My baby girl is 3!

Happy 3rd birthday to my little sunshine...the one who keeps me on my toes, pushes my patience at times, makes me laugh and smile all day every day, and has a sweet, sweet spirit that I couldn't live without! I love you sweet girl and thank the Lord for you daily....I have cherished every second of your sweet two year old hugs and kisses and hope you never change! Looking forward to another fun-filled year of Rhodesy and hope you had the happiest of birthdays today! Happy 3rd birthday Rhodesy!!

Looking back on September...

Bad blogger here again! I am thankful for my iphone and the ability to have pictures of some of our activities to help me update! September has been another fun month! Both of the girls started ballet in September, as well as music for Rhodesy and choir for Ali. They both love both of these activities - they are highlights of their weeks! We spent the rest of the month busy in all of our activities, attending birthday parties, concerts, football games, and having some good Fall family time. My favorite time of year!

Rhodes and her friend, Hadley, on their first day of ballet. She has a precious class of 4 sweet little girls, all about a month apart, all second or third children, and all Methodists! :) Reminds me a lot of my foursome growing up - and I have a feeling they will be special little friends!

Hadley, Rhodes and Mollie Ryan....we are missing pictures of Madeline on the first day - but I'm sure there will be many more to come later on!
Rhodes was giving us fits earlier this month (noted in previous posts) - screaming bloody murder when she went to bed and waking up in the middle of the night to throw more screaming fits. It was a miserable few nights - and something this pregnant Mama was not happy about dealing with in the few months I have before we have a newborn in this house. We finally decided that Rhodes just was ready to move out of the crib. We knew the time was coming, but were not ready to make the switch until we had to. :) We went bed shopping, but in the meantime, decided to move Rhodes into Ali's bed...and it worked out so well, that the two are still sleeping together. We have our nights where Rhodes wants to talk and tell jokes and keep Ali up - but, overall, it has been a good transition - so good, that I think we will keep it for the time being! The girls went to Pottery Barn Kids to pick out their new shared bedspread and this was their choice for their "new" bed!
I went on a quick girls trip with some of my great friends from high school (well, and elementary school and before!) - it was such a nice getaway full of sleep, relaxing and catching up! (and wine for everyone but me! :)) So thankful for these friends and love reminiscing! While I was gone, Ryan played Mr. Mom and took the girls to a Marietta game on Friday night and to two birthday parties on Saturday and over to the Swartwood's house on Saturday night (I was with Mandy at her parent's amazing lake house) - so they had a very full and very fun weekend! I found these pictures on Ryan's phone from one of their parties and I got a good laugh out of them so I thought I would share. My friend, Carly, threw an amazing Barnyard party for her children - Mary Reese and Hutson - and the girls (especially my animal-loving Rhodesy!) had a blast!







In other Rhodesy news......my silly baby decided she wanted to be Smurfette for Halloween one night. The next day, I left her alone for about 5 minutes....until she came running into my room yelling "Look Mom! I'm Smurfette!" Picture does not do it justice...but her legs, arms and belly were all covered in green marker! Little nut! :)
We met our friends, the Harveys, at the North Georgia State Fair this week and had a ball! The girls (especially Rhodes) had a ball and loved all of the rides! We can't wait until it comes back again next year so we can go again - excited about this new Fall family tradition!

My sweet girls!
Ali took her first field trip this past week and I got to chaperone! She has such a precious class and we are so lucky that school is on the Marietta Square so we can walk to fun places like the fire station!
Ali and her friend, Caroline in the hats they made!

Love this sweet class of friends!

Tomorrow a princess in our house turns THREE years old - so tonight we are heading out to celebrate her final hours as a two year old. Love my sweet family and thankful for every second we get to spend together!

Give a Rhodeso some chocolate ice cream...

And leave her unattended for a few minutes....and this is what you may come back to!

Love my little chocolate monster, but boy can she make a mess! :)

Weekend roundup!

In an effort to keep the blog updated, just wanted to post some pictures from this past week/weekend from my phone!

Rhodes loves to do two things - she loves to find something for the day/week/night that she is obsessed with and wear it/hold it/take it everywhere with her while it is her current obsession. Last week - it was this shirt! (Note to self: Stop spending all of my money on cute matching smocked clothes - Rhodes prefers to dress herself and usually goes for a more casual look!) She wanted to wear it all day, then to bed, then again the next day. Also, in an effort to stall going to bed, she tries to think of anything in her power that will get us to come back in her room or keep us from leaving her room at bedtime. During the pink shirt obsession night, she stalled trying to put together an outfit (she also likes to wear snow hats out during the day - quite the fashionista!) and went to bed exactly like this...shoes and all!

(And, yes...once we have potty training completely 100% - we have two big goals coming up...get rid of pacifier and move to a big girl bed! I am stalling trying to keep this girl my baby forever!)

We had a fun weekend - kicking it off with the Blue Devil Walk. We didn't go to the game b/c Ryan and I already had plans - but we walked over to the stadium and watched the blue devil walk with the girls - love this time of year and so fun to get to walk over with the girls. On the way back, I was struggling up a big hill, pushing Ali in the stroller - but loved the view we had from afar of Rhodes on her daddy's shoulders!
We made our rounds on Saturday to three different parties - two birthday parties for the girls and a wedding shower for good friends of ours on Saturday night! The only pictures I came home with were from one of the fun birthday parties that we all went to! It was at Miss Mamie's cupcakes and then Marietta Pizza Company and the girls were so great (even after eating cupcakes before pizza!) and we all had a great time!





Every now and then, I can feel a hint of Fall in the air and it gets me so excited!! Loved being with our little family this weekend and having a few nights out with Ryan and friends! Looking forward to lots of fun family time to come this Fall!

First day of school today!!! Rhodes' version!

My sweet Rhodeso was so excited this morning to wake up and go to school! After my post on Sunday about the lack of sleep and accidents - it's possible I un-jinxed myself! She went to bed at 5:15 pm on Sunday night and didn't wake up until 7:00 on Monday morning - yay for sleep! (and slept great last night too!) And, we have had zero accidents since Sunday - yahoo! I was able to send my baby to school today in her big girl panties after all! :) Rhodes and I got up this morning and made breakfast and just chatted. She named all of her friends that she is excited to see at school today and I am on pins and needles waiting to hear how her first day went! :) We love our little Wooga and we are so proud of her and the little character she is!


Rhodes was so excited to get to school that she did not want/have time to fool with the Mama paparazzi! Just to give you a glimpse of our attempted photo session...

(Ryan had to get to work early for a closing this morning, so Ali was the photographer!)

And, after documenting Ali's first day so well yesterday with a picture of her with her new teacher...unfortunately, this is the best I could do for Rhodes! :) She went right in and didn't look back! I considered asking her teacher to get with her and hold her so she would look at me - but, with a couple sad kiddos, she had her hands full - plus, why prolong my goodbye and maybe make Rhodes sad in the end?? I have to admit, it felt kind of weird walking out of there with both of my little girls in school - but, felt so good to know that they both looked so happy when I left and did not even look back! :)

**After pick-up note** Rhodes had an AWESOME first day! I wish I had a tape recorder so you could hear her excitement and her review of the day when she got in the car! She was a chatterbox and told me everything she did and all of the friends she played with! This Mama had MISSED her today - I mean, she had gone to school last year for the same amount of time - but we had quite the summer of togetherness and I missed my baby today! Plus, she goes to lunch bunch until 1:45 and I picked up Ali at noon (she will usually have ballet on Tuesdays but class does not start until September) and I just wanted to run in there and sneak a peek and grab her to hear how her day was going! And, after two years of having to walk in and get my toddler, it was bittersweet to pull up and see my "baby" standing out there, looking like such a big girl with someone else walking her out (not needing her mama!) - made me tear up a bit! But, the tears were quickly wiped away when I saw and heard the excitement and the fun she had had that day! SO so proud of my baby girl!

It's the first day of school today!!!

Happy first day of Pre-K to my favorite little 4 year old!! Ali was so giddy all day yesterday and woke up with the biggest grin on her face today - couldn't wait for her big day with her little friends!! I was one proud Mama today (and every day!)....love this little sweet pea!
First day in the 4's at school!
Rhodes prefers to be the photographer...even if it's just with a cassette tape!
Say cheese!

Ali with her new teacher, Mrs. Hills! (once you get to 4K - you are big time and start calling teachers by their last names!) :) We love her already! Ali walked right in, gave me a big hug, then, as we said goodbye, she ran out into the hall and gave her little sister a big goodbye hug. Melted this Mama's heart!

The first day was a big success! When I picked Ali up, she was a chatterbox telling me about all of the friends that she saw and played with - plus, she got to be the class leader on the first day! She got to pick where we celebrated after school - she chose Zaxby's and a trip to the School Box!

Striking a pose at lunch...

Having fun!


Here's to a great year! More pictures to come tomorrow after Rhodesy's first day!