1st Birthday Prep & Inspiration {Harper}

I can’t wrap my head around the fact I have less than 2 months until Harper Madden is ONE whole year old. Harper’s first year has gone faster than either of her sisters (and they went by pretty fast!)  I started pinning flowers and fairies, then moved to butterflies before I chose to go shabby chic! I just purchased the invitations, so now onto the decor! 

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I have lots more ideas on my Pinterest Board - go check it out if you're curious! 

Harper 9 Month Photo Shoot

I usually get 6 month photos taken of the girls.  Hadleigh has them. Hayden has them. I’m still fighting with myself on whether Harper truly has them.  We got FAMILY pictures taken when Harper was 6 months so she has some, but technically not.  I’m so frustrated with myself I didn't do this when she was 6 months, but better late than never!  This little photo shoot lasted only about 10 minutes, but I think I got some good ones :)

Christmas 2014

Christmas was a whirlwind!  We spent a lot of time with family, some time with friends, and most of our time with our little family of 5. It was a holiday break that was both busy and fun.  Both sides of our family are in town, so we are on the go a lot Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the day (or two) after. This year we switched some things up, so we were able to be at home more which was so nice!

We spend Christmas Eve with Daniel’s family.  Early evening is spent with my father in-law’s family and then we head to Daniel’s parents’ house to have Christmas with his immediate family. 

My sister, brother in-law, and nephews came into town that evening, so we were able to see them as soon as we got home that night.  We put all 5 kids to bed and waited for Santa to do his magic J  The five of them must have been realllyyyy good this year!  My parents came over super early Christmas morning to see all the grand kids and so we could have our annual breakfast.  My nephews were up bright and early – I had to go wake my girls up!  It still took Hayden a little while to warm up, but they all loved what Santa got them for Christmas. 

The morning quickly flew by before it was time to leave for our next family gathering!  Christmas Day afternoon is spent at Daniel’s parents’ house with my mother in-laws side of the family.  We even managed to get a group photo!  On the way home Hayden had a bloody nose, which scared the crap outta Daniel and I.  So random and didn't last too long, so we think it was from a dry nose or she hit it on something before we left.  Needless to say, that evening was spent at home relaxing; the girls played with some of their new toys, and I did some laundry to make sure the stains didn't stick to Hayden’s clothes. 

The day after Christmas was low key for the most part.  All 5 cousins played all day while my mom, sister, and I got some things ready for my dad’s side of the family to come over.  We ate too much food, which was a pretty consistent theme!  That evening my mom offered to watch all of the kids, so my sister, brother in-law, Daniel, and I could go out for a little bit of adult time with our cousins Matt & Nikki.  We brought out all the sleeping bags so the older 4 could watch a movie before we left.  We had drinks and dessert at Shyndigz – it was so yummy and the company was great. We laughed a lot.

Saturday rolled through and we had one last family get –together to attend.  Brunch with my mom’s side of the family was fun and the kids had an even better time running around!

This Christmas season was one for the books – I can’t wait until next year to celebrate all over again!

ChristmasTown

A few weeks ago my parents, Daniel, and I took the girls to Busch Gardens ChristmasTown. It’s an amusement park that is about an hour away, but during Christmas they have tons of lights and Christmas themed activities. It’s the first year we have gone, and I’ll definitely be going back! 

There’s an outlet shopping center pretty close to the park and I had seen where Anna & Elsa were going to make an appearance at The Yankee Candle store on the same day we planned on going.  My girls still love Frozen, so I figured it would be a cool thing to stop in and do before heading to ChristmasTown. In theory, it was great.  But everyone else in the state of Virginia thought so too. 4 hour long lines to see Anna & Elsa (who by the way didn't even really look like them) wasn't working, so we told the girls to look at them from the sidelines. See what I’m talking about? Doesn't really look like Elsa…

After the Anna & Elsa bust, we made our way to the park.  We got there when they opened to enjoy some rides and shows.  We knew we had time to kill since it was daylight.  Hadleigh really enjoyed the show, which was ballet dancing and singing. She was so cute (and funny) trying to copy the ballet moves the girls and guys were doing.  We even played a fish game where the girls won polar bear stuffed animals.

It was a great day, but if I’m being honest it didn't come easy!! There was about 45 minutes where the older two were crying and whining.  It’s so hard as a parent when you’re there to make great memories for your kids and they could care less. All three wanted to be held by me and only me, so when they didn't get their way the crying started.  I should have known it was from exhaustion because shortly after, we put both in the stroller, and within minutes Hadleigh was asleep. In the grand scheme of the day it was just a minor hiccup, but it certainly didn't feel minor in the middle of it!

This was during the meltdowns - priceless face!

Nighttime fell and all the lights were beautiful.  I would have enjoyed it with kids or no kids.  

 

There’s just something about Christmas Time! It's definitely magical :)