Oh TWO-dles!!

If I use a lot of exclamation points, I'll chalk it up to an overdose of buttercream icing this past weekend.

Y'all, it happened! My first born turned TWO!!

This past weekend, family and friends gathered at our home to celebrate in a very Minnie Mouse kinda way. The first of February, we sent out these adorable invitations designed and printed by KellyJo Studio to let everyone know all the details about her special day!

All the cleaning and food prep started two days before. My mom was here to help get the carpet and the house cleaned while I started working on all the food that would be served. Friday evening, my brother and sister in law flew into town. They helped us, along with my mom and dad, get everything in it's place for everyone's arrival the morning of.

My dad and Terry blew up balloons and we put them in Avery's room. Once she woke up and walked into her room, all she could do was look up and say BALLOONS!! MY BALLOONS! When I snapped this picture, she had just caught a glimpse of the balloons on the mailbox outside!

Before everyone arrived, we took a few photos with her and her cake and cupcakes. Her cake was made by my talented friend, , and the cupcakes were made by Delicious Bakery.

And we had plenty of food for everyone. Since the party was at lunch, I made sure we had enough meat, sandwiches, dips and chips for everyone not to leave hangry!

The kids had their own little table and extra kiddie food to eat with their meal.

Avery had quite a few friends to join her in celebrating her birthday.

And she had lots of family and friends here that love her very much!

She got all kinds of cool birthday gifts!

Her big surprise of the weekend was my brother and sister in law flying in from DC to be here.

Her Ganny and Papa were here a few days prior to spoil her rotten her last days of being one! And the day of her birthday, her papa had donuts for her and even put together all her birthday gifts!

After the party was over and everyone was gone, we finally got a picture with the big TWO year old!

We can't believe you are already two, but we are so happy and thankful that you are our spunky and healthy little girl!

Bringing in 2015

If I can reminisce for a moment, I can remember bringing in the new year when I was younger by going over to the neighbor's house to shoot fireworks. And most of the time we made it to midnight. Once I got a place of my own, I pretty much watched the ball drop at eleven, and then was in the bed. There was that one year that we had a big bonfire and shot fireworks, and I didn't get home until the next morning early. But that seems like ages ago.

Once the Mr was in the picture, we would go out to dinner, usually by ourselves, and get in the bed before eleven. Two years in a row we were sick and were in the bed before ten. Bringing in 2014 was bittersweet. I lost my papaw that night. And knew we would be bringing a sweet baby girl in the world in 2014. So it was an early bedtime for us then, too.

This year, however, we kicked it up a notch. We had one of my best friends and her boyfriend over visiting, and we brought 2015 in with a bang. There weren't any fireworks, but there was a lot of good food, and lots of fun photos for memories to last a lifetime.

The Mr grilled cowboy ribeyes and baked potatoes, and we had green bean bundles, salad and rolls to round off the incredible meal.

Before we watched the ball drop in Times Square, we had some fun in front of the camera! Gotta love good photo booth props!

And someone didn't want 2014 to end, or maybe she's just not ready for 2015 because she knows she'll get a little brother or little sister in a few months...

The Mr and I made it to midnight, but were fast asleep shortly after.

On New Year's Day, we had a big lunch with the traditional black eyed peas and cornbread. We don't eat collards or turnips, so that evening we had a salad for our "greens."

We're excited about another wonderful year, and can't wait to celebrate AC's 1st birthday in February, and bring a little boy or little girl in the world the end of June!! Good times ahead!!

We wish y'all a wonderful 2015!!!

Birthday Celebrations in Mississippi

If you follow me on any of my social media, it's no secret that we were in Mississippi this past weekend visiting family and friends. We went to visit for a couple of reasons, but one of them was to celebrate our oldest niece, Hannah, and the Mr's dad's birthdays. Since Pops doesn't like pictures, you won't see any of him celebrating... but, for the record, we did.

Hannah is playing basketball on the school team at RCA, so she got a basketball cake with cupcakes!

Turning twelve is a BIG deal. So we got her a purse, some sparkle perfume spray and hand sanitizer for cold and flu season! (Trying to be responsible adults and keep everyone germ free around AC!)

Since we don't see this side of the family very much, the girls enjoying playing with AC now that she's older and a little more playful. And Judy had all her Halloween decorations out, and most of them play music so they had to show AC how they work.

We had a good visit with the Mr's side of the family. The girls loved spending time playing with their little cousin, and the adults had a good time catching up while we celebrated the birthdays!

Unfortunately, AC was a little bit out of her element on Saturday. We've never seen her cry so many tears in her entire lifetime. We think teething had a little bit to do with it, but we also know that she's not used to being around so many people in a small room at one time. She's used to being with her mommy and daddy only, and sometimes her Ganny and Papa, too. We keep a calm atmosphere here at home and she doesn't like loud noises or people talking loudly around her. She knows her routine, and having people watch her eat, take her bottle and trying to go to sleep was very different for her and she just didn't understand. We know this is a phase, but it was sure heart breaking to see her crying so much, because she rarely cries. So I was extremely pleased to get a few pictures of her actually smiling.  

We probably won't see his side of the family again until after Thanksgiving unless they come over for a visit, and I can only imagine what AC will be a pro at to show them next! 

Top Five Moments of the Week — 7/25/14

Click on "full screen" to see it better...

• Watching AC attempt to crawl!!

• Getting my mamaw's quilts that she handmade. One is for me, and one I got to save for AC.

• Celebrating the Mr's birthday.

• Getting part of our cabinets delivered for our dining room remodel.

• Seeing AC's face as she tried sweet tea for the first time!

Wordless Wednesday — Mr's Birthday Recap

Happy Birthday to the Mr

We love to celebrated birthdays. That's probably why we've been celebrating the Mr's birthday since last Friday. We headed out to Mississippi last weekend to celebrate with our families. We kicked it off with dinner at Ole Farm Beef House with my family. It's one of our favorite places to eat in Meridian. If you are ever there for dinner, go!

Saturday night we celebrated with the Mr's family at Outback and then headed back to his parent's house for cake and ice cream.

We took lunch to him at his office today, and even though he was in a rush we enjoyed visiting with him for a few minutes. And he got a lot of cute smiles from AC.

Tonight we will celebrate the Mr's birthday as a family of three, for the first time. We've planned an evening at Long Horn Steakhouse, and AC and I got him his favorite cake and ice cream for dessert. He opened his gift from us Friday night, so he'll just get cards tonight.

We are so thankful that God placed him on this earth! I can't imagine my life without him... he is my best friend, my soul mate, the best daddy and the funniest man I know.

Happy Birthday!! We love you!!

Fourth of July Recap...

I've made it known many times that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, but July 4th is my favorite summertime holiday. Wait, isn't it the only holiday in the summer? Oh well, still, it's one of my favorites! For the past three years we've been going to Logan Martin Lake to spend the day with our Sowell/Fields/Kemp family. It's a day of kids laughing and splashing in the water, sea doos and boats making waves in the water, and adults rocking and swinging and catching up on the latest with each other's family. It's always a big family reunion, and it's looked forward to all year long!

This year the Mr's mom, brother and his kids came to visit and join us at the lake. Hopefully next year we can talk his dad into coming, and his sister-in-law won't be sick. This was also the first year for AC to be there. Well, technically last year she was with us, but she was a well kept secret. For some of the family, this was the first time to meet her. And we were so proud of our little girl. She was a trooper all day that was mostly spent outside with a lot of things going on around her.

Once we arrived, the kids took off to get in the lake while most of the adults sat around talking and laughing. It's kinda broken up into two groups... the ladies are close to the house talking and watching the kids in the lake while the men are in the water or driving one of the sea doos or boat with kids on board. However, Shannon and usually my husband and one or two others hang out around the boat with all the fireworks on it. Shannon is the electrical engineer who puts on the greatest fireworks show, ever.

And, there is always tons of food. This year we had BBQ for lunch and hot dogs and sausage dogs for dinner. Oh, and the desserts are endless. Aunt Barbara always has the house decorated in red, white and blue from lights and wreathes down to the table clothes!

Everyone tries to wear something red, white or blue, for the family pictures...

Once the sun sets, everyone heads down to the lake for Shannon's patriotic video of the year, and to see his amazing fireworks show! We are blessed to have a 15-20 fireworks show with some of the biggest and best fireworks we've ever seen. So thankful for all the time and hard work Shannon puts in to this for us every year.

 Not trying to wish our life away, but we're all ready for our next 4th of July celebration at the lake!!

Red, White and Blue Whoopie Pies

I've made these Red Velvet Whoope Pies before for a social at our home back in 2013. However, this year for the 4th I decided to make them again, and add some blue sugar around the cream cheese icing to make them red, white and blue. These were snatched up pretty quickly at our annual celebration at the lake. Even the adults were raving about them.  They are super easy to make, and they taste amazing!!!

 
Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (I found the recipe at a website found here)

Cookies:

1 box red velvet cake mix

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. powdered sugar

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 C. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3-4 C. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line pans with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla extract.

3. Scoop out pieces of dough that are about 1 tablespoon in size, or a little bigger. (Dough will be gooey.)

4. Drop into powdered sugar and cover with the sugar, then place on the cookie sheet 3 inches away from other dough balls. ***Note: You'll need to press the balls down using three fingers!***

5. Bake for 7-10 minutes and let cool.

6. Filling: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.

7. Pipe onto the bottom of half the cookies, sandwich with another cookie and then roll in coarse sugar to decorate.

They are seriously to die for, and so easy to make! Y'all try them out and let me know what you think!

Saying Goodbye to Thirty-Two...

Today is my last day as a thirty-two year old. Tomorrow I wake up another year older. But it's hard to say goodbye to thirty-two, because this year has been the best year of my life, with the exception of losing my sweet papaw.

We kicked off the start of thirty-two by meeting Stephanie (aka Plain Chicken) and Tadd for the first time at Chuys. It began the start of a great friendship, and it was the perfect way to celebrate my birthday. And little did I know, I was pregnant with AC.

On July 1st, we found out I was pregnant! Talk about the best birthday gift, ever. I'm not sure any gift could ever top that!

We celebrated the Mr's birthday with my parents in the Smoky Mountains.

We got to share with the world in August that Baby Sowell was due to join our family in March of 2014.

We found out our baby was a GIRL in October. And we were convinced she was a boy until the day before our ultrasound.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends, our last with my papaw.

We got baby gifts (that we asked for) for Christmas, visited my grandmother and spent most of our week in Meridian at the hospital visiting my papaw.

We began 2014 laying my sweet papaw to rest.

We celebrated the upcoming birth of AC with a huge baby shower at my home church in Meridian with family and friends.

And in February, yep, not March... we welcomed the most perfect, precious, and biggest blessing of our life so far into the world.

We celebrated our first Easter as a family of three.

I had a Mother's Day I'll never forget with the dedication of AC.

And we celebrated the Mr's first Father's Day.

Thirty-two was more than I could have ever asked for. And I'm so thankful to have all these memories of such a special year. I'm praying thirty-three is another wonderful year for our family.