The Big ONE!

Today's the day!

Our littlest Haylee is officially one whole year of age!!

Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you so, so much!!

The sentimental mommy in me is all teared up, and cannot believe how fast this past year has gone by. Then on the other hand, I feel slightly relieved to know that I have survived this past year with two kids. But I suppose that the two go hand-in-hand after all, so I will just go with the sappy, sentimental side!

This past weekend we celebrated her birthday a few days early with some close friends and family. It turned out cute, and she did a pretty good job not melting down considering how exhausted she was! 

The theme was 'My Sweet Sunshine', and my sister-in-law made the cakes and treats. They turned out so good! Super cute, and really tasty! A huge Thank you, and hats off to her for her help!

Speaking of cake, my-oh-my did Haylee LOVE hers!! She made a serious dent in her "smash" cake, and was just shoveling it in her face!! It was pretty hysterical:

I could sit here and just babble on and on about the past year, and how much has changed, but I won't bore you all with that. But what I will do is leave you with some adorable photos of our little Bug! Enjoy!

Day of birth...

One month old...

First official giggles...

Day of 1st birthday party...

1st Birthday Day!!!

An Ode to Fall

Oh how I love thee so! Let me count the ways!

Well first, let me preface: 

Fall has always been my favorite season. My favorite time of year.

• The colors. The changing of the leaves to orange, red, yellow, browns...oh so beautiful!
• The weather. You can just feel it. You can even smell it sometimes. Ya know? The air gets crisp and clear, it almost has a bite to it. The sun still shines, but you get to dress in your favorite cozies! Which leads me to...
• The fashion. Cardigans, sweaters, scarves, leggings, plaids and flannels, hats, and the best of the best: boots!! Who doesn't love dressing this way?!
• The eats and drinks of the season. Yes, I am talking about pumpkin and spice everything! I have always been a sucker for pumpkin! Add in some apples, some cinnamon...yes please! Coffee, treats and desserts Oh My! 
• Family activities. I absolutely love going to the pumpkin patch, going trick-or-treating, picking out Halloween costumes, and decorating!
• The cozy fires. I love snuggling up on the couch with the family and listening to the fire in the background. Sigh...
• The new TV season. Yup, I'm that person: the one who loves Fall TV shows! Thank goodness for my DVR and modern technology! 
• The new music lineup. This time of the year always brings with it a ton of new music! New albums, new artists, new releases...YEAH! 

But in all honestly, as much as I love all of the above, it is so hard to keep up with it all!

It seems as though, as soon as it begins, it is over. Which makes me sad. Like many other things in life {especially the stuff you look forward to}, it goes by way too fast!

So enjoy it my Friends! 

Soak it all in. 

Because after all, it really only does come once a year!

The Little Things

For me, the smallest, most simple of things always make me the happiest! 

For example; a song, a good cup of coffee, baby laughter, the smell of Fall in the air, the changing colors of the leaves, a relaxing night, and updating photos in my house. 

Yes, that's right. Updating my family photos throughout my home makes me happy!

I recently realized that we did not have one photograph of Haylee in our entire home, and she has been alive for almost a whole year now! I suppose that means I'm slacker...but not anymore! I finally got some photos printed, framed and hung. Thank goodness!

The second I finished, I stood back and smiled. Like I said...the little things!

I can now look around my home and see both of my beautiful girls smiling down on me. 

Granted, we do not have any family photos of the four of us, but I guess it's the girls that are most important...right? When Emma was born, we literally chronicled her life with professional photos every single holiday! We even had some family pictures taken in between. However, since then I have stopped working, and it is just not realistic for us to do that anymore. Thankfully I know a little something-something about photography, and can take photos of the girls on my own. And luckily we have a gorgeous piece of property to use as a prop, so that helps too!

The only thing about taking your own photos, is that you are always behind the camera, which means that you cannot be in front of the lens! Maybe someday I will be able to purchase a good tripod, and put myself in a photo with the girls...someday. :)

Until then, I am Happy with pictures of my girls hanging on my walls!

So with my good cup of coffee, and with a good song playing in the background, I will stand back and admire what we have created...

Two beautiful little ladies!

How Do They Do It?

You have seen them. Those parents who appear to have it all together.

The ones who are members of the PTA, enroll their children in every sport and activity possible, have physically fit bodies, consistently look presentable, drive fancy cars, live in big houses, go to school full-time {some work full-time}, have the patience of a saint, seem to manage to have a perfectly clean house and dinner on the table by 5:00pm, and make it all look so easy.

Can someone please tell me how they do it? Did they find a way to make the day produce more than 24 hours? Because I know for a fact that life is not produced out of a Martha Stewart magazine, nor is any one person's life that picture perfect! I also know that by these parents "seeming" to do it all and make it all look so "easy", is simply just not the case. 

The only explanation I can think of, is that these parents have outside help coming in from somewhere? Right? Or maybe they really do have it all together!

And to those who do, congratulations! Because I sure as hell haven't figured it out! 

There is obviously a part of me that wishes I could be like these parents. But that is just not me. If you know me at all, you know that I do not have the patience of a saint! Heck, those around me are lucky if I can scrape up some patience off the sidewalk! I do not have a paying job, and I rarely get dinner on the table by 5:00pm. Who am I kidding? I rarely cook dinner! Ha! The only I've got going for myself, is my {slight case} of O.C.D. about keeping my house clean. 

Every once in awhile, such as now, I find myself wondering how these parents do it.

And then I will find myself wishing that I could do it all. Go back to school...join the PTA...but then I realize that by doing that, I would have literally ZERO minutes in the day to myself!

Go ahead and call me selfish. But I know that by me finding some time during the day for myself, is my only saving grace! 

Granted, I may not have three...four...six children, but I am done minimizing myself in comparison to others. I have spent my whole life doing that, and it has gotten me nowhere! 

 

So with that being said, my two kiddos are enough for me!

And the few, precious, scare minutes I can scrape together in a day for my own sanity is going to have to take precedence over the PTA.

 

At least for now! 

Change of the Seasons

Well it's been awhile. A long while, and I do apologize!

And as you can see, I clearly failed with the 30 day blog challenge...oops!

I will just go ahead and blame my busy summer schedule for that. :)

But the summer season has officially come to a close in our home. As it has in many other school-bound families. Emma started 1st grade last week! FIRST GRADE! What the heck happened to my first baby? Where o' where did she go? If you find her, please return her safely! 

Lucky for us {and her} Emma truly loves school! She gets excited about hopping on that bus, and going to her new classroom. With her new teacher, new friends, three recesses, a "real" lunchtime, and a longer-than-usual bus ride home. 

She gets on the bus at 8:40am, and doesn't get home until 4:40pm! That is a full working day {I guess that's what we get for living in the "woods"}! I thought for sure that she would be completely exhausted by the time she gets home, but nope. She fooled me again! I don't know how she does it, but let me tell ya...that girl is wired when she gets home! GEEZ!

And then there's Haylee. We really should have named her Trouble! Or Monster, or Chaos, or...well you get the idea! She is seriously more than a handful! I guess it's true what they say about siblings being opposite, because mine most certainly are! Emma was such a laid-back, chill, and should I say "good" baby. But Haylee on the other hand is into everything, doesn't really care for sleeping that much, and is constantly into all kinds of mischief. Needless to say, she keeps me on my toes. All. The. Time! I am sure that this means she is going to be an absolute terror as a toddler. YAY ME! But she is so stinkin' cute, that it almost makes up for it! Here, let me show you:

Speaking of toddler-hood, it is pretty much upon us! I cannot believe how fast this past year flew by! Haylee's 1st birthday is in just a few short weeks! WHAT?! THIS CANNOT BE TRUE! Oh, but it is. Which means I almost have a toddler again!! But on the other hand, I am looking very forward to this Holiday Season! She will now get more excited about things, like our Christmas tree no doubt. I am sure we only be decorating the top half this year! :) 

Let's just hope she doesn't topple it over...

And Fall is back! Well, almost. My all-time favorite season! Which of course means all things pumpkin, spice, and pretty colors! That alone makes me one happy girl! :)