Happy Birthday Part 1

I had 2 posts for some reason... one with words and one with pictures. It would NOT let me combine them so.... here are the random pictures from the week this week. Go to the post below this to see the words. Birthday Pictures will come soon after today!

The morning pictures watching her show and eating breakfast. This is her "wake up" time


One of my favorite Bama outfits!!!! We may have to get an "upsize". ROLL TIDE!!! I have tons of cute Bama outfits to come!



One of the "pool days"

Happy Birthday Part 2

2 years ago today, I became a mommy thanks to Charlee Kate. We are truly blessed that God chose us to be her parents. She is such a blessing! Even the two year old, "I do it" stages, hitting because things are not quite going her way (this happens when she doesn't feel good for some reason), frustration in communication, and the millions of sweet things that melt my heart! She loves to communicate, talk to me, and remembers everything. Her hair is finally starting to grow more and she lets me pull it up. Yay! We are truly blessed to have that baby girl in our lives and I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays! Happy Birthday Precious Girl!


Well I think I finally have my Charlee Kate back to normal. She ran a fever for a couple of days, but then she just wasn't herself! It has taken several days, but I have that sweet girl back! I was so afraid she was whining and hitting at school, but they assured me she was super sweet and it was like she had been in preschool all of her life. I really thought my child was going to go in and be the shy child or the one who sits back and takes it all in. Apparently, she gets right there in the middle of it all and wants all the attention. Kind of funny because not what I expected at all. Monday was a very hard day for her at preschool because I don't think she felt quite right and she just wanted her mommy. Tuesday was much better, morning was tough for a few minutes, but got better. Wednesday, morning was still rough, but the girl that works for me has a little girl in the same class and she walked in after me, then reported that CK was already playing and having fun before I was even out of the door. That makes for much better days for mommy too when I know my baby girl is happy. She must learn lots of cute songs and dances there because she comes home singing and dancing and I know it is not made up because she repeats the same thing and same movements together. Now my little priss pot loves to sing and dance so I bet she just "eats up her music class". Boy what I would GIVE to be a fly on the wall. I may have to be sometime. Her absolute favorite songs are the ABC's and Jesus Loves me. I need to record it and put it on her. My favorite part is the end of Jesus Loves me when she says "Oh Bible Tells me so". I love it!

Other than that, everything is going great and we are totally getting settled in. We don't get out of the bubble during the week but I have everything I need right here. No need to get out, it is nice and convenient. We are very much looking forward to the upcoming weekend. We are going to Charlotte to see K&K and the kids. Charlee Kate has been calling Ella and Hunter's name long enough. It is time she gets to see her cousins! Kelly and I try to get the girls together somewhat around their birthdays too so this will be a great time for that. We have tons of fun things planned so I am sure the short amount of time will fly by! Of course, I am sooo sooo sooo excited that Bama football starts this weekend. FINALLY!!! I think I have been telling Jeremy I was ready since March. Now it is finally here so the fall weather can come anyday. I will welcome it for sure!


So that is what is happening in our house. Basically ROUTINE, but settling into many, thousands, tons, and lots of new things over the last several months has taken time, but it feels good to almost be settled!!! Settled is much more than having the house in order. That is the easy part. It is getting to know the neighbors, the feel for all the places I LOVE to go (which I already knew lots) then NEED to go (doctors, cleaners, groomers, vet, etc...), new school for me and CK, new places for Jeremy with work, new adjustments, and the list goes on. Those are the things that take time but that time has come and each day gets better! Now... ready for a nice long exciting weekend!!

The Birthday Girl

IT was a wonderful birthday party for my little girl! I cannot believe that she will be 2 on September 1st. It's hard to believe that another year has gone by; yet, I can't believe everything that has happened within that year. WOW, we are truly very blessed! We decided to still keep the party simple, she doesn't know the difference yet so we did just a day at the lake and it was perfect! Jeremy and CK headed over Friday morning because she ran a fever all night Thursday night (figures before a big event) so we could not send her to school on Friday. She was in such a sweet mood Friday but she still wasn't quite herself. Somehow Hurricane Irene did give us a little bit of a breeze and slightly less humidity so it was so nice. Friday night we cooked out, then mom and dad sat with CK on the dock, while Jeremy and I rode the seadoo forever until the sun was almost down. It was gorgeous out on the water and I have been waiting a long time for this.

Saturday was the same way, just gorgeous weather and all the kids had so much fun swimming in the pool, in the river (yuck!), and playing non-stop. Charlee Kate had fun, but she still wasn't quite herself. I don't think she ate much of ANYTHING that whole day. You will see how happy she is in the pictures. All of these took place before everyone got there and then it sort of went down hill. She just wanted mommy and daddy and wasn't quite feeling well. That is why there are NO pictures with her and anyone else. We never did get them. I am hoping to get more on Thursday when it is her REAL birthday.

Her party was great though. I just loved it all. She loves Dora and she loves Minnie Mouse so we went the whole Minnie Mouse theme... much cuter, haha! But it wasn't too much of a theme, stayed simple, but we served lunch and had plenty of goodies. That was enough to make it fun! So here are all the pictures of our day.... there are lots! I am looking forward to a wonderful week, a fun party at her school on Thursday, and then off to see K&K and the kids. We can't wait!!! I will post as much as I can this week.

Her little table with all the goodies! The adorable birthday banner I ordered got mailed to Tampa so we didn't have it. Then I looked for a minnie mouse balloon and NONE so I did the best with what I had, LOL.

THE TABLE: I do not like the elaborate decorated cakes. They are usually good for ONE thing... looking pretty! I have to have something that tastes yummy! I always used Wrights for every birthday no matter whose it was when we lived in Tampa. Now that we are in B'ham, I have two of my favorite favorite choices! CK's cake was strawberry with cream cheese icing and I didn't even have words on it b/c I hate that icing. Instead I put her cute Minnie Mouse birthday hat on top and it turned out adorable. The Minnie Mouse cookies all around the cake are from CK's favorite cookie store. My mom made Minnie Mouse oreo cookies that turned out really cute!!

Those bows on the dress did not want to stay tied but they did not seem to bother her.

The pink swavorski converse.... my favorites!!!!

Look at that hair finally growing!

Watching Dora while holding her balloon. Probably HER idea of a perfect birthday, LOL

Party favor bags

Charlee Kate just LOVES Nathan. She is always asking about "Nate Nate". She just goes straight to him and lays her head on his shoulder. He is so good to play with her too.





She loved to see what everyone was doing in the lake. This is what she would do while we rode the sea doo at night.... just sit and watch.

Haley and CK!

Oh the sidewalk chalk became a HUGE hit. This was 6 hours after swimming, lunch, and napping. Everyone was winding down and CK started passing out chalk to everyone. By the end she had 7 people on the ground drawing then she recruited adults, haha
Blowing out her candle. She was so tired and not feeling good that she had to go to bed before we cut the cake. So we saved her piece and she blew out the candle a few hours later.

The day after her birthday. We had such a nice morning sitting on the porch and relaxing. I had my coffee and we sat in the fabulous swing we have! CK moved her chair to the door and sat and sang at the top of her lungs and talked and talked. We loved just listening to her.