Partying - Princess Style

Over the weekend we held 2 birthday parties for Charlie. She had a great time at both of them. The theme was Snow White. I started looking on pinterest for months for party decor ideas. I searched the internet for far too many hours so long for party favor ideas. BUT I enjoyed every minute of it. I love party planning.

The toddler girls received a red bow hair band from Gymboree, an apple drink cup and a make at home apple picture frame. The older children received the same but not the bow. Those were the special item for Charlie's little girlfriends!

First up was the family party. We had some special out of town guests that were able to attend. Gary has family in FL and IL and both were in town for Gary's Mimi's 90th birthday bash. They stopped by to wish our girl a happy birthday before heading to the cabin. We were so happy that they could make an appearance as we only see them once a year or so.

Kudos to the husband for finding a #2 that matched our color scheme!

The day was beautiful out and after we sang and had cake, we went outside so the kids could run and play. Charlie ended up opening her gifts outside. She was SO excited to get presents. I love that she is at an age where she understands things and can enjoy life.

Trying to hold ALL THE THINGS!

Logan had a great time with his cousin Ethan. Those two are adorable together. They call each other buddy and were holding hands running to the play set. They even sent down the slide together. SO CUTE!

After the party ended, my sister and Mom took Dom with them to go out to eat. Gary and I hopped in the car with the kids to get a quick snack type meal before our next party started. Both tots fell fast asleep in the car and got a 20 minute nap in. We were so thankful for the rest because they were getting cranktastic!

Our friends started to arrive and it was still beautiful out. Instead of making the apple frames, I just let the kids run outside and play. There were so many kids in the back yard. It was awesome. We have a great group of kids ranging in age from not born yet to 13. I asked all the girls to wear their princess attire to go alone with the theme of the party. So much cuteness. I am warning you ahead of time so that you do not fall over dead from it.

 

 

Picture of the group thanks to Cari!

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was time for cake and presents. We sang happy birthday on the back porch before heading in for gifts.

Slowly the toddlers started to get tired and families began leaving. Charlie had a fabulous day filled with all the special people in her life.

Trendy Tot Tuesday

Linking up with Megan, Lindsey and Kelly for Trendy Tot Tuesday!

These pictures are from Charlie's party. 

Charlie

 Dress: Crazy 8

Snow White Dress: Disney (given to us by a friend)

Shoes: Old Navy

Hair Bow: Came with another snow white dress

Logan

Shirt: The Children's Place

Shorts: JcPenney

Shoes: Old Navy

Dominic

Shirt: JcPenney

Shorts: Nike

Turning Two

Dear Sweet Charlie-

You are now 2 years old. *sob* I have no idea why the time is flying by, but it is.

You are a beauty. You are a spirit of your own. You are a wonderful light in our lives. You are funny and quirky. You have the prettiest brown curly/wavy hair with glorious blonde and red highlights. Girls would KILL for your natural hair! Your blue eyes sparkle. Your legs are no longer chubby and neither are your arms. You have grown tall, thinned out. Your dimples stayed! (that makes 3 for 3 with you kiddos!)

You continue to keep us on our toes. You make us smile while simultaneously driving us batty. We find ourselves laughing constantly as your personality emerges. You are cautious but also like to have some adventure in your life. You tend to follow what your brothers are doing, which can get your into trouble girlfriend.

You answer to Charlie, Charlotte, Bear, Charlie Bear and Sissy.

Stats: You are 26.4 pounds and 34.25 inches tall.

Milestones: You started going on the potty by yourself at 20 months. I was shocked and in awe at your progress in just days. You can stay dry all day long at home. You down right refuse to go at school and have only attempted a few times at other people's houses. You went at the dentist this week all on your own!! We are not pushing you, yet. We are so very PROUD of how far you have come in such a short period of time. You amaze us! You can count to 10 and say almost all of your ABCs in order. You started walking up and down the steps with no help. You have certainly hit the 'I do it myself' stage. You gave up your binki at 20 months. You had to be sleep trained but so far so good. You will still wake up once in awhile at night and come into bed with us, but putting you down is going well. We appreciate your cooperation with that! You love routine and we are happy to oblige.

Favorites: You still love love love your tag blanket. It is your everything. You rub it all over your face, play with the tags and rub your toes in them! You love to color, play with your dollies, barbies, little people and blocks. Shoes are your number one favorite accessory. You adore being read to and like to look at books and read to yourself. You sing all the time. (Itsy Bitsy Sprider and Wheels on the Bus are your toddler favorites while all One Direction songs and Scream and Shout are your older people favorites) You are turning into a complete Daddy's girl and I love it! (Daddy does too, do not ever let him tell you other wise) Playing outside is your newest favorite thing: swinging, bubbles, side walk chalk, riding bikes. What's not to love?

Dislikes: You do not like to get your hands, face or hair washed. You do not appreciate having toys taken off of you or being told No. You are not a fan of having your hair brushed. Being put into your car seat is complete torture to you. (This makes going out so SO much fun)

Words: You can pretty much repeat anything that you hear. I was worried about your lack of vocabulary, however, you have had a HUGE burst lately. I am no longer worried as you are saying sentences. Words we hear a lot of: Mum, Daddy, Mummy, Bubbas (brothers), Chah-ree, Nana, Gaga, Sam, Dahn, Matt, Wibby (Libby), puppy, doggy, baby, undies, pull ah (pull up), potty, fwush, chocat (chocolate), yo-yo (yogurt), apple, colah (color), ah-side (outside), fahwing (swing), Lily, Night Night, nap, sip, appie douch (apple juice), hug, tiss (kiss), lamit (blanket)

Food: You love your sweets, chocolate being the best. You like to eat salad and hummus (not normal for a 1yo) but we love that you eat well. You like to suck all the juice out of your fruit and spit out the skins, ha. You are not a fan of breads or rolls (you CANNOT be my child!). You like your water ice cold. You love apple juice and orange juice. Meat is not really your strong suit, you have even given up on hot dogs and chicken nuggets.

You talk our ears off at home but are so quiet everywhere else. I laugh when people say you are soft spoken. The octave that you reach when you scream makes our ears bleed. We adore watching you run, learn and play. Thank you for being YOU! We love you to the moon and back sweet girl.

Wordless Wednesday - Two thumbs up for this two year olds birthday!

Trendy Tot Tuesday

Linking up with Megan, Lindsey and Kelly for Trendy Tot Tuesday!

I love this link up and glad I found it from my sweet friend Cari.  It is a known fact that I adore dressing my children, especially Charlie. Charlie is known as the 'best dressed' toddler at her daycare. Her teachers comment every time she goes on how adorable she is, how well dressed and how she never wears the same thing twice! (she really does wear the same thing twice but doesn't need to at daycare since she only goes once or twice a week) It was even brought to my attention that one other parent thought that I curled her hair each day, bwahahah! Nope, that is all natural. I love her to look cute but no time for that ;) Some people think that because I love dressing her up in dresses as much as possible that she will turn into a tom boy. However, she loves being 'pitty' and being in dresses and having her nails painted. I lucked out! She adores being a girly girl! Dom has hit the age that I cannot really pick anything out nor buy it without his say anymore. It is mostly jeans and t-shirts for him! Logan likes to pick out his own clothes too (after I buy them) and he mostly adores t-shirts and jeans too.

Charlie

I call this her librarian outfit

Dress: Old Navy (bought at a consignment sale for $1!)

Sweater: The Children's Place (also bought at consignment for $1!)

Jelly Shoes: Old Navy

Logan

 Shirt: Kohls

Jeans: Gymboree

Electronic: Apple Ipad

Dominic

Shirt: Crazy 8

Shorts: Kohls

Shoes: Nike

Saturday Top Five Laughs

Guest Hosting for Melissa while she is under the weather! Stop by and say hello to her.

Another week has come and gone. We have enjoyed the warmer weather this week!

5. Charlie adores her best friend Lily. We were in the car driving to go see her and Charlie was chanting in her car seat: "My Lily. My Lily. My Lily!" This girl is too cute for words! And the two of them together is an explosion of toddler cuteness.

4. Charlie and Logan love watching The Wiggles in the family room. Charlie started singing "Nummy S--a--l--a--d!" as loud as she could one evening right before bed. *picture her with her mouth wide open, her tongue coming out and up the whole way to the top of her lip*

3. We were walking at our local park with some of our friends. There were lots of other ladies walking with their dogs. Every time we would pass one of them Charlie would wave and yell "Hi doggie. Hi." or if the dog was black like our dog Libby, "Hi Wibby. Hi!"

2. Logan was refusing to go to bed one night. He came into our room. Laid his head down between Gary and I. "I am not tired. I am just going to lay beside you and rest a little." 30 seconds later he was sound asleep. When I went to move him, he opened his eyes and said "I am not sleeping!" Okay kid, you're not. HA

1. I told Logan to go clean up his blocks. "Mom, you are lame!" (lame, I did not even know he knew that word, let alone use it correctly)

Wordless Wednesday - Charlie the first year, a look back