Party Time {times two}

This weekend Emma Claire and I went to TWO second birthday parties! Talk about party animals ;-) Saturday we went to celebrate miss Tylar. When we first moved to Virginia I was quite pregnant, and I was excited to find out our new neighbors were expecting as well. However, we never really connected until we moved out almost a year later! Now we are close and only wish we had become friends sooner! I can't believe our girls are turning TWO this year. Time flies. 

My friend Sonja did an amazing job with Ty's party. She has such an eye for detail.

Isn't her dress adorable? I wonder who could have made it ;-) 

After all of the presents had been opened these two decided to cover each other in stickers.

They were quite pleased with themselves. 

Cake time! aka the BEST time!

It's safe to say Emma Claire had a great time. 

Sunday evening we went to our second party of the weekend. My friend Nathalie also has an eye for detail and decorated her backyard in the cutest owl theme.

I mean, come on, have you ever seen a happier birthday girl!?

My child was a big fan of the ball pit.

Birthday girl and her daddy.

These three are SO cute together! And soon they will be a family of FOUR!

I just adore her headband.

EC's bestie, miss Gracie. I cannot handle how cute her hair is.

Just having fun.

Pretty sure this one needs to be blown up and put on the wall ;-) hint hint, Bekah.

Whew. We had such a fun weekend. I am loving celebrating all of our sweet two year old friends. I can't believe Emma Claire's birthday is sneaking up on me. I need to get my party planning in gear! Time is flying by!

Blessing Box

Welcome to "The Blessing Box" link up!!
I am so happy to be co-hosting with some of my best friends:

Natalie at Extraordinary Love
Jordan at The Smelly Life
Beth Ann My Life More Abundant
Mallorie at Happy Home
Cait at The Blessed Life

This is a fun little link up to post some of the ways that God is blessings you! I hope this shines some light in our world!

<a href="http://livingtheadventures.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xS_FwSWDof0/UilABW_pkXI/AAAAAAAAEhI/GAeJylEHXf0/s320/the+blessing+box+10.jpg" width="320"></a>   Here are some of the things I have been thankful for recently:

- Our amazing church family.
- On that note, all of the awesome ways we are plugged in at church and are able to serve the Lord and help others. 
- For my sweet hubby. He is such a hard worker and provider. Also, today is his birthday so I'm extra thankful the Lord blessed me with him today! 
- My feisty little mini me. She is so entertaining, loving, exhausting, and wonderful all in one. Toddler days are the longest days of our lives, am I right? But they're also the sweetest. Trying to cherish each day  with her. 
- That I have been able to bless so many friends recently with the gift of photography. I just love using my passion to capture sweet moments for people I love. Cue pictures ;-)
 
This little guy is SIX months old now! I was at the hospital for his day old pictures, I did his newborn pictures a week later, and now his six month session is behind us. Time needs to slooooow down! 

My sweet friend Candice is expecting her third baby any day now. And it's a GIRL! 

These cuties will be the BEST big brothers!

And on the same note...a big group of us celebrated Candice and her sweet baby girl this past Saturday. I was the photographer for the day. 

Lots of PINK!

All of the hostesses. We had a blast and these ladies did an amazing job planning and executing the shower. Everything was gorgeous. 

What are the blessings in your life this week?  Grab the code and link up with us! :)   

Dusting off the Cobwebs

Well long time no see, dear blog. This poor thing is getting more neglected each month. I suppose that's just the season of life I'm in. I'm so busy living life and running around I don't have time to sit down and document everything we are doing! I'll try and do a quick catch up now and then really update this ole' blog later on. 

Well where to begin? I think last week was one of the busiest weeks we have had in a LONG time. Our Sunday school has been taking a break for the past several weeks but this Sunday we had our big fall kick off. Everything went great and we had a blast. I am the administration point person for our group so it was my job to get the room/bulletin board all set for the big day. My friend Christa was an AWESOME help and she and I spent a few late nights at church getting everything together. So thankful for her. 

MOPS is about to start up again and this year I am the table leader {or discussion group leader for those who use different MOPS lingo} coordinator this year! I am SO blessed to not only be working with an amazing steering team, but also have a fantastic group of table leaders under my leadership. God is going to do big things with our group this year, I can just feel it!

On the "mom" front I have about a million pregnant friends right now! Which leads EVERYONE to ask me "when is number two coming along for y'all?". My answer- Not anytime soon. Sorry, friends. ;-) 

Now for some pictures. 

Emma Claire LOVES her baby dolls lately. It is the sweetest thing to me.

She was such a trooper this week. She was drug all over northern Virginia from dawn till dark.  All with a smile on her face. Most of the time ;-)

We're trying out this thing at our house that we like to call "the new normal". Meaning we are TRYING to be up and out of the house BY 8:30am on Sundays. Ideally we would arrive at church around 8:45 if we stick to our schedule. This Sunday we were successful!

She wanted to wear her raincoat this morning. Oh toddler-hood. Always entertaining. 

A sweet friend dropped a pumpkin spice latte right before nap time. Made.My.Day. She tells me she ordered two DECAF lattes. I can assure you there was nothing decaf about my drink ;-) And apparently her's wasn't either. We were both on a bit of a Starbucks high all afternoon! ha!. 

Coffee sneak. She loved getting to lick the lid and "have some coffee with mommy". She cracks me up. I actually cleaned out the cup and lid and she played "coffee" all afternoon. Love this age. 

This evening a group of my close girlfriends and I surprised a sweet momma to be with a surprise baby shower. We all had a great time and she was truly surprised. Before we left for the shower Emma Claire demanded that I wear a bow too. And that we take a picture. She didn't have to ask me twice! 

 So there's a little update from our neck of the woods. Stay tuned for a fun new link up tomorrow!

Play Ball Y'all

On Wednesday night Emma Claire got to attend her very first baseball game. We talked about it leading up to that evening. She was so excited about her new "bayball" shirt. 

What made this day extra special is that this was not only Emma Claire's first MLB game, but it was also her first Daddy/Daughter date. Read: Momma got some quality alone time. Everyone wins there.

She LOVED her shirt. That made my day. Sometimes making shirts can be a bit of a hassle. But when she reacts like this, it's all worth it. 

See. Worth it. 

These two. She wouldn't sit in his lap but she wanted to hold his hand. Miss independent. And yes, Dixie wanted to go too. Poor dog. 

Silly momma wanted a picture too. Needless to say this is the BEST we got... ha!

And then she takes THIS picture with daddy. Can you say daddy's girl? 

So thankful that I have a husband who understands my obsessive need to constantly see what my child is up to when I'm not with her need for occasional pictures when he is out with Emma Claire. hehe. He sent me pictures throughout the night. 

EC and daddy went to the game with another toddler/daddio combo. A friend of mine called last week and said that her hubby had tickets to the National's game and wanted to know if EC and hubs wanted to come with. We were thrilled because it fell on our "weekend" and they were able to go!

How cute are these two on the metro?

This just made my night when I got this picture. TOO CUTE!

After a quick rain delay the game was back on. While I'm glad Emma Claire and Daddy had a date I'm sad I didn't get to see her reaction to her first ever baseball game. 

But I think these two had plenty of fun without me. 

My big girl.