One Last Birthday Party...

You cannot celebrate your birthday without celebrating with your friends at school...so...on Monday, Anna Lauren had her last birthday celebration. She choose to have a Barney party with her friends at school. Problem...Barney is not the most popular character these days even though Anna Lauren loves him...fortunately, I found some Barney cupcake picks online and then we just got purple iced cupcakes...she was thrilled!

Obviously, if you are the "birthday" child, you get to sit in the big chair...that was the first thing Anna Lauren told me...I got to sit in the "big" chair...must be a special treat!

All smiles for her "last" party...

Anna Lauren's many friends...

Anna Lauren and Holli Grace, her best friend!

Enjoying the purple icing...

Holli Grace, Whit, and Drew...

Gavin, Kaylee, and William...

Anna Lauren and Ms. Rhonda ~ her teacher from last year...

Kaylee and William...

Sara Kate...

Holli Grace...

Being silly...and whew...how much fun we have had celebrating "3"...until next year!

Birthday Dinner...

We couldn't end the special day without one last special treat so we headed to Cock of the Walk with all my family and had some birthday dinner. The birthday girl requested they not sing to her, but she was "ok" with the cake and yet another candle.

Thanks to all who celebrated with us on Anna Lauren's special day...turning "3" was a great day filled with lots of fun!

Pump It Up Birthday Party...

Here are just a few of the many pictures my sweet friend, Jennifer, took at Anna Lauren's party. Thank your Jennifer for capturing all the many smiles at Anna Lauren's birthday party so I could enjoy playing hostess and watching my sweet girl love every minute of her party!

Ms. Lisa and Abby...for some reason, there is just something about sweet Abby...if you ask Anna Lauren about the new baby, she will tell you it is going to be a girl, and we are going to name her Abby!

The birthday girl loving every minute of being "3"...

Ann Hardie...Matt and I think she had the most fun at the party!

Miss Emily in her "party" dress...isn't she adorable?

Peyton and John Parker...

Bently...

Anna Lauren and Holt...look at her holding onto his feet...NOW...she loves this little boy!

Ms. Emily and Ann Hardie...

David and Drew...

Anna Lauren and Daddy...

David and Drew...Drew's smile is priceless!

Anna Lauren and Holt...

MeMe couldnt' stand it...she had to take a ride down the slide...

MeMe thought it was great fun...just like everyone else!

Ms. Lisa and Abby...everyone that went down the slide ended with a smile...even the babies!

Mommy, Anna Lauren, and Daddy...we were not allowed to get any closer to her...that was HER birthday chair and let me tell you...she LOVED it!

Time for more candles...

Time for presents...

Anna Lauren Turns "3"...

Last Saturday our sweet Anna Lauren turned "3", and we had the best time celebrating all day!

For months leading up to her birthday, she was very specific in telling us she wanted her party at Pump It Up and she wanted a Jeep...and be sure it had two seats because she wanted her friends to ride with her. And being the parents that we are, we made her wishes come true!

Friday night was a late night for Daddy and Pop Pop, but they had the Jeep all ready for her when she woke up Saturday morning...

Anna Lauren is a bit "quirky" to say the least...and sometimes when she gets excited, she turns bashful...so here she is rolling around on the ground in "excitement" over her new jeep...

Few minutes later, she decided she better check out this new Jeep...Daddy was smart...the battery was still in the garage!

Checking out the radio...that was another one of her requests...she wanted her Jeep to have a radio!

And off for a test drive...NOW...she needs lots of practice...she is not the best driver, but she still loves it even if she does have wreck after wreck!

Got to LOVE a "happy" birthday girl...

And her next special request was breakfast at Waffle House...however, doesn't take much convincing to get Daddy and Mommy to go there...we all love it! And of course, we couldn't forget the candles...she loves blowing out candles!

Daddy and Pop Pop had to hold the candles...they didn't want to stand up in the waffle...

Finally time to blow out her candles...

I'm "Somewhat" Settled and Back to Blogging...

Tomorrow means 2 weeks that we have been in our new house, and we are trying to get back "organized" and living life as we knew it before the move. Almost all of the boxes are unpacked, and we seem to know where pretty much everything is...however, the house is a long way from being the way I would like it to be...pictures hung, curtains / drapes, Matt's office, and a few other things are still at the top of the "to do" list. This week has not played in my favor as being productive because I got the sinus crud and spent yesterday at home in bed and the doctor suggested I stay at home today as well. So...I'm trying to take it easy and feel better so hopefully by the weekend I can mark some more things off the "to do" list.

And not only did we move, we shared some other exciting news, which of course, made the move just a little more difficult!

Thanks to all of you who prayed for Madeline and asked about her while she underwent her surgery...everything went as good as expected, and she is doing great! The above is a card we sent to her in the hospital...you're right...I'm PREGNANT!

This is Anna Lauren's new t-shirt...she is super excited about being a "big sister"!

And how is mom? I do think I am not as sick as I was with Anna Lauren, but I by no means feel good...take Zofran and Phengren on a regular basis and just try to make it through each day. The sinus crud this week has put me over the top and like I said, spent all day yesterday in bed. I am some better today thank goodness! I'm 10 weeks and due on October 14th!

Until We Are Settled...

Just thought I would give a quick update because tomorrow the computer will go into a box like all of our other belongings...

At this point, everything we own is pretty much in a box unless it is a necessity for everyday living...and Thursday morning...even those necessities will find their way into a box. The movers are coming Thursday afternoon to load everything and will meet us at the new house to unload Friday morning. Thanks to our dear friends, Katie and Billy, we do have a place to stay Thursday night and Anna Lauren is tickled about spending the night with her Ady (Adam). She informed me that she would be sleeping in the bed with him...don't think that will be happening...2 and 3 seems a little young to be sleeping together, but hey, if they would go to bed and sleep, maybe that isn't such a bad idea, huh?

We close on both houses Friday afternoon and then we can finally make a house into a home once again...we have had enough of living in this "un-settled" house that is no longer our warm and comfortable home. We are so excited but there are definitely some bitter sweet moments...you know all the sweet stuff...we came to this house when we got married, we brought our first child here, our neighbors have become such good friends, etc. But...we know we have made the right decision for our family and we are super excited and will cherish the memories we have made here and move on to making more memories.

And this is it from us until we are settled...