Let Them Eat Cake!

We are partying with friends and family this weekend but couldn't let Carter's BIG day pass without a little cake!




Happy Birthday to you...



Happy Birthday to you...



Happy Birthday dear Carter...



Happy Birthday to you!



Ready set make a wish...



Take a deep breath...



and blow...



blow...



blow...



Give dad some love...



and mom too...



Sweet!!


And cupcakes with her class the next day was the icing on the cake!!

Dear Carter, Today you are five...

FIVE!! I can hardly believe it. Let's take a little look back.

This past year, you cut your hair...

You left behind the only home you have ever remembered living in...


You said goodbye to sweet friends...

And made some new ones...

Your dream of becoming a big sister was finally realized...

You sunk your toes into the sand...

And thanks to the hot Texas summer you mastered running, or better yet jumping, through the sprinkler...

AND riding the slip n' slide...

You boldy walked throug the door to your first day of school...

This year you danced...

You laughed...

You played...

You learned a lot more about what it means to share your time...

and your love...

And while I see you looking so beautiful...

So very grown up...

I also can't help but still see you as this...

And this...

My mind flashes back to moments like this...

and this...

I have a thousand image of you that flood my thoughts as I think about the beautiful ride that you have taken us on over the past five years...

It is an absolute joy to be on this journey with you, to watch you live...

Happy Birthday sweet Carter. My heart is full...I love you, Mom.

The Hair Up There~And a few of my other favorite things.

It is no secret that our little Emerson was "blessed" in the hair department. We were all a little shocked when she came out with a mop of dark hair...

and while it has progressively gotten lighter, it has also progressively gotten longer! So last week I finally took the plunge and put it into a little Bam Bam-esque ponytail on top of her head...

At just shy of 8 months she has quite a bit more hair up there than Carter did at a little over a year, care to compare?? Carter...

And little Emme (doing one of her new favorite things, putting a piece of fuzz in her mouth)...

I think it's safe to say she has a little bit more going on up on top than her sister ever did! And now on to a few of my other favorite things. One being this window that Emme discovered happens to be just her size...

Perfect for checking out what is going on outside...

Speaking of checking out, if you look really closely you might just catch a glimpse of her two new pearly whites (both on her bottom gum) she flashes them at you everytime she smiles...

Something else that is making my "favorite things" list is the way Emme is looking at me in the photo...

It makes me feel like she must kind of like me. Which is nice considering when I snapped this I had been "home alone" without Nate for almost a week and I'm pretty sure I hadn't managed to grab a shower that day. Lucky for me she doesn't seem to mind...

And you know what I don't mind, not one little bit, having a live in nanny...

Carter has recently taken a new found interest in helping out with Emme. Her favorite activity is now feeding her and she's pretty darn good at it! I love the way Emerson is looking at her in this photo, there is a lot of love in those eyes...

And, last but certainly not least, we had another one of our favorite things make an appearance over the weekend, family bike ride! It was Emme's first time and she was traveling in style thanks to the (looks like it's never been used) Burley bike trailer that we found at a second hand baby store. We were happy to replace our sort of sad bike trailer with this beauty...

Which looks even more beautiful with my girls faces smiling out from it! It was the first of what I'm sure will be many trips in the trailer for pretty little Emme...

And now for one of my NOT so favorite things...and that would be a sick kiddo. She's laying right here next to me on the couch after spending the better part of the night emptying out the contents of her stomach. I used to always say I just didn't know how I would ever deal with my kids throwing up, because the sight, smell, etc. always made me want to throw up. And people would say, "Oh, you'll be fine!! It's just different when it's your own kids!" Unfortunately for me I must be the exception to that rule and it took me the better part of the morning to convince myself I wasn't about to throw up too. To bad my stomach missed the "You're a mom now and you shouldn't get nauseous" memo, that would really come in handy!