Welcome to Miss H's Cookie Bar

Miss H's 2nd birthday as most of you know was a Milk and Cookies party!!  We had a blast at her party.  I am pretty sure everyone had a good time.  I mean come on to eat cookies the whole party is a grand idea for little ones!  I had a blast planning this one too.  I began this party actually when she was almost one…but then didn't do it for her first birthday because we had not moved into our new house.  I wanted to have it at our house and our rent house I didn't think was cute enough.  So instead for her 1st birthday we did an all about Miss H party…you can see it here. Thus my Milk and Cookies party just continued to be a dream for birthday number 2!! I am sure it was all meant to be too because Miss H loves cookies this year…and last year she would have had no idea since I never let her have one! 

Here is our sweet birthday girl in all her glory!!  This was on Friday when we picked up her cake!  Our sweet friend made her cake to match perfectly and even made a little stand above the cookies!! Love it!!

 Miss H outside of the house with her little birthday set up…so the guest would know where to come. 

Her birthday table!!  A wide view of all the goodies

 Our Milk and milk shots with a mini chocolate chip cookie on top! 

 Funfeti cookies and mini chocolate chip cookies 

 The table cloth we use is a twin sheet…I had her name monogramed on it in the middle.  Every year the guest write a little note and sign the table cloth.  My sweet niece has been using hers since her first birthday…she just turned 10 this year and it is finally full!  Looks like we have 8 more years on this one..so excited! 

 Her Milk and Cookies stand!! 

 The banner I made on my cricut love it.  Here big letters I used last year also they just got a new paint job and hung up!!  Last year they were pink and a more blue rather than aqua. 

The close up on her stand…Yes this is the Milk and Cookies Stand my mom and I built back in October!!  Can you believe we have been working on it all since then, ha ha.  My mom made this cute pendent banner too…Dad and Miss H strung them up and put it on.  

A few more views of the cuteness!! 

Her stand held the mike, milk jars, straws, and 2 cookies!  

Strawberry milk, Chocolate milk, and whole milk 

Milk jars for those who wanted to make their own milk.  Thank you to Outback Steak house for allowing us to purchase these jars.  I searched for months online for these and they were crazy in price. Thankfully we found a nice person at Outback that allowed us to pay their cost for them. 

 the left side of her table…Had her amazing cake!! The H that I made with cookie crisp cereal.

Two cookies, Rolo cookies and sugar cookies…which were both big hits!!  Also the Walgreens brag book which was free a few weeks ago!  

 Her cake! 

The goodie bags for our guest to take home…They had a book (3 types) donated by Chick-fil-a.  I wanted to purchase them but they wouldn't allow me. We love Chick-fil-a they are the best around! The kids got one of these Click Clack Moo, Dooby Dooby Moo, Thump Quack Moo. They also got a ring pop because what kid doesn't love that.  Then a snack trap with animal cookies inside!! 

 Miss H and her table.  Her sweet shirt was made by a local girl in town.  I had the leggings and tutu and she helped me match it perfectly! 

 Two years of monthly photos…the bottom one is from 1-12 months which I used at her first birthday.  The top row is 13-24 months…and black and white for our theme this year.  I think I will still take monthly pics because I love them so. 

Miss H enjoying a little cookie and milk before her guest arrived!! 

 It doesn't get any better than this!! I mean really!!

My two favorite pictures of the whole day!!! I adore the smile on her face. Priceless 

  

This girl was DONE with pictures…ha ha can't you tell!  But we snuck in one more with her and her cousins.  

We also had a bounce house at the party!  If you are going to eat cookies you need to work all that sugar off right?  Here are some pictures of all her friends enjoying the cookies, bounce house, and more! 

 Oh how I love these two together…Sweet Baby G and Miss H cousin love. 

Sharing a cookie with her bestie T who lives across the street. 

Becca with her 2 little cuties!! 

My sweet niece Little Bear signing her name!  

Little Bear, B and Aunt RiRi all enjoying the party!   

Who me…what I am 2!! That's what people keep saying!! 

Time for singing and cake…she loved listening to everyone sing 

While the kid enjoyed the bounce house all day, even after the party!!  My sweet mom and dad had the daunting task of getting the stand out!  Did I mention that in order to get it in the house or out of the house we had to REMOVE the front door!! YIKES!  But my parents are awesome and knew how badly I wanted the stand inside for the party.  I love them

Taking the stand out…if we had only made it 2 inches shorter in width! Well lessons learned lol but it was totally worth the door being removed right? 

Miss H's birthday day!

Thursday was Miss H's actual birthday!  Of course we wanted to make her day special so it was a day of anything you want!! Thankfully we have been having great weather this past week.  Miss H of course wanted to go to the zoo for her birthday.  H woke up early and got to enjoy breakfast with daddy before he took off for work. I am so glad he got some time with her on her special day!  Then we cleaned up and took off for the ZOO!!

Miss H was so excited about going because we haven't been since before Christmas.  We had a blast the whole time and were in no rush.  We got to see everything she wanted except 2 things.  The baby elephants Bell and Bowie were not out..it may have been a bit chilly for them.  Also the Yellow Rose Express train is out of commission until Feb!! YIKES!!  That's okay she happily took the horse ride over the train anyways!

 The sweet hippo was out and about..not a normal thing so we were excited!

 We love these otters…they are so playful!

 Enjoying the petting zoo, which we never do! 

 We had a blast!!

 Showing off her tamps!!

After the visit she always ask for a tamp…stamp and they are always so inky!!  See her nose..that would be from her tamp because her nose itched! No matter how many times I blot them she ends up with it on her face somewhere. Ha

helping Papa with her banner for her stand

After the zoo we headed home to meet up with BB and Papa!!  They were headed down to help set up for the birthday fun.  We sure are thankful they came to help.  Once Chris got off work we all went to dinner.  Miss H likes Texas Road house because they have peanuts and rolls.  Of course we would go where she wanted for dinner.  Plus she got to have some ice-cream since it was her special day!

Miss H is 24 months….2 Years old!!

Today was the happiest day of our lives two years ago!  Although it was a long day…it was the happiest ever.  Two years ago Chris and I welcomed the sweetest girl into the world!  Miss H you sure didn't want to come right out and meet us, but man where you worth the wait. You can read all about her arrival here and here.

Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet little girl!  We love you so much I can't even express it.  Every day you amaze us at what you can accomplish.  I am pretty sure you are going to make an amazing mommy the way you treat your sweet Baby Claire.  You bounce her and rock her everyday to make sure she is happy.  You even take her in her carseat in the car.  Baby Claire is just like family to us thanks to you.

The past few weeks I feel like you have really changed.  You are a runner…nothing stands in your way!  You don't walk ANYWHERE, it is always a run.  You run to grab a toy, run to get daddy, run to throw something away…run, run, run!! Some days it makes mommy very tired all your running :-)

Oh the talking man you are a little chit chat girl! I am not sure where you get that from?? However you can pretty much carry on a full story with me about anything.  You are such an expressive person too…I love the faces and empathy you put into some stories.  When you hear another baby crying you always talk about how sad they are or that they need their mommy…I'm pretty sure you would run over and help if I would let you! Your new favorite thing this week is to talk about the days of the week.  I am sure it is because we have been talking about how your birthday is on Thursday but your party is on Saturday.  When someone ask when your birthday is you say Saturday…and then go on about how you will have cookies at it.  Then when daddy asked you a question yesterday you answered so sure, "yeah on Thursday" Daddy looked at me like you were crazy…and said so now we refer to the days of the week?  I love it!  I love how you soak it all in and then just go.

You have begun to have some major 2 year old moments…but most of the time it is right before bed or nap time.  I think it is more being tired than anything.  However you have that screaming, crying, fit thing down.  Some times it is over the silliest of things and others it is because you just didn't get your way.  No matter what you do know what a time out is.  I can warn you then you will bring me your paci (if you have it) and head to time out.  You are a very good listener and I love that.  You mind mommy and daddy most of the time!  Again your 2 year old self can get in the way…but you know when we mean business!

Your favorite things right now are: riding your horse and four wheeler in the house.  You are getting better about not hitting mommy's walls and steering!  I am thankful for that! You are loving your babies this month.  You got a little doll house from Santa and have really enjoyed playing with that.  You can really use your imagination too.  You talk to them just like they are real.  I love it! Daddy is one of your favorite things right now…you love him so much! You talk about him coming home all day and when he walks in you scream and run.  He normally can't put you down to even get changed from work.  I love that you adore him.

Harper you were worth the 2 days of labor you put me through.  Plus the pretty mark I will always have to remind me of you :-)  We can't wait to see what the next year brings…I can tell you one thing it will bring many days of love, laughter, and joy.  Happiest of birthdays to our special little girl!!

Perks of a small town

In our world the fun and holiday madness doesn't end until after MLK weekend.  Finish Christmas and New Years to only jump into BIRTHDAY craze!!  This year we are doing a Milk and Cookies party!  Miss H is very excited she loves cookies…I am excited because this was suppose to be her 1st birthday theme.  However, I wanted to have the party in our house and well….last year our house was no where near ready!

Thus far I have made many items…but the most fun would have been today!  Oh and did I mention my mom came down for a quick weekend trip, not to worry she will be back next weekend too ;-)  Small town life is always full of charm right? Anyways there is this little shack in town that people use as a sign.   I am sure it was like an old well house or something back before city water and such.  This shack is right next to the main road in town.  3 sides of the shack face the road and gosh who knows how long it has been the TOWN SIGN!  It is a sign for anything…and I adore it.  Every since I knew we were moving to A town I have looked forward to the moment we got to paint the "sign"

Thankfully we had a semi nice day here and that my mom stuck around to help!!  Our mission today…Birthday sign for Miss H!!  We had a blast doing it.  It also came with many lessons learned!  1) you can't have too many supplies.  I had to run home for a minute to grab some extra things, mom stayed to keep the sign safe lol.  2) Always check paint lids 3) Have a blast!!

Mom and I had a grand old time laughing and painting the shack.  Miss H came up at the end for a quick look too!  She loves it!!  She says Happy to me!!!  Here is a little look at our adventure. I will post all the birthday party pics after this weekend.

Okay so BRETT turned 13 earlier this month.  You can see in the bottom corner 1/5 meaning that either his birthday was that day or they wanted the sign up until then.  Thus our sign says 1/20 because her birthday is 1/16 but her party is 1/18!!  We hope all our guest see it as they drive into town and our house!! 

 Sorry Brett away it all goes…why gray well it was the "mis-tented" color that Lowe's had on sale for 5 bucks!! Thanks to whom ever didn't like their color!!

My sweet mom busy working so I could take pictures and document!  Our gray did a wonderful job of covering all those crazy spots.  

Did I mention the WIND!! Oh my heavens the wind today was crazy up to 40 mph wind gust.  Thankfully this side of the shack was a little less windy so we used it as our paint area.  Not to worry many things still tried to blow away!! It was crazy out there today. 

Step one done!! All those crazy spots gone and a fresh start for Miss H's sign! 

Phase 2…her age!  This was a little harder to do the 2, all those years of paint has made the shack very bumpy!! 

Her name and our important date!!  I hope that others respect our dated!! 

It needed a little something else.  Ideally I would have loved to make a milk jar or cookie!  However I know my talent and well its not that great.  We went with something a little easier and I love it. 

Oh…um this is the 2nd rule!  Mom just sat the lid on our paint can, and told me but well I guess I forgot!  Went to give it a small shake and hummmm you can see how that ended up! 

Thankfully we still had enough paint in our what was full can!! We added some candles for our little extra!!  The candles are Miss H's favorite part too so I am glad mom thought of them.  Moms are the best! 

Here it is FINISHED!!  Chris brought H up to check it out..sadly the wind was just too much! She loves it but we didn't get any good pics because of the wind.  Not to worry I plan for a mini session out there this week :-) 

see my crazy hair…hence the wind! 

This is the sign as you drive into town! You can see almost all of it..except my happy birthday part but that is okay. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from US!!  We spent our NYE making hats at our friends NYE party!  We have been going to this party for 3 years now..and love it.  I adore the idea of everyone getting together eating, drinking, and crafting. The host is a retired preschool teacher…and well what better way to use your teaching supplies than making hats.  Each year the hats get better and better! This year I will have to say my creativeness was all on H's hat…leaving mine a little lacking! No matter what we had a ball and enjoyed ringing in the New Year with good friends.  

Miss H really getting into the fun!

 Her hat was her 3 favorite things of 2013-elephants, baby Claire, and music!!

Today we spent the day doing some things around the house and watching football of course!  This past year has been amazing…I don't know how each year can get better and better but they do.  Soon to come post of 2013 highlights!! Until then hope your FRIST day of the 2014 was just how you planned it!