Anna Kate's 6th Birthday Party

Yesterday was a BIG day (and long). Anna Kate, three of her best friends, their moms and myself loaded up in my Expedition and drove to Atlanta for AK's birthday party at American Girl. We left at 10:30 am, stopped in Newnan, GA for a potty break and to play musical seats, because you know none of the girls were happy with where they were sitting or who they were sitting beside (when does the girl drama end)?). When we finally arrived at the store/bistro the car erupted with squealing!!!

AK & Aubrie

Crazy Renee was supposed to be taking a picture of the girls...

They're so silly!

Look at that yellow gum that they all had to have!

WE MADE IT!!!!! *squeal*

I think she was in complete awe of everything! LOL

Reading their menus

This is a precious picture!!!

Morgan, Aubrie, AK, Anslee

Couldn't keep the sillies away for very long :c)

I made these bags for the girls to carry doll 'stuff' in. It has each girls doll initial.

Enjoying our appetizers...YUM!

Time for cake & ice cream

Happy Birthday sweet girl!!!

The dolls got a party hat and chair at the table too :c)

This smile makes all the whining, complaining, crying, huffing and attitudes TOTALLY worth it!

Getting ears pierced and new hairstyles.....for the DOLLS

Anna Kate & Sarah Beth

After 3 1/2 hours in the store, we stopped for a quick ride on the carousel.

They had so much fun!

Can't you tell?!

We just knew the girls would pass out the minute the car starting moving South, but not one eye shut any longer than to blink. I don't know how!!! We got home at 9:00 and then we passed out :c) Everyone had a really great time. It will hopefully be a very memorable day for the girls. I hope so anyway. Thanks to all of our great friends who helped to make Anna Kate's day so very special!

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EPS Egg Hunt 2010

Anna Kate had her school egg hunt and party this afternoon. She was so excited! I was too, but that was before I helped hide hundreds of eggs for four kindergarten classes. It was H.O.T.!!! They were all so cute :c)




Mrs. Orr's 2010 Kindergarten Class


Everyone doing bunny ears before the hunt began. Aren't they cute?!


Annnd, bunny teeth. LOL


Miss Priss finding as many eggs as possible


She meant business!


Then she stopped for a break...just a swangin'. LOL


The class loot


The class chicks finally hatched!! So precious!


Love this kid!!!!

It was a fun afternoon, but it's not over. Right now Jeff and AK are at the church egg hunt while I go to dance class to pick-up recital costumes and take notes on all the many instructions for alterations and fit.

Birthday party tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay :c)

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Busy, Busy

March has been crazy busy and the really busy months haven't even gotten here yet. Phew!

My parents were here visiting from Ohio for 10 days, we had birthday parties to attend, school, dance and church functions....and that's not counting working 40 hours a week. In addition to all of that, I decided I didn't have enough to do and taught myself to sew. I can now applique on the machine, make skirts and will soon be attempting a pair of gauchos (pics to come). Yay me! I can't believe how quickly this month flew by!!!

Tomorrow is April, which is a VERY busy month. We have the school Easter party tomorrow (gotta bake 24 cupcakes tonight), Friday is Anna Kate's birthday party at the American Girl Doll store in Atlanta, another party to attend Saturday, Easter Sunday, AK & Jeff's birthdays next week and then we're off to Disney World for Spring Break the following week. We also begin the extra dance rehearsals and pictures for the recital coming up in June. It's a good thing I'm a list-maker and structured calendar-keeper :c)

Here are just a few pictures from the month (I haven't had time to edit many)...


AK & I before heading out to support friends in a pageant


Isn't she precious?! Such a big school girl *sniff*


If you ever go to AK's school and try to find her, just look for all the boys...that's where she'll be. LOL!


Chatting with a friend in the hall at school

I will try my best to get on here tonight or tomorrow night to edit and upload a bunch more pics. Sadly, this is all I've had time for.

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I'm a sewing fool!

I got my new sewing machine Tuesday and have been DYING to make something. I found this awesome tutorial a few weeks ago, so decided to give it a try. It was sooo easy and it looked mighty cute on Miss Priss this morning :)



If anyone is interested in my collection of 'creative blogs', let me know and I'll shoot you an email. They have great re-fashions for boys too!

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Sarah Beth Lee

We have a new addition to our family. She has dark strawberry blond hair, green eyes and the cutest little freckles on her nose. Just like someone else I know ;-)





















Scared you didn't I?!!! LOL!!! Anna Kate asked for an American Girl Doll for her birthday and since we're doing her party at the store in Atlanta, we went ahead and ordered the doll so she could take it with her. I was out of town on business Monday and had my phone on vibrate. Little did I know Jeff was frantically trying to contact me to ask if AK could open it. By the time I got the messages, she was frolicking around the back yard with Sarah Beth. :c)


Sarah Beth had to be safely buckled in her car seat while we took AK to school. LOL!


AK's hair is wet in these pics, but she & Sarah Beth really do have the same color hair (almost).

So everyone join me in welcoming Sarah Beth Lee to our family of 3!

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Playground Fun

Yesterday we headed to the playground for some playtime with Anna Kate's best friends. I decided to make it a photo shoot too. And oh.my.goodness!...I couldn't be more pleased with these. There are so many good ones, I have no idea what I'll do with them all :) Suggestions?

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Projects, Loose Tooth & Reading

Be afraid. Be very, very afraid....


No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. I did drag my sewing machine out over the weekend and actually completed a few projects - not without some drama though. Ha!

First up was a dress transformation; going from sundress to skirt. Anna Kate had a couple sundresses that were too short, so I made them into skirts.

Step 1: Cut chest off of dress just under the arms.


Step 2: Turn raw edge where you just cut under and pin.


Step 3: Sew all the way around, and voila'! You're done :)

Next was a knee sock project; going from too small tights to adorable knee socks!

Step 1: Cut legs of tights off after measuring what length you want the finished sock to sit on the leg and adding 2" for the hem/elastic.


Step 2: Pin 1/2" elastic around the top of the sock and sew around. Then remove the pins and fold over 1", pin in place and sew around.


Step 3: Remove pins and turn right side out. You can accessorize the sock if you want. I plan to add to pink satin bows to the top front of each sock.


I have a good friend that appliques and I've been wanting to learn how to do it myself. Last night as I was picking Anna Kate's outfit for today I pulled an adorable skirt out of the drawer I purchased from Etsy earlier in the year. However, we didn't have a shirt to go with it. I thought, "hmmmm, maybe now is the time to give appliqueing a go." Me not being all that proficient on a sewing machine - well, I don't have a stock of fabric sitting around, so I had to improvise. I dug through the drawer until I found a pair of flannel shorts from last summer that are too short for AK..they were the EXACT colors in the skirt. Score!! Then I went through the closet and found a long sleeve tee that had a stained pumpkin design on the front. Well, just see the end result for yourself!!!



I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of myself! Let me add that I sewed this applique by hand. Yes, I was a little scared to use the machine, but now that I've done it, I know I could do it on the machine. And, my friend has offered to teach me this Friday after school/work. I'm SO excited!!!!

Oh, and I made AK a cushion for her desk chair that coordinates with her new bedding. I think it turned out so cute!


I crocheted four individual panels, then stitched together, added ties and a few embellishments. Isn't it cute?!

Okay, that's all of my projects for right now.

Yesterday was Read Across America day, as well as Dr. Seuss' birthday. Volunteers go to the school and read to the classes. Our sitter and AK's assigned big sister (assigned by AK) Kaitlyn volunteered in AK's class :)





Aren't they cute with their whiskers and Cat In The Hat hats?

And the last update for today...the most important...Anna Kate has her first loose tooth!!! Let me tell you, we have major drama in our house at the moment. She wants it out so bad, but she's terrified of letting Jeff pull it. We're going on 5 days of sheer panic. Bless her heart. Ha!

She is so worried that the Tooth Fairy won't come if her tooth isn't clean when it comes out. She brushes her teeth at least 4 times a day now...just in case.


Each night she & Jeff wiggle, push, pull, tug and AK ends in a heap of tears and exhaustion to no avail. I just know what is about to happen. Jeff is out of town for the rest of the week, so you know as well as I do that this tooth drama is going to come to a head on MY watch. Uggg. I cringe just thinking about it. I can clean up vomit, deal with diarrhea, clean and bandage scrapes and cuts, but pull a tooth.................suffice it to say I may be cleaning up vomit from two people.

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