Princess Sara Beth Turns Three

I cannot believe that my sweet baby girl celebrated her third birthday this past week. I don't know why, but three sounds so much older than 2 to me. Sara Beth brings so much joy to our family each day. I honestly can't believe how much Sara Beth has learned and absorbed in three fast years. She talks like a little grown up. I am amazed at the love and compassion she already shows to other. She is better mannered towards and kinder to strangers than I am. If she thinks someone is mad at her she flashes her puppy dog eyes and says "I love you." She is quick to forgive. She loves and is very protective of Nate. I feel like there are times I expect too much out of her because she does act so grown up at times.She is truly a gift from God and I am thankful for all of our friends and family who have shown her so much love.

 When I asked Sara Beth what kind of birthday party she wanted to have she told me that that she wanted to wear her princess dress and have a tea party. She is obsessed with being a princess and she loves having tea parties so I thought this was a great idea. For the rest of the blog I am going to show pictures from her princess party, family party, and a trip to see the grandparents in Newport. Sadly I didn't do the best job of taking pictures of Sara Beth with family members, but we are so thankful for all of our family who helped maked her birthday special.

Thank you Nikki for the beautiful cupcakes!

Thank you Gigi for the new princess dress!

Sara Beth enjoying the bounce house while waiting on her friends to arrive!

Singing happy birthday!

craft time

playing pin the crown on the princess :)

time out from the party to play a little basketball

Sara Beth with her crown and doorhanger she made.

Nate showing off his six pack. :)

present time

loving playing with Aunt Tammy

I love this picture of Nate holding on to Mimi's hand.

love this blue-eyed boy

getting her nails done on her birthday

Thank you Aunt Autumn for the awesome cupcake set!

Sara Beth loves to paint!

Birthday buddies! 25 years apart!

putting together a puzzle with Nana

playing a little game of catch with Memaw

Nate crashing after all the birthday madness

By the way, if you ask Sara Beth how old she is she will inform you that she is three, but she is still celebrating her birthday. :) 

While Daddy's Away, Let the Children Play

This past week was a little crazy with Austin out of town so the kiddos and I spent a lot of time outdoors and of course, at Chic-fil-a. A lot of our family went in together to by Austin and his dad a surprise ski trip to Breckenridge for their Christmas present. I really wasn't too jealous, even though I love to ski, until Austin sent me these amazing pictures from the top of one of the peaks.

Austin looks a little scary, but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous!



The kids and I managed to keep busy with Austin gone, but they sure missed their daddy. Anytime our garage door opened, Nate would take off towards it chanting, "Da Da." One night, Nate slammed a door on Sara Beth's finger and she would not stop crying for like 30 minutes. I was starting to get worried and I asked her why she was still crying and she told me that she really needed to see her daddy. That made me tear up a little, but also made me happy that she loves her daddy so much and find comforts in him.

Here are a few pictures of how we spent our time while Austin was gone:

playing at chicfila

Nate's preferred way of going down.

reading her favorite book right now

Nate at the park right before he falls back. :)

Sara Beth has not been sleeping very well in her toddler bed so as soon as Austin got back I was determined to convert her bed to a full size bed. I had no clue it would be so tall, so I am checking into getting shorter box springs.

One day while Austin was gone I decided I needed to clean out my closet a little bit. In the first box that I got off of a shelf I found some amazing prints and water color paintings that Austin had bought in Italy during our semester there with Harding. I decided since he has a birthday coming up next week that I should get them framed for him as a surprise. So the closet cleaning came to a hault and I headed to the frame shop. I have been wanting a gallery of pictures to go on an empty wall in our dining room and I decided these would be perfect. I was able to pick them up yesterday and I decided to go ahead and hang them because I couldn't wait until his birthday. I never hang anything on the walls without Austin's help because he actually measures and uses a level and I just eyeball things so I was hoping he would approve. Luckily, he did. :)

I know this blog is really random, but I kind of feel like that is how my life is most days, so I apologize that I am totally all over the place. I have to post these last couple of pictures. I heard Sara Beth having a conversation in her room yesterday so I peaked in to see her throwing this fabulous tea party for her "friends" as she said. She invited me to join and made me a plate. Is it bad if my plate consisted of chips, a potato, and corn? Maybe I need to start eating more vegetables! After making me a plate, she told me she forgot the ketchup, so she removed some food from all of our plates and added ketchup. I thought it was too funny, because Sara Beth honestly can't eat a meal without ketchup. I sure love her imagination!

I guess that's all for now! I've got to get busy getting things ready for Sara Beth's birthday party tomorrow. I can't believe she is turning 3. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted she told me all that she wanted was to wear her princess dress and have a tea party. So that is what we are doing! I'll post pictures next week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kat