Weddings, Birthday Parties, etc

We have had several busy weekends here lately!! We celebrated Jackson Brien's first birthday with him in Atlanta last Sunday and had so much fun at the party!!!

Mandy, Jackson, and Sam

Ellie insisted on helping Jackson with eating his birthday cake!!

And he didn't seem to mind sharing!

Ellie trying to figure out if she wants to jump in...

Ellie going in for a kiss for the birthday boy!!! He seems to like it!



THEN, this weekend we headed down to Pensacola for Leigh and Brett's wedding!! We had an absolute blast, and Leigh made the most beautiful bride! I wish I had some pictures from the wedding, but unfortunately I didn't get my camera out all weekend. Congrats Leigh and Brett!! We are SO happy for you!


After the wedding festivities, we headed back up to Birmingham today to celebrate Miss Katherine Crowe's first birthday!!!!
Anna Kate, Katherine, and Blake

Look how stinkin' cute this birthday cake is!!!

Blair Verdigets made the party all the way from Atl!!

Ellie had a blast at the party...she's starting to get the hang of these bday parties and figured out real quickly how much fun they are...especially the cake! Swingin' at the party...

I think she has done this at every party...playin' in the ice...

And, she did a lot of this...

"Diving" in and out of the bouncer!!! In and out, in and out, over and over again!!

Before we left the party, she had to lean in and give the birthday girl a sweet hug and kiss...
Happy 1st Birthday Jackson and Katherine!! We had SO much fun at your parties!!!

First Day of School

Backpack, check. Lunch box, check. Paci, check. Blankie, check. New dress that Lollie was supposed to have ready by her first day of school...not so much! Lollie, we hope it's ready soon! And yes, she insisted on carrying every bit of this!

This is about the best picture I got. I wouldn't say she was exactly thrilled about her first day of "cool" as she would say. She actually started Mother's Day Out at our church today so I guess it's technically not "school" but close enough for this Mom. She has been going to a little program at our church for the last 3 weeks that has gotten her warmed up for this big day so she actually did really well. She still cries every time I leave her, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that will change very soon. It still breaks my heart every time though!Getting in the car w/ her backpack. Notice the mud in the background? Yeah, we don't quite have landscaping at the new house yet. Rain, Rain, go away so we can get some grass so my 2 little rats aka dogs will quit tracking muddy pawprints all through my house! I question having 2 dogs quite often but am always reassured that they're nice to have around when I see Ellie's face light up when she sees them. I guess that's worth all of the muddy pawprints!!!!!!!!!! We've officially moved in and are trying to get settled and finish unpacking box after box after box. We are loving all of this space!