- HBD, Gram! -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this beautiful gem: my role model and the girls' beloved Grammy! May today be the beginning of your very best year yet.

We hope you enjoyed your homemade/toddler-decorated yellow box cake and all the calories love that comes along with it!

We love you to the moon! :)))

- SNOW FUN! -

Snowwwww fun is SO fun; see what I did there?! ...

I'm typically more of a "watch through the window while sipping hot chocolate ...under a blanket and next to the heater" type of gal, butttttt when Daddy's gone every day building us a new house, Momma has to pick up the slack!

3, 2, 1.....let's go!

Do you wanna build a snowmannnnn??! :)

^^ Scarlett was not a fan of the cold OR snow and preferred to watch the action from afar.  I see beaches and sand in our future, Sissy! :-* 

Then! What's that you say?! Ohhhh yes, the fun parent ditched the new house project and arrived home early to save the day!  Daddy and Harper bundled back up and hit the snow while Mommy and Scarlett stayed inside and snuggled up for [Sissy's] naptime.

I have to admit: while I've never once been excited to trudge around in a pile of wet snow, experiencing a snow day through a toddler's eyes was actually pretty wonderful!  Bring on the next snow storm... This momma's all in!!! :)

- Turning ONE is so much fun! -

^^ Soooo so much fun, in fact! In honor of our sweet snowflake's milestone day, we transitioned our home into an igloo and opened it up as Scarlett's Winter ONEderland! :)

After dinner was finished, Harper helped her little Sissy get a taste of the smash cake...

...and it was allllllll downhill from there!!!

Pretty sure it's safe to say that she thoroughly enjoyed it! I wiped off her face a few times to give her tiny nostrils a pinprick of patency, but she just kept shoveling it up and in by the fistful.  Like momma like daughter; I'm thinking we have another little sweet tooth on our hands!

Thanks to this bath time crew for helping me get that messy, cake smeared ONE-year-old all cleaned up!

On to presents...

...and then a little love from both of Scarlett's grammies! 

Is it true what they say? ...We have another BIG GIRL in the house?!? :(

As if a full blown party and successful cake smash wasn't enough celebration, we skipped off to IHOP on Monday morning to celebrate Sissy's REAL birthday! She looked through the menu a few times before settling on the perfect pancake.

^^ Brian finished his food and dashed off to work mid-meal, which left me stuck with two sticky girls. Syrup here, there, and everywhere; messy messes for you and you and you!  We finalllllly finished up ...and cleaned up ...and hit the road for Grammy's house...

...where Scarlett was serenaded again and lapped up a lemon macaroon! She smiled and clapped as we sang, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOO YOU!" and her sweet little self just literally couldn't even be a tiny bit cuter.  [PS - No children were harmed/burned in the taking of this photo.] 

Happy 1st birthday, Scarlett [for the last time, I promise!]!!!

- Forever young ...but ONE! -

Ohhhhhh man, how can this actually be possible??!?  This year vanished at record pace, and I literally can't even wrap my mind around the fact that this [once] small, squishy baby is now a big, bold ONE-YEAR-OLD!  

Scarlett Clare, we love you so!!!

...Annnnnnd in true "this is our second child" form, the 12-month chalkboard photo totalllllly slipped my mind. But this is just about as good... :) 

TWELVE months of amazingness... Happy birthday, Scarlett!!!

- Winter ONEderland! -

This sweet girl has been a little snow goddess from the beginning...

...which is why I had absolutely no trouble deciding on the theme for her very special first birthday party!  

Welcome to Scarlett's Winter ONEderland!  

Oh Sissy girl, we've loved you since the moment we met you [and, really, for 9 months before that, too!]! You brought a new dynamic of love to our family and expanded our hearts in ways I didn't even know was possible.  You fit into our lives so perfectly; so much so that we hardly remember our lives without you here!

 

 

^^ What a huuuuuuuge difference one year can make!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Scarlett Clare! Mommy, Daddy and Harper love you to the moon! :-* :-* 

- Farewell, 2018! -

Ohhhh, you were a great one; in fact, you were the very best one yet!  We welcomed our littlest family member in January 2018 and celebrated our sixth anniversary in November 2018; in between those events were plenty of other parties and holidays, but mostly just lots of "ordinary" days spent with all of the people we love the most!  A small recap:

Harper heard that New Year's Eve was a fancy affair, and this prompted her to don her fanciest dress to bid farewell to 2018:

^^ And Scarlett's shirt says it all: she is truly "one of a kind!" We may or may not've been in bed before the ball drop, but we celebrated the last day of the year with food and fun and family and wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

So... CHEERS TO 2018!  As all good things must come to an end, we end this chapter knowing the next chapter [AKA 2019] will be even more exciting and full of happiness and love! 

xoxox