Mother's Day Tea

Felicity's Mother's Day Out had a tea for all the moms to celebrate Mother's Day this week. It was my first time going to something like this and it was so precious. They had a slide show with pictures of all the kids throughout the year, the kiddos recited their Bible verse and they sent us home with an adorable framed picture of her. It was so cute - you could tell she was so excited to show me her classroom and her friends. As you can see, Felicity enjoyed all the food at the tea party. I don't think I got a shot of her without a mouth full of food. I thought it fitting for Mother's Day that she wear one of mommy's old dresses, so I sent her to school that day in one of my old dresses that my mom perfectly preserved. I thought she looked so cute in the little vintage dress with strawberries on it. :-)

So thankful to be this little angel's mama!

The pool is open!

Let summer begin! Felicity has been counting down the days till our neighborhood pool opens. We would literally walk up there almost everyday to let her peek through the gate and I would tell her how many more days we had to wait until it opened...but this past Saturday, the day arrived! We had a big pool party, cookout and concert at the pool and it was so much fun.

Felicity and her Cheetos-covered fingers eyeing the pool...I can't get enough of her little bikini body. Love chunky babies!

Justin was a very good daddy and got in the freezing cold water with her.

Her lips and fingernails were literally blue and teeth were chattering, but she refused to get out. She loved every minute of it. It's starting to warm up more now and I have no doubt we will be spending many hours at the pool this summer. Bring on the triple-digit heat!

First baseball game

As you may know, baseball is a big thing in our house. Justin played baseball his entire life growing up and was a pitcher at Texas Tech in college. As a side note: It makes me sad that I've never seen Justin play baseball. Since we met after college, I missed that part of his life. So, I'm working on my love for the game. I'll admit I'm not super keen about watching nine innings on TV, but I do enjoy going to the games.  While there's definitely something exciting about going to a Rangers game (or any major league team), Justin and I both sometimes prefer to go to the Frisco Roughriders games. They just seem more low-key and laid back, not to mention it is much closer than driving to Arlington. So we decided to take Felicity to her first baseball game to see the Roughriders play. We went with the intention that we might have to leave early, as I was very wary that she would sit in a seat at age two for 3+ hours.

We had free food and drink passes, so we got there early and started with some healthy ballpark food - nachos and hot dogs.

Daddy showing Fe her first view of the field...

Felicity's favorite part by far was the mascots. She loved the dancing bears and was looking for them the whole time. She did amazingly well and lasted the entire game. I was shocked. Guess we'll be taking our little baseball fan back to the ballpark!

Easter 2012

Ok, so I've I actually already done this post once and the entire thing deleted. I may or may not have screamed some very angry words at my computer. So here we go with round two:

This Easter started off with a special treat from my very own Easter bunny (aka Justin) when he came home from work Friday with this delectable little egg treat with my name on it (that was my favorite part) and a bouquet of sunflowers for me. It was so thoughtful and I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful and yummy treats!

Then later that night Justin and I were hanging out on our front porch when our very own Easter bunny showed up in our front yard! I hated that Felicity had already gone to bed and wasn't there to see him, but we took lots of pictures for her.

On Saturday our neighborhood had a big Easter egg hunt for all the kiddos. Felicity got all decked out in her smocked dress and we headed to Founder's Square for the big hunt.

She was using my Easter basket that I had growing up, but it was a bit big for her and was restricting her egg-hunting skills....so Daddy ended up holding it while she loaded it up!

On the prowl...

Oh, the excitement!! Probably one of the most rewarding parts of being a parent is watching their joy in the simple things.

So proud of herself!

Enjoying some of her treats... I'm fairly certain she devoured every single piece of candy before we even left the park.

Here she is with some of her neighborhood buds. I'm so thankful for sweet families and friends that live nearby. I'm looking forward to watching them grow up and develop strong friendships over the years.

From L to R: Felicity, Zoe and Jack

After the egg hunt we headed back home. This wagon is Fe's new ride. Seems most days you can find me carting her around the neighborhood in this, while she lounges on an ikat print pillow in the back usually devouring goldfish and chugging juice. It sounds and looks a bit princess-esque, but we have a lot of fun with it.

Saturday night before bed, it was time to dye the eggs.

{Is it just me, or does she looks like some sort of mad scientist in this picture?!}

Sunday morning we went to a special 8 a.m. service at church. We usually don't go to church this early, but when you have kids that are waking up in the 5's, then hey, why not? Afterwards, Felicity was excited to see what the bunny brought her.

Later Sunday afternoon we hosted Justin's parents and sisters for Easter lunch. We had a great time and enjoyed being together and getting lots of laughs from Miss Felicity. I tried to get some cute full length shots of her in her Easter dress, but she was not into posing. At first this was the best I got.

But then she got into her groove and I was able to get some better shots of her. I'm pretty sure she's got that performance gene in her blood. This little lady can put on quite a show. :-)

After lunch we headed upstairs for a ping pong tournament. 

I think my incessant photo taking was interfering with the game. Justin doesn't look very happy with me here. :-)

We ended the day playing outside with the bubble gun Nana and Papa brought Felicity. Lots of fun...

Happy Easter! 

Ready or not...

Felicity is wearing panties. When she woke up on Friday morning and I was going to change her diaper, she promptly alerted me, "Mama, no change diaper. Panties!" So, I decided to have a go at it.

We've been talking about going to the potty for a while now. You may remember this post I did when she was about 18 months. She went a few times in the potty and was showing interest, but it was right around that time that we decided to put our house on the market and move...so mama did not have the energy. Potty training got put on the back burner. But in the past month, we've been talking about it with her a lot and she's also been taking her diaper off recently. I have not read any books or done any research on potty training, so I was not prepared. The only thing I had really heard is that if they are showing interest, let them try because you might miss your window.

Two days in, I'm really impressed with her. She has gone in her potty at least 10 times and has only had 3 tiny accidents. She gets so excited when she goes and gets up and says, "Flush the toilet!! Get a treat!!" Not sure how we are going to wean her off getting treats every time she goes to the bathroom, but that's a battle for another day. Right now, I'm just really proud of her. I'm sure this is only the beginning of her telling me how it's going to be, whether I'm ready or not.

A little family rendezvous

Yesterday my brother Ryan came in town between quarters from SCAD, so we got to see him for the day. Coincidentally, our neighborhood was having a March Hare Tea and Terrarium Party, so since my parents were in town to pick up Ryan from the airport, my mom was able to join Fe and me. We had a great time making our terrariums and of course Fe (and me) loved the treats...

Ryan and my Dad joined us after the party and we just got to enjoy hanging out together. We listed to the Disney princess station on Pandora on the TV. When Justin asked Felicity what we did, she told him, "Mimi, Poppy and RyRy watch Ariel TV on couch." And she's right. We also got quite the dance show from Felicity (and my parents, but I won't elaborate on that.)

Afterwards, we went to eat at P.F. Changs and then went to see Million Dollar Quarter at Fair Park. Such a great, fun show with amazing musical talent. Definitely go see it if you get a chance. It's about the one night in 1956 when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley got together to play for the first and only time. Anyway, a great random Wednesday I was blessed to spend with my family I don't get to see that often.

Perfect day spent outside

We are L-O-V-I-N-G this weather. The day after Fe's birthday, we spent the entire day outside. It was wonderful. We packed up a picnic and tried out a new park in McKinney.

It is so fun for the little ones (and the parents), when they are free to run wild in nature!

Then we headed back home for our neighborhood classic car show, where I had to work at the hot dog stand. I am by no means really interested in cars...I know absolutely nothing about them, but it was so fun! Really, just being out walking around, catching up with friends, looking at all the cute old men polishing their prized rides...some of them even had these precious little "scenes" set up. Like the one below has the fake dog peeing on the tire and on the other side he has a tray attached with all his drive-in food.

I liked this little vingette too -- with the blanket and picnic basket attached to the back. I'm imagining they are dressed in their best and out for their Sunday drive...

I must admit, admiring these cars made me long to live in some of these eras where life just seemed simple and sweet.

Then back home to enjoy the view from our front porch with a glass of wine!