8 Years!

Flashback to 18 years ago--the last day of our freshman year of high school but the first day of our forever together! 

18 years together and today we celebrate 8 years of marriage! 

It hasn't always been easy, we had our ups and downs, but we were always led right back to where we belong--with each other. There is no one else I would want standing beside me in this life.

We have built a wonderful life--a life full of love and laughter with our 3 beautiful children.

I love all of our accomplishments and what we have created for ourselves. We are so very blessed. I am so very blessed! It has been a wonderful ride and it's only just begun! 

More today than yesterday!! 💜

Hailey's 2 Year Stats

Last week, I took Hailey for her 2 year well visit.

Here are her stats:


She weighs 25.2 pounds and is 32.25 inches tall.

She is up 4 pounds and grew 1.75 inches from her 18 month well visit.

In comparison to her brother and sister, she is about half a pound heavier than  Colson but pretty much the same weight as Hannah and 2.25 inches shorter than Hannah was but the exact same height that Colson was at 2 years old.

So, that explains why she can still wear 18 month pants like Colson could at 2. I'm not sure what we are going to do since all of Hannah's fall clothes were already 24 month and 2t pants. I'm either going to have to roll them up or buy a few more 18 month pants. My little shorty! :oP

But the doctor said that Hailey looks perfect so that's good. She is right on target for doing what a 2 year old should be doing!

She can use a fork and spoon.
She can stack blocks.
She loves to play with Colson's "vroom vrooms". 
She can jump and walk backwards.
She tries to drink from a cup--but sometimes wears more than she drinks.
She points to objects and will get them when we tell her to.
She talks all the time and will say short sentences: "I don't know." "Where Colson go?" "Apple juice please." "I take bath?", etc. Plus she can sing the happy birthday song.
She can count to 4 and sometimes higher if we've just said the numbers to her.
She will repeat letters of the alphabet back to us.
She loves Minnie Mouse.
She is obsessed with wearing her hair in a "pony" and wearing bows.
She eats a lot more things that the other kids did at this age--she's not so picky.
She loves chicken, Mac and cheese, all fruit, hot dogs, etc. but she is not a fan of eggs or PB&J.
She is seriously just so spunky and sassy...way more sassy than Hannah was. She can be very opinionated at times but she is also a snuggler. 
She loves her brother and sister and tries to do everything that they are doing.

We just love her to pieces!! 



Colson's 1st Day of Preschool

Colson had his first day of preschool last Wednesday (9.8.15).


Before we left for school we got some photos at the house. At this point he was excited to go to school. We tried talking up school to make him excited--that his sister went there and it's the same teachers that she had. But I knew deep down that he was going to have a hard time with us leaving him there (the complete opposite of Hannah, who I had to chase down to get a goodbye kiss).



He even picked some "flowers" for his teachers.



He walked into school and hung his bag on his hook like a big boy. He looked so big!



And then the dreaded moment...it was time for us to leave. Cue the tears. It broke this mama's heart but we had to leave him. His teachers are awesome though and took him up to the room.

About 2 hours into school though,  his teacher sent me this photo. He was all smiles and loving every minute!

We were so relieved! We had high hopes that day 2 of school would be better! Yeah, not so much. More tears.

Day 3…more tears.

But today…on day 4 of school...Colson walked right into school like a big boy, hung his bag on his hook, washed his hands and turned to me and said "bye mom!". He gave Hailey a hug and a kiss and for the first time, I was able to get a goodbye hug! I told him to have a great day and he went up to the classroom. No tears!!

It's a huge milestone for him and I couldn't be more proud. I hope we have happy goodbyes from here on out!

Everyday when I pick him up he tells me all of the things he did that day--painting, hiking, playing in the sandbox, so I think he is really enjoying it!


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Hailey's 2nd Birthday Party--Apples!

This past weekend we had Hailey's birthday party.

We did an apple theme and I love how it turned out! It might be my favorite birthday party to date.

First up is the cake. For the first time ever, I made the birthday cake. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it was going to be so I see myself making them more often.



Then we have the cake toppers--apple pom poms--which I found the idea from HERE

For food, I decided to do a make your own sandwich bar. It was super easy prep-wise so that was a huge plus!

I also made a yummy apple harvest punch. You can find the recipe HERE.


Then, as a fun treat for everyone, we did a caramel apple bar. This was by far, the biggest hit of the party--minus the birthday girl, of course. :oP There might have been requests to do this at every birthday party!

The caramel apple bar was pretty easy to pull together. I just melted those little caramel candy squares in a sauce pan and then poured the melted caramel into a fondue pot to keep is warm. We sliced up a few apples and then--here's the big tip of the day--I soaked them in club soda for about a half hour to prevent browning of the apples. This worked so well! There were no brown apples even 2 hours into the party! So moms who have kids complaining about brown apples in their school lunches…Club Soda!! It works! Then we had a few different toppings to dip the apples in--mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, and nuts. This was  tons of fun for the party, but it also really got me in the Fall spirit! :o) 


Other decor included honeycomb apples. I had quite a few hanging around the house. I followed these instructions HERE.


 Little miss birthday girl looked super cute in her SheSheMade dress. When I saw this dress I knew it would be perfect for her party. Plus, we can wear it again at Christmas time with a long sleeve shirt under it so I can really get my money's worth out of it. :o)

For a few days before the party, Hailey would sing happy birthday to herself. It was super cute. I asked her if she was going to blow out her birthday candles and she would always tell me yes. So when the time came…she did in fact blow out her own candles…so quickly in fact, that I did not get a picture quick enough. :oP Aw well... I'll just have to get a photo on her actual birthday of her blowing out the candles.

But she was a big fan of the cake and ice cream!

And she was also a fan of the presents. :oP




Little miss had a wonderful birthday party and we are so thankful to our family and friends who could come help make it special!

We just love this little girl to pieces and it's really hard to believe that our baby is going to be 2 years old on Thursday. Wasn't she just born???




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