Happy Birthday, Aunt Jess!

On Sunday evening, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a cookout celebrating Aunt Jess' birthday, and we had so much fun!

lovely flowers

saving the world

I seriously just think she's so beautiful

party details

blowing bubbles with Grandma

Taylor and Jack

Aunt Jess with her nephew and niece

It was such a fun birthday celebration, and we were so lucky that we got to see Aunt Jess on her actual birthday as well.  

We love you, Jessica!  You're like a little sister to me, and I'm so happy that I've watched you grow from a girl in middle school to the lovely woman you've become.  You deserve great things, and I hope we helped to make your birthday special.  You are loved.

the end of an era

So basically it was much easier to celebrate and see Grammy and Grampy's new house than it was to say goodbye to their old house.  As of tonight, they are completely out.  They've turned over the keys to the new owners and driven away for the last time...and it makes me sad.

The kids and I went over today to help them get a few last minute things, and I took some pictures of the empty house while we were there.  I got a little choked up...it's not easy to say goodbye to the house that you grew up in - that holds so many memories...

• visiting the house while it was being built through the winter
• starting high school
• running up the front steps the day I got my driver's license
• coming home from high school graduation to my Grandpa waiting in the kitchen
• coming home from college on the weekends
• running up the stairs and into my sister's room the day I ran back into Brad
• my bridal shower
• writing my wedding vows in the living room
• spending my last night in that house the night before our wedding
• throwing the surprise party for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary
• telling my parents we were pregnant
• my baby shower

Really - the list goes on and on.  And that's not to say that there aren't unhappy memories, too.  There are plenty.  I'm sure every house/family has them.  But I love that house.  And I will miss it forever.

{They were so embarrassed I made them pose for this picture, but really it was necessary.}

Goodbye, home.  

Silent Sunday

just because

how sweet are they?

Bitter Sweet

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day for me.  My baby bear turned two, right before my very eyes.  And I wasn't ready.

I was ready on Sunday afternoon when we celebrated her birthday with friends and family.  There wasn't an inch of sadness on that day.  Not one.  Maybe the party planning postponed my feelings of sadness over quickly growing babies changing into little, independent people.  I don't know...

All I know is that I woke up, and it wasn't sunny.  And then I couldn't fix the zipper on the birthday bear that Hannah loves so much after many minutes of trying.  But whatever it was, I could tell I was in a funk, and I was feeling guilty - IT'S HANNAH'S BIRTHDAY, BE HAPPY! the voice inside my head kept chanting.

My mood got better as I took the kids to the park and watched Hannah giggle on the swings and slide down the slides on her tummy.  How could that not make me smile?

And as they played and ate at Chuck E. Cheese.

And as I baked her birthday cake.

But deep down, behind my smile, I was still a little sad.  I couldn't shake it.

We're on the brink of getting rid of diapers and binkies.  She's mostly ready.  And I'm not.  That's a lie - I'm ready to get rid of diapers.  Diapers, yes, definitely.  Binkies - not so much.

But still.  You get the idea.  I'm not ready to not have babies in the house, and so on this monumental day -  when we look back on the day she was born, and it feels oh-so-long-ago - I was sad.  Is that normal?  Does it last forever?

The thing is - Hannah had a very happy day, and I was happy about that.  She had fun at the park and at Chuck E. Cheese.  And she had fun watching her brother at Tae Kwon Do with her Daddy and making birthday dinner.  She loved opening presents and licking the frosting off of her cake while her birthday sparkler in the shape of a number two lit up our family room.  Her happiness is contagious.

Thank goodness!

*****

And on another note - my parents have a new house!

I'm so happy for them, and I can't wait to make many new, happy memories there!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Bear

What a ride it's been, my love...

newborn

one year old

two years old (or almost, in this picture)

Mommy and Daddy and Jack love you oh-so-much.  We can't believe you're two!  You make our lives happier and fill our home with smiles.  You are such a beautiful little girl - inside and out.  

Happy Birthday, Baby - you deserve the best!

Love, 

Mama

Hannah's Sunshine Party

The idea for a "You Are My Sunshine" birthday party for Hannah Bear came together for several reasons:

1. She asks that the entire family sing "You Are My Sunshine" to her every single night before bed.
2. I'm obsessed with the way she says, "yellow."
3. She literally lights up our world.

It was that easy!  I started searching Pinterest and Etsy for "You Are My Sunshine" parties and all things pink and yellow.  

I received many questions about what, exactly, is a "You Are My Sunshine" party.

This, my friends, is just that.  Enjoy the pictures from our little tot's party!

Lucky for me, I found a wonderful printable pack for the party on Etsy.  And those "You Are My Sunshine" lyrics on the mantle?  I found those here.

More on this love story later:)

Hannah was so excited to pass out the goodie bags with the princess popcorn inside!

Our invitation (in the frame) came from here.

All in all, it was a perfect party.  Everything came together very well, and the birthday girl thoroughly enjoyed herself.  I think she felt really special, and that's all that I was after:)

Silent Sunday

behind

I know I'm behind - I'm sorry:(  I have to say, while we've been home from our vacations for a couple of weeks now, I've either felt like I just haven't had time to blog or I've had other things to do rather than catch up the blog.  I'm trying to be better...  This morning, I thought if I made it part of our morning routine while the kids were eating breakfast and before our day really got started, I might be better off.  That idea lasted for .3 seconds before Hannah crawled into my lap and said, "Be wif Mommy."

Clearly becoming part of our morning routine won't work.  So now I'm going for while Hannah sleeps. We shall see.  I made a small list of things to accomplish while she's sleeping today and so far I've done half of one task and taken a small nap:(  I'm going to have to wean myself from napping when the kids nap so that I can actually have a sense of accomplishment around here.  Things are piling up, and when the kids are awake, I try my hardest to play and do fun things and go fun places.  When they go down at night, I'm so tired, I can barely get anything done.

Taking up lots of my time lately are our digital files...which is another reason I'm behind on my blog.  Trying to make sure our family photos are updated and backed-up is a huge task, or so it seems to me anyway.  I'm not sure how other families do this well, but I'd love to know.  I feel like it's over-taking my life.  In the last week, I thought we lost a huge file of photos.  This caused me to have to upload 7000 something photos from a back up drive again, which took a lot of time.  I know have a separate back-up for both computers and everything is also in the cloud.  I think.  That's the tricky part!  I've also decided it is impossible to name every photo I take, so I'm trying to let that go.  It's bothering me a bit, but we're going to try it out because otherwise I'm never going to catch up!

And that doesn't even touch on the fact that the kids' yearly photo books are nearly non-existent, with the exception of Jack's two-year-old book which I finished last year...

So I'm feeling behind...

But in the meantime, we're having a fun summer, and the little lovelies are keeping me very busy!

Jack dressed Hannah up so they could play Iron Man together!

We made an "invisible" jet.  I'm not sure why it appears that Hannah was glaring...

We played in the rain!

When we went to a birthday party last weekend, Jack was reunited with a little love of his from preschool.

I just love this picture!

How Hannah eats pizza:)

Cheese!

We are trying to spend lots of time at the pool - this was their best attempt at a picture together.  So it goes.

Jack is working up to the diving board - first with his floatie, and then today without it!

Hannah is loving the pool this year!

Jack started Tae Kwon Do after asking for nearly six months, and he's loving it!

He's just so handsome...

Hannah's been helping me cook, although she wasn't loving having her picture taken that night.

We've gone for walks (or drives).  Hannah's not quite sure about the Gator just yet...

I've been getting ready for Hannah's birthday party this weekend.  I still have 7,345 things to do, but I think it's going to be really cute, and she's so excited!

And then there's this...

When Daddy had to change the band-aid on Jack's foot, he was a little scared.  So Hannah crawled over and held his hand:)

Oh, I love those two so much!  Even though I'm overwhelmed and feeling behind in everything, I am so lucky that I get to spend this special time with them - especially while they are so little.