Landry's Tea Party!

Oh my goodness...Landry turned 3 today! She has had the best, best, best time celebrating the past few days. Her party was on Saturday, and I have so many pictures from all that we have done that I am going to split them up into a few posts. 

This post is all about the party...Landry's perfect princess tea party!

She talked about this for weeks, and she made it very clear that no boys were allowed. Even Collier and Daddy were marked off the list! We had several little ladies show up, and Landry just loved celebrating with all her buddies. We had tea {lemonade} and lunch, made necklaces, opened gifts,  and decorated cupcakes.

I had so much fun planning and decorating for this party. So girly, so bright! I've already started thinking about Collier's party for August, and it is going to be ALL BOY. I am enjoying the extremes. :) 

Now...pictures!  

One of my favorite pictures ever! :)

These girls are all adorable, and we had such a great time! 

Thanks to all who made her day extra special! 

Pictures

Funny that I titled this post "pictures" when there won't be one in the entire post. :) 

I've been in a bit of a slump with picture taking. I actually just uploaded some photos from Landry's Tea Party Birthday on Saturday (her REAL birthday is tomorrow, so all the pictures are coming!). When I uploaded them, there was a break in the dates from February 27th until today. The 27th was the day before Parke passed, and I hadn't pulled out my camera since. I've taken plenty of pictures on my phone, but it felt good to put the memory card back in the camera and get going. 

So...hopefully more updates and pictures coming of my precious babes. 

Just for giggles:

Landry called me a "pajama queen" last night. :) She totally meant to say drama queen because we have called her that a few times, but I just loved it! 

She was very strict that ONLY GIRLS were allowed at her tea party birthday. Micah was teasing her the other night and told her he was planning on coming. She said, "Daddy, you're a boy now, so you can't come." I guess she thought Micah used to be something else. Ha!

Collier has learned to say his name, "Coll-U" and "No way!" Our lives are getting more and more entertaining!  

Catching Up...

I got way behind on blogging this week, so this post is going to have lots of pictures! Some need explanation, most don't. So...here goes our last week! 

The rest of the St. Louis Trip...

Purina Farms Springtime Village

Ice cream after a fancy dinner...

We spent lots of time with our good friends the Hectors while we were in STL. Jason is a chef, so we always get the inside scoop on where to go. He picked some great places while we were there. Even if we ate dirt, I think I would still enjoy their company! I think...

Landry and her daddy danced after dinner to some music outside. She sure loves him! 

Shirley Temples at the Embassy

{I loved doing this when I was little!!}

 Magic House...

We got home, and Landry miraculously has long enough hair for a real ponytail! 

I went on a women's retreat to Tulsa this past weekend with our church. I didn't take a single picture while we were there, but I roomed with this sweet friend, Sarah Lauren. We were supposed to have two of our other good friends with us, but it ended up just being us for the night. We stayed up laughing and talking until almost 2. We were exhausted the next morning, but had such a sweet time visiting. Mamas don't do that enough! I ate 4 meals with two hands, had fellowship with some precious ladies, and did some catching up with friends that was way overdue. Our speaker for the weekend had an awesome message as well. 

Sunday we took Collier to his first movie! It was only Landry's second, and they both seemed to enjoy it. They wanted the popcorn to keep flowing and would get antsy when their cups weren't full. :)

Our idea of fun isn't spending over $40 to wrestle with kids to stay still for 2 hours...I doubt we do this very often. They like to watch movies at home just as much, and then we can pause and let them play when they get distracted. :)

Monday after Landry's dance class, she and I had a girl's afternoon! I love spending time one-on-one with my kids, and they eat it up! We found sassy-pants a new hat, got treats at Starbucks, went to several fun stores for her, and then did a boring grocery run. We had a great day!

We have a new favorite spot to eat our snacks....right by the front door! These kids are strange, but I love them! 

We played outside tonight with cousins...

and poor Collier's face met the sidewalk for the first time. We are pretty scuffed up, but he only cried for a second. 

Ahhh! That feels good to get that all done. 

Micah has been crazy busy for a few days, and that just gets me all out of sorts. I get out of my routine, and things get put on the back burner. I'm thankful that he is so helpful and I'm thrown off when he's not around...makes me appreciate him even more! :) I have a few posts coming up that I've been thinking a lot about...hopefully I'll get to those soon!

St. Louis...Mini Version

I don't have time to do a full blog post today, but I couldn't wait to put these two pictures up! We went to St. Louis the end of last week for a few days. We originally planned this trip without the kids, but as it got closer we changed our mind. I'm so glad we did because they had a blast! 

One of the first things we did was the Magic House. We went early last year as well, so it was fun to compare some pictures from our trips. These are my favorites...Landry is changing and looking more like a big girl! :)

2013-Almost 3 years old

2012-Almost 2 years old

More to come...!

Easter

Easter was simple and sweet for us this year. Leading up to it was a little bit of a whirlwind, so it was nice to have a relaxing day. We were in St. Louis for a few days the end of last week (pictures coming tomorrow!), we got home Saturday night around 5:30, Micah and I had a birthday party to attend that night at 7, and then we left the house at 8 the next morning to drive an hour and a half to attend church with Micah's parents. We were excited to get there, and the kids were super happy to see their Gigi and Papa-D. 

We went to church and they had a brunch afterwards. Then, we went back to Micah's parents and visited for a few hours before we had a mid-afternoon lunch. We had SO much food...it was crazy, but delicious! :)

The weather was perfect, and the kids hunted a few Easter eggs. Collier was not into it, and he would throw his basket down every time I handed it to him. Landry loved it! 

We got to visit with Micah's Grandmama and Grandad and his Aunt and Uncle. Landry loves for Grandmama to play on the piano and let her sing. :) 

Micah's mom had a picture of him out from when he was little. She thinks he was 3 in the photo. I LOVE that I have a little mini-Micah! :) A few people commented that his face is shaped more like mine, but I still think they are twinkies! 

 After lunch we headed over to the farm to hunt more eggs and play. The kids loved Papa-D's new toy...I think Micah did too. 

And...the kids were pooped. Collier napped for 2 hours on Micah's chest after church, and then after the farm Landry napped for an hour. He got lots of baby snuggles! 

One of the best decisions we made a few years ago was to start switching off holidays between both sides of the family. We don't try to do it all anymore, and it is so, SO nice. Instead of rushing from one house to the next, we actually get to spend quality time with one family and the kids get to relax and play. We always miss the family we don't see, but the quality time is perfect. 

On the car ride down and home, Micah had some time to talk to the kids (Landry specifically) about Easter and the reason we celebrate. I loved watching Landry listen and seeing her wheels turn. One time, he asked her a question about when Jesus died, and she answered, "And he saw a crocodile!" with big eyes and in the deepest voice (like it was a scary story). She is such a mess, but I love that seeds are being planted. We told her about how Jesus died for our sins so that we can spend eternity with him. We also got to tell her that in addition to seeing Jesus one day, we will also get to see baby Parke again...that made her ears perk up. Our sweet girl misses her baby, and we do too. He got to spend his first Easter with the Risen King, and what could be better than that?! 

I hope your Easter was truly blessed!