A Winter ONEderland!

Her party. It was supposed to be perfect but of course things never turn out the way I plan. I should have learned my lesson the first time around but apparently I forgot. Anyway, here are a few pictures that I managed to capture while trying not to stress that her party didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. That said, HUGE thanks to Erika, Teresa & Victor, Clarissa (and anyone else that helped) for decorating and putting together the tables and candy/dessert bar while I ran over an hour late! (yes I'm still hanging my head in shame!!)

 the birthday girl...

   

 apparently I didn't get any pictures of the potato bar set up but dad and mom's chilis were a hit!!

enjoying her potato!

 being as charming as ever...

time for cake!!

 no hesitation here...

 loving every minute of it

 a sugar induced coma on the left and big sister getting in on the action on the right!

sadly, our only family pictures of the day!

It really was a fun day and we're so thankful to everyone who came out and celebrated with us! Perhaps one of these days I'll plan and execute a party to my slightly unrealistic standards :) 

p.s. I'll post more about her invitation and party printables soon!

Fall Back

Well, life has sure been busy lately. I feel like ever since the time change there aren't enough hours in the day anymore! The girls now get up at an awful hour of the morning (yes, 6am is too early!) and are ready to go once they're awake. We've been keeping busy with our new puppy, Bruno, who I might add is very energetic...it really is like having another child around the house. The girls love him and B is thrilled we finally have a Boston. Me, well, I'm not quite as enamored as the rest of the family, but I'll keep him around ;)

Right before Halloween we hit up our local pumpkin patch for our annual dose of pumpkin fun. It was Samara's first patch and she was thrilled to play with the pumpkins. Anayah loved all the slides and rides and even the swing!

 Sadly, I didn't make the family pumpkin patch picture this year...

For Halloween at Anayah's school, everyone dressed up as cowboys/girls. She loved her outfit and was so excited to get to school that morning! That evening we hung out with our good friends the Von Rosens and Anayah and Jack got to dress up and go trick-or-treating together. They were so cute dressed as Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates (Disney Jr. for those who don't know). Samara wore the infamous bee costume and looked so cute! 

 See?!

 

Don't they look so alike here?!

 They wouldn't keep still for a picture together!

I can't believe it's a week before Thanksgiving and I've yet to take any pictures of the family on my camera this month! I've been super busy with holiday photo sessions and working on my new website that I only have my phone pics to document the last few weeks. On top of all of that I've been starting to plan for Samara's first birthday! I know it will be here before we know it. Whew! On that note, I'm off to get some work done while A is in school and S is napping! Until next time...

She's THREE!! (and a Happy Belated Birthday)

Happy Birthday Anayah!!

 (celebrating with her friends at school)

(Anxious for her "party" to start)

This year (like last) we just had a few of her friends over for lunch and some cake. Well that was the intention anyway. Somehow it morphed into a custom cake (which was amazing btw), cupcakes, goodie bags, AND decorations! What the what?!

She was very proud of herself for writing these names!

She and her bestie Jack! (His Jake and the Neverlands Pirate Party was the following day)

What a ham!

The little one was cheezin' it up as usual

Haha it sounds more elaborate than it really was but it still crossed over the line of "get together" into "party." Although according to B it isn't a party if there's no jumper! Ugh, maybe next year we'll stick to the "a party only every 5 years" rule!

 (her morning after look...she looks exhausted!)

All in all she had a great time. The meltdown at the end of the night proved it...she was over tired, over stimulated, and over sugared! Man, I'm exhausted all over again. Ha! Now to concentrate on the little one's first birthday party! Hehe.

Chaotic, But Fun.

It's been a few months since we last met up with our friends the McCrays and Sotos. Life's been busy and coordinating schedules between the three of us and our eight kids is sometimes tricky. Luckily we were all able to get together at Carrie's last week for a fun, and slighty chaotic, day! You can see more pics of our day and read Carrie's version of events here. I'll just show you what we were up to and let you imagine for yourself what it was like!

 

 

 

   

 

And of course we had to attempt our group shot now that the littlest member had arrived:

Thanks girls for a fun day!! Can't wait to do it again soon!