Celebrating Harper

    We are now officially on vacation to celebrate Harper turning 1 year old... I really cannot believe it! I feel like I have blinked my eyes and now she is grown! Harper's Woodland Fairy Cottage birthday party was a success! I love how each detail for her party turned out perfect! I always tend to do parties over the top and spend about as much time planning a birthday party as some people plan on their wedding, but I love every second and every detail of it! I love putting a special whole day together just to celebrate this little life that I am so blessed to love and raise!

    I had a lady tell me today when she found out we were celebrating Harper's 1st birthday and said an 80 year old woman had told her once  "Remember you will have long days but short years with your children" That couldn't be more true!! I cannot believe I have a 3 year old and now a 1 year old! Where in the world did the time go?! I feel like every day is such a blessing! I wish sometimes I could stop time where it is, I want to soak up every moment with these beauties. I have really slowed life down when it comes to my girls to appreciate the moment I am in with them. I journal everything about them, and do albums every year! I want them to grow up and look back and see how much they were loved and cherished, every second of everyday. The big and small celebrations of life!

    My oh my how Harper Abigail has made her own spot into our hearts! When I was pregnant I couldn't imagine how I could have as much love in my heart to share with another baby as I had for Kennedy. Our love has doubled! My heart bursts with love for both of my girls. My life is so complete with them in it. There are too many things to list about why we love her so much. She is such an amazing little girl! She demands attention, and she is a crafty little thing.... We have already had to get rid of her walker (found her standing on it a few days ago), manages to get out of every high chair we put her in, no matter how tight we strap her in, and anytime is she mad or scared she is hollering "dadda" looking around for Travis. She is stunningly beautiful!! She has the most perfect skin I have ever laid eyes on! She looks like a porcelain baby doll. I love when she gets excited her hands and feet are moving back and forth and she makes a scrunchy face with a funny breathing sound!  I love when she laughs, its a full hard belly laugh... Its a laugh that if you are in ear shot of, you can't help but to smile. I love how her and Kennedy have "laughing wars" and just laugh back and forth! I love how when she grabs anything with her fingers or when she eats she has her little pinky sticking up in the air, she makes me work for each and every picture that I get of her actually looking at the camera! I get so excited when I actually get one! I think there will be a lot of "action" shots in her baby book! Most her her birthday party pics of her were blurry because she is always in motion!  I love how she touches my face and smiles at me, looking at me with the most piercing blue eyes as though looking deep into your soul, it absolutely melts my heart! She warms my heart and soul. It makes me smile to know every time I go to pick her up from her crib after nap or nighttime she will be bouncing up and down laughing on the left side of her crib. She crawls at lightening speed and is into EVERYTHING exploring! And she finally has a tooth coming in and a second on the way! She eats more than Trav, K, and I all put together (with no teeth)! I love every big and small detail about my girls!

    I often think what Kennedy and Harper will be like when they get older. Which in turn makes me stop and evaluate my own life.  I always try to make sure I am doing the right things, forgiving, and showing compassion, love, and kindness to my girls and everyone around me, because I know children will emulate their parents. I want the girls to grow up and be the best that they can be, I want them to be kind, compassionate, loving, God fearing, truthful, good friends, good wives, and mother's someday, and I fully believe those qualities start at a young age. I want to be a role model for my children. They have made me a better person in so many ways. There is much to be learned by young children, if you stop and take the time to look at the world through their eyes. I look at Kennedy and see innocence, beauty, compassion, and pure kindness radiate from her, and I know Harper will follow in the same footsteps! We must be doing something right. I use every opportunity to hug and kiss my girls and tell them how much I love them and how sweet and kind they are. My heart will be so broken the day Kennedy or Harper tell me to quit loving on them so much! I just want to hold both of them so tight for the rest of my life! I use every opportunity I can to snuggle and love on them and teach them life lessons! I have truly come to know what is the most important and most precious things (my 2 littles and my hubby) in this world!

    A huge thank you to everyone who helped with Harper's party! I couldn't have done any of it without you! I truly have the best friends around and cherish them so much!

Our sweet girl decided to stop and look for 1 picture

Such a proud and helpful big sissy (Kennedy helped with so much stuff for the party)

I have become a wood burning master :) 

Almond Joy Cake Pops!

Cutest lady bug and butterfly (Made by Aunt B) Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

(The most beautiful cake I have ever seen!! Made by Aunt B)

Didn't want to cut into this cake!

Cookies made by Carrie

Perfect set up for a sweet unique little girl!

Bird House Craft

Kennedy trying to see if Harper needed "help"

Creating a beautiful house for her "Sissy Lulu"

Kennedy had the time of her life! I guess creativity can get messy

Thank you to everyone who came to make Harper's day so special! 

We are truly blessed.

Kennedy and Harper

Every year I make canvas pics for the girls birthday parties! So this year I had in my mind the pics I wanted to do for Harper's upcoming birthday party (Woodland Cottage theme), well she is not one who is super keen on sitting still for pictures so it didn't go as exactly planned.... Kennedy would run away from Waddles (the pig) and cry it was def interesting trying to get these pics done!  A HUGE thank you to my sweet friend Brenda for all her help and for letting me use her yard (which is the most amazing place ever!) for pictures.

I wasn't sure I would be able to take her pics because of rain that day. It stopped raining and had the perfect amount of overcast for her pics. I raced up to Brenda's to get everything set up before Trav brought the girls up! Picked out the most amazing places and set up 4 different spots. As Trav was on his way up the sun decided to come out full force and my "perfect locations" were no longer perfect and full of sun! So with Brenda's help we moved everything quickly to more shady areas. I couldn't have done it without her help!

I wanted to get one perfect picture of the girls together.... That didn't happen and not likely to happen anytime soon! I guess I will always be on the quest to get the perfect picture of the two of them together! Its the stuff in the middle that is the fun part! I do love the way the pictures came out. My favorite ones of each of the girls, is not of them posed perfectly or posed at all for that matter... Because while its nice to have the perfectly posed picture thats not real life (all the time).... My favorite one of Harper is with her face scrunched up and her mouth open... That is her funny face. To me that is the most precious picture, because she makes that face when she is so happy and excited! Thats the memory I want to remember. My favorite one of Kennedy is with her covering her face with her hands. She does that when she is happy or embarrassed..She covers her face and makes a little nervous laugh and says "haha I am so sorry" while laughing. Those are the memories I want to keep and treasure forever!

When I sit back and look at all the pics I often think about how much I love my family. To me nothing in this world is more important than them. I feel blessed with my life, my children, my husband, my family, and my friends. I thank God for everything/everyone daily. I am learning not to sweat the small stuff and never take life for granted (This is hard for me because I am a total Type A and OCD personality). I realize people are who they are and everyone has their own journey. You accept it or you don't. Life can be gone in a second. No sense wasting time over the things in life you can't change or that doesn't matter. I have learned a lot of this from Kennedy and Harper looking at the world through their eyes. They love with so much passion, curious about everything around them, they are thankful, full of forgiveness, they love everyone around them, and they have no judgements against anyone. This is how God designed us and has called us to be. Its amazing what I have learned and continue to learn from a 3 year old and an 11 month old. When I look at my girls my heart feels full of joy and happiness. I am so thankful for them. I cannot even describe the amount love I have for them!

I cannot wait for the weather to cool off so Brenda and I can have round 2 of trying to get the perfect picture of the girls! I am posting my 2 favorite pictures of them 1st :)