PIC OVERLOAD!!!

That last 2-3 weeks have been NON-FREAKING-STOP for this little family! Although, I welcome the craziness, my body is paying for it dearly. I am tiiiiiiiiiired. From parties, to all of the Fall festivities, award shows and dinners for my husband's job, and a toddler....whew! We are about a week away from my husband ( and us girls) going back to the "road life". Tour season starts, and I am just trying to get my mind in the right place. We are just soaking up each day together, I am enjoying an extra set of hands around the house, and I just love the comfort of him being home. We always trudge through each season, and come out the other side though!

Anyway....I have taken so many pics over the last few weeks and don't really even know where to begin, so here are just some random bits from our past couple of weeks.

We hosted a mini pumpkin decorating party for Amara and a few of her friends. Chili, cupcakes and some interesting looking pumpkins ;) So fun!

I helped my sweet friend, Holly, from high school host a mini class reunion brunch at her family's farm.

I have known these girls for over 10 years.....still blows my mind! 

We had a family photo shoot. Happy to check that off of the list! My old roomie and dear friend, Shara, took our pics! She is amazing!! I haven't gotten all of them back yet, but she sent me a few via text because she is awesome. I was DYING to see how they were turning out! These are unedited, but I wanted to share anyway. I know photographers hate that ;)

^^ Tour kick off dinner ^^

                   

 ^^ Trips to the zoo ^^

 ^^ Tickles in the bed^^

 ^^ Painting....every. day. painting. ^^

 ^^ Swinging at the park... something she requests often. ^^

 ^^ attending birthday parties ^^

 ^^ My bestie had a baby^^

 ^^ LOTS of snuggles ^^

 ^^ Dove Awards. My Mother - in - law headed up an AMAZING show, and I was so proud of her! I didn't have a pic of my husband and I, so this one will do! Two ladies I love!! ^^

^^ We have watched Clark swim...fascinating! ^^

This about sums up our life recently....in photos at least. Hope you are having a good week so far! 

I am putting some final touches on Amara's room this week, and hope to have some pics of it up on the blog by the end of the week as well as some more of our family photos!

xo!

Amara's 2nd Birthday Party!

Tuesday evening, we celebrated Amara's birthday with some of her closest little friends. I really fought to keep it EXTREMELY small, and mostly family.... those that Amara has spent a lot of time with this year...that have invested SO much into her second year of life.

I opted for an outdoor celebration at Arrington Vineyards. It was perfect!! We were practically the only people there. The sun was setting, and we had an amazing view overlooking the vines. It couldn't have been more beautiful.

 For the first time, I was done setting up and able to relax before guests arrived. NEVER in the history of my party planning has that happened. I would like to think that it is because I have gotten better with planning and timing, but I don't think that is it considering I didn't even have time to shower or wash my hair for the party. Shhhh! However, swinging with my baby sweet toddler, staring at the gorgeous views and just taking it all in with her before the celebration started was a surreal moment for this mama. I needed a stress-free evening....we all did!

The little details......

 ^^ I just put three sheets of watercolor paper together with a crayola kids' art smock and crayola watercolor set. I had custom tags printed at Rock Paper Scissors. ^^

 ^^ I found a great DIY party hat template at Oh Happy Day (such an amazing blog!). I just used Kraft paper sheets, and then hot glued hand dyed/store bought poms on them! ^^

 ^^ These little guys were my favorite! I love a good party favor. I just bought the paint cans at a local craft store ( Michaels and Joanns both carry them), stuffed them with different color tissues to look like "paint", and stuffed them full of goodies! ^^

[ Mini paint set, mini slinky, Ring Pop, swirly straw, bouncy balls, stamps, temporary tattoos and mini bubble containers] I found all of it at craft stores and Target.

 ^^Adult picnic dinners: Sub sandwiches with chips and a pickle! Wooden fruit baskets here ^^

 ^^ Kids' picnic dinners: turkey sandwiches, goldfish/pretzel mix, grapes and a juice box. The boxes were a Martha Stewart find. ^^

 ^^ Found cotton candy at a local candy shop, wrapped it around a stripey straw and voilla! Definitely time consuming, but totally worth it! Who doesn't love cotton candy on a stick!?! ^^

^^ I decided to make an Instagram banner to showcase Amara's year of growth. ^^