1st birthday- the party

Here are some pictures of all the fun we had at Molly's first birthday! We were so lucky to have so many family and friends there to celebrate with us!! It was a wild party filled with nothing but fun!!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

"Wow, this cake is huge! I wonder what it tastes like"

And then the tears came, not a fan of her cake and everyone watching!!

Loving my new chair Mommy and Daddy got me!!

The little red wagon my MiMi and PawPaw gave me was a hit!! Everyone wanted to go for a ride!

PawPaw and Dylan hanging out!

Grandpa Kenny feeding me some cheese! Mmmm I love cheese and my Grandpa!

Hanging out with my buddy Joseph in my wagon, Daddy was chaperoning!!

All my friends enjoying the party!

Riley liked the wagon too!!

My buddy Davis checking things out!

Drew sure did like those Legos!!!

What a day to remember!!

1st birthday- the details

I know that everyone says the first birthday should be really low key, the birthday girl won't remember it anyway right? Wrong! My way of thinking was a little different. This party was more for mama than for Molly, she can have whatever she wants for her parties from here on out, but I get the first! We went with a cookies and milk party with chocolate brown, hot pink, green and blue accents. Here is a wreath on the door to welcome guests and a sign in the entry way!

I made tissue paper pom poms to decorate the house and add those pops of color!

Her Happy Birthday banner hung above the dessert table!

Molly's smash cake and iced sugar cookies!

Even though we had lots of cookies, a birthday isn't the same without cupcakes!

Can't have cookies without milk!

Milk is so much more fun to drink out of little milk bottles and paper straws.

Cookie jars full of goodies!

Party favors were "make your own" bag of cookies to take home!

It was such a fun party to plan. I got tons of ideas online and ordered all the printables, like signs, cupcake toppers, banners and labels from an etsy shop called TomKat Studio! She does really cute stuff you can print yourself! Those things really pulled it all together!

Up next, the birthday girl and all her friends on her big day!

12 months

Well it finally happened! My little baby turned one!! I know I have said this in every post, but I really don't know how this happened so fast. Yes, there have been times that seemed to drag on and on, but then others flew bye so fast.

Here are our little/big girl's stats: weight 21 lbs 13 oz height 29 1/4 inches. She is floating around the 50-60% for both. She is wearing 18 month clothes, mostly to fit over that buddha belly!

It has been a great month she has gone from crawling to cruising around everything. She is really confident on her feet and will stand alone for awhile. She now loves to use her push toys to "walk" around. She is so close to walking but has yet to take those first steps.

I love watching her play these days. She is so much more independent. She loves taking things out of containers and then putting them back in and then repeat, like 15 times! Never gets old! She knows all the buttons on her toys and which ones to push for the right reaction. She hugs her stuffed animals and goes "Ahhh" and will give anyone a kiss who asks for one. She is waving bye bye and her favorite word is "ball." She understands most of what I ask or tell her to do, at least I think she does. :) She loves to dance, anytime there is music she is shaking that little booty of hers. She has also become super opinionated lately, she will let you know if she doesn't like something, and she is loud!!!

She did really well at her birthday party...more on that to come!
Here are some pics I had taken last month for her invitation! She was so timid with the cake, but I am not surprised.

What a crazy, exciting, totally scary, and completely wonderful year it has been! I can't wait to see what the next year brings! I love you Molly Joan!

Shopping finds

I was lucky enough to spend this glorious "fall like" day shopping outside with two of my favorite girls, Molly and my mom! I thought I would share the fun finds of the day!

I have been looking for a good starter bible for Molly. One with the bible stories written in a easy way for kids to understand. I decided to check one of my favorite shops on Main St. in Grapevine, Holy Grounds. They recommended this one.

It has all the stories of the bible written so that they rhyme. As a teacher, I know how important rhyming is and how it aids in a child's learning and understanding! I highly recommend it!!

The nice lady in the store also recommended this beautiful book by Carol Heyer. "Humphrey's First Christmas"

It is the story of the birth of Jesus as told by one of the Three Wise Men's camels. It has some humor, a great message and gorgeous pictures! This will be wrapped under our Christmas tree this year and I think it should be under yours too!!

Destin

A few weeks ago my family embarked on a vacation we had been planning for awhile. Ever since we were younger my family has enjoyed traveling to Destin, Florida for beach vacations. We have stayed in condos, houses and high rises. We have stayed up and down the beaches of Destin and Fort Walton but have finally found our favorite spot. Right off of highway 30A in between Seaside and Rosemary Beach. This is a fabulous stretch of beaches and small towns. This is the house we stayed in this year. It was a great house on the beach with our own private pool. It was like we lived there for the week. It was big, but it needed to be, because we had a lot of people!

In attendance for the week were:

The Brand family! Thanks to MeMe and Bobby for orchestrating this great pic!

Jen, Stephen and Dylan.

My mom and dad

and

The Pruett clan!

My Aunt Fran and cousins Christina, Bobby and Jen

Dylan loved the beach! She has no fear, running into the waves, building sandcastles and spending all day in the sand and sun!

Molly...not so much! She was not fond of the beach at all. Here she is touching the sand for the first time, looks okay right. Wrong! Right after she burst into tears and wouldn't go near it or the ocean. We tried on different days, same result. Maybe next time!

She did have fun playing on the patio with Dylan every morning! Trying to not wake the rest of the house at 6 am!

She love, love, loved the pool! She stayed in so long her little feet were all wrinkled! I bought this great float from Buy Buy Baby and it was perfect! I am a sucker for a baby in a sunhat!

We also brought along a blow up baby pool so she could play in the shade. Big hit! The water was nice and cool, which I can't say the same for the pool.

All in all it was a great trip! Vacations are a little different once the kiddos come around but it sure is fun to see their wonder and awe of new places and things!

11 months

We are a little late on our post because Miss Molly spent her 11 month birthday on the beach in Florida!! More on that to come!
This has been a big month of new developments! Molly is pulling up and walking side to side holding on to just about anything. She has gotten so steady on her feet and has learned to reach down and grab things without sitting. She can stand and hold her balance without holding on for about 20 seconds. She is so proud of herself when she stands all alone! She is very mobile these days and can crawl at lightning speed! She loves to crawl away from me and wait for me to chase her. She giggles and thinks I am so funny!
I love to watch her play, you can just see her little mind going a mile a minute. She likes to take toys in and out of bins and turn the pages of her books. She loves to dance. Any music from her toys, the tv or radio will get her little body moving! She is repeating a lot of words and loves blowing raspberries!! She can eat her weight in watermelon and blueberries!!


How big is Molly? Soooo big!!!

Showing Grandpa Kenny her favorite spot to play!

Eating at Twisted Root with my daddy! A little to young for a PBR!

First ride-on toy! Not quite sure what to think of it!

Eating spaghetti with her cousin Dylan! Shirtless is the only way to go!!

I can't believe we are so close to her first birthday!! It has gone by way to fast!!

We are having so much fun doing life with this precious little girl!!! Love you Molls!

Summer of WinKids!

This summer I signed Molly up for a mommy and me gymnastics class at a local gym called WinKids. It was a weekly class full of kids Molly's age and their mommies. When we started back in June she wasn't even crawling yet and was so apprehensive about the whole thing. We had our last class today, and she was all over the place and loving it! I think we will take another class when she is walking.

She loved the bells, balls and bubbles the best!!!

Being very ambitious and trying to climb the alphabet wall!

More bells!

Molly's first ribbon! She is such a big girl!