{WHW}: 1st Birthday Partying

You may be tired of hearing about Ella turning 1, and if you are...sorry (I'm only a little sorry). This was a big milestone in our lives, and our girl's life and it was just crazy how quickly the year went by. It's so cliche, but it's incredibly true.

Ella's birthday weekend was busy busy busy but oh-so worth it! Everything came together perfectly, and even though Ella was a little overwhelmed by everyone being around and was kind of a stage 5 clinger to mommy and daddy, it was a great day celebrating our favorite girl!

So, let's get to the details and pictures!

My BIL has a bouncy business on the side, so they offered to put one up for Ella's party. I figured she wouldn't really use it, but girl LOVED IT!

She got in a lot of bouncy time before the party started and her cousins were more than thrilled to play with her:

The cakes turned out even better that I had imagined! Believe it or not, these are both Walmart cakes and were incredibly reasonably priced (in fact the smash cake was free):

 Birthday banners--the bottom one is Ella's 12 monthly photos from her first year. It was so fun to see how she grew and changed each month!

 We had quite the spread of food and beverages. We may have gone overboard because MG and I took home 7 bottles of wine with us (oops)

Everyone started arriving a little after 3, which was perfect because Ella napped until 3 on the dot (she must have known she was needed haha). 

The pink tutu and headband only lasted for a little while, but they were cuter than cute!

Lots of photos were taken through the afternoon:

We opened the mounds and mounds of gifts that were brought (so generous!)

After eating and chatting, it was time to sing happy birthday and see our girl's reaction to her first bites of cake.

Surprisingly, she was very dainty about it, taking tiny bits of icing and eating it. I helped her dig into the cake part and she happily shared it with me--including my face and my hair lol

We sang happy birthday again a little bit later around her big, fancy cake and at the end Ella clapped (and then screamed lol):

All too soon it was time to clean up, pack up allllllll the gifts, and head back to my in-laws' house.

It was the perfect day, with the most beautiful weather we could have hoped for, surrounded by our family and family friends. We are so blessed to have this loving family--Ella doesn't even know how lucky she is :)

4 Years

4 Years....

....and we're now parents to the most incredible little girl

.....and we've taken on parenthood and the ups and downs that come with it--the stresses it puts on us and the happiness it brings--and we're better for it

....and I revel every day at the dad you are, and love seeing your love and pride for our sweet girl

.....and I appreciate all of the little things you do to make my life easier, and to support me. Waking up with me for every middle of the night feeding with Ella, taking on cooking on the nights when I just don't have the time or energy to do it, doing the every day tasks that are tedious and annoying without a request...on and on, and I can't express just how much I appreciate you.

....and you impress me daily with your knowledge of the world, and how intelligent you are.

....on the opposite end of the spectrum, you make me laugh with your incredibly goofy sayings, silly songs about Ella and Cooper, and ability to look on the bright side of things. 

....and I still look forward to coming home to you every night, and always look forward to your return from work trips

....and your hugs heal some of my toughest days

....and you remind me of what's important when I get stressed out, or in my head about something/someone.

....and you don't give me too much slack when another bag or box gets delivered to the house hahah

....and you're still my favorite person to travel with

....and you're still my favorite date

....and I'd choose you over and over and over again, still.

This year has been filled with lots of joy, some challenges, but so many memories. I can't wait to see what year 4 has in store for us, but I know that whatever it is, it'll be an adventure with my favorite person.

I love you!!

WHW {#88}: 3 Years Later....

Three Years Later....

~I love you more than I did the day that we got married 

~We have our miracle baby on the way

~You still make me laugh every single day

~You're still my best friend

~I still look forward to seeing you at the end of the work day

~You take care of me and make me feel safe

~You make the best breakfasts for us on the weekends

~You're still my favorite travel partner

~You're still my favorite sous chef in the kitchen

~I still love the cards you write me on special occasions

~Your hugs make me feel like I'm home

~You've been my rock through some really tough times and I don't know what I would have done without you

~You're still my favorite dance partner

~I'm thankful that God put you in my life. I revel at that fact that someone was made so perfectly to balance me

~I would marry you a million times over!

Happy anniversary, babe! Here's to 100 more and all the fun that the future has in store!


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WHW {#87}: PA Baby Shower

.....or, as it felt, "the last shower before the big show" haha

I'll give you the highlights from our weekend in PA and the baby shower my MIL and two SIL's threw for me in today's edition of What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday:

~Made our way up to PA Friday night with my mom in tow and drove through some crazy rainstorms which was no fun (thank goodness MG was driving)

~Listened to the Missing Richard Simmons podcast which I'd heard was good, and it definitely kept our attention during the drive

{via}

~Saturday morning we were up early, had breakfast and got ready for the day. I was told I wasn't allowed at my SIL's house until 11:30 at the earliest (my shower started at noon), so we hung around until around then and then made our way over.

~I walked into the basement/party room area and the decor was super cute! And I was greeted by a gorgeous cake (it was legitimately bigger than our wedding cake haha). My SIL's had also borrowed some of the decor my bestie had put together for my VA shower and incorporated it into the room as well. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

the super cute party favors

(The story behind this diaper cake, I actually love. So when MG and I were struggling through fertility treatments, and about to do IVF, my one SIL had told this older, very religious woman at her church--I dont remember how it came up--but that woman said that she would pray very hard for us to get pregnant. Well, that woman is the one who ended up making us this gorgeous diaper cake, which made it even more special to me. We'd never met this woman, but she gave us a space in her prayers, which makes my heart smile).

~Soon enough everyone was arriving and all of the catching up convos and circulating began. I got lots of compliments on how good I looked (and a weird encounter with my BIL's mom who said I looked great, had me turn around and then said "oh, I see some areas that got bigger"....couldn't have let that go?? womp womp lol)

~My SIL had lunch catered so there was tons of yummy food, but that cake was calling my name (and since I hadn't had my carbs for lunch that day.....hehehe)

us and the grandparents-to-be

~After lunch I opened presents and we were definitely spoiled by all of the extended family and friends. I wasn't joking when I said we might need a Uhaul to get everything home on Sunday (we did leave some of the bigger things at my in-laws place that we don't need right away and they'll bring it down to us once we have the baby). 

~After presents were opened, we figured people would start leaving, and some did, but my shower lasted probably 3-4 hours because people were just chatting and catching up.

~Once everyone left, MG, my mom and I went back to my in-laws house to change, and we ordered food for dinner and then went back to my SIL's house to hang with the family.

~It was so fun sitting around the table, laughing about past stories, hearing about baby stories, and just enjoying being around each other. I'm so glad that my mom was there--she seemed to really have a good time which was nice.

~And just like that, it was time to head home since it was after 9:30 and we were all exhausted from the day. Saying goodbye to everyone was actually kind of emotional since it kind of hit all of us that the next time we'd see each other, there'd be a new member to our family. On the drive home, I kind of got overwhelmed with the feeling of it and started tearing up just thinking about it all. The nerves got me and just thinking about how life is going to be different. I don't regret this at all, but when you know life is about to drastically change, it can hit you. Plus I started thinking about my dad and how he would have loved to have been around to see this. That didn't help the hormones either.

Sunday we got up, had breakfast, packed up the car the best that we could and made our way back home to VA. My MIL had found this little step stool somewhere which totally fit our color and elephant theme (luckily we had room for it in the car because I love it so much)

I got ants in my pants and MG and I decided to install the carseat base in my car, so that's making things for more real every time I get in my car, too.

That was pretty much a wrap on the weekend and what's been hap-"pinning" over here!

Now it's your turn to link up with Jessi and I to share what's hap-"pinning" with you!