Elodie's Baptism Invitation.

This is the invitation I mailed and emailed to friends and family for Elodie's Baptism. I pinned a few invitations that I loved and planned to just pay for someone else to make them. Then I saw the price of some of them and decided it was better to do it myself.

For my first attempt, I'm really happy with how it came out. And the best part? Totally free.

I figure by the time my girls get married I will have to pay for very little.
Photography-Check.
Cake-Check.
Decorations-Check.
Invites-Check.

Although in just doing all of this I have realized why so many people just pay to have someone else do it for them. It's a lot of work. And it's stressful! But so very worth it.

Elodie's Baptism Pictures

I took Elodie out yesterday for her Baptism pictures. We used one of them for her invitation and I plan to use the rest as decoration on her Baptism day.

She is such a beautiful girl. And smart, sweet, happy.

We love her and are so proud of her decision to be baptized.

Wordless Wednesday {Ginger}

Ginger had a birthday this month. She is 10. 70 in dog years. {Sigh} Our first baby still thinks she rules the roost. She is so fiesty in her old age.  Slow going up and down the stairs.  Sleeping most of the day.

These pictures make me sentimental and not so wordless.

We brought her home when she was 8 weeks old and 4 pounds big. We had been married just shy of a year.  She was the runt of the litter. She slept in our bed the first night she was home and from then on thought that was her place.

We toted her around everywhere we went and I sent out birth announcements ( I would not make that up).

She waits for us to go to bed. She times when she wants to go out with when I'm ready to sit down. Loves Chris more than me. Tolerates each new sibling that takes her place.

We love our little Gingy....

Preschooler.

Addysen started preschool today. It could go without saying that the girl was over the moon excited about today.

Yesterday I took her out to purchase a new outfit. Last night she decided how she wanted her hair fixed and what shoes she was going to wear.

On the way to preschool she said "mom, I am so excited! You don't get to come in to preschool!" Last week we had a little meet and greet and Addysen was disappointed to discover that I was staying to visit with the other moms.

This comes as no surprise to us. Addysen has always been our child to walk away without looking back. Even as a baby she would roam the halls at church without a backwards glance to see if we were following her.

I am so excited for all the fun things she will learn this year! It's hard to be sad when she is so excited about this new adventure!

Wordless Wednesday {Practice}

Well Worn.

We are 3 for 3 with blue eyed babies. Over time Elodie and Addysen's eyes have darkened a bit but are still very blue. We will see what happens with EK's eyes. I'm hoping they don't change too much.

 I got this shirt for Elodie when she was little. It's now been worn by all 3 of our girls.

 Hand Me Downs are the best!

Wordless Wednesday {In to Everything}

First Day of School.

New Outfit-Check

New Backpack-Check

New Shoes-Check

I asked Elodie this morning if she wanted me to walk her to her line or not and her response was "Well.....if you WANT to..."

She is growing up on us....

Back to School Dinner

Last night we had our "Back To School" Dinner.

The Place Settings- The chevron fabric was leftover from the throw pillows I made for our couch. I bought school themed scrapbooking paper for the placemats. And I found the cute little apple clothes pins at Micheal's in the dollar bin.

I filled brown lunchbags with goodies for the girls. They each got a new book, some candy,hand sanitizer, Elodie got some fun pencil top erasers, and Addysen got a minnie mouse pencil bag.

Big 3rd Grader-

 Preschooler-

Elodie requested "Torteloonie" Recipe {Here} It's a family favorite and if you ever ask Elodie what she would like for dinner, this is it. I typically add red bell peppers too but didn't have any this time. Either way, it's a great meal!

And Pazookies for dessert

Christopher gave each of the girls a father's blessing and E&A were both in bed before 7:30pm!
We are all very excited about the new school year. Now if we could just figure out how to slow it down just a bit!

A few things I want to remember for next year-
Hang my back to school banner!
Have the girls fill out a back to school survey
Back to School Fashion Show

I made a cake last week...

It has been a LONG time since I've made a wedding cake. Over a year since we spent the last year in Texas...

 So I happily accepted when Chris's cousin came to me about making the cake for her daughter's wedding.

 She had a tree-ish theme to her wedding. Backyard picnic, swings, shabby shic...her invitation had a tree in the background with their initials carved in to it. Very cute.

 She emailed me a picture and I did my best to dublicate it. I love the way it turned out!

POTD 2012: Week 31

-Lasagna in the crockpot- Recipe {HERE}
-Addysen needs a nap every day still. If she doesn't get one, this is what she does! -That's the floor if you couldn't tell.
-Craft Day!
-Tumbling Day! I braided all the girls hair after we went swimming.
-EK getting in to everything!
-Blue Eyed Baby
-3rd grader.

Last Swim of Summer...

We made sure to squeeze in one last swim before school starts.  It's been so nice to have a pool in  our subdivision that we can go to anytime of day. The pools around town are only open after 1pm and close at 4pm. And because the pools are attatched to the schools, they close when school starts. Way before it gets close to cooling down around here!

We went to the pool atleast twice a week, sometimes more. And thankfully, even though school starts Monday, we will still go as often as we can. Especially considering the highs for the first week of school are well over 100.

My girls love the pool. Elodie has turned in to a really great swimmer. I still keep a pretty close watch on her but she is completely independent.  She especially loved inviting a friend to the pool and playing away from the baby pool. Addysen loves to stay in her floatie but towards the end of the summer got a lot braver outside of her floatie.  She practied swimming to me a lot, going under water, and fishing for rings in the baby pool. Evyn Kate spent most of her swim days sitting on the steps playing with rings and water toys. She loved to hear us sing "ring around the otter" and go under water at the end.

Check out those tans lines!