Maggie's Birthday Party

My original thought was to have a "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" party for Maggie, but then a friend saw me posting ladybug party ideas on Pinterest. She offered to make Maggie a birthday shirt and she would use it as a sample on her etsy website. At first, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do ladybugs because that is what I did for Mallory's first birthday. Then I remembered all the time, energy, and money I put into that party and it would be crazy not to reuse some of the decorations. I just knew that I would have to make Maggie's party completely different and I think I did a pretty good job.

Here is the party invitation that I created myself and then printed on our computer.

I knew that I didn't want to do the typical "Happy Birthday" banner, so I looked online for ideas. I found this one and made it my own.  

Here is the birthday girl wearing her special ladybug shirt.  She is wearing the same ladybug hair clip that Mallory wore at her birthday party.

Matt cooking up some burgers for lunch and trying to not burn down the place.

Maggie is a carnivore!  On Mother's Day she ate steak and today she gobbled up her hamburger.  I hope she continues to eat everything we put in front of her and doesn't become a picky eater.

Yummy cupcakes with homemade toppers.  Mallory chose for us to have Strawberry cupcakes with red or white icing.

"Happy Birthday to you......"

Big Sister blew out the candle since we had a feeling Maggie would try to touch the flame.

 This was my favorite picture of her eating.  She loved her cupcake.

Loving her new Pottery Barn Kids chair from Mallory and us.  As soon as Maggie saw it, she came crawling as fast as she could and climbed up in it.  She loves this type of chair and climbs in Mallory's every single day.

Mallory had too much fun and passed out in the chair.  This is the first time she has ever fallen asleep somewhere other than her car seat or bed.

Couldn't resist putting this photo in.  Look at that CHUNKY baby!

Fun Times at the Zoo

My Mother's Day gift from Matt and the girls was a trip to the Dallas Zoo. I saw on the news a couple of months ago that there was now a Koala exhibit and I just knew I had to go. I think they are so cute. Matt was able to take the day off, so I packed our bags/lunches/water and we headed to the Zoo.

Mallory ran up to the penguin tank and enjoyed watching them swim around.  What a difference a year makes - last year she showed no interest. 

Mallory said her favorite animal was the giraffe.  She even petted one much to my astonishment.

Enjoying the Koala bears, even though both were passed out. I read that they sleep 18-20 hours a day!

Traditional Mother's Day Lunch

The year Mallory was born, my mom and I decided to not do Mother's Day gifts anymore. Neither of us could think of anything we really wanted and so I mentioned let's just go to lunch. We decided that we would make it a tradition and once Mallory got old enough she would be included. I decided this was the year Mallory should join us. Guy Guy stayed home with Maggie so the older girls could go celebrate. 

Pictures with Mallory before we went inside the restaurant. Mallory was so well behaved, I was very proud of her.

All the girls after we got home.  Of course we couldn't get one picture of everyone looking at the camera.

The Return of Mr. Wiggles

Mallory has been asking to play with Mr. Wiggles and I told her if she would take a nap, without stalling and getting out of bed multiple times, we would get him out afterwards. She accepted the challenge and after nap time, the girls got to go outside and play. Of course, Maggie had no idea what was about to go on, but when she saw the water turn on she squealed with excitement.

Mallory didn't remember what Mr. Wiggles did so she thought he was just a toy for the water table.  I informed her that he was much MORE than that.  The girls had a blast.  Looking forward to seeing them both run around next year.

Happy Mother's Day

I am so blessed to have two beautiful girls and a loving husband. Due to nap schedules (including my Mother's Day siesta), I didn't get a picture with both the girls at the same time. Silly me has included a picture of myself (lighting not that great) because I want to remember that at least one picture of me looked good. Vain? Yes - but the hair and complexion were NOT on my side today.

I love this picture of Maggie. She is wearing the dress that our dear friend, Diane Mangan, made her.

Look Who's Standing

Maggie is finally standing and so close to walking. I can't get her to stand long enough for me to take a picture. This is the best one that I haven taken. You can tell she is on her descent down.

Mallory can stand too! She had to show me that she could and asked to have her picture taken as well.

Maggie's First Trip to the Pool

I managed to get both girls to take early afternoon naps, so we were able to meet our friends at the pool this afternoon.  Maggie loves bath time so much that I didn't figure she would be scared when she got in the pool - I was right.  She loved it the moment the water touched her feet.  I was surprised thought that she sat in the float that I have for her to use for as long as she did.  Mallory couldn't stand that thing so we hardly ever used it.    

Mallory had a blast too! All she asked was that she didn't go under water.  Thankfully that request wasn't an issue since our friend, Erica, told me about the puddle jumper.  I bought Mallory one and she loves it because she can stay afloat standing straight up so to speak.

Mallory and her sweet friend Elliot.