Birthdays and School Days

*** WARNING: High probability of picture overload ahead!***

They say a picture paints a thousand words, so it IS possible that the following pictures could stand completely on their own ...

BUT, we all know that there's no way I'm gonna take that chance!!!

On Saturday, our sweet Sophie turned two years old (and, yes, I am still in shock over that fact - and in some instances, complete denial as well!).

Here is a glimpse at how her day went down:

Good morning sweet birthday girl!!

3:02 PM - the precise moment she turned two.


And, not long after that, the first two-year-old meltdown.


Ya KNOW we had us some cake!

Our drive (or, in this case, run) by blower. Hattie ran up and blew the candles out at LEAST 4 times!!

Gotta give the girl credit for tryin!!

Finally, Sophie gets a turn!

The day before her birthday, we welcomed two new members into our family. I think Soph thinks there were HER birthday gifts.

Here is Miss Holly

And Miss Kali - in hiding under the table.

THEN, on Tuesday, we took Hattie to a meet and greet in her brand new classroom.

In case ya cannot tell, she was mildly excited!

Sophie wanted to play school too!

Ms. Christine!

The next day was the first REAL day of school, so we HAD to make it a family affair and all go out to meet the bus together.

My big school girl!

My little WANNABE schoolgirl!

Gettin big ol bear hugs from daddy.

Silly faces (note: I did not have to make a silly face, because the sheer fact that I am allowing a picture of me without MAKE-UP is silly enough!!)

LOVE this litte girl!

Here comes the bus ... let the adventure begin!

I made her pose at the top of the steps.

And then she was off ... and gone all day long. It is a huge adjustment for everyone. Hattie seems to love the new normal so far. I miss her through the day, but I know that this is what she needs so I'm pretty OK with it. SOPHIE, on the other hand, really misses her big sis.

Good thing she has a couple of cats to torture ... er, I mean, ... to keep her busy all day!

In Pictures

This summer has been crazy ... and by "crazy, I mean A-STINKIN-MAZING"!!!

Now, honestly, I HAVE been takin my pictures for my Project 365 and storing them on one card. I just have NOT had time to put them neatly into Project 365 posts so you could see them. This last week things finally calmed down and I had a moment to catalog the pictures and get a post ready. So I moved them from card to computer file and then cleared the card out to make room for more.

Except, I didn't actually get them INTO the file before I deleted them off the card.

Y'all that was nearly 2 months of pictures that I somehow managed to make disappear. They are GONE. And I am beyond crushed.

Now, luckily, I had already cataloged some into other files for various occasions.

And THAT, sweet friends, is what I am about to show you now...

My Birthday was in July and my sweet man and my wonderful mommy surprised me by flying her into town for the day!!!

And, by "day", I mean 36 hours. She flew all the way from Arizona to spend 36 hours with ME. So, you KNOW we made those 36 hours count!!!

We saw UP in 3D and we both cried like little babies ... a GREAT movie!


We got pedicures!!

... Hubbs and the girls made a cake for me and they caught the stinkin thing on FIRE with all of those candles!!

Then, the next day we went to church and out to lunch before heading to the airport. Hattie only wanted to play with the gumball machine ...

... Sophie only wanted to figure out why the guy in the corner was sleepin ...

... and my mommy just wanted to spend every minute she could lovin on her girls.

In the end, we all got what we wanted and it was one of the best birthdays EVER!!!

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Then, on August 25, this sweet thing was born - Berlyn Jo

Which made my sweet friend Amanda (AKA SuperModel) a mommy for the 3rd time...

... and her hubby Darcy a daddy again.

And then on August 27 Mr Judah Paul was born! And because SuperModel had had a c-section and was still in the hospital, these two sweet babies ended up right next door to each other!!!

Judah made my sweet girl Belle a big sister and my new hero Erica, a mommy for the second time.

Why, you may ask, is Erica my "new hero"? Well, it is because I was Blessed with the opportunity to witness Mr Judah's birth as the official event photographer. (Click on this link above to see a slide show of some more pics, including a snipit of video of the moment of his birth that I WAS HOLDING THE CAMERA FOR!!!!! - very tasteful, don't freak out!!)

And, can I just tell you that she was AMAZING, so strong and peaceful and beautiful through it all ... well, once the epidural kicked in anyway!!!

I can never, EVER thank these amazing people enough for allowing me the gift of sharing in this miracle.

Aron, Erica, Belle and Judah ... on the day they became a family of FOUR!!!

And, I have to just ask ya ... can you even believe that these two sweet, beautiful women had JUST GIVEN BIRTH?!?!?!?!

Yeah ... me neither!

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Finally, at least for today, we welcomed a couple new members to our own little family!

Meet Kali ...

... and Holly!

Now, in the beginning, it was a big "bug the snot outta the cats extravaganza" ...

... but Daddy quickly stepped in and gave his girls a few lessons on how to love a cat.

And, as you can see, these lessons were a success. The cats are even known to come out of hiding once in a while these days!

Coming up: Sophie turns TWO!!!!!!!