Labor Day weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend visiting Mimi and PopPop and meeting our new niece/cousin, baby Elizabeth. Kate was in love with her and wanted to mother her at all times. Unfortunately, Kate thinks that she's able to do more with a 5 week old than I care to allow!:) And Maggie just liked staring at Elizabeth and occasionally reaching out to touch her. It was a quick visit (we left on Sunday), but we were so excited to have met Elizabeth and see Kamryn too!

Look at all that hair. I think she has
more than Maggie!



Kate's treat when she visits Mimi and
PopPop is to get her hair cut and fixed
at Sweet and Sassy.

The 4 grandkids - Kamryn (7), Elizabeth (5 weeks),
Kate (3), and Maggie (1)

A fun get-away

The day after Maggie's birthday, Ryan and I were excited to head to Vegas for a long weekend with nothing on our minds but relaxation! Our days were spent lying poolside and at night we enjoyed yummy dinners and shows. Our favorite dinner was Nobu at the Hard Rock Hotel...most delicious dinner I've had in a super long time and we loved the Beatles Cirque du Soleil "Love." It was a fun weekend!

In front of the fountain at Caesar's

Party time!

We celebrated Maggie's birthday on Thursday night with a party at Glammy and Papaw's house. It was an easy party with pizza, cake and lots of fun!

Maggie was a little cranky until she ate 3 pieces of pizza (yes, 3!). We realized once she started eating that she hadn't had a snack and she hadn't eaten much lunch so she was extremely hungry! The cake eating wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I pictured her digging right in and making a huge mess, but she was unsure about it and kind of let Kate and her older cousins dig in. Once we started feeding her with a fork, she was all about it!

I think that everyone had fun and Maggie is officially a big 1 year old!

PS...just went to her 1 year check-up this morning and she is 29 1/2 inches tall (50%) and 20 lbs., 15 oz (50%).

PPS...Maggie started taking a few steps here and there on Saturday. She not a "walker," but she's certainly headed in that direction.

The dinner buffet (minus the pizza)

The welcome sign for Maggie's party

A super cute banner that has a picture from

each month of her first year

Yummy cake from Icing on the Top

Party favors - iced cookies from Icing on the

Top with Paper Doll gift tags attached

We rented a bounce house for the big kids

Polishing off her pizza

Not liking her birthday hat one bit!

Cake time!

Surveying the scene

So this is what it's like to face

forward...I love it!

1 Year Old!!

This sweet baby girl is 1 today! I CAN NOT believe how fast this last year has flown by. Maggie has had a great first year and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

Some "firsts" for this month:

• Maggie started MDO yesterday


• She finally sprouted a new tooth, bringing the total to 3!:)


• Maggie can get from the sitting position to a standing position on her own and will stand for quite awhile unassisted (no steps yet though)


• Maggie is no longer a bottle drinker. We started dropping her bottles, one by one, last month and she had her last bottle on Friday, the 21st. She is doing great and loves her sippy cup with milk in it.


• She said her official first word "Chuckie" (the dog) on the 16th, followed by her second word "Kara" (our babysitter and friend) on the 23rd.

What a fast, fun year it has been! Maggie continues to be so sweet, but her personality is definitely evolving. She has a bit of a temper, which I'm hoping is just because she can't communicate yet, and gets frustrated if her food or sippy cup isn't getting to her fast enough. She and Kate play so well together, most of the time!:) Kate is an awesome big sister to Mags - they are so lucky to have each other!

Happy birthday sweet Maggers...mommy, daddy and Kate love you so much!

1st Day of School

The girls had a great first day, probably a better day for Kate than Maggie!:) Kate is in the Middle 3's class with Miss Sue and Miss Beth and lots of her friends and Maggie is in the Toddler class with Miss Alma and Miss Veronica (Kate's teachers from the Toddler year).

Kate was so excited about her first day and didn't even turn back to acknowledge me when I dropped her off. Her focus was solely on the blue dress-up shoes! She and Caroline picked out the apples with their names on them, hung them on the tree, and headed back to the costume corner. When I came to pick her up this afternoon, she was playing quietly and told me to go "pick up Maggie and then come back and get me." I think that means she had a super day!

With our friends and classmates, Caroline and Kylan

Kylan and Kynlee, Kate and Maggie, Caroline and Clark

(this is the best we could do!)

I was a little more worried about Maggie, to say the least. Every Sunday Maggie spends in the church nursery, she spends it mostly in tears. Since school is at our church, I was certain that I would be receiving a call to come pick Mags up. Surprisingly, when I dropped her off she didn't shed a tear and was happily playing when Miss Kara and Miss Heather (our baby-sitters who teach other classes) checked on her. Her report this afternoon said that she ate "some," slept for 1 hour, and cried "off and on." It also said that she, like her big sister, likes her personal space and gets frustrated if someone is in it!

With her buddy and classmate, Clark

Yea, no tears yet!

All in all, the first day of school was a success. One down, a bunch to go!:)

Pigtails and Peek-a-boo

I wasn't sure if Kate's hair would work in pigtails, but it did and she looks so cute! And she was super proud of them too!:)Maggie has a new version of peek-a-boo that she likes to play with us and we often see her covering her eyes to signal the start of a new game.

Bathtime fun