Beach Babes - MDW 2015

I assure you no babes were harmed in the video below!  :)

Stella - my little dare devil has NO fear (well, except when it comes to dogs, cats, birds, squirrels, animals in general and well maybe even her own shadow!) Other than that, she pretty much lives life to the fullest and rolls with the punches.  Speaking of rolling, she wiped out at the beach when she was so called "swimming".  She was fine and got right back in the water shortly after!  Lottie and I have been cracking up at this short, but hilarious video.

Stella - Obsession With Counting

Over the last month, Stella has become obsessed with counting.  She counts everything!  Her most favorite counting game is hide and seek with Lottie.  It is hilarious!  This past weekend, we were on our way to a birthday party and she just would not stop counting!  I had to get a clip of her on video!  She is such a smart little thing!

Stella - 23 months

Stella - No More Monkeys!

Stella has become quite the little character!  This past weekend, I got the opportunity to spend a little one on one time with her while Steve and Lottie ran a few errands.  We read lots of books, jumped on the couch (her new favorite activity), ate snacks, played bouncy ball, etc.

Stella is usually pretty shy when it comes to taking photographs or video so it is extremely rare that I'm able to get her on camera for more than 15 seconds.

This past weekend, I caught just a little snip it of her jumping on the couch.  I definitely don't condone jumping on the couch, but she was just being so darn cute!

It is hard to believe this little monster is going to be TWO in May.  She is such a smart little cookie!  She copies everything Lottie says and quite often tells Lottie, "No Ma'am!!!" and "Lottie - you have a bad attitude!"  I swear she cracks me up!!!!    She is quite the little comic!

Lottie's 4th Birthday Party

For the past three years, I have thrown Lottie a birthday party at our house.  With her getting older and wanting to invite all of her friends from school, I thought something away from the house would be best this year.  Not to mention with all the construction going on, it would have been impossible to do anything at our house anyways.

Lottie loves art!  She loves to paint, draw, do crafts, etc.  With that in mind, I thought the perfect little party would be an artsy one.  We had her party at Noah's Art in Blakeney.  It is a cute little studio and all the kids had the place to themselves.  Lottie chose to do Frozen themed arts and crafts.  They played the Frozen soundtrack in the background and upon arrival, they gave all the kids painted tattoos on their hands.  They then invited them to a separate play area to play while waiting on all of the kids to arrive.  Once all of the kids arrived, they sat them down and talked about what crafts they would be doing for the day.

They did a total of four crafts.  The first craft they did was design their own crowns.  Of course my children did not want to wear them.  Lottie refused stating she just wanted to wear her headband.  The next craft was a beaded snowflake.  Then, they painted a Frozen picture and finally painted/colored/designed a wand.

All in all, the kids seemed to have a great time!  Lottie thanked me a million times for her party which made it all worth it.  She is such a great kid.  You couldn't ask for a more sweet, funny child.

Prepare for photo overload!  Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to collage the photos as not to overwhelm you!  :)

Lottie dressed herself and insisted on wearing this dress paired with silver moon boots!  :)

The separate play area during breaks from crafts

Lottie's BFF Blake

My girls!  Lottie writing her name - making claims on that crown!

Pretty sure Stella stuffed a handful of beads in her mouth!  That was fun!  Note to self - she is still too young to have anything to do with beads!  Banned!

Aunt Amy helping Stella paint

Lottie's Birthday Cake - Frozen

I ended up getting her cake at Publix.  It was delicious!

Funny story...............

Stella is a beast!  After eating her own piece of cake, she continued to slide down the table and eat whatever cake was left on the plate from the other kids who had already gotten up from the table.  After we caught her, we all died laughing.  She didn't care one bit, she just continued stuffing her face with whatever cake she could find on the table!

These two.................  I could eat them up!  

Cake snatcher making her way down the table.................

They wrapped up the party by giving Lottie a big hug!  Too cute not to catch on video!  See above!

Following the party at Noah's Art, we had more family and friends come over to our house for pizza. 

Lottie got to blow out candles for the THIRD time that week!

The following day Lottie and Steve played with the present he got for her.  It is a scalextric race car track.  Pretty cool.  They played on it for hours.  I secretly think Steve bought this gift for himself!  

We also had an English tea party.  We all sat around drinking cups of tea and eating tea sandwiches and cake!  The girls loved it.

All in all, it was a great weekend!  I still can't believe my girl is 4!!!!!!!!!!  We love you so much Lottie!  I can't wait to watch you grow throughout this next year!  

Dad's Got Moves - Just Dance Kids

There is something to be said about the relationship between dads and daughters.  Steve is head over heels in love with his girls.  With that said, he LOVES to spoil them.  It doesn't matter if it's a quick trip to Target or any store for that matter, more times than not he always comes back with something for them.

Two weekends ago during my 8 hour cleaning session, Steve took the girls to Toys R Us to run around and play.  They were in heaven by the sounds of it.  Steve sent pictures of Stella sitting in a Power Wheels car begging him to buy it for her.  The way Stella says, "Please" is probably the sweetest thing I've ever heard.  Adorable.  In any event, of course he couldn't just leave there without buying something.  So home they came with the Wii version of Just Dance Kids.

Lottie was in heaven!  She loves dancing, singing, etc.  We all had a go and I couldn't help but grab my phone during Steve's turn.  He cracks me up!  When his girls say jump, he usually asks how high.  When they say dance, he says, "Bring It".

Way to go dad!  You are the BEST!  :)

Gratitude - Lottie's Pretty New Dresses

This past week I was out shopping for a baby gift for a friend when I came across some really cute dresses at Old Navy.  I am definitely that mom that doesn't buy anything that isn't on sale (especially clothes for the kids). So I picked up 3 new dresses (marked down from $20.00 to $6.50 and 1 really cute tunic (marked down from $20.00 to $6.40) for Lottie to wear next year. Yes, I'm also that mom who is always picking up clothing for next year (or the next size up).

After the girls ate their dinner and got all cleaned up, I told Lottie I had a surprise for her.  She was ecstatic to say the least!  Best of all, she was so grateful for her pretty new dresses!

Poor Stella - in a couple of years, you'll get to wear those pretty not so new anymore dresses!

Love these girls!

Scooting Into The New Year

We have a beautiful new walking trail around the corner from our house.

The girls loved it, although it took Lottie FOREVER to scoot around the park!  We were moving at a snail's pace.  Practice makes perfect though.  I'm sure in another month or three she'll be gliding around the park!  Stella on the other hand just kept screaming, "GO!!"  I think her and Steve must have passed Lottie and I twice!  :) 

I plan on taking every opportunity this Spring when the weather warms up to scoot, ride, walk, run, skip, you name it and enjoy this gorgeous, wooded park.