Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Birthday ADDIE!!!!

Addie's 2nd birthday is officially over. Whew! But to be honest I had a lot of fun planning this one and I enjoyed the actual party. Usually I feel stressed but I guess now that I've got a few birthday parties under my belt I don't really care if little things go wrong...and they did. But no biggie.

I started all my craft projects a month in advance and really enjoyed being "scrappy." I lack creative talent but I am pretty good at copying other people's ideas. I saw these really cute pinwheel gift bags on etsy and almost purchased them. But then my little light bulb went off and I googled "how to make a pinwheel" and the rest is history.






These little pinwheels went into the cupcakes but unfortunately caused my cupcakes to have the ability for takeoff in the wind so it caused a minor problem.

I also copied this idea off of etsy. These are cute little matchbook notepads and are so easy to make from scraps of paper. They went perfectly with the pretty little fall leaf crayon party favors.


I had to snap a few pics before the party of the birthday girl eating a cupcake just in case another opportunity didn't present itself.

This is the party favor and cupcake table. I had these super cute cupcake stands to display the cupcakes on but because of our wind/pinwheel situation I had to anchor them in a tray.

I just love these little crayon party favors. You can find them at www.crayoncouture.com. They have all different shapes and even added the cute little message tag for free!

Since Addie's party was fall themed we served chili and hot dogs. I made two batches just so we could freeze the left overs and eat it later but most of it got eaten up at the party!

We had to staple the table clothes to the tables because it was so windy. Thanks Levi for taking care of that.

Anyone need any hay bales? I'm not quite sure what to do with them now.


Guests start arriving and Jack greets Grandy with a huge hug!


Addie loves Pop's hat and Pop.

I just realized I got the pictures out of order but it takes too long to upload so we will just pretend we did presents first.

First present Addie opened was a Minnie Mouse doll and book. She hasn't let Minnie go yet.


Addie's first perfume.
Our baby girls loves jewelry.

When we sang happy birthday to Addie she loved every second. Who knew she loved the spotlight?

We had to pretend to blow out the candles because it was too windy.

Rylan, aka Mario, Madi the puppy, Haley the kitty, and Jack the fireman all lined up for cupcakes.

A kiss for the birthday girl.

I LOVE THIS!

We attempted to take a group picture. That cute tushy is little Leilei. I'm not quite sure why her booty was in the air but I think it is super cute!


Beautiful fall fairy princess Elizabeth and handsome fireman Jack on the seesaws.

The Pope clan.


Jack, Rylan and Dakota hanging out, being boys.

Beautiful princess Avery.

More boy stuff.

I love this picture because Dakota, the ninja looks like he is peeking up Kaileigh's skirt.

We are so fortunate to have our very own playground. Thank you Daddy, Levi, Matt, and Keith for building it for us.

Addie visiting with Nana, Mimi, and Grandy.

As guests began to leave and the sun began to set, Jack and a couple of his cousins found a frog and had a great time passing it around. Little Madison even held it but I didn't get a picture in time. And yes, I am aware that Jack's overalls are on backward. Oops.

Jack showed the birthday girl the frog. She actually touched it. I was so proud...and a little grossed out.


The party was over and Addie gave her Pops one last goodbye high five...with her mouth full of crackers.
Thank you to all of our family and friends for making Addie's second birthday so much fun. I'm so glad you could be a part of her special day!







































Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Two negatives equal a positive

This past weekend Levi and I finally got a chance to get away for a romantic overnight date. We had attempted this weekend twice already with it falling through each time due to someone getting sick. So we were starting to feel like it would never happen. But alas, it did and it was perfect...but only because it was not so perfect. I've come to learn that it is the imperfections that make me and Levi so perfect for each other. We stayed in this really beautiful hotel, The Stoneleigh and ate at our favorite sushi restaurant, Kenichi (If you go, request tap water and do not order the "fresh wasabi" these two things alone will save you $30 on your bill, we learned the hard way). But even though we were pretending for the night to live this fancy expensive life of no kids and high heels we had this constant reminder of real life and that reminder came in the form of a loud annoying "SQUEEK SQUEEK SQUEEK!" Let me explain:

Earlier this year my Montero started to have some minor issues. We took it to a mechanic and were told that it needed a new engine! Ouch! We really love, well loved, our Montero and weren't financially ready to buy another car (we have a rule that we pay cash only and right now we could only afford a used Neon which didn't really sound appealing). So we got a new engine. We thought it was the right decision. This way we could drive around in our already very used Montero while the kids were young and goldfish and apple juice were still a necessity for longer shopping trips and errand running while saving up for a nicer car where perishables will not be allowed. But then the air conditioning broke. So the Montero went back into the shop...and stayed in the shop. For over 3 months the Montero was being worked on for one reason or another. So after $6,000 and a lot of wasted time the very problem that we had gotten a new engine for still existed and now every time I hit the brake (and sometime when I don't) my car goes, "SQUEEK SQUEEK SQUEEK!" loudly. So loud that people around me look at me. We have been told by two mechanics that this problem is going to cost another$2,000 to fix but the Montero is still completely safe to drive...just annoying. So I have swallowed all my pride, not that there ever was a lot considering the Montero is missing part of the front fender and has a huge dent in the side, and I drive the Montero despite the weird looks. Stefanie says it sounds like a turkey gobble. Well, Happy Thanksgiving.

So back to our date night...Here we are at a hotel where you have to valet and we pull up with our gobbling SUV...not cool, very embarrassing. One valet guy, whom I'm guessing probably drives that used Neon we could afford, actually made a comment about our car being the squeeky car when Levi called down to have it brought up so we could go to dinner. But for some reason because Levi and I both shared this embarrassment together it all of a sudden became the funniest thing and not so embarrassing anymore. We laughed all night long about the ridiculousness of our situation and I can think of only a few things I like better than laughing with Levi. So whatever, we may drive the most embarrassing car and we may not fit into the fancy social scene of uptown Dallas but we work, our marriage works, we have fun and we laugh together and I kind of think that all of that is well worth the weird looks.

Levi Pope, there isn't anyone on this planet I would rather be embarrassed with more. You make me smile all the time and I love the squeeky, not so perfect life we have together.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Halloween Preview

I always try to get some pictures of the kids in their costumes before they chow down on the chocolate candy and smear it on their costumes so we got all dressed up and went into our backyard/forest and snapped a few pics. The setting was perfect for Addie's fall fairy princess costume but not so much for Fireman Jack. I still may take him to the fire station to get a few there. But this is what we got today.