Party Review

Each time there's a fun event that my mom and I host or attend, we always call each other afterward to have "party review." Hence the name of this post. Saturday was Annalee's birthday party. We had a great time with friends and family celebrating the glorious event! I'll let the pictures do the talking.






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Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl

Today is Annalee's first birthday! WOW, what a year! I can't believe how fast time has flown. This time last year I was in the hospital, my water had been broken (at 8:30 am) and I was just dialating away! I received my epidural around 12:30 and at 3:00 pm on the dot, she was here.

It's just amazing how much I love her. She is so awesome. I love how curious she is, how interactive she is with people, and how happy she is. I love her smile and her giggle. I love those big blue eyes. I love the way she gives me big open-mouthed kisses on my cheek. I love hearing her say bye bye when she waves at someone. I love the little noises she makes when she eats her food (this girl loves to eat!). I love watching her play and learn new things everyday. I love hearing her "talk." I love seeing her turn the pages of her books and point at the pictures. I love bathing her and watching how excited she gets when I put the bath toys in the tub. I love it when she claps her hands anytime someone says yeah or sings pat-a-cake. I love the expression on her face when she hears her daddy coming in the door at the end of the day or when she hears the Praise Baby music coming on--so excited! I could go on and on...I love everything about this sweet girl. What an amazing blessing she is to me and Micah every day. Thank you God for letting her be a part of our lives.

Portrait Time

This week we headed over to Portrait Innovations for Annalee's one year pictures. We also did some Christmas poses too. Here's a sample of what we captured.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Another year older

Well, it's official...I am 28. Yikes! That's so close to 30. Yesterday was such a great day. It was filled with sweet text messages, e-mails, voicemails, and phone calls from friends and family wishing me a super day. Thanks guys! Micah really outdid himself this year. In a nutshell...he set up a spa day at the Gaylord Texan Hotel, then dinner at their steakhouse, and finally a super comfy hotel room to crash in. Thanks to Mama Jo and Papa, Annalee got a break from her Mama. :) Here's a picture from the evening.



Micah also has a birthday tradition where he gets me a funny cake. This all started in college when he grabbed a hamburger cake just to be different and funny. Since then I have had a beer bottle cake (on my 21st, handmade by Micah himself), the grinch, a reindeer, a cheese wheel with mice, a dragon, I know I'm forgetting one. Well, last year since I was pregant on my birthday he decided to try his pastry hand again and make a pregnant lady cake...check out the pic.



Well, what would be more appropriate to follow that than a cake of a baby?! So there you have it, my cake for this year...a baby sleeping in a bed.

Cupcake Shoes

Remember when I couldn't sleep at 3 am? Well, I did some online shopping and found the most adorable cupcake shoes for Annalee for her birthday. Her Mama Jo is smocking the cutest dress with cupcakes on it. I ordered the shoes in a size 4 and when they arrived I couldn't believe how big they were. Without trying them on Annalee, I took them back to the store and traded for a size 3. Well, Wednesday night she was going to wear them with another dress that matches and her big foot wouldn't fit in them!! I had to do the walk of shame BACK to the store and trade again for my original size 4's. Amazing. I promised the lady that I wouldn't be back anytime soon. I secretly wish that they had half sizes because she really needs a 3 1/2. Thanks for hanging in there for my pointless blog...Christmas card pictures coming soon!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

how lovely are your branches.

Here's our week so far in pictures...

We found the perfect tree! Tall and skinny!




Checkin' out the tree with my belly hangin' out.




Of course, our 11th month picture with the bunny. That's right people, my baby is 11 months old!!




My little mess maker has struck again! She was digging the paper out of the shredder. (don't worry, it was off! and yes, she was still in her p.j.'s)

Baby, it's cold outside!

What a treat, cold weather in the winter! Who would have thought? We had a chilly night at the Parade of Lights on Friday night. Thanks to Aunt Rachel, Annalee didn't have to go without a coat! However, I couldn't find any baby mittens, so we had to use socks. :) Aunt Kandi fixed that for us later, though.





I love this picture of Annalee and her PeePaw (my dad) on Thanksgiving day.



I had to get a picture of her first Thanksgiving plate!

Wide Awake

So, it's 2:50 am and I am wide awake!!! We went to bed at 9 because Micah was going to get up at 3 to start smoking our Thanksgiving turkey. When he woke up, I did too and here I sit...wide awake. I know I'll crash later, but for some reason, I can't sleep right now. Might as well blog, right?

Annalee's new thing is to clear any surface of all items! She really loves to do this with her bookshelf. You might notice Micah's legs in the picture...he was dead asleep while she was doing this!


Ooo..maybe I'll read this one before I toss it over my shoulder.


Roasted Annalee, anyone?

Fun Site for People with Kids

People always say that Annalee looks just like me, but this site seems to think otherwise. Try it with your own kids! Interesting.

Sorry!!

Sorry for the long break between posts...we've been busy with life!

This past weekned we took a road trip up to Searcy, Arkansas to visit Micah's sister at school. That was definately Annalee's longest time in the car, but overall, she did great. I love the pretty campus up there! We had fun just hanging out and eating! Annalee can start to make an educated decision on her college choice now that she's been to both of Mom's alma maters. :)

Annalee sitting on the "Welcome to Harding" sign.

The fam sitting in a famous Harding swing.

Ready for church on Sunday.

First time to take a bath in the "real" tub. (We used the kitchen sink for 10 months!)

The Cutest Ladybug Ever!!

Ok, I know I am a little biased, but is this not the cutest ladybug you have ever seen?? Tonight we went to Boo at the Zoo and on our way in a zoo employee gave us a free ticket because Annalee was so adorable!! That totally saved us $10.50!!

Yesterday, Annalee turned 10 months old. She's getting so big! Here are some things she likes to do these days:

• Crawl around and get into anything and everything!


• Tear up and try to eat the mail


• Cruise around the coffee table


• Wave hello and bye, bye


• Strum her lips with her finger to make funny noises


• Hang out with her favorite friends like Mallory, Elijah, Caleb, Katie, Jack, and all the babies in the nursery

Blast from the past

Tonight we had a Halloween party to attend. I was supposed to be in charge of getting our costumes together and for some reason I could not come up with a thing!! I am the absolute cheapest Halloween shopper ever...I was determined not to spend over $5 for our costumes. After consulting with the Wardlaws, we decided to go as a Kojie, a DT and Subbers...we switched the order around a little though! It ended up being fun, free, and a little freaky!

The giant cement pumpkin...

is starting to rot! Nice. I now have a puddle forming on my front porch.

Thieves-2 Becks-0

Cousins

I just had to share this sweet picture of Annalee with her cousins, Katie and Jack. Aren't they just so precious! This was right before our adventure to the pumpkin patch. By the way, our internet is back and better than ever....thanks Papa!!

Lots of thoughts...

Well our internet is not back to normal, but we figured out a way to rig it up for now. I am about to get on the phone and kindly give someone a piece of my mind!

Last weekend we had a great time at a pumpkin patch with Kandi, the kids, and my mom. Micah was definately the entertainment, though. We found a pumpkin that looked like a huge egg, so he made it a nest and sat on it like a chicken! Then we found one that looked like...ahem...hinee cheeks, so he had to pose with that one too. Kandi and I were talking to my mom and when we looked up he was stuffing his shirt with hay and walked around as a scarecrow. Jack and Katie were very entertained. Annalee spent the whole time in my mom's lap chewing on hay and watching everyone run around. We ended up buying 7 more pumpkins (they were way overpriced compared to my first round!) Micah bought the biggest one he could find...it's gigantic! When we got back to my mom's house he cut the top off of it and filled it with wet cement!! The thing weighs over 100 pounds now!! That is his defense against the pumpkin thieves. We were cracking up picturing some teenage kid trying to grab it and run and then realizing it weighs a ton! So far, so good. They are all still on the porch! I'm not going to hold my breath on Halloween night though...that's when the pumpkins usually end up masacred on the street.

This past weekend we headed to Abilene for homecoming. We had some yummy food, I went to breakfast and then we watched the parade. It was short and sweet, but a good time.

No Internet!!

So, my internet is down!!! Anytime it rains our internet goes out. This time around it is taking forever to come back! I am at Micah's office right now checking my e-mail for the first time in days!! I have lots to blog about, but I don't have my pictures or enough time right now. I know everyone is dying to know about our weekend and our pumpkin saga...don't worry it's coming soon!

Thieves!

Well, my mini pumpkin patch has been stolen!!! (See previous post) Someone took our pumpkins off of our porch last night. How rude! I can't believe it. They aren't even smashed in the road...just gone! What do I do....buy more pumpkins and risk the thieves coming back or just give up? Maybe I can set up a sting operation of some sort. :)

Pumpkin time....sorta

Today we headed out to our local farmer's market to pick up some pumpkins for the front porch. I am probably not finished buying them (I like to have a mini-patch on my front porch if possible!!) This place is great...you just load up your cart with all your goodies and then they "make you a deal." I bought 2 large pumpkins and 3 pie pumpkins for $7. I thought that was pretty good. It was definately hot and muggy today...not ideal for pumpkin day, but we managed. Annalee was pretty cute, the lady at the stand gave her a little bitty pumpkin right when we got there (for free, thanks!) She carried it around the whole time. I tried to get her picture next to a scarecrow and some mums, but a wasp ran us off before I could get her to smile, oh well. We are going to a pumpkin patch with Katie and Jack next weekend, so I'll try again. Here are the pics that I was able to capture.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

This girl loves to dump out her shoe basket!

Climbing on the bed...what a cute backside!

Hanging out in her room.