- 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!!!

 

 

- Shalt I shout it a little louder? I'M A GODMOTHER! -

^^.......Though I am the WORST Godmother in the history of Godmothers...

...but I still take giant pride in being asked to be a Godmother...

[...which is why I keep re-typing the word "Godmother" over and over and over again...]

But!  All ridiculousness aside, let's be for real now:  Brian and I are the VERY proud Godparents of sweet little angel Emma Kate Leo!!! And even though her Catholic dunking ritual went down way back in December [yeah, see what I mean about being a terrible Godmother?], it's never too late to give the world wide web a preview of the little doll baby who we love so very much! 

Welcome to God's family, precious little Emma Kate Leo!!!  You look so beautiful as a daughter of Christ! :) [And also so beautiful as our Goddaughter, of course!] 

You hit the jackpot the day God decided to give you this family! <3

...Meanwhile, while everyone else was taking photos and celebrating the newest Catholic on the block, Harper be off on the sidelines like, "Sup, ox and ass?"

Oh, crazy child o' mine. 

Anywayssss...

To Emma Kate:  [I didn't write this myself, but for preservation of the blog's poetic sake I'll just insert it here and pretend I did...]

May God forever light your way; may sunshine warm each happy day.

May faith and love be always a part of your gentle, kind, and forgiving heart.

May courage always see you through all your days and in all you do. 

We are so happy and proud and thrilled to be your Godparents! You fill our hearts with love and joy as if you were our very own. We love you, Emma Kate!  Happy baptism day! <3