Epic Father's Day

And by Epic I mean when one of these is delivered to your house for Father's Day it makes it epic, right?



The girls and I did our research and surprised Scott with a new grill becuase well, ours was awful and we needed a new one. For a while. Except that Scott just wouldn't commit to the buying of one. So I did it for him. It was awesome!





He showed the girls and was all smiles checking it out!







That night we had one of our favorite summertime dinners. We call em packets. Each one customized for what we love to eat.





On Sunday there were extra snuggles before church.



At Mass we heard the most beautiful homily ever. in. the. world. It was all about fathers (of course) and those actively raising a child... how we loved and were inspired.



After Mass there were cards



and smiles







It's so good to have Anna old enough to use my camera.



And this is the real us. Laughing. I'm so glad Anna took a few extra and captured this. (I love that after {almost} 20 years I still look at him like this)



Scott is a huge competitive tennis player. So he headed to the courts for a few hours and the girls and I took my Dad to the movies.



There was girlling for dinner.



And relaxed reading after.

Being One

There is a beautiful family that lives across the street from me.  And by beautiful I mean yes, they are beautiful inside and out.  Kind, sweet, lovely.  But yes, beautiful too.  Just look at this mama and her baby...



Like oh my goodness... beautiful! I had the most fun photographing them.



At one of my favorite places to take photos.



Baby one year old cheeks. I love them.



And I love sweet little, new families that are just figuring everything out. I always feel a little jealous of a new, young family just starting out.



The mama duck and babies entered almost on cue to make this little baby girl smile and laugh.





I remember well the toddle and holding on to bigger hands for first steps like it was yesterday.







And the giggle that only a daddy magic and do.





Yes, your first one year old is certainly special. And I'm so glad this family is soaking it in.



Okay, and so glad they live across the street.

There's a First Time for Everything

"The moment where you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever being able to do it." JM Barrie (Peter Pan)

Party for Anna

She knew in an instant that her theme would be Alice in Wonderland from her beloved book that she has read over and over and over. She owns a copy now but she used to take it out of the library so often that when I'd walk by it on a different trip (perhaps with just Abigail) I would say hello to it. It was in our house more often than it was on the shelf in the library. Seriously.



She dressed up of course.



And we spent the afternoon with family celebrating our girl.



She wanted an Alice tea party. That's like a normal person ordering a few large pizza's for a party. A tea party is second nature to me, and I was happy to oblige.



I picked the colors of bright blue and pink (gosh! they just happen to be my favorite colors in the world... and yes, my dress matched)



She let me 'shop' in her room for Wonderland treasures for the party decor.





We had tiny ham and Swiss tea sandwiches.



And some food inspired by White Rabbit



And you can never go wrong with a pretty punch in a crystal punch bowl.



The favors were sweet necklaces with a tea pot hanging from them. (we each have one in the house but I've yet to snap a picture of one)





I served 'turtle soup' from the book



(which was really pea and potato soup)









It was paper but it was so so pretty and truly Alice.

"Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."  













She opened some fun presents from family.









One was a treasure from my Dad's bookshelf. A copy of the first book. The first book was handwritten by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (his pen name was Lewis Carroll) in 1865. This is a very special copy of that first book.





She got a few 'I'm 13 now' gifts along with the toys. It was the perfect mix. (because it's oh so hard to be in both worlds.





It rained a lot that morning so we weren't able to have her birthday party in our backyard as we usually do. So we improvised.





Her cousin wore the perfect shirt!





I served gourmet cupcakes (that I didn't bake... for the first time in my life)







They were really pretty and everyone told me they were so good but true be told... I missed making my own cupcakes for my girl and I usually making a 'grandparent cake' for after a kids party. So this was really different for me. But I was inspired by these darling cupcake stands. So I just HAD to!



I love a good children's birthday party... even when a child's party is for a 13 year old. It's a sweet time to stop and remember God's precious gift of life.

I love you Anna!  Keep on believing...

"Why sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."