College Football Season

Brian and I had so much fun dressing up our family in college gear from our two favorite schools - UT and TCU.  Most Saturdays we would pick one school to all dress for, but the day that UT and TCU played each other, we had to get a "house divided" pic.  Naomi picked UT (she wanted a cow like Daddy), so I got to dress Olivia up in purple!  Strangely I think the pick was pretty appropriate for their personalities, but we'll see how it all turns out.  (As long as neither of them go to A&M, Brian won't have involuntary gagging problems, so girls if you ever read this... yeah, don't do that to your Dad.)

Here are some pics:

 

Fall Festival 2013

We took the girls to our church's Fall Festival. Last year Brian had school at this time so it was a real treat to get to enjoy it as a family. We didn't stay too long but the girls seemed to enjoy it. I think next year will be even better. 

Highlights:

The girls loved the Petting Zoo.  

Naomi tried out her first bounce house (the one specified for preschoolers).  She thought it was great until she figured out that she didn't get it all to herself and that there would be other kids bouncing around with her.  Then she just wanted out.  

Naomi was old enough this year to sort of play a few of the different games while trunk or treating.  Mostly she just liked her "Dum Dum".  

She picked out a little temporary tattoo - a dragon.  I love that she went for something fierce.  :)  That's my girl!  Gotta love posing in your Minnie outfit, in front of a princess castle with a dragon tattoo.   As you can tell she was fascinated by it. 

Here are some pics:  

Naomi's First Haircut

We finally took Naomi to get her first haircut. I was really worried about her being able to sit still or throwing some random tantrum. BUT, she did great!  She was super excited and loved it. 

I had planned to just take her to my hairdresser, but she is pretty far from our house.  After looking around various kids' haircut places, I looked at Sweet N' Sassy.  Yes, I cringed at the thought of this place and what it seems to stand for, but they have a Tuesday Toddler Haircut special for $12 and it's about 5 or 10 minutes from the house.  

We loaded up after MDO and headed off to get our haircut on what had turned out to be somewhat of a rainy day.  

She got to pick out her lollipop, have her hair done, glittered up, little streak of color hairpiece, and they put little glitter stars on her face.  I would have cringed at all of this "sassing" up of my 2 year old except that she loved it and beamed a huge smile, so happy momma here. 

Here are some pics:

Lemonade Stand Photo Session

A while back, I won a Lemonade Stand mini photo session from Brooke Richardson Photography's Facebook contest.

Olivia wasn't fond of the grass and Naomi was more interested in playing with all the other awesome toys in Brooke's backyard than in playing with the lemonade stand or getting her picture taken.

But, through all of that, Brooke still managed to snag some great pics of the girls.  She was calm and worked well with the girls.  The lemonade stand and props are super cute!

Here are my favorite shots:

 

First Day of MDO 2013

This year both of the girls are in a Mother's Day Out program at a church near our house.  It is the same program Naomi went to last year and in fact Olivia is in Naomi's old classroom with one of her former teachers.

Naomi had a rough first day - cried at both drop-off and pick-up and refused to go potty the whole time.  You heard me right; she didn't want to be left, she didn't want to go home at the end of the day and she held her pee from about 8:30 am until about 2:30 pm without having an accident.  Suffice to say, having to pee that badly, she was grumpy and didn't nap either.  (Update since I'm publishing this so late and backdating again: She has since adjusted really well.  No more crying and after several weeks, she finally started to use the potty at school - she really did hold it the whole time for about the first month or two of school.) 

Olivia had a good first day.  I really don't have much more to say about it.  Dropped her off smiling, picked her up smiling, and that's about it.

Here are some pics.  It was really hard to get any good pics.  Get together and smile was clearly not on their to-do list for the morning.  

Naomi trying out her new nap mat and loving it

The girls sitting together (about as smiley as it got)

We are so over it!

Olivia's Birthday Invitation

I love Olivia's First Birthday invitation and coordinating thank you notes AND I love that I made them myself.  For the invitation, I scoured the internet for inspiration on design and wording and then busted my rump on Publisher to crank out my own.  For the thank you notes, I was inspired by some thank you notes that my friend Katy bought from Erin Condren.  I loved the wording idea so I tailored it a bit and put it on the same background as the invitations.  I took my Publisher files up to a local printer and had them printed and cut down to size.  I am so happy with the results!  

PS. I have misplaced the Thank You notes in the move, so as soon as I find them, I'll send them out.  In other words, if you're wondering where yours is, it'll arrive at some random point in the future.  Sorry, Olivia's mommy got a little in over her head in the latter part of the year. 

Olivia's First Birthday Party

For Olivia's first birthday party, we had a small family gathering at our house.  We wished Olivia a Happy First Bee-Day with a little bee themed party.

In my efforts to not schedule the party during one family member's vacation, I inadvertently scheduled it during another family member's vacation.  Go figure!  And, Olivia was having a bit of a reaction to her vaccines, but she still gave us some good smiles.

Naomi had a blast at Olivia's party and can't wait for her party.  Between fun in the backyard, cake and hijacking Olivia's presents, she was in heaven.

The Decorations:

The Birthday Girl!  

Backyard Fun:

Cousin Ally loved playing with Naomi and helping her slide.  

(Note Cousin Aiden's face plant move in this series of pics.)

Cake Time: 

Olivia wasn't to in to that cake smash type of idea, but she happily had a few bites off of the fork.  

Presents:

Naomi helped Olivia unwrap her presents.  Then, she hijacked the little doggy that Olivia got.  

Love this little tushy!  

Naomi and Alli giving the puppy a check up 

Aiden hugging on Olivia 

Post Party Outtakes