Wordless Wednesday

The Aquarium

The seahorses were Ava's favorite. I have to admit I think they are pretty neat too.

Photography by Noah


The Children's Area was great! It was good to let them run around and climb on things for awhile.

Touch Feely

Yes, that's my baby touching a snake! Ava likes to say "Snake bite you!"- Nathan taught her that while reading Eric Carle's Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?


Noah touched a snake....

a sting ray...

and a shark!!

New Orleans

About a month ago, we took a day trip to New Orleans for a fun family outing. We ate at Cafe Maspero for yummy lunch of some fried shrimp po-boys and then took a little stroll through the French Quarter. The kids enjoyed looking at the Mississippi River and I think the train that came by was one of the main highlights of their day. The threatening rain clouds you see below did rain for most of the afternoon. We took cover in Cafe Du Monde and enjoyed their famous beignets. Funny thing happened there- Ava was sitting in my lap and all of a sudden I feel wetness- I almost drop her out of my lap trying to stand up- she had leaked out of her diaper on me and my shorts! Yuck! Thank goodness I had on black and I moved her before I got soaked! I think between her leaky diapers and the rain she went through 3 outfits that day. We only had one small umbrella with us- we waited and waited for the rain to stop but it never did so we had to walk all the way from Cafe Du Monde to the Aquarium in the rain! Noah & I shared the umbrella but Nathan got wet and so did Ava in the stroller. They were pretty good sports about it though- we tried to take cover under the store awnings when we could.

The train whistle was LOUD!


Ava getting a taste of her first beignet!

This picture is taken from the back of Cafe du Monde- we stopped under one of their awnings to decide how we were going to maneuver through the rain. We got to watch them making the beignets! I never knew this was there out of all the times I've been there. It was so cool and there was a TON of powdered sugar! And the guy was flinging them into the oil- it was pretty funny... and then he threw powdered sugar on the window at Noah!!

Wordless Wednesday

Ladybug Details...

Planning a party is just as much fun, if not more, as the party itself in my mind. So, for those of you thinking about planning a ladybug party, here are a few of our party details... and you know, it's all in the details!


The Invitation
I ordered the invitation from Announcing You on Etsy. All I had to do was email Amber the picture and wording I wanted on the invitation. Amber did a great job customizing the invitation to my specifications- I requested the kwekel font since I had already used it on the birthday banner. Amber emailed me the file, I saved it to my computer, placed my order on Walgreens.com and voila I had my invitations complete in less than 8 hours!

I also have to add how much I love this picture of Ava. We had a brief photo shoot (10 minutes) in my parent's backyard to try to get a good picture to use for the invitation. I'm glad she was so cooperative!

The Birthday Banner

The birthday banner was inspired from Etsy as well. There are so many too choose from on their site but I knew I could make one myself. Just cut circles out of coordinating scrapbook paper that matches your party, then print your letters in a cute font and cut those out in a smaller circle. Attach with a glue stick then use a hole puncher to attach the individual circles together. I strung one string through each word, but instead you could just tie each circle together one at a time.


The Cupcakes

I searched the Internet for a cute ladybug cake and just never seemed to find one that I wanted to try to replicate. So after stumbling upon the TomKat Studio blog's cupcake toppers, I knew we would have cupcakes instead of a cake this year. (Not to mention that all of my cake decorating tools are still in storage...but we'll discuss that in another post... ugh.) My mom made these delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes with a wonderful butter cream icing. I can get the recipes if you want them...


The Cupcake Toppers

I knew I could make these myself as well, and the process is just about the same as the birthday banner. I cut these 2" circles out as well, but did purchase a 1 1/2 inch scallop circle punch. (I wanted a 2" but Michael's didn't have one). Simply attach to a 4" lollipop stick with glue- I put matching backs on the toppers so they would be extra cute. I think I created about 4 or 5 different toppers using the leftover scrapbook paper from the banner. I also added coordinating ribbon to add a special touch...


The Party Hat

Here's the template for the party hat. I enlarged it a little and cut the hat out of a 12" x 18" black foam sheet. I cut the "2" out of a glittery white foam sheet and attached it with hot glue. The red feather boa was just cut to size and also attached with hot glue. (Save the rest of the boa to decorate something else at your party!) Then I simply stapled on some of the leftover ribbon to each side so I could secure it on Ava's head. She absolutely loved it and looked so adorable!


The Tableware
I found these super cute ladybug plates on the Big Dot of Happiness. I also purchased their matching thank you notes and personalized sticker labels (I used some of these for the cupcake toppers). I bought 3 yards of the black fabric with tiny white polka dots for the table cloth and thought it coordinated nicely. I wrapped the black silverware up in a red napkin and tied it with a white bow with black polka dots.

I hope you enjoyed your ladybug party baby girl!

More Party Pictures

Ava with her new baby doll and I think she is wearing her new rain boots too


We're all smiling!


Here's what the back looks like...


Here's the ladybug bow that Nonnie made to match...

Opening Presents

Big Brother helping Little Sister

Noah wasn't left out- he had a few of his own presents to open!
These airplanes came from Nona.

Ava was so excited to get a new baby doll from Mamaw & Papaw and went straight to work putting her to sleep in her new doll bed from Mommy & Daddy

Ava kept saying "Ooohh" every time she would open a present

Happy Birthday Ladybug!!

My sweet baby Ava is 2!! I cannot believe it!! This year's birthday party theme was ladybugs. Nonnie bought her the cutest little ladybug overalls off of eBay and I knew we would have a ladybug party as soon as I saw them. We celebrated the day surrounded by family and it truly was special to commemorate what a blessing the past two years have been with Ava in our lives. It is such a joy to hear her sweet little voice everyday, to get sweet little kisses from her tiny puckered lips, and to experience her precious little personality. I am truly blessed as a mother.

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday!!



Blowing out the candle
(we had to do this twice because the video tape ran out the first time)

Beautiful Birthday Girl

Yummy Cupcake!!

Learn. Explore. Discover.

Back at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center!

Captain Noah

They even have scheduled art times and smocks!

I know it's a little gross but you have to admit it's funny too...

Lynn Meadows Discovery Center

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. As of now, it is the only children's museum in Missisippi. We joined our first visit, so we can go anytime which is great because I don't feel like I need to rush the kids through each section to see everything.

Camera Man Noah

Excuse me m'am, would you like to buy this huge lobster?

That will be $33.03

Tea Party in the Train car