happy birthday to me! 33!

the day started when grandpa and graham took mojo for a walk and graham came back with blue bonnets for me!  then we decided to head down to the zoo.  we got up close and personal with a hippos behind, and saw some other really cool animals.  on the way back, while the kiddos snoozed, grana took me to the boot store for my very first pair of real cowboy boots!  love them!!  then it was back home for dinner and a dip in the pool!

and what birthday wouldn't be complete without cake!  a carrot cake nonetheless!  yummy!

welcome to the world baby hannah!

introducing our new little wee one....hannah!!

it was a very early morning for all.  we had to be at the hospital by 5:30 (yes that's AM) as i would be going back to the OR at 7:30.  as i was in triage getting ready for our little one's arrival i found it odd that both the nurses and my doctor were asking me if i was in pain.  i knew i was having contractions, but they didn't hurt, so no...no pain.  then my doctor said "this is just what i would have liked to have happen!"  so i'm guessing that means our little hannah was making plans to make an appearance on her own in the near future.  

7:30 and i walk back to the OR.  i get prepped and get the epidural and am ready for go time.  i felt like it took an eternity for grady to get back to the room, but i was so glad when he got there.  my stomach didn't do well with the anesthesia at first, but once they got the dosage right everything felt much better.  

but man o man...this little girl DID NOT want to come out!  they were pushing and pulling her out for what felt like 10 minutes!  again, something tells me she was engaged and ready to come out on her own.  we had other plans for her!  then at 8:07 am our little miss was born!!

we love you more than words can describe!

happy birthday michael

for michael's 4th birthday, we all headed out to chuck-e-cheeses.

always fun to be had!

daddy won a lot of tickets for us and we were able to buy some cotton candy.  to our surprise though...the dude didn't like it?!  well, looks like more for daddy, hannah and i!

a birthday!

happy birthday daddy!!

graham: "look mommy....wink brought daddy's birthday!!!!"

me: "yes, yes he did graham!"

we love you so much daddy and hope that you have a wonderful day.

enjoy the last year of your thirties!  ;)

little man!

rise and shine birthday boy!!!!

how has it been three years already?!

three wonderful years at that!

every year so far when i wake up on the morning of 10/22 i recount all the events that happened early in the morning into the early afternoon.  it truly is amazing how these little miracles change your life forever.  it's to the point now where i can't remember life without him!  we love you dude!

here's what you've been up to:

height: 35"

weight: 35 lbs

most nights sleeps about 10 hours and a usually takes a 2-3 hour nap

moved into a big boy bed with no rails and has yet to fall out!

fully potty trained during the day (YEAH!!!!) and pull-ups at naptime and bedtime

still totally into dinosaurs and can even say several of the really hard names

is one of the most animated little boys i've met. something tells me you might have a future in comedy!

got strep for the first time

went to the movie theater for the first time

went camping for the first time

is more of a quiet, solo player and will often spend an hour or so playing with play-doh, blocks, dinosaurs, or other action figures

loves watching movies and playing games on 'his' ipad (no...it's really mommy's ipad!)

it's very common for graham to walk into a room with all or part of a costume and want to dress up (usually a superhero costume of sorts)

likes to help vacuum with mommy

likes to help make english muffin pizzas and eat a handful of cheese

Nicknames: dude, buddy, graham-bo
Favorite color: green
Favorite animal: elephant
Favorite book: no no no
Favorite TV show: madagscar
Favorite movie: madagascar
Favorite song: ho hey
Favorite food: chicken nuggets
Favorite drink: milk
Favorite breakfast: didn't answer
Favorite lunch: dinosaur nuggets
Favorite game: sword fighting game (on the wii)
Favorite sport: didn't answer
Favorite toy: captain america
Who is your best friend: grana
What is your favorite thing to do: play
What is your favorite thing to do outside: play cars
What is your favorite holiday: yeah
What do you take to bed with you at night: sully
Where is your favorite place to go: to the park
What is your favorite restaurant: chicken nuggets and the playground (chick-fil-a)
Where do you want to go on vacation: despicable me
What do you want to be when you grow up: i don't want to grow up
What did you do on your birthday: saturday before we went to chuck-e-cheeses with bella, criostoir, miss colleen, mister cormac and grammie.  sunday we went to a puppet show with grammie, mister bruce and garrett.  on your actual birthday you went to school and then we went to chick-fil-a for dinner, played on the playground and had ice cream!

birthday celebration part II

we headed out west this morning to go to grammie's house.  she's scoped out a puppet show that we'll be going to for graham's birthday (part II).  we got there a little early, so we walked around, played a little croquet and got some plain 'ol energy out.

then it was time for us to head to downtown martinsburg to the wonderland puppet show theater.  the show of the day was the three billy goats gruff.  it was a pretty cute place.  puppets everywhere and little ones for the kids to play with.  when the show started graham even got a special birthday serenade from a puppet doggie, he loved it! (again...he's liking the attention his birthday gets him this year so far!)

we were a little squirmy through the show, but once i got him on my lap he seemed to calm down.  we watched the show and then took some photos with the puppeteer himself and two of the billy goats.  we even got grady in on the action (oh how he loved that!).  :)  

first puppet show was a success.  thanks grammie!

birthday celebration part I

today we celebrated the dude's birthday with the murray's and grammie.  we did things a little differently this year and decided to head out to chuck-e-cheeses for the festivities.  the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and graham LOVED having everyone sing to him for his birthday!  

we ate some pizza, played lots of games and ate some cake.  we picked up a whistle, curvy straw and a bracelet using the tickets won from all the games we played.  

good time had by all!

happy (early) birthday dude!

flirty two!

happy birthday to me from my hinges!!

really....32 already??!!  how did that happen?

no big plans for tonight.  just going to have dinner with the boys and enjoy a couple glasses of wine!

happy birthday daddy!!!

happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!

happy birthday dear daddy......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!

we love you!!

happy birthday daddy!

happy birthday daddy!

we hope you have an extra special day.

today we will let you sleep in, play records, play video games, go shopping and basically do whatever you want to do.

today we WON'T let you change a single diaper, feed a dude, cook dinner, clean-up or worry about anything.

we are so lucky to have you in our lives.  you make us smile, laugh and sometimes drive us crazy.  :)  but no matter what happens at the end of the day, we are a family and will always love each other. 

oh yeah, and thanks for having a birthday so that we can eat cake!!! (ps...this is the first time graham actually ENJOYED eating cake of any sort!)

(please ignore my voice!)

first visit to frying pan park

we were so happy that we were able to celebrate owen's birthday today at frying pan park!  it was the dude's first visit to a farm, and i think it's safe to say he loved it!  (well, except maybe for when the rooster crowed...yeah, he didn't like that!)  the dude was able to see his friend vivi again too, and wow, has she grown since the last time we saw her.  she was too cute in her little white dress and hair bow!!  i think the two of them could get into a lot of trouble the next time we hang out.  (i think they might make a cute little couple too!!!  who knows!!!)  ;)

thanks to ben and jenn, we took a scenic tractor ride around the farm, ate some tasty pizza, and celebrated with some delicious cake!  and kudos to jenn for making some AWESOME cake pops.  i might have to try my hand at them for the dude's birthday!

thanks again guys, we had an awesome time.

and yes...winery in the fall is a must!

besties bday

this weekend was the dude's besties (criostoir and bella's) birthday party! they had a dance party theme and grady and cormac were the headliners! it was great to see a lot of the kids from school...outside of school. some of the dude's teachers were even there! love it!!



it's hard to believe that we met cormac and colleen when they were pregnant with criostoir. july 4th, 2005. that was the very first time i met them. little did we know we would all (including our kids) become the best of friends! we're so lucky to have such great friends and to be a part of their children's lives. for the longest time criostoir and bella were like our own children (still kind of are!). we met criostoir not long after he was born and grady and i, along with the clay's, were in the waiting room when bella was born. such special times in our lives!! i honestly can't believe they are 4 and 6 now!!!

happy birthday besties!!!
we <3 you!!

sylvie's first birthday

sylvie (dark haired cutie in the white flowered dress) had her first birthday party today, and we were honored to be able to celebrate with her. kiera (brown haired cutie in the pink dress) also turns one in a couple days, along with austin (at the party, but i somehow missed taking a picture of him!). there definitely was no shortage of babies, kids and pregnant women at this party! everyone had a great time. derek (handsome dude in the orange shirt) was being an awesome big kid and playing with all the little kids.

seeing as the dude isn't mobile (YET!), he ended up chilling out and entertaining himself when everyone walked off. he's good at doing that! he's content with just watching kids play. even school mentioned that. they'll take him outside and he'll just enjoy being outside and watching everyone run around and play. i think he's secretly plotting when his big move will be, literally!

and i'm definitely diggin the foam puzzle piece mat. VERY good for tumbles and spills! we may have to look at getting one and maybe putting it in the sunroom, since the carpet on the wood floor isn't very thick. we'll see! we've gotta get some good forward motion going first i guess (yes, the dude is scooting himself backwards on his tummy).

surprise!! another surprise!!

the murray's happened to be in ireland for my 30th, but i was certain we would celebrate once they got back. little did i know that they were planning a little surprise party/cookout for me!!! we couldn't have better friends. <3 them!



and we <3 their neighbors too. miss amber, mr bruce, aiden and little dude's girlfriend bethany came over, along with the court's (they all live in a culdesac) newest neighbors miss jen, miss gabby, paris and channel! we had some delicious kabobs and corn (it really started to feel like summer) on the deck, followed by some cookie cake and a nice little cranberry cocktail.

thank you all for such a great evening! it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

(even mojo got in on the celebrations! we even caught a little smile of hers in the one picture. okay, well maybe she just finished yawning, but it looks like she's smiling! there are some pictures of me being decorated by the kids too that i still have to get from colleen. they're pretty funny!)

surprise!

it's official, i'm OLD! i hit the big 3-0 this past tuesday! i thought time was going fast with the dude...man o man...i'm not exactly sure how 30 years of my life have gone by already. i have to say, this is probably the first birthday i've had where i've actually felt different after the day passed. maybe it's because of everything i've accomplished lately:

- graduated from college

- married for almost 4 years

- own an house

-worked at an awesome advertising agency with some amazing people

- HAD A BABY!

- became a marketing manager

wow!! not bad! although i have plenty more to work towards!

so in honor of my 30th, grady planned a whole day of surprises.

we started out by dropping graham off with miss jodi, so we could have some adult time.

we then stopped by grammi's work to pick up some glasses for grady and sunglasses for me.

found a new little brew house in leesburg, vintage 50, and had some pretty darn good craft brews (also had some GOOD hummus!)

then for the big surprise.....

a private wine tasting at tarara winery!!!

it was great, we were in a private room with the somalier and two other women. we learned the 5 "S's" of tasting wine and then got to taste 8 different tarara wines. of course my favorite was the $40 bottle!! :) it was a great experience and i had so much fun. perfect way to start my 30's!

these photos were taken outside of the entrance to the winery. we're looking forward to going back soon and enjoying some time on their patio!

one week!

i can't believe our little dude is already a week old!!! time is already going by too fast!
to celebrate his one week milestone we did a short mommy and son self portrait session and we also sang happy birthday at precisely 3pm. at dinner grana and grandpa surprised graham with a delicious vanilla birthday cake.



HAPPY ONE WEEK!!!