Sadie's 3rd Birthday!!

Sadie wanted a princess party.  I was going back and forth between a lot of options, but in the end, I settled on having it at our house.  I figured I'd invite our new friends and make it as princessy as possible.  With the brainstorming help of my friends, I went ahead and planned.  I bought two large cardboard castles, tons of balloons, the girls were going to decorate tiaras and wands while the boys decorated shields and we gave them swords.  I planned on having them decorate their own cupcakes instead of buying a cake that we inevitably end up eating ourselves.  The party favors were to decorate your own princess mirror for the girl and a cute book about a knight and dragon for the boys.  My little activities went beautifully but lasted maybe 30 minutes.  The rest was pure chaos and craziness but the important part was that Sadie had a great time.  I am vowing now to NEVER have a birthday party in my house again:)

 Party people:)

 Yep, here is the craziness!

 And Sadie's desperate attempt to shut the door and save the princesses from the boys.

 Cupcake decorating!

 Blowing out the candle:)

 My parents and I chipped in and bought her a princess vanity table with hair and makeup stuff (all pretend).  She loved it!  She woke up and sat right down.

 "Nana, dance with me!"

Happy Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Sadie!!!!

Happy Happy Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweetest Sadie.  I got all sentimental and went back into my albums and pulled some photos of her growing...I got carried away and decided to stop here, but it's amazing how fast time flies and I can't believe she is already 3!!  She is still full of a ridiculous amount of sweetness, fun, love, and 'Sadieness'.  She's sassy and stands her ground...she knows what she wants and usually ends up getting it since none of us usually have the energy to fight her:)  You never know what each day will bring with her.  She's known for her smile and happiness.  At home, she is notorious for annoying her brother and she does it every time with a knowing smile.  She loves the fact that she's in a big girl bed (we couldn't figure out how to put her crib back together once we moved here!  I freaked out!)  and often gets out at all times of the night for a 'snuggle'.  We know she's coming because her flashlight always lights her way.  I literally feel my heart swell when I'm with her...we LOVE YOU SWEET SADIE!!!!!

I don't have many pregnant pictures with Sadie.  Don't you love the stains on my belly??

 No words for this sweetness....

 Their relationship is still like this!  Lots of fun together and LOTS of driving each other crazy:)

She was a silly even as a baby.

The Ritz:)

My friend Barbara found a fabulous deal for military families at the Ritz on Amelia Island.  It was only for one night, but a perfect chance for a get away that was less than hour from our house.  The kids always have a blast together and Barbara is one of the easiest people to be with, so our mini vacation was a success!  We decided to take the boys out of school a little early to get up there in time to have some quality play time.  That in itself was an adventure for the kids.  We piled the kids into one car and drove up, dropping Madison off for the night to be boarded...in hindsight, a mistake, but she made it through in one piece after a nasty virus.  The kids took the fancy hotel by storm as they ran around and literally squealed and laughed causing a bit of a ruckus.  Once we had our fancy rooms, the rest of the vacation was full of beach, pool, sun, and fun:)  The dads joined us later after work.

The view from our room....how fabulous is this?  And so close to home!

 Dinner...somehow Barbara got stuck at the kids table...sorry about that one!

 After dinner, these two ladies got up on 'stage'  (the windowsill next to our table) and did lots of dances and silly faces.

 It was a FULL moon this night, so we headed to the beach for a little walk.  Someone fell in the water, and another somehow ended up with the entire beach in her hair...This picture makes me laugh because Jack had lost his little shoe and I saw how it happened when I downloaded this pic.  

 Random picture...but Madison decided one day that she doesn't like to eat out of her bowl anymore.  SO, I dump it on the floor.  Crazy dog.

We picked her up from the boarder the next afternoon and took her with us on our little exploration of downtown.  She even came with us to eat lunch.  I think she was relieved to be out of that other place!

I wanted everyone to pose in front of the pirate...Jack was a good sport and jumped right in there. 

 And then the two ladies decided to join him:)

 A mermaid?  Really?  yep, she was really playing up the part.

 We actually had a kids table....that's a first for us and it was a success!

 Checking out the boats...

 Creatively getting the kids to follow her...she's so good at that....

After this, everyone was hot and tired so we headed home.  Can't wait to do it again!

Random Phone Pics....

I honestly don't know what to say.  The kids have been INSANE!  Sadie has been terrorizing Skyler non-stop.  I literally pull her off of the poor kid sometimes...  And Skyler, although mostly innocent when it comes to Sadie attacks, has been kicking up his own dust.  He has chosen to blatantly stop listening and goes wild.  I'm at my wits end....I have to breathe and think up a plan to get everything back into control in this household!  

Lots to catch up on, but first, I emptied my phone of all the pictures since May:)  I haven't edited any of these from my phone, so they are rough.

Michael and I visited Jax to house hunt back in May.  We took a walk by the river and fell in love with the river.  Even saw a dolphin!

 A good-bye night with my arora hills friends.  Lots of playdates with these ladies, marguerita thursdays....My friend that is on the left has been one of my closest friends...we met when our boys were only 18 months (they are only a week apart!) and have since seen each other through the ups and downs of motherhood/life and three more pregnancies between the two of us.  I don't know how I would have survived without her and I miss her all the time!

 These kiddos practically grew up together.  Countless afternoons filled with play dates and fun.  We miss you guys!

 What I definitely DON'T miss!  Traffic.  This pic was taken when I was trying to meet a friend for a play date.  I think I have used the traffic app on my cell phone once since I've lived here.  

 Final play date with another group of friends that grew up together.  Dara and I met before babies and went through both pregnancies and lots of life together.  What I miss about Maryland are my friends.  I love this series of pictures of our last afternoon together.  Getting all teary...

 Besties...always always always felt so comfortable together.  I remember when these two were sitting next to each other in carseats!

 Last night out with my JDS friends.....met when I moved to MD and all got pregnant together:)  Love these ladies!

 Sadie's first movie!  Madagascar 3...she did great for the first 45 minutes....

 Our good friend Izzy....taught Sadie how to be a 'girl'.  

 Skyler was such a silly boy in this pic and Sadie grumped out on us, but these are our neighborhood and school friends.  Always had fun together:)  

 Took these pics when the movers came to show the kids....

 Visit with Uncle Matt!

 Pooped after a NYC visit with Uncle Matt, Aunt Maya, and Vi.

 NYC ice cream after central park zoo:)

 Me trying to show the painter what colors I wanted for the house since I wasn't there to tell him.  Amazingly, he got it right:)

 The kids and I went out to lunch one day at a fun little cafe by the river.  Love my companions:)

 Missing my friends...

 Awful thunderstorm...had Skyler, Sadie, AND Madison on the couch with me:)

 My cousin and her family were traveling up to Georgia and stopped here on the way up and the way back.  SO much fun to have everyone together:)

 First trip to the beach with the kids on my own.  Lots of fun even if the ocean soaked our towels!

 "Mom, take a picture of me for the Lego magazine."

 Awesome park.

 Sadie's mullet, thank you Skyler.

 St. Augustine carousel...she LOVES these things!

 Our Jax friends that we do everything with.  Just went away with them for the night and the kids had a blast.  This pic is when we tried a beach one day, had a ton of fun, and we were run off of the beach by a crazy storm with a ton of lightning.  Crazy but still makes me giggle when I think of that afternoon.

 Skyler's first day of Kindergarten!!!!  So nervous and hardly let me take pictures of him.  Snagged some with my phone.   He's done great and loves kindergarten so far!

 Waiting for the bus!

 Sitting in the first row...

 Good-bye Skyler!!!! Have a great first day:)

 Waiting to get Skyler...she went poopy in the potty for the first time RIGHT before we had to pick Skyler up.  So proud of her!

 Hooray!!! He survived his first day and came running off with a smile:)  Lately we just have to remind him to get OFF of the bus when he comes home...

 Sadie's first real haircut to even out her other one from Skyler:)

 Convinced him to get a haircut too...

 Much better!