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!

It is not over yet...

Summer has been busy busy and it is not over yet! Although Hayden starts back to school on Monday I am not ready to except that summer is over. We will be leaving for the Outer Banks in a week and it is officially summer until we return! I haven't blogged since my big girl turned four. It has been crazy but you know I've documented it well through pictures! Who knows when I will ever get pictures printed... maybe when the girls are in college I will finally start their yearly books! :)

Not only has life been hectic but we have survived earthquake, hurricane, and Mommy having to have surgery out of the blue. Jesse and I are go go go people but we have decided that 2012 can gladly be a slow and boring year if it would like....

Here are just a few pictures from the past few months...

June 24th, 2011 {Hayden}

Although Hayden's Birthday weekend didn't go according to plan, she officially turned 4 years old (although I'm pretty sure she thinks she is 13)! Hayden got to go to Water Country with her Meme because Mom had to take Boo to the doctor and turned out she has strep throat. That night Hayden and I went on a movie date just the two of us. I love it when I get to spend some alone time with her! We also got to make some crazy lopsided cupcakes with waaaaaaaaaaaay too much icing but she loved every second of it! Her birthday beach party was suppose to be on Sunday but Saturday night was a rough one and her sister got her sick. Hayden has never been sick in four years and poor girl goes and gets strep throat on her birthday party day. We had to cancel and hopefully will be able to reschedule in the next few weeks. Here is Hayden with the cupcakes she made...

Four Years Ago... {Happy Birthday to my Sassy}

Four years ago my life changed forever. Happy happy birthday to my beautiful, (not so little anymore) little girl! I can't believe she is four years old today. Where in the world has the time gone? I may not be able to remember last week but I remember June 24th, 2007 like it was yesterday. I remember everything I did that day in amazing detail right down to the pair of shoes I bought at the outlet malls while we were up there trying to "walk you out of me"! I remember eating ice cream wondering if what I was feeling was contractions. I remember the hard contractions hitting me fast and thinking "holy crap we better get to the hospital quick!" I remember a rough 12 hours and then seeing your beautiful face and instantly forgetting the past 12 hours. I remember walking back and forth from my room to the NICU to feed you every two hours for four days straight. I remember putting you in your car seat and having a meltdown wondering how the heck I was going to take care of you. I had not a single clue what I was doing. All I knew was that I was in love and you had forever changed my world.

Happy Birthday to my Sassy Princess Hayden Campbell...

Memorial Day Weekend {much needed family time}

I hope everyone had a fabulous Memorial Day Weekend. We had a FANTASTIC weekend. I did do a little bit of work to honor what Memorial Day is all about. Check it out here. We were in much need of some family fun time and we did just that. We have spent the past week or two living in our bathing suits! Summer is officially here and I am loving it! The girls and I have spent a lot of time out in the backyard playing on the swingset, watering Daddy's plants, making a mess in the water table, eating lunch on the patio, and playing on our slip'n'slide! Jesse took two days off in a row to hang out with us girls and play in the sand and water at the beach. I know the girls loved spending time with Daddy and I enjoyed having my other half around too. I'm hoping we are able to have at least a few more family beach days in our future this summer. Sunday we went to Buckroe Beach with actual waves. Hayden wasn't too sure of all the waves and clung to one of us the entire time. Gotta get that girl use to the ocean again. No girl of mine is going to be scared of the ocean. Monday we went to Gloucester Point. No waves and a ridiculously big sandbar. The girls LOVED it! Boo could stand in it for what seemed like a mile. She had her little floaty and swam all over the place as I chased her around. She even flipped herself under water a few times and came up laughing. She is definitely my little fish! She is going to keep my on my toes all summer long because she has no fear when it comes to the water. Hayden enjoyed the no waves beach and had a blast 'swimming'.

*Update on Jesse's Dad: Yesterday he was released from the hospital to a Rehab facility. Today he was readmitted to the hospital for a few issues with his lungs. He will have surgery tomorrow to get more fluids taken out (after already having over 4 pounds of fluid taken out last week.) Thoughts and prayers would still be greatly appreciated. Rich lights up every time the girls walk in to visit their PopPop. Every time we pull up to the light before the hospital, Boo starts screaming "PopPop PopPop PopPop" from the backseat! We are all praying and wishing for him to start feeling better soon.