Birthday: Part III "The Big Shebang!"

On April 19th (one day after those torrential rain storms that flooded out many areas of Houston) we hosted Kendall's official birthday party at Stevenson Park in Friendswood.A picture of the invites that mommy & daddy painstakingly glittered, be-jeweled and assembled!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, albeit windy! We had a wonderful turnout--in all over 100 people in attendance--lots of playgroup friends, schoolmates, family (from near & far) and other special friends!

Not a cloud in the sky!

The most magnificent cake EVER! Cakes by Gina rocked the house yet AGAIN with a most delicious topsy turvy cake that exceeded even mommy's high expectations! The cake was a perfect match to the invites!




The cutest little girl you ever did see!
(Later, when asked what her favorite thing about the party was, Kendall enthusiastically exclaimed, "THE CAKE"!)

Lots of other yummies!

The activities for the afternoon included pottery painting (teacups, of course), train rides on the Mad Hatter's Express, Tea Cup Toss, and the bounce house.

The party favors included personalized M&Ms and bags of delicious glazed popcorn made by mommy's friends Abby & Will! YUMMY!

Many, many thanks to the following:

Cakes by Gina for the amazing cake!

Cafe Natalie Catering for the yummy dips, appetizers & tea sandwiches!

Over the Top for the lovely linens!

Sharon Nicole Photography for the awesome pics!

Special Arrangements Florist for the adorable centerpieces!

*If you are ever in need of any of the above services (catering, cakes, linens, flowers, photos) I HIGHLY recommend all these people!*

And to the following people for all of their help:

Abby & Will- Thanks for making & bagging all that popcorn! And thanks for blowing up all those balloons!

Chris Rock-you simply ROCK! Everyone raved about how awesome you were!

Lisa J- Seriously, what would I have done without you?! You bent over backwards to help me out on this one! I majorly owe you....BIG TIME!

Birthday: Part II

So, to continue the festivities....we had a birthday celebration with our playgroup (thanks to Marisa for hosting this event at the last minute). Everyone got together for cupcakes and fun....and a little bit of dress-up, too! Mommy's good friend, Kasey, of Monkey Tree Photography (who has been photographing Kendall since she was a newborn) came over and snapped pics of all the kiddos in their silliest dress-up attire. A good time was had by all!

Here are some of Kasey's lovely photos of the FAB-u-lous Miss K!

And a few snapshots that mommy's friend Lisa took:

A Birthday in 3 Acts! Part I

[Pardon me for being so behind in my blogging. I've had 6 weddings in the past 30 days! Whew!]


SO, our little tiny baby turned 3 on April 13th! We wonder how that is even possible, it seems as if she was just born yesterday!

What better way to to celebrate one's 3rd birthday than THREE celebrations!

On April 13th, the actual day of her birthday,we started out the day by going for main/pedis. Kendall thoroughly enjoyed herself, as you can see. Every smile seen below was totally un-prompted...she was tickled pink with being treated like such a BIG GIRL! Of course she picked out purple polish...and even got flowers painted on her toes!

Once daddy got home from work, we went to Main Event for a round of bowling. Kendall has been bowling before, and really enjoys it (for about 5 frames). Then, we went and played video games since she loves those (wonder where she gets THAT trait from!). She (and her daddy) had a great time!

We wrapped up the evening with a dinner out at Pappasito's....one of K's favorite restaurants. She loved having the staff sing to her (we did the same thing last year and she got a kick out of it the, too) but was slightly disappointed that no sombrero was involved this year (somebody walked off with it!)

Happy Easter!

So here's our almost 3 year old visting with the Easter Bunny. She just loved him (as usual)!


And just for fun....a little blast from the past.

Age 2 (2008)




Age 1 (2007)



On Easter Sunday 2006, the day she came home from the hospital:

Blue Bell and Bluebonnets...doesn't get any better than that!

Recently Kendall and I took a day to have a Mommy & Me adventure. We headed up 290 in search of blue bonnets. I had also been wanting to take her to the Blue Bell Creamery, but since they are closed on the weekends it's been near impossible for us to make a family trip up there.
So, Kendall and I just went on our own, leaving poor daddy stuck in the office.

Kendall had a fantastic time at the Blue Bell plant (sorry, no pictures allowed inside the actual tour...it's all top secret stuff). Their tours are really fun (and short, thank goodness)...and they end in the most wonderful way...with a free scoop of hand-dipped ice cream! Kendall indulged in "birthday cake" flavor, which was admittedly pretty yummy.

Kendall's favorite part (outside of the ice cream eating) was running around on the gorgeous grounds outdoors, and she also enjoyed "shopping" their adorable gift shop. Definitely a fun day trip we recommend!

By the trademark Blue Bell girl & cow:

Sitting on the first freezer truck--circa approx. 1930s I believe.

A few lovely pictures in their pretty courtyard.



From there we headed out Hwy. 105 in search of a bluebonnet patch to take the Texas traditional kid-in-bluebonnet pictures that are a staple around here. The flowers were everywhere around us, but the biggest patches were behind fences (w/signs that said "no trespassing/private property") so we didn't risk it there. I found us a nice little patch on a stretch of road between Brenham and Navasota. I changed K's clothing and got busy snapping. Unfortunately Kendall wasn't as cooperative as I'd hoped--she was pretty mezmerized by all the beautiful blue flowers...so I did the best I could. Here are a few of my favorites from the bunch:







And we're done! (aka mommy's camera battery went dead)