Monday, November 30, 2009

We are still here...

Yes, it has been 2.5 weeks since the last post. Sorry about that. Although we have been missing from the blog world, there has been a lot going on here...

Honestly, I really don't have time for an update now. With the holidays here and Noodles & Milk getting crazy busy I don't forsee any good updates until after Christmas. Sorry.

Quickly, I will update you on the past couple weeks. We went to Houston and San Antonio over Thanksgiving. Emerson did great the week we were gone but we are all glad to be home. This past Saturday we went to a Christmas parade and lights show in Johnson City. It was the first time Emerson went to a parade AND the first time for her to meet Santa. She loved the parade and hated Santa. Here are some pics from Johnson City in no particular order.


















Happy Holidays!

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Go Frogs!

It is gonna be a great weekend! Gameday is in Fort Worth on the TCU campus. The biggest game of our season, let alone school's history (almost) is tomorrow and the Frogs are favored. We have our tickets, our tailgating plans and our purple shirts. We are all set for a thrilling Saturday!

Fort Worth's mayor named today "Go Purple" day. He encouraged all Fort Worth residents to wear purple. While Emy was at school this morning (in her purple outfit) I was out and about and I have to say that I saw a lot of purple. It is pretty cool to see the city support TCU.

After I picked Emerson up from school, we got in the stroller and cruised through the TCU campus to see all the Gameday set-up stuff. It is so cool. There were not a ton of people out there yet, but they are expecting a huge crowd to camp out tonight. I cannot imagine how fun that would be if I was still in school.

Here are some pics from the set up this afternoon.











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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Birthday Party Recap....Finally

****Warning- This post has an excessive amount of photos****

Emerson's birthday party was a fall festival theme. The theme started out as an alternative to a halloween-themed party (since her bday is so close to the 31st). There are so many cute things that you can do with a festival theme. I took the cute theme and literally ran with it...things got seriously carried away, but it turned out super cute.

The fall festival theme was super easy to come up with acitivites for the kids. We had crafts, face painting, bean bag toss, a ball pit and the sandbox and swingset were open for playing. There were about 16 kids, 3 and under, there. They all seemed to have fun.

Decorating with the theme was fun. We got lots of pumpkins and bales of hay. The hay proved to be useful in covering up the wet ground from the flood issues we had dealt with earlier in the week. We scattered one of the bales around the yard and it looked really great.

The party started at 4pm which is when Emerson wakes up from her nap. I woke her up a little early to get her dressed and try to prepare her for what was about to happen. Afterall, her backyard had been transformed and she had never seen so many people at our house before.

Walking outside, she was a little hesitant at first. I had to hold her for the first 20 minutes or so. After that she seemed to realize that she knew everyone there and things must be okay. I got her a juice box and some popcorn- 2 of her favorites- and life was good!


Like any two-year-old, Emerson could not wait to dive into her cupcake. She snuck in one bite when everyone was singing happy birthday and then proceeded to wait patiently until the song was over to dive into the rest of it. It was truly precious.


Right about the time everyone was leaving, she was really getting used to having all her friends around. She kept giving everyone hugs and more hugs as they left. Her friend Hayden stuck around after everyone else left to go watch the TCU game. Hayden helped open presents. It only took Emerson opening one present for her to realize that each package would contain a new prize for her. She started opening them lightning fast. I could barely keep up with what was from who.


Hayden left around 7pm and Emerson instatly looked at me to tell me she was hungry. In all the commotion, Emerson had not had anything but cupcakes and popcorn to eat. So, I whipped up a quick meal of leftover party food and she chowed down and was ready to go to bed after such an exhausting afternoon.


On to the pictures:


The welcome sign



Party favors



Cupcakes




Family photo



Bean bag toss


Banner



Food









Hey guys, what are ya'll doing?


Sweet friends










She loved this hat











Hot pink frosting. Yummy.








Sharing popcorn






Face painting


Crafts

Lots of Emerson's precious friends were able to come to the party. They are the ones who made it so much fun!


Ashley and baby sister, Abby



Jaylee

Claire (and her twin Catherine who managed to escape the camera)


Noah
Mac and little sister, Lilla


Rylie and baby brother, Brandon
Annie


Lincoln
Hayden


Ethan

Birthday girl!



After all the work that this party took, I think next year I might take the year off from party planning and simply write a check to somewhere like Gymboree or Bounce houses. It sure would be easier to let someone else do all the work.


PS- I need to give some big shout-outs to all my friends who helped out. I delegated a LOT of the party to different people and they were all wonderful. Thank you to Bethany for the beautiful banner. I got so many compliments on it and it is just perfect. Thank you to Meghann for making the bean bag toss (and all the stuff I borrowed). It was so cute and a huge hit with the kiddos. Thank you to Amber for the pictures. As usual, they are wonderful. I hope you get a lot of business from the moms at the party. Thank you to Meagan for the signs. They worked out just perfectly and looked great too. I think I am forgetting someone...if I am, I apologize, but you know who you are.


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