SURPRISE for Tessa!

I wanted to do sometime really fun for Tessa for her 4th birthday besides the normal birthday party with our family. I feel like she's a little young to have a kid party and since school's not in session, I'm not sure how many people would come anyways.

So I'd been planning a special evening for her. She had NO idea. My niece had a birthday party the day before Tessa's actual birthday and I had planned my surprise for right after my niece's party. I got Nana and Brookie in on the plan and we had SUCH a fun girls' night! We never, ever get the chance to go out just the three of us with Tessa--usually Tommy or another grand kid is tagging along. So I knew Tessa would think that alone was special.

After the party, we ran home and changed really fast. Tessa kept saying, "Where are we going mommy? Who's coming? Why are we doing this?" I was so glad we'd kept it a secret because she was having fun just wondering where we were going!

We pulled up to the mall and went inside and I asked if she wanted to get her hair cut. She shook her hair really big and smiled--it was her first hair cut! She'd never even gotten a trim before. We went into the salon and she got up in the chair. And here's where I'm going to admit I was a little disappointed. The girl literally took about 2 minutes to cut her hair. I wish I would have explained to make a big deal of it because she put the cape on, trimmed her ends and then was done. She was friendly and nice, but it wasn't worth the money for the lack of the "first hair cut" experience!

The good news, however, is that Tessa thought it was neat and really.......that's what it's all about!

 She showed ZERO excitement in front of the hair stylist, but I could tell she felt extra sassy when we left by the way she was walking :) She was smiling really big and swinging her hips like nobody's business.

 She decided to try on a few hats to go with her freshly trimmed hair!

 And then it was time for the BIIIIIIG surprise! She's been asking to get her ears pierces for FOREVER. I kept telling her that daddy said no (because he did), but he finally agreed a few days before her girls night, so I went with it before he could change his mind. After we left the hair salon, we walked up to Claire's. I said, "Sis, so I was THINKING maybe today you could.......pierce your ears?!" Her eyes got SUPER big and she got SUPER quiet. I could tell she was a little nervous, so I asked if she was sure she wanted to do it and she never wavered! She's such a brave little girl. She hopped right up in the chair.....

 And just like that, she had pierced ears! She did so great right up until they put the guns to her ears. I could see in her eyes that she was scared, but she didn't make a peep. Her eyes got a little watery, but 10 seconds later, she was smiling and admiring her pink heart earrings in the mirror! Cutie........

 I asked her afterwards if it hurt at all and she said, "Only when they used those staplers!!"

After getting her ears pierced, we headed to Wal-mart for a little shopping. She found some play dishes for her baby and nana bought her those and even let her put the money in the machine, which she thought was just SO cool.

 She got to pick where we ate dinner and she wanted Golden Corral! A girl after my own heart. She ate two plates of macaroni and cheese (her favorite) and fruit!

 She was being so nerdy and kept making the weirdest faces to nana........

 And after we ate, we HAD To go show Granny her new earrings! Granny was appropriately impressed and made sure to fuss over her :)

And we ended our super fun girls day with some snuggles! I love this little lady and I THINK she loved her surprise day as much as I did!

Father's Day 2016

So.....it's been awhile since Father's Day. We've just been so busy, I haven't had much time to blog lately. But I did want to take the time to acknowledge my husband and what a great dad he is.

I grew up without a dad and while that was sometimes kind of hard, it mostly taught me the kind of dad I wanted my kids to have.

Nick is everything I dreamed of a dad being and more. I love that he spends so much time with them. It doesn't matter what he's doing.....he's almost always willing to let a kid tag along. Even with having a step-dad, I never experienced having a man actually WANT their kids to hang around--inviting them to participate in different activities. I always felt like I was an inconvenience, so it's been so great seeing that with him and knowing that he TRULY doesn't mind having them as his shadow.

So many people take that for granted and say, "Well, that's what a dad is SUPPOSED to do." But so many dad's just DON'T. So to see it happening for my kids makes my heart all kinds of happy!

Nick, I love you! I appreciate so much all that you've done for our family and all that you do for our kids!

It might be a month late, but Happy Father's Day!

4th of July 2016

We hosted our annual 4th of July party on July 3rd this year! That way, we had a day off work to recover from the late night.

It was full of good food and family fun.

These goofy country kiddos...

 Bry was attached to aunt Brookie all night!

 Me and my sweet girl!

 Brooke with her favorite sister.......

 Tommy LOOOOOOOVES his sparklers.......

 It was FINALLY my turn to snuggle the baby (I had to wait until she was asleep to hold her because she screamed whenever I touched her--ha!)....

And last but not least.........Nana with all her grandbabies.

 

I love the times when our family can all get together and just enjoy the night! The fireworks were beautiful, as usual, and we had a great time!

Zoo Field Trip 2016

 Tommy and Tessa's class went to the zoo on the same day this year. It was fun to get to be with both of them and around all of their friends! I asked Brooke if she wanted to go too and bring the other kiddos, so we all went together.

Here's our day in pictures........

I have NO idea why she's making this face!

Everyone went their separate ways and then we met up as a school to have lunch together. It was a little bitter sweet because this was Tommy's last field trip with Noah's Ark. But all the kids were so cute!

The kids, back with their fellow primates....

 And this is now their standard go-to pose when I say "take a picture together!"

It was a long day, but so much fun! The weather was perfect--kind of cool in the morning and cloudy most of the day. And then towards the end, it cleared up and was sunny, but not too hot! Just the right weather for zoo day.

We had so much fun and can't wait for next year already!

Turning 32

I've considered stopping counting. I mean, once you hit 30........does it really matter any more?!?

Of course it does! But I'm facing the fact that I'm just getting old. I'm so old, I forgot how old I was the other day. Someone asked me how old I'd be turning on my birthday and I legitimately couldn't answer until I counted from 1984 to 2016. Sad.

But none the less........I had a great birthday! My mom and sister always plan a present an hour for my birthday and I LOVE it. They're little gifts, but it's fun to get something every hour! I mean, who wouldn't love that? I got a donut and diet coke for breakfast as my first gift.

I can't remember everything I got, but there were hair ties, bobby pins, a bracelet, candy and my favorite of the day was a solar powered unicorn jumping over a castle!

 

 It's kind of amazing. The little unicorn just dances over it all day. The kids at my office LOVE it! And let's be real.....so do I.

My sister brought some cute little guests up for lunch! 

 

My nieces came too, but my phone was being dumb and wouldn't let me add their pictures. 

She also brought me the most BEAUTIFUL flowers and the most delicious cupcake!

 The pictures don't do them justice. They were so bright and vibrant. They certainly prettied up my desk a bit! And the cupcake was so so so so so good. Mmmmmm.......

After lunch, I finished up my work day. As the clock was winding down, these beauties got delivered....

My husband sure does know the way to my heart. Sweet man. He'd been out of town all week on a business trip and knew I was bummed that he wasn't there to wake me up on my birthday morning. This definitely made up for it!

After work, I got to shop ALL BY MYSELF for an hour or so. It was a little slice of Heaven. And I may have spent a lotta money. But it's nice to splurge every now and then! I got some cute new shirts to get me through the summer. When I was done shopping, I headed over the my mom's to meet up with the rest of my family. We had a big spaghetti dinner and a lot of dessert and got to just hang out and enjoy each others company. It was low key and nice! I got money, money and more money (which made me feel a little better about my shopping trip!). And I got a blingy license plate mount that I'd been keeping my fingers crossed for! 

After dinner, we went home and got to enjoy finally being together as a family of four after a long week of missing Nick. It was the perfect ending to the perfect birthday!

Mother's Day 2016

Now that it's almost Father's Day, I figured I'd document our Mother's Day this year.........that's me. Always on time....ish.

My sweet hubs let me sleep in. I woke up to the smell of bacon and pancakes cooking (can someone figure out how to make this happen every day??). It was delicious! Please tell me you eat peanut butter on your pancakes too.......

 

After we had breakfast, we got around and headed to church. It was a great service and a perfect day to celebrate with our church family! It was kind of cloudy and stormy outside (which is my favorite weather EVER), so it was nice and cool and I remember the stained glass windows in the church looking beautiful and the thunder rolling every few minutes.

When church was over, we headed to Augusta to pick up pizza and then met our family over at my Granny's house. We all had a nice lunch together. And by that time, it was POURING down rain. So after we ate, we all just laid around for awhile and talked. It was nice! 

I got to open my presents from Nick and the kids around dinner time. Nick got me the most awesome crock pot (I asked for one). It's huge and it has locking handles, which was what I really wanted. He told me he had given each of the kids $5 to pick whatever they wanted to for me. I loved seeing what they got! Tessa picked out a delicious smelling candle and Tommy picked out what my Grampy used to refer to as "hooker red" lipstick! Ha! I about died when I opened it. I love lipstick, but usually stick to some milder colors. But he insisted I put it on, so here I am........sporting my red lips and lovin' on my babies......

It was a great Mother's Day!

She's the best

So I have this daughter........and she's amazing. Lately, I feel like her little personality has just started to come out so much more and I am in love.

Sometimes I feel bad because Tommy has such a fun, dramatic, hyper, crazy personality and honestly, we spend a lot of time (as a family!) listening to him, paying attention to him, disciplining him, etc. It seems like he gets a lot of attention (good and bad)--and not for any reason other than he's kind of a high maintenance child (son, if you're reading this some day, I mean that in the most loving way possible). Long story short, I occasionally get a pang of guilt because I feel like Tessa can be pushed to the back burner sometimes.

But I have to remind myself that she's totally okay with that! I know what I'm going to say is a total shocker, but.......God knows what He's doing. He truly made her the perfect piece to fit in our little family puzzle. Tessa's personality is perfect for her position in our family. For the most part, she's completely laid back, fine with entertaining herself when needed, perfectly okay with not being the center of attention. She's very nurturing and I'm always calling her a little momma because she love, LOVES taking care of people and Tommy LOVES getting her nurturing attention. He always wants to be first at everything and she usually lets him. He always wants to do crazy things and while she sometimes follows his lead, she often times is the voice of reason in his silly schemes. He doesn't like to sit still for more than a minute, so she gives me and Nick all the snuggles we can handle.

This post was inspired by me deleting some of my phone pictures (please tell me you find 100 pictures of your kids toes or the ceiling fan in your phone). I came across several of Tessa Grace that just made me so happy she's mine! She may be quiet and reserved, but at home and when she's 100% relaxed, she's just the best.......

 Loving on our baby chicks.....

She has the BEST bed head!

 Cheesy grin!

She has the cutest mad face!

Showing mom her muscles...

Wearing Daddy's hat!

 So proud of her garage sale find...

This is one of my favorites....she came into the living room with her pants sagging. She had stuffed her pockets and belt loops with toys and kitchen gadgets (note the beater in her hand)! Nerd....

 We taped her nose to get her a piggy snout!

 Rockin' her shades again!

 She gets a little loopy when she's bored...

And my favorite--she looks like an angel when she's sleeping!

 

Momma loves you so much, Gracie girl!