Vacations, Birthdays, Holidays oh my!

It is go go go here in the Dunlap Household. Wanted to make sure I blogged a few pictures from the past few weeks or I knew it was just not going to happen. Jesse and I went to Vegas a few weeks ago. It was awesome and we loved every second of it. Nothing like having to travel cross country to spend some time with my husband. I have a million and one pictures from our four days but client work comes before personal images so those will just have to wait. I plan on sharing more from Vegas as soon as I can but for now here are just a few...

This past weekend was a big weekend full of fun birthday stuff and of course Easter. Dad turned the big 60 (even though I'm convinced he is as healthy and in shape as most 30 something year olds!!!) We managed to pull off a surprise party and I hope he was completely shocked and surprised. Here is the whole family at the party...

The girls had two great Easter Egg Hunts and got way too much candy and money treasures!

 

And of course we had to dye some (and by some I mean A LOT) of eggs...

I hope everyone had a fabulous Easter Weekend spent with lots of love and family.

Boo Big Puffy Hearts her 'Nastics'

If you ask Bennett what her favorite thing in this world is (if she doesn't say her blanket or binkie) she would say her 'NASTICS'! Bennett loves gymnastics class every week and she is so excited each Wednesday morning because she knows it is class time. She can't get enough of it and she practices her moves over and over again in the house all week long. She had her last class on Wednesday and I need to sign her up for Spring and Summer classes or she is going to miss it like crazy! Not that I am biased or anything but she is super strong and amazes me each week of all the things she can do. Not many two year olds can pull themselves up on the bars ALL BY THEMSELVES! I'm just saying... she is the only kid in the class who can or even wants to!!!! The only thing she needs to work on is her jumping skills on the trampoline. Girl can NOT jump. Something about that rhythm she just can't get. I will take blame for that since she probably has my rhythm... or lack thereof! But she does loooooove to run as fast as she can on the trampoline and fall into the comfy mat at the end. Next time you see her, be sure to ask her about 'nastics'. She will keep you busy talking about it for hours! ;)

Lets PAINT!

Not many days go by in our house where we don't pull out the paint. We went big today and used some of Mommy's seamless paper (backgrounds I use for portraits) and covered the entire kitchen table. We painted for almost two hours all over the paper and had a blast!

Happy LOVE Day

I have been awful about blogging (surprise surprise) but we are all doing great in 2012 and staying busy as usual. I have a ton of pictures to go through and edit when I find the time (one day). Just didn't want to have a holiday pass without a little update...

Happy Valentine's Day from the girls. They had a ton of fun taking pictures as usual and Hayden probably would have posed for the camera all day if I hadn't called it quits. She had her Valentine exchange yesterday and loved bringing home all her goodies to show me.

We are enjoying the day making heart crafts...

I hope everyone enjoys their LOVE day as well.

Hayden's Christmas Show

I just had to share this... 

Hayden wanted to put on a show for me tonight. Nothing like a little sassy thing to sing you a Christmas song! Love this child (sassy and all!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We love Halloween in this house. In fact I think we have celebrated Halloween for the entire month of October! We went out with a bang yesterday and today with multiple trick or treating events, zoo animals, school parades and parties, cookie baking, pumpkin carving, and neighborhood trick or treating with friends! Tons of pictures to go through from the past few days but just wanted to share a couple of our annual family costume shoot!

Happy Halloween from The Dunlap Family on Sesame Street!

My Baby Boo is Two!

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! Two years ago today we welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our lives. Hayden surprisingly welcomed her baby sister into our family with open arms (I was completely frightened that she would try to attack her when she saw her mommy holding another baby.) Two years has flown by as I still remember October 15th, 2009 like it was yesterday.
Bennett is growing and getting smarter every day. Just this week she decided to shock us with counting to 12 out of the blue! She always says "1-2-3" but randomly decided she needed to show us what she has been hiding all this time. She is my snuggly one and would be happy with Mommy holding her all day long. Her favorite thing to say is "I hold you Mommy." Translation:Mommy I want YOU to hold ME. How can you say no to all that cuteness?!?!?!
A few more fun facts about two year old Bennett:
She LOVES shoes. (Like she HAS to have them on and has multiple shoe changes in a day.) She wants to copy everything big Sissy does. She plays with her baby dolls all day long and has them on a feeding and nap schedule. She wants to go to preschool soooo badly and gets so upset when we drop off Hayden and she doesn't get to go into the classroom with her. Her favorite part of the day is when we pick her up and she gets to run into the classroom for a minute and look at everything. She talks to her 'bebe' (pacifier) and walks around the house yelling 'bebe where are youuuuuuuuu?' She can't walk out of the house without a purse or a backpack filled with the most random items. She has all of us wrapped around her finger and I think she knows it and uses it to her full advantage!!!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl! Mommy, Daddy, and Sissy love you so much!


I am not biased just because I am her Mommy. I seriously have the most beautiful two girls on the planet! :)

 

 I have this same exact image of her from One Year ago on her First Birthday. Still wants nothing to do with a cupcake! (Oh and check out those lashes.... A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!)

Fine Mommy... I'll try it if you just stop bugging me.

Yes she really got up from picture taking, walked into the kitchen, grabbed a fork and came back. "Mommy I can't eat it with my fingers... I will get messy!" :)

CUPCAKES CUPCAKES CUPCAKES!

I'm a Princess... got a problem with it?!?!

Curly Q Boo :)

5 Years Ago

Five years ago I married my very best friend in the entire world. I can't believe it has already been five years. In some aspects it feels like it was only yesterday. In other ways I feel like soooo many things have happened and changed in our lives since our wedding day that their is no way it has only been five years! I am the luckiest girl in the world to have an amazing husband who supports me and loves me better than anyone could ever ask for. And on top of that he happens to be the greatest daddy in the world to two lucky little girls!

Five years, two baby girls, two homes, two family owned businesses, a lot of home construction, some personal and family health scares, and day to day trials and tribulations later.... we are two people who fell in love and will always be by each other through thick in thin.

A list of things I remember from our special day on September 30, 2006

1. The most amazingly PERFECT day for an outdoor beach wedding in the middle of Hurricane season. (Seriously... how did I ever plan an outdoor wedding? What was I thinking?)
2. I can't believe so many of our friends and family who came down to Corolla, NC to celebrate with us.
3. I was REALLY nervous. It had nothing to do with getting married and more to do with the fact that I didn't want all eyes on me.
4. All of those nerves went away when I locked eyes with Jesse.
5. Walking down to the beach with my Dad was really special moment for me. If I could do it over I would have both my parents walk me down the aisle.
6. Both of our parents did an AMAZING job with the entire event and probably should thank them again for it five years later.
7. I remember the smile on my Grandma's face and that makes me so happy.
8. I really missed my Grandpa.
9. The wedding ceremony is an absolute blur.
10. Until the end when a man in a speedo walked right past us on the beach (we have photographic proof!)
11. I had a blast at our reception and people still get comments on how fun our wedding was.
12. I love all the terrible pictures that drunk friends took throughout the day and sent us.
13. I remember my Dad and my Husbands speeches at the reception.
14. I remember the Best Man and Maid of Honor speeches as well.
15. I remember my brothers speech. We had fought the night before and his speech made me cry.
16. Cake definitely got smashed in my face that night!
17. Pretty positive I didn't eat a thing the entire day (except that cake that got smashed in my face.)
18. Apparently the reception moved over to the local bar and we missed out on some craziness from the stories I continue to hear about.
19. We left for our first night as Husband and Wife at the local Hotel and was told at the front desk that they didn't have a room for us so we had to return back to the rented beach houses where my entire family was staying.
20. We remember thinking 'wow we are never having girls so we don't have to pay for a wedding!' Ironically Hayden was born exactly 9 months later! :)

Fast forward five years later and I told my husband I wanted to take a photo of us to document our five year anniversary (shocker I know!!!) Just another reason I love this man because he didn't flinch or complain and totally went along with yet another photo venture of mine.
We took one of our first married portraits in a tree at the Whalehead Club and I wanted to recreate that picture....

Happy Anniversary! I love you more today than I loved you five years ago and I never would have thought that possible if you had asked me that back on September 30th, 2006.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun | Virginia Beach Aquarium

Fun day at the Aquarium with my girls! We haven't been in a while and they have definitely improved the aquarium. Hayden can't stop talking about it and has wanted to go back every day since. Thinking a year membership is in our future... We had a blast and who wouldn't when you get to stand on the ocean floor surrounded by turtles and fish, get chased by dragons, and surf a wave being attacked by a shark!!!!! :)

First Day of 4 Year Old Preschool

Hayden did great this morning. I wasn't worried. She is my social butterfly. While all the other kids were clinging to their Mommy's, mine could care less and basically gave me a high-five and see ya later Mom. Ok ok... she did walk back to me and Sissy and give us kisses! :) She grabbed her little 'boyfriend' and they walked down the hall together with their hands wrapped around each other... and off they went. I picked her up this afternoon and the teacher said "Boy she isn't shy is she?" So I quickly came back with... "she takes after her Daddy". Teacher said she did great but we will just have to work on her speaking out of turn and interrupting the teacher to tell her stories. (As if I didn't already know that.)

So here is to another great year! .... (hey at least they didn't lose her on the first day again.)

MAGIC PARTY

We didn't get to celebrate Twinkie's Birthday back in June. She woke up the day of her party with strep throat and even she was willing to call off the party (you know she felt bad). So more than two months later we decided to throw a small Magic Show Party for just a few friends. It was a huge success and she LOVED Bubbles the clown and her Magic Bunny!