Happy Birthday Boo!

My baby girl is 1!!!!! I don't even have words. Sooooooo sad my baby is technically not a baby anymore.
So here are just a few from her birthday portrait and cake 'smash'. Hard to call it a cake smash when there wasn't a lot of smashing going on. She pretty much stared at it and looked at me like I was crazy if I thought she was suppose to do something with the enormous cup cake sitting in front of her. She took maybe 2 bites. The rest involved me shoving her hand or leg into the cake...

Love you BennyBoo! Happy Birthday. Please try not to grow up too fast....

DISNEY WORLD!

It's been almost a month since we went to Disney World and I am finally getting around to all of my photos from our vacation. For those of you that don't know, my mother-in-law and I took the girls to Disney and we met family down there. (Jesse had to work). We had a blast and it was go go go the entire time! Hayden hasn't stopped talking about Magic Kingdom since we got back and I think will remember every single detail from rides, to what we ate, to what the hotel looked like, to the bathrooms she went in for the rest of her life. She LOVED the princesses and although S-A-S-S-Y the entire time, she transformed into sweet little Hayden when a Princess or Mickey was around! Everytime someone asks her who she saw at Disney World (thinking she will say Mickey or Cinderella)... she says "Melody and Alex and Boo and Dylan and Phillip." I'm thinking next time we can skip expensive Disney and just take her to Mel's house! :) Bennett was a champ and hung out in the stroller in the 100 degree weather all week. When it was time to take a nap, she would fall asleep and wake up happy ready to keep on strollin!

So here are some of my favorites from the week...

Downtown Disney where we posed in front of every "fake" (as Hayden would call them) Mickey and princess we could find...

BooBoo happy as can be with her Auntie Mel, her Meme, and her "daddy" for the week...

Hayden got to walk in a Princess Parade and more fun at Downtown Disney....

Me and Boo in front of the castle and her loving on a bunch of Mickeys!

Safari ride...

In heaven meeting Mickey, Minnie, and friends...

 

Am I a total dork for almost crying when Hayden met Snow White and Cinderella?! I loved seeing her face light up like it was the most magical thing in the world being there with them...

Okay so I think I did cry a bit when she met Pocahontas. She had just stepped out to meet people so there was no line and no one around. Hayden saw her and ran to her giving her a huge hug that seriously lasted two minutes. She did not want to let go! So sweet...

Fireworks at Cinderella's Castle! Amazing right???? Well, not exactly... when your 3 year old is SCARED TO DEATH of fireworks and it is 9pm and she is sound asleep in a stroller and wakes up to booms right over her head. (Yeah I will admit probably not a so smart move on this moms part).  There was even a Tinkerbell flying through the sky to distract her but nope, she wasn't having it! Oh well... maybe next time :)

My baby is WALKING!

I can not believe my baby girl is WALKING! She is on the move so lookout! I feel like she just started crawling yesterday. She is so funny to watch. When she stands up by herself she does a couple of sumo squats to get her balance before she takes off. If Jesse or I stand her up, she gets so excited she starts kicking and swinging her arms like she is walking before her feet even touch the ground. I totally cried filming her yesterday as she walked back and forth between Jesse and I. Is there a way I can freeze time and keep the girls my babies forever????

First Day of Preschool...

I can't believe my girl is old enough to be heading off to school but today was the day! Wasn't sure if I would cry or not this morning. I was doing good until right before her teacher walked her down the classroom and she looks at me and says "are you leaving me mommy?". Just about broke my heart so a few tears slipped out. She did fine though as she walked off. I just picked her up and she ran to me with a huge smile and squeezed me tight like she missed me soooo much. (Possibly the best feeling in the world by the way!) Teacher said she had a great day so hopefully this continues. Here are a few snaps from this morning...

Family Portrait Time

So here is my first attempt at my own family portraits on location (not in my studio). I was hoping this would go better than my studio attempt. I had the locations all picked out and what we were wearing but I didn't want to get my hopes up because it is NOT EASY trying to take the photo and be in the photo while entertaining a 3 year old all at the same time!!!! Hayden wasn't in the mood from the start but we were all dressed up and Melinda (my mother in law) had come over to go along to help us out plus get a few photos with the girls. So needless to say... there was a bouncy ball, a red lollipop, and lots of singing and being silly trying to keep Hayden tear free! Thinking this was the biggest success I could hope for with these conditions. But of course it will not keep my from trying again in a few months!!!! :)

Around the House...

Look out! Bennett is on the move! I can't believe my baby girl is crawling and pulling herself up!

 

Hayden playing around with her DokaBear. Both the girls love him to death despite the fact that he is stinky and gross!

A little impromptu shot of the girls. I was messing around with studio lighting and Hayden wanted to get her picture taken real quick. Just threw them in front of the camera with what they are wearing so Hayden has a bathing suit on and a random necklace with her hair not even brushed. Still cute if you ask me but I might be wearing mommy goggles!!!! :)

Fun in the Mud

So I have told myself that I am going to get this butt back in shape no matter what it takes. Who cares if it seems that I have zero time during the day and my 9 month old decided to revert back to newborn days when she was up every 2 or 3 hours in the middle of the night. Who cares if I only have 35 minutes top at the gym before the nursery comes and gets me to tell me my baby girl won't stop crying. Who cares if I can't get through 40 minutes of Insanity workout at home without a child waking up, needing to be fed, wiping a butt, or just refusing to sit there and watch me and demanding on being held!!! I AM GOING TO DO THIS! So.... I talked a girlfriend into running the 8K Mud Run with me. Sounds fun right? Well it was but it also kicked my butt! Definitely didn't think through the whole running in sand thing. Did I train for this???? ummm did you read what I just wrote??? I have been trying to consistently take the girls out in the double stroller and get some miles in but usually only 2-3 miles tops before they are over it or someone has to pee and I have to book it back to the house before there is an accident! I totally jumped right into the race circuit picking this race to start off with but I am determined to do more Saturday morning races. It hurt like heck and I couldn't keep up with the girlfriend that I begged to do this with me but hopefully I will whip this body back into shape and consistently see some improvement. The competitive girl in me is mad at myself that I couldn't keep a steady pace. Then there is the out of shape mommy in me that is just happy I went out there and did it and completed it!

And what would this be without pictures of the Mud Run right?!...

PS... Thanks Dad for coming out to support me! Next year I'm signing you up for some Mud Fun!!!

What have we been up to?

Well...

Bennett is smiley like usual. She is going to crawl any day now. She is up and in position. She is a champion "scooter" though, she can get wherever she needs to go with a good scoot! Hayden started soccer. As you can see from the picture... Soccer has been a bust two weeks in a row. She is not a fan. She would rather sit on the bleachers. She told me she needed her pom poms so she could cheer for the other kids. She is also doing gymnastics (no pictures since we aren't allowed in the gym with them). Gymnastics is a big hit and she talks about it ALL THE TIME. Hayden is also a princess! She loves her new snow white costume and wears it daily. And finally Jesse got to go to the beach with us and had a blast building castles and playing in the sand! We are also coming along on our big house project. Updated pictures coming soon!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great day. Daddy took off half day and we went to Water Country. Hayden was proud to show Daddy all her tricks around the park and that she could float all by herself (with a life jacket) in the Hubba Hubba Highway River. We attempted Fireworks but Hayden was SCARED TO DEATH and she wanted no part of them...

Hope everyone had a fabulous day!

ATTEMPT at taking my own family portraits

I said ATTEMPT for a reason. Not such great results so far. Haven't looked at them all yet but I did just a couple tonight. First one is horrible but how can I not show it off when Mr. Doka decided to grace us with his presence and stick his butt right in Bennett's face to get into the family photo!!!

Cutest Promotional Models EVER

Hayden and I made t-shirts for the girls to show Daddy on Father's Day. Hayden "ironed" them on and then Mommy really ironed them on. Who wouldn't hire DSD after seeing these two cuties model the logo??? :)

Party Time!

Hayden had her birthday party today and of course it was a million degrees outside! To quote one of the mommy's at the party, "I think it gets 5 degrees hotter every year at her birthday party!" I guess there is something to be said for having a winter baby :). Next year I'm thinking ice skating party! The kids didn't skip a beat though.... heat or not.... they had a blast playing in the back yard. Mishap with the pony scheduled but she finally arrived and Hayden LOVED it. Of course she was stoked and dramatic when opening all her presents. "Wow" "Oh I love it!" "Oh its soooooo beautiful" "I always wanted one mommy". She is something else. Then on to cake and ice cream and she blew out her candles in one try. Thanks to everyone who made it to the party. Hayden loves entertaining so it really made her day to have everyone at "her" house. You know she had a blast when she fell asleep for the night at 6:30. Pray mommy doesn't have to wake up with her at 5am!!!!

{thank you to everyone who helped take pictures for me today while I was off running around or wanted a quick snap with my girl.}