growing so much and I cant wait to go back next week for 4 week appointment to see how much she weighs.

We had AB’s 3 year well check, too, last week. She weighs 28 lbs and is 35 1/2 inches tall. She was adorable during her visit. She was such a big girl and I was so proud of her.

Nurse Jayne taking AB’s blood pressure

Since we chose to spread our vaccinations out, we are a little behind on them, so she had to get a couple of shots. She also had to have her finger pricked and I was so shocked that she didn’t even cry during that! The shots were a different story. Thankfully my mom went with us. I knew she would need to held and carried (and since I still can’t pick her up, Mom went with us). We were both glad Grammy was there.

Later that afternoon, Nie-Nie & Aunt Kels came down to check on AB and bring her a prize!! It was a Minnie Mouse dress up set and she wore it all afternoon.

Maybree wore jeans for the first time to AB’s dr appointment and that’s definitely a recordable milestone. :)

AB had some Christmas cash, so last weekend we took her to Target to let her pick out a new game for her “tablet.” (Maybree & I sat in the truck while DW took AB in the store…and AB was the cutest thing walking in with her daddy with her owl hat and piggy back pack on…) Precious!  (The owl hat was a Christmas present from Aunt Kristy & Uncle Beau and she wears it ALL the time…the pig back pack was also a Christmas present, from Aunt Nen & Uncle Adam…AB takes it around everywhere, too!) :)

AB’s been doing lots of playing with all her new Christmas toys. She’s thrown countless tea parties in our living room over the past few days and at every one, she serves up birthday cake. It’s always someone else’s birthday, too…and we have to sing, of course.

“Mamie” (AB’s nickname for her sister) still sleeps a lot, so we spend a good part of our days snuggling with her. Nothing sweeter…

I’m pretty sure that although what we’ve been up to lately isn’t the most exciting, it’s some of my most favorite days.

~amw~

A Tangled Birthday Party…

Soon after her second birthday party, AB was ready for another one! She told us right away for her next birthday she wanted a Mickey Mouse party. A few months ago, I started pinning ideas on Pinterest for a Mickey/Minnie Mouse Birthday. Thankfully, before I started buying or making anything Mickey mouse themed, AB announced she wanted a Tangled a party instead.

Our girl loves Rapunzel, even though she never calls her by name…always “Tangled.” The movie is a favorite of hers and we’ve all seen it at least a hundred times.

I found lots of cute ideas via Pinterest and the birthday party planning and prep began! My mom and I worked on party stuff for two weekends straight. By the time it was over, we had braided more tiny little braids than we ever want to again, that’s for sure!

First the invites: (a copy cat Pinterest idea, and super easy…)

We had the party in our sunroom and in the area outside of the sunroom in our backyard. The weather was great that day and worked out nicely to have the eating tables outside. It was a little windy, so everything got blown around, but it wasn’t raining, which was perfect to me! :)

This year, we went with a smaller crowd again, and only invited our immediate family. We did let AB invite a couple little friends, though. She was so excited about her party and her “fwends” coming to her house! :) She invited her BFF, Allie Claire and a little friend from church.

“EJ” (AB’s church friend) Allie Claire, AB & cousin Warren

For an activity, we had the kids paint canvases, since Rapunzel paints in the movie.

I got the cute purple and pink “castle” tent for $5.00!!! I saw it in several stores’ sales ads for Black Friday. I think the cheapest it was that day was like $19.99. I thought it would be cute for the party, but passed on buying it. Then, the week of the party, I got a coupon in the mail for $10.00 off any purchase at JCP. The Sunday paper came and JCP had a sales flyer that advertised the same castle tent for $14.99 that week! So I used the coupon and got it for $5.00!!! It was meant to be. :)

The kids (and Aunt Nen) enjoyed playing in it that day…It was a cute addition to the party and AB has LOVED playing in it since!

We also put the play table outside with a Rapunzel playset on it for the kids to play with.

For food, we went super simple… I made up some Italian and Turkey subs, had PB&J’s for the kids, pasta salad, chips & dip and a fruit/cheese tray that my Mom did for me.

For the cake, I decided cupcakes would be easiest and since I was 4 days from having a baby, EASY was GREAT! :)

BUT, I wanted to try to make a “Tangled Tower” as AB calls it, out of fondant, so I baked a small cake and made the tower for the topper. AB LOVED it, which made it so worth it. :) I made the base of the tower out of rice krispy treats and then covered it with fondant.

Decorations were pretty simple, too… I bought a bunch of purple chinese paper lanterns from Hobby Lobby and had DW hang them in the sunroom.

We blew up some balloons, and made some pennant banners to match the ones in the movie. My Mom & I made them with scrapbook paper and cut the sun from a Cricut cartridge. DW’s aunt has EVERY cartridge there is, so I didn’t even have to buy a new one, I just borrowed hers. :)

We made a backdrop for the cake by using cheap plastic table cloths, then just added some of the pennant banner to it.

I did make the Towers on the table from a Pringles can and a christmas tree cone I found at Hob Lob. For the windows and castle part, I used scrapbook paper and hot glue.Then just added some moss and flowers… The first one took me over an hour to make and I almost didn’t make a second one, but it went lots faster, so I’m glad I did!

This cabinet sits in the sunroom, so I just used it to display the party stuff. DW’s saddle also sits in the sunroom, too, and instead of moving it out for the party, I left it and we said it was “Maximus’” (the horse in the movie’s) saddle. :)

My mom made the long tangled braids for the centerpieces (another Pinterest inspired idea).

We also made Pascal party horns and while they turned out looking silly to me, the kids loved them…

Instead of party hats, we had party crowns with Tangled braids. I’d made plenty in case AB insisted that everyone have one (you never know), but the kids were the only ones who ended up with them.

“Rapunzel, let down your hair!”

Even cousin Warren was a good sport and wore one… I said they looked like little rat tails and they really did on him. Ha…

We only had 4 kids (2 boys and 2 girls), so party favors were easy. For the girls, I found these little wooden castles at Hobby Lobby (they were even the party colors, pink & purple!) for like a quarter each. I added a “Tangled” braid to them and a ribbon to make them into bow holders and stuck a couple hairbows on them. (This was the only thing I didn’t copy from Pinterest!) :) The girls also got some other hair goodies, including a brush set so they could, “Brush and Brush and Brush their hair.” We found the Tangled coloring/sticker packs in the dollar bin at Target.

The boys were a little harder, to come up with boyish treats that were movie inspired. They got a horse (“Max”), a Pascal wind up toy, and then hand-cuffs and a Wanted Wollie Willie (these were because of Flynn Ryder being a criminal in the movie and the Wanted posters they put up of him.) I was reaching, but if you saw the movie, you’d get it. :)

Ready to pass out her party favors…

It was a fun few hours and everyone was so sweet to come celebrate our girl.

Cousin Taylor & Allie helping the birthday girl with her gifts.

When she laid down that afternoon for her nap, she said, “Mine’s party was so fun, Momma.” Just the words this momma wanted to hear.

~amw~