Alyssa's One Year Pictures

This morning after church we met our photographer for Alyssa's ONE year pictures!  We decided to have the pictures taken at her house in the studio.  It's just too hot to take pictures outside  - I don't care how early or how late in the day it is.  Well, the photographer snapped a few pics & realized her lighting wasn't going to work since Alyssa is quite active.  So, she suggested we go to an outdoor location a few blocks from her house.  We didn't really have any other choice, so loaded up & off we went.  Alyssa did wonderful & after about an hour she let us know that it was time to stop.  It was HOT HOT HOT & time for a nap.

Here are a couple of teasers we just got from the shoot!

Alyssa is 11 Months Old!

We are fast approaching Alyssa's first birthday!  Baby Isa is 11 months old!

Alyssa can stand alone for a few seconds, take a step or two, say mama & dada & bubba & hello.  I've introduced cow's milk into her diet.  Just an ounce at a time to get her tummy used to it.  She isn't a fan of it at all.  I'll keep offering it though.  Maybe she will start to love it more than breast milk.  HAHA - doubtful!

Minnie Mouse Crafts

I saw some Minnie/Mickey Mouse cake pops & thought 'I can make those for Alyssa's birthday party'!

This was my inspiration:

And here are the steps it took to get to my finished cake pop:

I'm missing the white dots on the bow & the ribbon around the lollipop stick.  Minnie is brown instead of black because I didn't want the extra step of dying white candy coating black!  Overall, I think I did a great job!

Here are the invitations!  I made them too!

Pretty Pink Baby Pearls

When Addison was born a friend gave her a pearl necklace & bracelet from Manila.  Well, luckily she recently made another trip & brought Alyssa back her own set of little pearls.

Happy Father's Day

This is Blake's ring that he got for Father's Day (a couple of weeks early).  I'm terrible at holding on to gifts until the special day.  It has Alyssa & Addison's name engraved on it

Addison made this at school last week.

This is a book the girls got for their awesome daddy.  He reads to Addison every night at bedtime & this book is about a father reading to his daughter.
When Alice Ozma was nine years old, her father made a promise: to read to her every night, without missing a night, for one-hundred nights. But once the pair met their goal, they couldn't stop. 100 became 1,000, and eventually, they decided to read as long as they possibly could. The Reading Streak, as they called it, ultimately lasted 3,218, finally ending on Alice's first day of college. The story of their amazing commitment to reading, and to each other, is chronicled in Alice Ozma's book The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared

I guess I should've taken a pic of the inside

of the card & book.  Both have the girls 

hand & foot prints!

Addy's First Haircut - 3 years old!

Addy doesn't have much hair, but what little she has is a hot mess!  I've tried to trim a little here & there to get the curls under control, but it needed professional help.  I knew taking Addy to get a haircut would either go really well or really bad.  Thank goodness for Comedy Cuts & the Dora car/chair!  She was such a good girl.  I don't even think she realized what was going on between playing with Dora's map & the cartoons that were on right in front of her.  The haircut was $13.95 & took about 3 minutes.  Next time I'll take her to my stylist, but I wanted the first time to be as pleasant as possible.  Comedy Cuts is all about the babies/kids & makes it a great place to go for the first time.

I'm crazy & forgot my camera :(  All of these pics were taken with the iPhone.

Bye-Bye Baby Mullet

Go the F**k to Sleep

We got a new book to read!  It's a children's book for adults & is hilarious.  I think everyone can relate to this book if they have children.

“The cats nestle close to their kittens.

The lambs have laid down with the sheep.

You're cozy and warm in your bed, my dear

Please go the f@#k to sleep.”