Happy Birthday Nana...

...ALL the way from Michigan!


I woke Maeve up this morning and told her it was Nana's birthday.  She immediately started listing off the things we were going to do at her party.  I told her we couldn't do princesses or balloons, but a cake would be a good idea.

We called my mom and Maeve went on and on about her birthday cake.  Bless her heart, Maeve thought we were making a cake for Nana, meaning- Nana was coming over to eat it :(...
After nap time, I frosted the cake, and Maeve did 100% of the decorating (as you can see ;)

All in all, I think the cake was a good idea- even if she was completely confused and a little let down when we sang happy birthday and blew out the candles, but there was no Nana.

Today is one of those weird, hard days up here for me (us).  It's not a holiday, like Christmas or anything, but its just one of those days that we've always spent together.   Last year, my mom spent her 50th in the hospital (NOT fun...) but at least we were together ;)

Anyways, we wanted to celebrate the day even if we aren't WITH Nana. 

So......... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM/NANA!

Love,
Ryan, Ashley, Maeve & Henry

She's TWO, she's TWO!

Well even though she officially turned two last sunday, we finally did the BIG 2 year party yesterday (10/17) and now it really feels like she is TWO. WOW!

This is Maeve on the way to her TWO year doc. appointment
The week started out with a bum doc. appointment for miss Maeve. She had to get the finger prick and her HIB vaccine. Let's just say she wasn't a fan. She's doing great though- 50th percentile in both height and weight. Right in the middle, & very proportionate (that's what the doc said). She weighs 26 lbs. even and is 32 inches tall. Her vocab is great (although she totally clammed up for the doc.) and she's chuggin' right along. We also find it to be a huge milestone that in 2 years we haven't had one trip to the ER for an INJURY of some sort. We've been to the ER once when she had pneumonia, but so far (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!) no stitches, broken bones or anything else that would require a trip to the ER. Thanks Lord for getting us this far! :)

After a rather long week of medical tests for me, somehow we got the party to come together. I wasn't sure it was going to happen since I was swelling so badly and the only cure for that is to stay off your feet. I was probably told 10 times this week to "RELAX AND REST"- unfortunately, I was pretty busy. But with a lot of help from my mom and Ryan it came together beautifully :)

I am SO anal when it comes to things matching and I was positive this party was going to look like a big pink and brown cupcake threw up everywhere. It just seemed like nothing went together- there really wasn't a cohesive theme going... and that was irking me beyond belief. BUT when we got to my parents to decorate, cook and set up, it actually all looked great- and flowed together pretty well. Also, the day before the party we got 2 calls from friends that said their kids had the swine flu... I was pretty sure the whole party was going to be a bust because we didn't invite too many people to begin with and then to get calls the day before with cancellations was making me nervous. We had a TON of food, candy and cupcakes that needed to be consumed!!!

The day of the party we ran some last minute errands and I spent the majority of the day cooking with my mom. We made a huge pot of creamy tomato soup, chicken tortilla soup (this is Maeve's fave- she calls it her "baby bean sooooup.") We had cheese trays, fruit trays and a TON of sweets. I even came up with this brilliant idea (that's sarcasm if you didn't guess it) to make a candy table- it was supposed to be for the end of the party, as kids were leaving. The idea was to have the kids stuff their own take home bags with candy. I guess it was another bout of baby brain though because every kid was parked out in that room chowing down on candy the entire length of the party- which was fine with me- I just felt really bad for the parents who had to take their sugar-high children home!!! But I was pretty grateful to get rid of all that candy :)

All in all it was a really fun night for Maeve (and I hope the other kiddos and parents!). We had all of Maeve's fave. buddies there (minus a few b/c of the swine flu epidemic) and I had my best friends there too (which meant a TON!).

Thanks to everyone who took the time to come and celebrate with us! It really means so much to know you all care :) Maeve is currently playing with her new gifts- and she says a BIG "THANK YOU" to all!

TWO Year Brithday Take 1!

Yesterday (10/11) was Maeve's "real" birthday. We're having her big birthday celebration on Saturday (10/17) but couldn't just not do something for her real birthday! So we packed it full of Maeve's favorite things :) It was a LONG day... but totally worth it.

We started out early (I think around 8 or so?) with breakfast at the Wooden Spoon- Maeve loves it there because of the oatmeal, huge coloring books and of course the giant fish pond outside. We always bring our leftover bread from the week to feed to the fishies. Unfortunately no fish yesterday... but we still had a great time (and a really great breakfast!)

Around noon we headed up to Ann Arbor to meet my parents at Chuckie Cheese. My mom was flying in from Kansas so it worked out perfectly to just meet in Ann Arbor for lunch. Maeve was thrilled beyond belief- not only was she at Chuckie Cheese but Nana, Poppa AND Dadda were all there too! Unbelievable! :) She scooted through the tubes for a good hour or so, rode all the rides and got some Chuckie balloons & a cake. As SOON as we put her in the carseat to go home she was OUT. She even slept through carrying her in the house (which never happens- she is such a light sleeper so she usually wakes up as soon as the garage door shuts!) and into her bed. While she was napping Ryan and I decorated, wrapped and cooked- well I wrapped and cooked, Ryan took care of the decorating since it probably wouldn't be super wise for me to be standing up on chairs and such :) I made Maeve's favorite dinner (which she is now eating for lunch :) Baked mac & cheese and BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. I also made her a "Mooooo! You're TWO cake!" haha- she has this thing for cows (and other farm animals) and since I'm doing a "boring" theme (according to Maeve) for her party on Sat. I thought I would make her a corny MOO cow cake. She loved it :)

After dinner, it was presents, presents and more presents. She is so blessed to have so many people in her life that care so much about her. Between my mom & dad, and grandma (her great-grandma) and Ryan & I, she got so many presents that we actually saved a few for Christmas- because really, it was just ridiculous when we stacked them all up on the table for her to open. Anyhow, she had a fabulous time ripping through everything- some of her fave. presents include her "Little Mermaid dress up kit" (ADORABLE- thanks mom:) And her "Little People Learn About Town"- again soooooooooo cute- and I HIGHLY recommend this toy for anyone with 2/3 year olds! SO MUCH fun to be had with this! :) Here's the LINK!

After opening a few of her toys and playing for an hour or so, it was bedtime. And I've never seen a more eager for sleep MaeMae! She was so wiped out she was MORE than happy to snuggle in for bedtime.

What a great day :) I will blog a post about her 2 year stats & stuff after her appt. this afternoon... also, look for "Birthday Take TWO!" after this Saturday... wow...lots of birthday stuff.

Picture Heavy... But Worth Remembering Forever :)

None of these pictures are GREAT per-say, but to me, with Maeve's SECOND birthday coming (tomorrow!!) they're priceless and definitely worth posting. They capture our simple early mornings here at the house... I know these days are going to be gone soon enough and its so important for me to take pictures of these ordinary days/"things." Maeve is at this age where everything that comes out of her mouth is worth jotting down- she's hilarious, smart and sweet as can be. I'm going to do a "two-year" post sometime in the next week (which I've kind of been dreading because I am SO emotional... I am sure I'll be sobbing my way through it!) but for now, here's a glimpse into mornings with Maeve :)

Lola & Maeve.... BFFs!!!



This is certainly something I always want to remember. Yesterday morning I was getting ready in my bathroom and things were sounding pretty quiet in Maeves room. I stuck my head in her room and saw... nothing. Hmmm... her door was the only one I left open so I knew she had to be in there or the living room and there was no trace of her in the living room either. Low and behold she was hiding in her "Rose Petal Cottage" with Lola. I opened the little cottage door and there they were- Maeve was reading a book and Lola was sitting there- kind of looking miserable- but sitting there none-the-less :) It was ADORABLE! And I begged them to stay put while I ran and got my camera.


Hats, Hats & More Hats.







This is a phase I hope Maeve NEVER outgrows!!! I LOVE IT- we all know how hard it is to keep hats on little ones. And Maeve definitely went through a stage where nothing was allowed on her head. But now, she's developed this obsession with hats! Have I mentioned I LOVE IT?????? She actually FINDS hats around the house (mostly Ryan's) and wears them- for a long time. This morning (Saturday) she found a winter hat in the bin and wanted to wear it. I helped her put it on around 8 or so (its now 9:30) and its STILL on :) Again, I had to take some pics. Not only does she look adorable in it, but its another thing I want to remember about her at this age :) Another thing she does in the mornings is push her "babies" around. She gathers her "babies" (a penguin and a baby barney) and pushes them in the stroller up and down the hallways. She makes me say "bye" to her every time she passes through the living room and into the kitchen :) Truly cute.

BIRTHDAY... DAY 1:


This should really be a separate post but I'll just stick it in with this one. I LOVE birthdays! My parents always made a huge deal out of ours growing up and I plan on doing the same with my kids. Even though I read a very valid article while in the docs. the other day about how its not good to make your kids birthdays a big deal. Whatever.. it IS a big deal so I'm all for milking it as long as I can! For Maeve's first birthday we did Disney and people thought we were crazy- think that all you want- we had a blast and those memories are some that I will FOREVER, FOREVER cherish. And if I weren't preggo right now there isn't a doubt in me we'd be gearing up for another trip to Disney in a couple of days! Maeve's REAL birthday is tomorrow (10/11) but we started celebrating yesterday :) In the morning I took her to Toys R'Us to redeem her birthday stuff that came in the mail. (if your kids aren't signed up for the birthday club- sign 'em up!!!) Maeve was THRILLED to get a balloon with a "raffe" (aka giraffe) on it and a birthday crown (remember her hat phase- she kept that thing for a good hour or so). We also spent her birthday gift card that they sent in the mail (5.00- not bad for a free birthday club!) and she picked out (with some MAJOR persuasion from ME! :) a Disney princess pots and pans collection. Too cute- hot pink heart shaped pots and pans??? AHH! Love it.
After Toys'R Us we went to Beaners and I got her her very own hot apple cider. She LOVED it. Normally I swing by Beaners and get myself something and she's always begging for a sip- obviously I don't give her sips of my coffee but I thought on her birthday she deserved a cup of cider. She drank half of it and after every sip she'd say "MMMMMMMMMMMMM." But her favorite part of the cider was the big "B" on the cup. I think she told me 50 times on the way home "Looooook Momma! "B!!!"

More of Maeve's birthday celebration to come... we still have pottery painting, flavor fruit farms, chuckie cheese and of course her BIG birthday party next Saturday :)
Happy weekend everyone!