Ansley's 3rd Birthday

Jon gave Ansley her princess watch before he left for work. Birthdays are a big deal at our house. The goal is to make the birthday kid feel as special as possible:)


I took the girls to Build A Bear. Ansley picked out a pink bear with a Sleeping Beauty dress. Madelyn chose a owl with a Batman Halloween costume. After Build A Bear, we met Jon for lunch at Mayberry's.



The girls posed for a quick photo shoot before the birthday party. Nolan was still napping.


Nolan was caught "red handed" eating ketchup straight from the packet!


Ansley was so excited to open her gifts. She would take a break from playing & eating at her party to stand next to her presents. She was so grateful for everything.


The party crew at Chick Fill A


How often is it that you can take a family photo with an over-sized costumed cow?

Labor Day Weekend in Charlotte

top 10 reasons we had a fantastic weekend:

10. Our stay at the Omni downtown was "suite"!
9. watching people getting jiggy wit' it at a roof top bar from the panoramic view of our room
8. watching the kids learn about science, nature, & the way things work at Discovery Place
7. visiting ImaginOn, a really cool children's library, & anxiously anticipating a future visit to their children's theater

6. watching Madelyn play the drums at Trade & Tryon St (the center point of Charlotte) was priceless, especially since she has been asking for a drum set of her own.

5. Swimming in the roof-top pool at our hotel. How cool is that?!
4. Eating breakfast at Landmark, a restaurant featured on the Food Network Show: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The bread is made in house, so you can only imagine how yummy their french toast tasted!
3. Eating a sweet potato, black-eyed pea, & collard green burrito at Dish, another Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place. It was one of the entrees featured on the show & it tasted surprisingly spectacular!

2. Playing musical beds in the middle of the night in our hotel room. The game was played with 2 full beds & 1 porta-crib.
1. Drum roll please....Shopping at IKEA for the first time! Words cannot express.