'Tis the Season!

     Okay so get ready for a whole bunch of posts about my favorite time of year.  I love, love, LOVE Christmas!!  We always have so many events each year to attend, and typically I capture all of those on camera, but my camera has been really weird lately.  I'll take a few pictures and then it will tell me some kind of error and tell me to turn my camera off, remove the battery, and turn it back on.  It always works after that, but only for a few shots, then it starts right back again.  It's driving me crazy!  Because of this, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to! Grr...anyways...I got some good stuff, though!
     These pictures are from the first event of the Christmas season, Charli's first grade Christmas party.  I should tell you that the week before the party, I emailed her teacher and told her I would be happy to help in any way.  Two days later, I got a phone call at 9:00 at night (which if you know me you know that's WAY past my bedtime!) from the classroom party mom.  She was way to excited for it to be 9:00, and she was even more excited about this party.  She told me I could either bring drinks or make a snack and if I was going to buy a snack, I should probably just bring drinks. Ha!  So, I happily volunteered to make a "super cute and super fun" (in her words) snack for the class.  So, the night before the party, Charli and I made these cute little "super fun" snacks.  (Thanks pinterest!)

We had a good time, Charli's job was to insert all the noses and I did the rest. You would be surprised at how difficult it is to break pretzels to look like antlers.  It definitely was!  Cooper enjoyed them though!  ;)  Anyways...here are a few shots from the day of her party!

 This is Charli and her teacher, Mrs. Scott!  Her teacher is so sweet and absolutely awesome for Charli!  We gave her this sign for Christmas.  I had Aunt Ruth make it for her.  She loved it!  Charli was so excited to give it to her!

Making her craft

Enjoying her snack

Her best friend, Mary Mac

Another friend, Denisha

Mommy & Daddy with their girl

Christmas Card "Photo Shoot"

So, I typically take our Christmas cards every year.  This is probably not a great idea, but since I wait until the last possible minute to do them, I really don't have a choice! So, here ya go!!

Yeah, so, I almost used this picture, and if you know us, you know why!

"Run to Mommy!"  Too bad Charli decided to drag Emmie Kate along the way! She was okay...just got grass stains on her tights!

This one is just too cute!



Just not working...



You guys like how Weesa just sat up there, perfectly where she would have been if she were another one of the kids?

"Smile Cooper!"

And here's the winner!

 I should really get our pictures made next year, but then again, this is WAY more fun!! :)

Cheese!

Look at these three!  Aren't they just precious?!

Wizard of Oz Birthday Part Two

So, I have to admit.  The night before the party, I panicked a little bit!  I took the day off to get a lot of the stuff done, but 5:00 rolled around and I had to pick up the kids from school!  AHHH! Ben was gone to his football game, and so it was up to me to keep the kids out of the glitter, balloon, & snack filled dining room!  Nearly impossible!!   Thank goodness for the help of my friends, without them, I'm not sure anything would have gotten done!! 


Make a wish!




The inside of the cake!  I'm definitely not capable of doing this, so I delegated!  Thanks Aunt Ruth!!




Bella, excited to dig in!



Love these girls! :)

Tons of gifts!

Mommy & Daddy's sweet girl!

My little "Dorothy" with her Toto (A.K.A. Weesa!)

The party turned out great!  We had a wonderful time with lots of family and friends!  Most importantly, Bella LOVED it! :)

Bella's Wizard of Oz Party Part One

So, I am WAY behind on these posts.  And by way behind, I mean her birthday was in September!  Whew!  Anyways, Bella wanted a little mermaid party, a ballerina party, and then three weeks before the big day, she changed her mind and wanted Wizard of Oz.  This being my favorite movie, I got really excited! :)

These were the invitations.  I typically try to make them cuter, but since she changed her mind three weeks before...this is the best I could do!

I love how this party turned out, but my one regret is not hiring a photographer!  (Becky, you will be called for the next Ensor party! Ha!)  I had one of the girls at the party take pictures, and she did a great job, but I would like to have had lots of professional shots that I just didn't have time to do! 


Our little "Doroty" standing on the "yellow brick road"! 



The front entryway had a place for guests to write little we love you messages and it also had the party favors.  The favors were "apples" from the haunted forest.  Inside was courage, heart, a diploma, glenda's bubbles, & toto treats!



The food table





The somewhere over the rainbow cake...you know, where blue birds fly!



We painted frames as the craft...



Then we took pictures of the kids in the "hot air balloon" to put in the frames!

 Okay!  I'll try to do more later!