Baby Kira

...and backtracking a tad more (then I promise I'll post birthday party pictures!). These pictures are a tad blurry. I've been using a fixed lens for so long now (you know, since Christmas so long) that I had a hard time going back to a zoom lens!

We took a quick (and I mean quick: drove up, stayed 2 hours, and drove back!) trip to Atlanta to meet baby Kira. She is absolutely, perfectly beautiful!

(Aunt Millie and Kira)

Addie had a great nap on the way up, so she was in a fabulous mood! We had no idea how she would receive Kira though! I don't think she was completely sure what she thought of her Mommy holding another baby! (check out her face staring at Kira!)

But after talking about being gentle and touching with one finger...

she seemed to be ok with it!

And it was onto learning a few piano chords!

But enough of that!

She decided Uncle Jay needed some help filling out Kira's pediatrician forms!

It was a great trip. Addie was quite the trooper! And we LOVED meeting our precious neice Kira Jane! It's so much fun being an Aunt and Uncle!

Addie's Invitation

Backtracking a little...

I forgot to post the darling invitation that my friend Allison did for Addie as a gift. In addition to being a wonderful friend since college, Allison is quite a talented photographer (yes, that's a picture she took of Addie wearing a sweet little hat that pops up first in her slide show!). She's recently tried her hand at creating invitations (and announcements) and been quite successful! Since Allison's in Birmingham, she had to work with my amateur photos, but we were thrilled when she sent us this proof. However, the proof hardly does it justice!

Printed on watercolor paper, the back of the invitation matches the front (but without the writing). It was perfect, and we loved it!!! Thank you Allison!

(Our address and phone number where on the invitations, but I blocked them out...I love photoshop!!!)

I ♥ Faces

I haven't done an I ♥ Faces post in a while, but I thought this week would be a great time to get back into it! The kid's theme: pouting!

We all know Addie never pouts...but then again, maybe she does just a little! :)

And then my favorite category: pets, with a theme of anything goes! This is our 1st baby Abbey sitting in the front yard of our 1st house!

Make sure to check out this fun blog and join in on the fun!

the fun part of cleaning: Decorating!

Well of course it's fun to decorate, especially when it's for your baby girl who's just turned 1! Wow...time does fly. I can't say that I've been planning Addie's 1st birthday for 6 months (which apparently isn't an uncommon thing for some); but we did put some thought into it. After our little bug was a butterfly for Halloween, everything (on sale) at Hobby Lobby was a butterfly of some sorts, and a little much internet research, we decided on a theme: butterflies!

So we I started brainstorming a cute but classy (hopefully) way to pull all this off!

And it all started with the cakes:
My mom decorated many of our childhood cakes, so naturally, I figured I'd give it a go. I started with my mom's birthday cake and moved to cupcakes for our life group:

Then I did a trial run with Addie's smash cake for her studio portraits with DiAnna.

But when it came down to the real thing, it took 3 boxes of cake (I did the big one twice because I cooked the 1st one too long and it was dry (not burnt!)) and 8 cans of icing!!! I actually scraped the 1st butterfly I did off the top of Addie's cake and redid it! I knew I was a tad on the OCD side with certain things...but can we say ridiculous!?!?!

(Addie's smash cake!)

I have no idea why icing that's been formed into itty, bitty, tiny stars tastes so good...but it does!

Since we were mainly inviting adults, I wanted a more grown-up atmosphere (if that's possible!) but still fun and festive! So with the exception of the Happy 1st Birthday banner hanging in our living room, flowers donned with butterflies were the main decoration!

(our baby girl...then and now)

(my favorite: gerber daisies with purple and green flowers!)

But what party is complete without the balloons? There were more, but this was the only picture that really turned out! When Addie came home (from taking a nap at my mom's with her Daddy) while I finished up here, she immediately saw the balloons. She got super excited! She's been dragging them around now most of the day and has figured out that if she pulls on the string, she can get the balloons down to her level!

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Although I didn't manage to take a ton of pictures at her party, I'll post what was taken soon! :)

Where Have We Been...and What Have We Been Doing?

Well, we've been getting ready for Addie's birthday party...

Trying to turn this...

...into this takes a little lot of time...

...and heavy machinery...

(no, that's not Paul driving the backhoe loader!)

...with lots of supervision...

...under a watchful eye...

...and great attention to detail!

After we finally got the outside of the house looking great, it was time to tackle the inside! I'll spare you the details of everyday cleaning (up and out), straightening, and organizing and get straight to the decorating...in the next post, of course!

Sweet Baby Stellan

This sweet baby boy has been hospitalized again. He was having respiratory issues that have developed into heart issues (like he had in utero). At birth (and for months after), they could find no indication that his heart was still sick, but a recent nebulizer treatment triggered his heart to go into Supra Ventricular Tachycardia (SVT) again.

Please pray for this precious angel, that God will again intervene and heal his tiny heart.

Pictures with DiAnna

Yesterday we went to DiAnna's house for Addie's studio pictures. Well...we started in her backyard studio, which was the most beautiful garden tucked behind her house. It was so peaceful. I had brought a tutu for Addie to wear for her 1st birthday pictures...and these portraits turned out more beautiful than I could have ever imagined!!! This 1st one is my favorite!

Happy Birthday outfit and balloons!

Mmmmm! One finger...lick, two fingers...lick lick, a whole hand...big lick, a foot, an arm...she was covered! This cake picture is priceless...she was so covered in icing that I had to put her in the bathtub, right there! She had a blast! I love her eyes here!

Thank you DiAnna for these wonderful memories!

Make sure to check out her blog (click below).

One of Many: Part 3

After nap #2, we went to pick up Daddy at work and headed down to the River Front to find a good place to take some pictures. Addie's Rie Rie was frantically quickly trying to finish pin and piece together Addie's birthday outfit...because Mommy insisted nicely begged her to do so pictures could be taken on Addie's birthday!

While playing with lighting and location, we took these.

Addie loves to laugh at with her Daddy!

{I think I'll prune a few of these vines while we're waiting}

So when my mom got there (thank you mom...I love her outfit), we headed back up the hill to take some more pictures!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Bit!

One of Many: Part 2

So back to the Big Birthday Day! After a good nap, Addie and I headed to meet some friends at the park for a playdate and lunch. Addie loves to swing:

But she had even more fun swinging with her little friend Anna!

We enjoyed seeing Diane, Tyler, and Ellie too! Ellie's such a good helper! She even held Addie while I prevented the stroller from tipping over!

{Mmmm...dirt and woodchips!)

After the park, we all went back to their house to see Tyler and Ellie's beautifully redone rooms! We were so happy to get to see them on Addie's Big Day!