- Harp + Great-G's -

These two photos came up on my Facebook memories a few days ago... [Throwback to when Dad was awarded "Business Person of the Year!"]

But! Baby Harper with her two, beautiful great-grammies!

...Here's to strong women:  may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!

So grateful for these matriarchs who radiate a love that knows no end!

- Throwback Thursday.......[on an Sunday] -

I've been working on transferring all our photos to an external hard drive, because now-a-days my MacBook won't even let me download any new photos off my iPhone or camera card. Most annoying pop-up message in the history of pop-up messages: "startup disk full"......... #imaginethat #firstworldproblemos #seriouslytho

So anyway, I'm going through all these old photos and I guess it's like a little trip down the lane of memories -- AKA a small blessing in disguise -- because I can hardly even remember Harper being a bebe and also! Even more of a shocker (!!!) -- our life before Harper. But then I ran across these, and ahhh.  Perfection.  Today: a cold, gloomy, thunderstormy Sunday when I'm so wholeheartedly craving a little sunshine and warmth and all the warm-fuzzies that go along with late spring/summertime.  Come on yo; it's mid April and it should be warm every day by now! ...But for today...seeing these pics.....they did the trick! I can almost feel the warm sun and cool breeze!

Oooooo, googly heart eyed emojis for chunky cheeks and arm and wrist rolls and fat feet and and and annnnd! I adored her rolly polly stage! This was one of my favorite outfits of Harper's [a newborn gift from her Great Aunt Margy and Great Uncle Steve!], and I wanted Brian to take some pictures of her wearing it before she outgrew it.  And looking back, I'm so happy to have this mini photo-shoot... Because in scrolling through my other photo rolls, most of the pics are of Harper and her Daddy; the only ones of her and Momma are scraggly selfies. You know..."the mom life"...an infant leaves no time for showers or make-up...so it was second nature for me to avoid a camera like the plague. :)  But this moment?  Captured forever.  I already miss those little ankle rolls and the days when her headbands stayed on more than 0.4 seconds; I'll treasure these precious memories always!

xoxox

- Two sweet bunnies! -

...Well.....one sweet bunny at least... :/

[I will never grow accustomed to the ridiculous tradition of the Easter Bunny! Santa Claus is totally believable and the Tooth Fairy is a stretch that could be potentially defended and rationalized, but the Easter Bunny??? Come ON.  First of all, what kind of "bunny" is 400 x's its normal size, dressed in a disproportionate stale costume with see-through gauze over the eye sockets and white tennis shoes sticking out at the bottom? And then if this weirdo "bunny" is just the REAL Easter Bunny's helper, then how could a REAL Easter Bunny of that size hop all the way around the world in less than 24 hours to deliver eggs and candy when bunnies don't even have brains or logic or purpose? I guess that halfway invalidates my argument for a believable Santa Claus but sh*t dude, this Easter Bunny thing is the most far-fetched foo-foo fairy tale I've ever heard of.  Whatever though, I'm just gonna drop it right thur as to prevent my kid from growing up with a Grinch-mom..... ;)] 

SO ANYWAY -- We went to Wal-Mart [make that #twoyearsinarow] for a free posing with this "Easter Bunny" and met up with Harper's cousin slash BFF Kate; we immediately lol'ed after releasing them from their carseats as we realized they were wearing the exact same Easter dress! Must be those awesome mommas and their good taste in clothes!  Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about when I say "two sweet bunnies!" :) 

 

These two are the best of friends and I hope their awe and admiration [for each other I mean; not for a rife rodent] continues to grow and grow! <3

Hoppy Easter, frennies! 

- Luck o' the Leprechauns -

Life has taken a 180 since St. Patrick's Day 2013...

...and 2014...

...and holy wowzers, maybe another 180 and then a 90 in the opposite direction again in 2015 [!!!!!]...

...but regardless of the year and the circumstances and everything life throws down in between, another March is here which means it's time for another St. Patrick's Day and ain't no doubt we half-blooded but fully self-proclaimed Irishmen/women gonna be celebratin' our "heritage" and the BEST damn day of the year!  

I had to work this year, too...*tear tear and more tears*... But Grandma and Grandpa brought a special little leprechaun to visit me at lunch time...

And THEN...you guessed it! The minute the clock ticked 15:00:00, it was off with the scrubs and on with the shirt that I just realized I've worn the last 3+ St. Patrick's Days [yes, I see that I need to go shopping more frequently and I also know I have a very small sense for fashion when those few and far between shopping sprees do occur SO!...I'll probably honestly actually be wearing this same green sweater next year and that's just the way my carefree life goes sometimes. Most of the time. All of the time. #endrant]. But! Obviouslyyyy: Dogtown for the win!!! No time to waste; we showed up just in time to get a glimpse of the fun ole' fiesta and collect a few beads/parade remnants and submerge ourselves in all the authentic Irish action!  

Bottoms/bottles up with Uncle Garett!! Boo partied 'til she couldn't party no mo'...that's mah little shamrock girl!

Hope you had [at least] a third as great of a St. Pat's Day as we had! If not, mark your calendars for Dogtown 2017 [3/17/17!] and consider this your official invite to party with our fam! 

O...and may the luck o' the leprechauns be yours!  ;) :-*

- A BIRTHDAY for the books! -

^^ The post title says it all! Harper's first birthday was a day to remember! ...BUT!...since she won't actually remember it, I very nervously stepped out of my comfort zone and so nicely took it upon myself to take lots of pics .all.day.long... ;) ;)  Haaaaa. And, go...

We had a little balloon party in her crib on the morning of her birthday! She's really never played with balloons before, so this was a pretty big hit...

 ...until it wasn't a hit anymore, at which time Momma quickly moved everyone along to the next photo op:

^^ Note her very VERY happy 12-month face, probably in recognition/realization that this was indeed the last month-by-month photoshoot she'd ever have to suffer through... ;)

A few hours and a super short nap later, it was finally party time!  

 

The guests arrived and the party kicked off with a boom... .......Everything was gr-gr-gr-greattttt until all the sudden I realized everyone was getting hungry and I was way behind in the kitchen and eff-em-ellllllll, seriously. Pictured below are Brian's very gracious sister and brother who walked into my kitchen like pros and helped finish up dinner so we could get food on the table! #partysavers #ioweu #forrealtho

 ...Luckily there were plenty of appetizers in the mean time... :/ 

Dinner's done and the food prep disaster is behind us; now it's time to play! Everyone enjoyed Harper's new play room in the basement that Brian has been working on so tirelessly!  [More posts to come on this...] 

SO many presents for the princess!  

[And my personal favorite: a doctor's bag complete w/ stethoscope, thermometer, syringe, and a slew of other medical things! Heart eye emoji to the max!] 

What's up, smash cake? Thank goodness this perfect little cake came as a complimentary side dish for the big cake... Wouldn't want to showcase my bad and ugly baking skillz any more than necessary... ;) 

 

^^Hey cousin Kate, you're up for this crazy party business next month! 

Everything gets hotter when the sun goes down! ...Or something like that?  PJ time for the cousins! 

Happy birthday, Harper Cecilia! You truly do leave a little sparkle wherever you go! One year looks good on you! :) 

- Smash dat cake rull good! -

About a week before the birthday party, I had this genius idea to do a little dress rehearsal for Harper's smash cake. I can throw together a pan of brownies or whip up a crock pot dump cake every now and then, but the more advanced "Betty Crocker"-type baking is far from my forte and I'm not the least bit ashamed to acknowledge that I have colossal room for growth in the kitchen + housewife-ing arena. However! However, I had been perusing Pinterest cake boards for weeks and gathering ideas and making notes and...I mean come on, how hard could it be to bake/ice/decorate a little kid's smash cake? 

Well, actually...

...It's freakin' hard. 

I'm so glad I did the trial run, because I quickly swallowed my pride as I realized that the so-called "smash cake" actually looked more like a pink pile of cow sh*t and I could never show off a delicacy of that caliber of creativity in front of our entire family.  But!  With that being said, in this family [of three at least,] we never judge a book by its cover...  So I decided to give the guest of honor the last word: 

...And [shockingly!] as you can see, she liked it!  She liked it a lotttt.  Thanks for boosting my confidence back up, Harper! You've always been Momma's biggest fan! ;) 

- She leaves a little sparkle wherever she goes... -

Hey-oooooo, it's the one-year-old BIRTHDAY GIRL in all her glory! ...Or shall I say "not"-glory, as she has never been a big fan of photoshoots with her crazy mother... And even though Brian sided w/ Harper and coined her as my "circus animal," I still managed to talk him into helping me throw down some pink props and a few handfuls of glitter and voila!........ Happy birthday, sweet princess! Your birthday party theme fit you perfectly; you truly do leave a little *sparkle* wherever you go! ;)  We love you!!!