Happy Thanksgiving



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  His love endures forever!  I am so thankful that His mercies are new every.single.morning.

Rainforest Cafe and the Rockettes

 

 "On the third day of Hadley's birthday, her parents gave to her....Rainforest Cafe and the Rockettes."  Whew.   In lieu of having Hadley a party, Justin and I had decided some time ago to take her to eat at Rainforest Cafe and see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at the Grand Ole' Opry.  We dropped Canaan off at Granna and Grandad's house, picked up cousin Larissa, and headed to Nashville.  I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with Rainforest Cafe.   Not only is the environment of the restaurant an experience in itself, but the food was delicious, too.  While we waited for our food, the girls and I explored the restaurant.  The storm that brewed every half hour was especially entertaining.  Seeing the elephants, gorillas, tigers, and birds react to the storm was a treat, indeed.

 

  While I loved being able to make reservations for lunch, we ended up having about three hours to kill before the Rockettes.  You can imagine what Opry Mills Mall would be like a few Saturdays before Christmas...nuts.  The girl's seemed to have all kinds of ideas of what we could do to keep busy before the show.  All of them required money, too, I might add.  Carousels are always a hit for kiddos; ah, the excitement of picking the perfect horse to ride.  I would totally be the mom looking like a dork waving and yelling Hadley's name every.single.time. she made a round and headed back my way.

 

 It should be noted that cousin Larissa is quite the fearless girl.  She spotted this rock wall in an outdoors store, and insisted in trying to climb it.  No big deal that I have to sign a waiver for her to climb and she says she has never done this before.  But she wanted to soooo bad....and we had plenty of time to kill.  I texted pictures of Larissa climbing the wall to her mom and dad.  They weren't the least bit concerned....lol.  It didn't surprise us a bit that she made it almost to the top.  So as we cheered Larissa on and encouraged her, guess who was thinking she needed to climb, too?

 Our little climber didn't make it up as high, but she did have fun trying.  Although she looks like she's getting choked here, I can assure you she wasn't.  She didn't really cry, but was slightly panicked when she realized she couldn't make it back to the wall and was dangling.  Is it bad that I was laughing really really hard?  Oh well, it was adorable though.

 

 We even found a kid's play area in the middle of the mall and the girl's hung out there for awhile.  It cracked me up to see all the dads and grandpas sitting in the seats while their "women" shopped till they dropped. 

  

   Going to the Grand Ole' Opry is an experience in itself. Its nickname is the 'mother church of country music.' Seating inside is in the form of old wooden church pews...and I do mean old. Since plenty of bigtime country music artists perform on that stage regularly, you'd think it would be a fancy place with the nicest chairs and all. But they choose to keep it authentic to its roots, which really gives it a unique feel. 

 The girl's LOVED the Rockettes, just as I had imagined.  With Hadley a dancer and all these days, you know, she really connected with the young ballerina girl in the performance.  The live nativity, at the end of the show, always gives me goosebumps.  Hadley just couldn't believe there would actually be live animals on the stage.  I love that a show as popular as the Rockettes still chooses to tell the story of our Lord and Savior.  After our show, we headed home with two sleepy girls in tow.  They kept talking about how much walking had been involved in our fun-filled day.  After all, Opry Mills is a big mall and we did have a lot of time to kill.  But I do believe fun was had by all and now we can officially say.....Happy Birthday Hadley.  Our three day birthday celebration is finally over!!  Worth every minute of it, though! 

 

 

Princess Hadley Is Four (again)

So the only downside to not having a "formal" birthday party for Hadley, was that her celebration went on for, quite literally, three days.  Not that I'm complaining that my girlie is so loved, but it might be a little much for a child to think his or her "party" goes on for three days.  On Friday night, after our Paint N' Place trip earlier in the day, we headed to Auburn for a birthday celebration at my parent's house.  Nana and Grandaddy, and Grandaddy White all joined in on the event, as well.  My Mom used a princess theme, since Hadley is so infatuated with them right now.  After a big Italian supper, we enjoyed cake & ice cream.

My mom was always so great to make us homemade birthday cakes.  Now I feel like there's such pressure for mom's to buy the biggest, fanciest cakes. It's not uncommon for people around here to pay well over $100 for birthday cakes!  I miss the days when moms proudly mades their kid's birthday cakes.  Just for the record, if I had any cake decorating skills at all, I totally would make my kid's cakes.



Nana Hughes tried to help Hadley figure out the kazoo.  Poor girl is not the most proficient blower.  She blows up, instead of out.  I loved my grandparents sporting the party hats and blowing the kazoos; memories that I will always cherish.

Bradley, Angie, and Levi got to come celebrate with us, as well.  Hadley and Levi just love playing together.  Hadley got a Tangled dress from Granna and Grandad at her party the night before, so she just had to wear it at Nana and Poppy's the next night. 



Little Miss Rapunzel herself; all four years of her.  Lots of people are so very thankful for you, sweet girl.  You are such a blessing to your family.  Happy Birthday...again!!

Paint N' Place

The next day, Robin and Carson met us in Bowling Green at the Paint N' Place.  It is our go-to place for special occasion gifts.  We've made lots of fun goodies there, over the years.  Basketball plate for Justin, Granna-burger platter, Grandad's ice cream bowl, and coffee mugs for Nana and Poppy; all with Hadley's hand and/or footprints.  I love sentimental pieces with the kid's hand or footprints on them, and the people there are just so great to work with you.  On this particular occasion, we let the kids pick out what they wanted to paint and they just went to town.  Hadley had to wear her paintsplash dress for the occasion, of course.  Carson decided on painting Batman and Hadley wanted to paint a unicorn sitting on the moon.

I loved that the kids had free reign to, literally, all the paints they could possibly dream of.  I really think that's the kids favorite part of the experience.  Carson and Hadley would dip their brush in water and Robin and I would dry it off.  They could also use whatever brushes they wanted as well, and there were an abundance of those.  The organized, clean side of me didn't quite know how to take all the freedom Hadley had.  It was a bit of a challenge for me.  Deep breaths.

 It didn't take me long to realize that I just needed to look away and not watch (critique) every stroke Hadley took.  She used every color imaginable on her unicorn and the paint went on quite thick, too.  I was afraid we might need an industrial heater to dry her project before we packed it out of there.  At least my not watching every little move gave Robin and I plenty of good catch-up time.

 We did add some fancy glittery sparkles to her unicorn, before we left.  It actually made it look really cute, too.  I think we have two budding artists right here.  We were so glad that Robin and Carson could join us for our fun little outing.  We had a great time! 

 



Happy 4th Birthday

 

Well, we officially have a four year old in our house!  Our firstborn is another year older and quickly approaching the half decade mark. 

The balloon fairy surprised Hadley with four balloons when she awakened that morning.  She has been talking about her birthday for weeks now, so the balloons made it so real for her.  It has really been precious seeing how excited she has been in the days leading up to her special day.  Justin and I keep talking about just how fun Christmas will be with her this year.  Everything is just so magical right now.

 I decided not to have a "formal" party for Hadley this year, which has inflicted so much guilt upon me.  But after just planning Canaan's first birthday bash a couple of months ago, taking on another big party seemed daunting.  So we opted for a much more low-key celebration for Miss Hadley.  I still wanted her to feel special, though, and know just how much she's loved.  But she has had three "big" birthday celebrations now.  I don't think she's too neglected. ;)  We took some goodies to daycare, and let Hadley celebrate with her buddies at school.

Sawyer and Shayla are two of Hadley's favorite friends.  Granna and Grandad swiped our Princess plates, napkins, and party hats for 75% off at the Dollar Store just recently.  When we went to the grocery to pick out snacks for her party, she saw these green and yellow doughnuts and begged for "John Deere doughnuts."  So, yes, we had John Deere doughnuts on Princess decor....per the birthday girl's request.  Doesn't get any better than that, now does it? 

 

 I do have to note that this particular day was very bittersweet for us, as well, as it marked Hadley and Canaan's last day at our precious daycare.  Our daycare was technically owned by the hospital, and due to, well, Obamacare, just to be quite honest....it is shutting down.  The daycare doesn't really make any money (even though we pay nicely for it) and was considered more of a service to hospital employees.  So, for lots of different reasons combined, we were notified just over a month ago, that our daycare was closing. 

Needless to say, we have been super sad and disappointed about this. Change isn't easy for me anyway, especially when it comes to my babies. Imagine, too, that an entire daycare full of children are suddenly needing somewhere to go. Parents are scrambling to find new daycares before they get booked...it was just a mess! We think we have found someone to keep the kids, for at least the time being. We shall see how it goes! So I have been a bit emotional going in to Hadley's 4th birthday anyway.  My sweet mother-in-law made fall wreaths for several of the daycare workers, and I bought some pumpkin spice candles.  We made sure every teacher got a little something from us before we left.  I really can't stress just how much we have loved TJ Samson Daycare.  We have seen tremendous growth both socially and academically from Hadley.  Not to mention, Miss Anna was Canaan's baby whisperer.  It will truly always hold a special place in our hearts. 

OK...enough of that!  Let's talk about my sweet 4 year old.  Justin and I had debated what to do for Hadley, on her Thursday night birthday, for quite some time.  I asked Hadley what she wanted me to fix for her special birthday supper and she said, "biscuit and gravy."  So, we had a big breakfast for supper, or "brupper."  Granna and Grandad came over to celebrate with us and we ate supper in the dining room, which is only used for special occasions.  We used the rest of Granna's Dollar Store finds to decorate with.  And you know what I realized after this party?  She enjoyed this little shindig at home as much or more than her previous parties. 

 Our birthday girl has been requesting a "noisy" wand ever since her cousin Sydnee got one at her birthday party a couple of weeks ago.  Granna pulled through for Hadley's request. Hadley had her weekly dance class until 5:00, then after rushing home, she insisted on changing in to her princess attire.

 Justin rushed home after practice to fry our sausage and bacon and scramble our eggs.  He is a master breakfast maker. I took care of the hashbrown casserole, biscuits, and gravy.  Hadley even asked for seconds, so I think she was pleased.

 

Granna paints Hadley's fingernails all the time.  So she got Hadley this handy little manicure set that dries and buffs your fingernails.  We had a time putting this little dude together!

 How many people does it take to put together a four year old's toy?

We ended our birthday celebration with Hadley's princess cake.  Even though it was low-key and just family, we had the best time focusing on Hadley and celebrating her.  She made me a mommy on this night, just four short years ago; a title for which I am unbelievably grateful.  Happy Birthday to our precious, Hadley!  We love you sweet girl!



Sunday Best

I know that I won't be able to match my babies for long, but it sure is fun while it lasts.  Would you believe that I purchased these two outfits at two different consignment sales, two different years even?  Now those are my favorite finds of all.  I love the soft glow of an autumn morning sun.  I also love how Canaan is looking up to his big sister, which he totally does.

Why does getting ready for church have to be so stressful?  It seems like the devil is even more on the attack because he knows we're headed to church.  Grrr...

These pictures just capture the loveliness of my two joys, though, and I'm thankful for that.  Of course there are no pics of our whirlwind house and what it looks like getting the four of us ready for church.

That's fine with me. Something about the freshly fallen leaves just gives a peaceful feeling all around.  Love these two!  Happy, happy fall!

Corvettes and Santa

Yes, I'm doing a semi-Christmas post in November.  I'm not proud of myself; don't judge.  My grandfather builds a lot of furniture pieces for a florist shop in Bowling Green called Deemer's.  They generally just tell him what they need, give him a credit card to buy his materials, and he creates awesomeness.  Well, I am a little biased.  He usually builds things that they can display their beautiful decor on.  On this particular Saturday, it was the shop's Christmas Open House.  Since Bowling Green is the home of the corvette, Santa rode in to town on a corvette this year.  Hmmm.....go with me here.

Hadley verrry reluctantly told Santa that she wants a magic wand for Christmas.  By the way, the magic wand is for "hexxing" people.  She watched a Sofia the First Halloween special recently where a kid-witch hexxed other kids.  So she wants a wand to hex people.  Should I be worried?

 I think if Canaan had ever actually turned around to see who was holding him, he would have lost it.  It'll be interesting to see how he handles our mall santa in a few short weeks.

The wooden corvette that my grandfather built was on display right as you walked in the front door of the flower shop.  He put real tires and mirrors on the car, as well as a real steering wheel.  When Justin and I got married near Christmas time, Grandaddy built a beautiful white sleigh to hold wedding gifts that we received at the reception.  Nana has used it on their front porch, as a Christmas decoration, ever since then.  Deemer's liked it so much that they had Grandaddy make one for them.  They ended up selling it to someone for $700.00.  Guess what the price tag on the corvette was?  $1500.00.  Too bad Grandaddy didn't get paid that much to build it.  Just kidding...he would do it for free.  He just loves a compliment and how everyone goes on and on about how amazing he is.

Cousin Levi joined in on the fun, too.  We love to support Grandaddy and are so thankful for all he and Nana have done, and continue to do, for us.  Good job, Grandaddy!!