Hannah's Birthday Party

We celebrated Hannah's 4th Birthday yesterday!  Her actual birthday isn't until next week but we planned it early just in case.  This year is the first year that she really understands what a birthday is.  In the past, we have only celebrated with immediate family with a simple celebration at home.  This year, we invited other four year olds from school and church and had a blast at her party!

Hannah decided that she wanted a Rapunzel birthday party!  Rapunzel has been the favorite princess for a long time.  I think it is because her dress is purple and that is Hannah's favorite color.

Hannah in her Rapunzel dress from our Walt Disney World trip this past December.

We held her party at our church building.  There is an indoor two-story playground that we have the option to rent out.  It was the perfect place for this very pregnant mom to host the party.  The party host helped with setup, keeping the party going, and even cleanup (and for a very reasonable price!).  We are so thankful for all of her help and loved being able to actually enjoy the party!

When we first starting planning this party, Hannah wanted me to make Rapunzel's tower as the cake!  That is way beyond my cake decorating skills so I made the tower as the cake stand.  I have been working on the {creative} details for several weeks, trying to do a little bit at a time.  I think that has been as much fun as the actual party.  Hannah would get so excited every time I finished a different aspect.

For the cupcakes, I made push-up pop cupcakes.  I found the idea on Pinterest and thought they were so cute!  They are like the old push-up pop ice cream containers that we used to have as kids but instead of ice cream, you can fill them with cupcakes (or anything else you want).  Hannah loved them!  Since we had the early (9:00 am) party time slot, we also had apples and caramel dip and Chic-fil-A chicken minis (yum!).

Opening Presents with friends

and cousin, Maddie

Playing on the Playscape

Party Favors

Hannah and cousin, Hudson

After the party, we headed to out to an early lunch with my family and a few more presents.  Such a great morning!  I think this face says it all!

Whirlwind Week!

What a crazy week!  I started the week with a stomach bug that knocked me out for a couple of days.  Thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug (and no one else caught it!) because tomorrow is Hannah's birthday party!  We are celebrating her birthday a little early just in case her sister decides to make an early appearance.  The bug put me a bit behind schedule of what I had planned to get finished each day for the party but I am so grateful that I did plan ahead for this and got most everything finished before this week.  Cupcakes are finally made and I just have a few finishing touches to add to the birthday girl's party outfit and then we are all set!

Hannah decided she needed to sample some of the (extra) birthday goodies for a snack today.  She has been counting down to the big day all week and is so excited it is finally here!  This is her first friend-invited (and not just family) birthday party so it is an extra big deal this year.

We also got to see Olivia via sonogram one last time before she makes her debut.  The sonographer even threw in a couple bonus 3D shots for us.  Right now she is measuring at 7 lbs and 5 oz.  We still have three weeks to go!  If they are correct with their measurements, I don't think we will have any need for newborn clothes and diapers for more than a day!

Olivia's Nursery

The nursery is finished!  We have been working on the nursery now for about six weeks, just working on bits and pieces as there has been time (and energy!).  It has been a lot of fun!  I made almost everything in the room and had a lot of help from Hannah.  I didn't really have a specific theme in mind.  I just knew that I wanted some darker and bolder colors.  I get tired of pastel colors after a while.

We found this Tigger in Walt Disney World outlet store on our trip in September and I just fell in love with him!  We knew we were pregnant at the time but weren't sure if we were having a boy or girl just yet so I resisted the urge to purchase all three and just picked up Tigger.  He ended up being the inspiration for the entire room!  I love the dark and light pinks mixed with the turquoise blue and the paisley print.  We found Pooh and Eeyore at our Disney Outlet store here at home last month.  I also found the blue and pink paisley fabric (on the lamp) that matches perfectly.

I made the crib skirt in three separate pieces so that they can be repositioned to always touch the floor (and hide stuff!) no matter what height the mattress is at.

This is probably my favorite part of the room!  I love the fabric lanterns as a mobile and the height that they add to the nursery.  I used a tutorial that I found online and spent many, many hours putting them together.

We were thankful to not to have to buy any of the big furniture and gear this time around.  The crib and glider are Hannah's hand-me-downs.  The bookshelf was my sister's from when she was little.  The ottoman is a piece of storage furniture that I added a cushion to and covered with fabric.  We are using a bookshelf with fabric bins as a dresser in the closet.

My second favorite part of the room.  Hannah and I made this art piece together with scraps of fabric leftover from the crib skirt.  I just love how it turned out!

Hannah modeling our diaper bag.  This picture is for my grandparents so they can see the bag that they purchased for us!  Thank you, Nana and Grandpa!

Hannah also has her little rocking chair set up in the room so she can rock her babies while I am rocking Olivia.  She has already been practicing!  The little rocking chair was mine when I was little.

Four weeks from tomorrow until Olivia is scheduled to make her debut!  We are ready to meet the newest addition to our family!

Big Sister in Training

Zoo Day!

Chet and I both finished catching up on our work for the day around ten this morning (one of the perks of owning the company!).  Rather than sit at home, we decided to head to the zoo since it was going to be such a beautiful day.  The morning rain kept a lot of the crowd away this morning and we enjoyed having the place mostly to ourselves.  We love having our zoo annual passes!

Having a chat with Timon, the meerkat, or just the "Timons" as Hannah calls them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  We had a great day just celebrating being together.  Hannah went to school today and had a blast at her Valentine's Day Party.  For dinner tonight, we had a special Valentine's Day themed meal with red and white heart shaped ravioli in a pink sauce, strawberries and bananas, and a delicious red velvet cake!  Hannah has told us several times that she loved the Valentine's dinner so this picture is really for my reference for next year when she wants it again!

Blueberry Muffins

Hannah loves blueberry muffins so we made up a batch for her to have for breakfast this week.  It was the perfect way to spend this cold, rainy day!  It made the kitchen warm and it smelled great!

Grocery Run

My pregnancy brain left tonight's dinner on the counter all night after getting it ready last night, so an emergency grocery store run was in order this morning for more chicken and a new coloring book.  (And the chocolate cupcakes she talked me into as well.  Pregnancy cravings, the grocery store right before lunch, and a sweet-talking three year old should not be combined at the grocery store!)

Catching up!

 

Oops!  I didn't realize I had missed so many days!  The last few days have been a bit crazy.  We hit the ground running on Friday afternoon and haven't really stopped until this afternoon.  Chet headed to Georgia with his dad this weekend to speak at a congregation there.  They had a great time and received a wonderful response.

While he was away, Hannah and I cleaned out her closet and went shopping for new clothes.  I think she outgrew everything in her closet overnight!  She is my little shopping buddy.  Hannah loves trying on and buying new clothes.  She is now set for at least the next few months!  We also spent some time with my family, enjoying a few meals together, going to church with my parents, and then more shopping (this time for Olivia).  We all had a great weekend and are glad to have Chet back home with us.

We are excited to have a little downtime until Ms. Olivia's arrival.  She will be here on March 19 (also our wedding anniversary) unless she decides she wants to come earlier.  The nursery is almost finished and I will post pictures soon.  We will also be celebrating Hannah's fourth birthday in a few weeks!

Disney Withdrawals

I am beginning to think that this sweet girl is having symptoms from not going to Walt Disney World as often as she is used to!  She has spent the last week in her Minnie dress, playing with her Minnie dolls, playing Disneyland Adventures on our Xbox Kinect, looking at her old autograph books and talking about who she wants to visit on our next trip.  I'm not sure what she is going to do when she starts school!