Portraits

The girls and I went to Richmond this Saturday to visit Mimi and to do a little shopping. While we were there, we took the girls to get their pictures taken. I have been remiss in getting ANY pictures of the three girls to document this fall/winter...so, Mimi was able to fit us in on the schedule at a local photography studio. I will say, despite the antics of a particular, strong-willed two year old (who will remain nameless....), the pictures turned out pretty decent. I did throw in some out-takes just to show you what the poor photographer was up against....oh me oh my...everyone say an extra prayer for me tonight 

there must have been a spot on that clean, white backdrop...there must have been...

oh yes, the return of the "cheeeeeeese"

little miss bright-eyes sitting up for the camera (with a little help from the pillow:)

heeeeeey pwecious:) - as Kendall says every day when we get MC up from nap

my smiley little beanstalk

yes, yes she did

there we go....thats 1 for the photographer....100 for Kendall

peek-a-boo

sweet big sister. She was so good at posing the way she was told:)

 yes, we had lots of appearances from the tongue...she must have thought it was her best side...

MC is trying to escape the craziness but is trapped on all sides:)

no, we'd never make it through a photo shoot without Kendall sucking her thumb and trying to rub MC's head...MC was just too quick for Kendall this time;)

 Okay, the younger two were done...Kendall was done the moment the photographer came in...

Talk to the hand girl, don't touch the head;)

smiley

happy happy girl

 you would never know she was just crying her eyes out a second before this picture...she amazes me!

Okay, not so successful on group shots, but I think we did pretty well on individuals. Good thing we are scheduling out door shots for the spring! Hopefully Kendall will have calmed down enough to at least be kind to the photographer!! Whew...Mimi and mommy are exhausted!

Kendall is 2!!

Kendall celebrated her 2nd birthday this past Friday....where has the time gone??!! I can't believe she is already 2 (even though she's been in her "trying 2's attitude" for awhile now!). We have loved watching Kendall grow and learn. She and Alley are complete opposites in almost everyday...including looks!

 Here the girls are before the party. They made a boat/bus/house with their chairs, blankets and stuffed animals...it was so cute to hear them play. They were actually playing nicely...no fights, yelling, or anything for close to 30 minutes. It was amazing...I was even able to have a very pleasant shower without having to deal with their shenanigans:) 

K being cheesy and just plain cute:)

this was the best shot I could get with Kendall in her birthday shirt and smiling...I know, she's a tough cookie;) She's in her "boat" and way to occupied for a photo break

As you could see by Kendall's shirt, we had a Minnie Mouse themed party. She looooves Mickey and Minnie...oh heck, she loves the whole Mickey Mouse gang. Just ask her to sing the intro song to the Disney show, Mickey Mouse clubhouse. It's just so darn cute..."Mickey Mowse, clubhouse....". Anyway, here are the cupcakes we had for the party...quite delicious:)

a close up with Kendall drooling in the background. She was super pumped about the cupcakes, having pizza and she could not keep her hands out of the veggie tray and the popcorn bowl...she's a mess!

Excitedly waiting on the pizza and "friends"

hanging out on her new see-saw...let me tell you, little see-saw has been in time-out a TON over the past three days...we might need to give it a break and put it in the shed until spring arrives...hopefully by then the girls will be sharing slightly better...oh who are we kidding!! we'll just put it up until they can fight outdoors;)

let's take a birthday pause and check out these two cuties! Our good friends are in the process of adopting this handsome little boy and we are just totally in love with him:) As is MC...they are almost 3 months apart and seem to be very interested in each other's hands and faces. Check out MC's soaking wet arm and red marks next to her mouth...she is really in to sucking on her arms and it's causing a rash next to her mouth....oh well...

MC wanting to get a better view of Kam, of course Kam is like, "woman, get off me..." ;)

Kam wondering if MC's arm is as good as she claims it to be...or, Mc saying, "dude, talk to the hand..." ;)

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program...PAAARTY!

We all started singing Happy Birthday...including Kendall

Her face when she heard everyone else singing with her

Her face when she heard everyone sing her name...she thought it was the best! I don't think she realized everyone was really singing to her:)

Digging into her cupcake

she would not let go of her candle...even while eating

What a great evening with friends and family. We love our little spit-fire!!

Granny's Birthday Party

This weekend the girls and I traveled to Richmond to celebrate my grandmother's 89th birthday. Andy just so happened to be gone this weekend, so we were able to spend some much needed (and enjoyed) time with Mimi and Papa.

Alley and I received an invitation to Granny's birthday earlier this week and that has been ALL Alley has talked about. She kept reminding me that she was invited to the party and not Kendall and MC. On a side note, she thought it would be fun to hide from Granny and then jump out and yell "Surprise, Happy Birthday!"...hmmmm, not really a great idea for this party;) Too cute though.

Friday FINALLY arrived and we all traveled to Richmond. MC and Kendall got to spend the afternoon with Papa and Uncle "Booce". They got to experience Kendall in full form as well;) Papa had seen it before, but Bruce got the full effect! All the while, us "ladies" were having a wonderful tea party. A few of granny's friends came from Farmville to help celebrate this wonderful occasion. A wonderful time was had by all!

Alley did so well at this party. Mimi had a princess coloring packet as a party favor for her and she was in heaven! Here's my big girl getting ready for the party

the birthday girl and her HUGE eclair "birthday cake"...it was so big that she split it was another of the party guests.

Mimi, Granny and little Alley

4 generations

we were sitting near some decorative hats and Alley was just itching to try one on. So, I decided that if she was going to do that, then I should at least get a picture of her in one. This was the least decorative one..of course I didn't get a picture of her in the others...ugh!

when you're stuffed from lunch, what better thing to do (especially when you can't just lay out and nap...) then to color!;) 

Thanks for including us Granny in your wonderful celebration! We love you!!

School spirit

Here's my little model and her new HSC dress. She was super proud to wear this dress and decided that she needed to have a little fashion show...more like dance party with a little sass;)! Here she is with her dress and home-made crown. (Yes, this a numbers line she made at school that she felt would be the PERFECT crown...so resourceful!). Anyway, check out this pose....

Crates and dresses

Apparently we have new uses for the stackable crates in our house....

I walked into the living room to find this set-up...she must have been using her pterodactyl voice and the sisters got scared and caged her up;) 

 now THIS is really what should be happening;). THIS child needs the confinement.

Another use 9which I like a whole lot better)...lounge chairs for reading...thata girl;)

I love Pinterest. I am a huge Pinterest follower and have enjoyed seeing the many projects and things out there that people are trying. Upcycling is one of those "new" trends. So, I decided to give it a go.  Here are three upcycle projects I did yesterday....

Excuse the attitude of the model...apparently I wasn't photographing her good side;)

This was on old beach shirt that just fit a little too snug on me (sniff, sniff). It was the perfect length for K, so I turned it into a summer play dress.

Front

Back

With having 3 little girls, you are bound to have duplicates of items. For us, it's pink shirts...I mean, who would have thought;) Anyway, I had a spare pink shirt and some extra fabric from a dress project I did last year, so I made a t-shirt dress. I added a little ruffle at the bottom just because a girl needs some ruffles in her life....and I love ruffles:)

third project...my husband had this fleece pull-over that he wasn't wearing anymore and was ready to get rid of, so I snagged it. I cut it down to make a little dress for A...and of course, ruffles were added;)

I really enjoyed up cycling and think I will definitely be doing this in the future!!