This is 4!

Every year on this day, I marvel at how quickly time has gone. Today, my sweet, kind, loving and funny little girl turns 4! FOUR!! 

2011 - As a newborn - 7 days old! Photo by Nicole Kathlyn Photography

2012 - One year old - photo by Nicole Kathlyn Photography

2013 - 2 years old

2014 - 3 years old

2015 - almost 4 years old! Taken at Nolan's newborn shoot by Art and Soul Photography

Time has gone by in the blink of an eye. I look at my girl now, and there is no trace of baby left in her face! How did this happen? How has she grown up so quickly? Our sweet girl who has a great big imagination and even bigger heart. She has a wonderful sense of adventure, and she definitely has some wanderlust in there, thanks to her parents. Her smile lights up my days and I can't get enough of her giggles and cuddles. How did I get so lucky to get this girl?

She has taken so well to being a big sister and her little brother loves her so much already. How could he not? He is showered with kisses, cuddles, songs, stories and games of peek-a-boo. I know she's having a hard time sharing her Mommy during the day, and I must admit I do long for an afternoon to spend with just her. So today, as usual, her day will start with pancakes and then we will spend the day doing something she would like to do! Today, I will celebrate this wonderful little girl who first made me a Mommy. I love you so much sweet Halle!

3 Years

Today our little girl turns 3. It feel like she's always been with us... but at the same time, it feels like only yesterday I was holding her as a tiny newborn. 

Like any parent would say - Halle as brought us so much joy and love. She makes us laugh, play, imagine and think hard everyday. Not only has my heart filled with love for her, but everyday that I watch B with her I fall in love with him all over again. He is such an amazing father, and I feel so incredibly lucky to have them both in my life.

Everyday I marvel at our little girl as I watch her grow, learn and become her own person. She's smart, thoughtful, adventurous, sensitive, funny (hilarious, really), creative, inquisitive and friendly. She is the best helper we could ever ask for - whether we are cleaning, cooking, gardening, or out running errands she always wants to help... and more often than not she doesn't slow down our progress. 

She has the biggest heart - always offering hugs and kissings, taking care of her "babies" and friends and sharing. There has been a lot of talk from her recently about having a baby (nope... not pregnant!), and I just hope we can give her a sibling while she is still excited about it. I know that with all of the love she has, and her helpful nature that she would be the best big sister, but until that time comes, we'll just enjoy this time we have with her!

I'm wishing this sweet little girl a very Happy 3rd Birthday, and looking forward to spending the whole day doing fun things with her!

Dinosaurs for Halle

It's been very quiet around here. I can't even tell you how many times I have sat down to start a post and I just never finish. We've done a lot around here, including the creation of our vegetable garden out back. We're still working on the bench (a few other things have been higher priorities recently), I'm getting ready to paint the downstairs rec room and we're on the hunt for Halle's big girl bed (she still LOVES her crib, but I think we're ready to move her to a big girl bed). So, hopefully things will start to happen and this blog will see a bit more action soon.

For now, I had to pop in quickly and share Halle's 3rd Birthday Party, which happened on Sunday. She asked for Pink Dinosaurs and I did my best to deliver. The day was overcast and it drizzled a bit, but our birthday girl and her little friends had a great day. What could be more important?

I made the banner myself, using last year's as a template. I traced each of the shapes and the letters (except for the "R" in Three, which I had to freehand), and then painted everything in. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The cupcake liners & cupcake stand I found at HomeSense. Those little pink dinosaurs on top of the cupcakes were made from Salt Water Taffy (also purchased at HomeSense). I had found instructions in Chatelaine on how to make them, and B put them together on Saturday evening while I was baking the cake. He did a great job!

Halle had asked for a "Sprinkle" cake, so I used this recipe that I found on Pinterest to make the cake & the whipped vanilla buttercream frosting. Both were awesome and will stay in my recipe book for future use!

The kids were happy just playing together, but I did have a few activities for them. I had photocopied some dinosaur colouring pages that B's Mom gave Halle, and B also buried some dinosaur sand moulds in Halle's sandbox for the kids to dig for. They loved the latter one, and also loved playing with some little dino's I tossed in there for fun.

I honestly think Halle's favourite part of the whole party was having people sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She just loves it...

I can't believe she will "officially" turn 3 tomorrow! These past three years have just flown by... and it's been an absolute pleasure being her Mama. Planning her exactly what she wanted for her birthday was the least I could do! 

Twenty-Eight

Today I turn 28. TWENTY-EIGHT! 

{found via Pinterest - no original link included}

If you asked me seven years ago what 28 would look like for me, I never would have imagined this. I had dreams of a career path, that after testing those waters I wasn't very excited about. I was single, and pretty happy to stay that way for a while, and I also hoped to spend some time living and working abroad. Now, 7 years later I am married to my best friend and love of my life, mother to one adorable and sweet little girl and living in our second home on the West Coast of Canada. I don't think there is much more I could possibly want! 

So today, I'll be happy to spend my day with my favourite little lady, and enjoy the evening with B. After all, what's a birthday if you can't spend it with the people you love the most?

2 Came Fast

My Dearest Halle,

It's hard to imagine that just over two years ago, we had not met. Today, I cannot imagine a single day passing without you in my life. In a matter of 730 days you have transformed from a tiny newborn into a smart, funny, curious, nurturing and sweet little girl. You absolutely light up my days with your smiles and giggles.

Before you arrived, I was never sure if I wanted to become a mother. Would I be good at it? Would I know what to do? I thought I would need to know everything. Little did I know that these past two years would teach me so much. That YOU would teach me so much.

{Photos of  Halle at one week, 7 months & 1 year care of Nicole Kathlyn Photography}

You constantly challenge me to be a better person and mother. You have taught me to see the world through youthful eyes again. Things that were once overlooked or mundane are once again fun and exciting. 

My dear girl - you are such a treasure to your Father and I, and you are loved by so many. Being your Mom has been so wonderful and I can't wait to see what this coming year holds for you!

I love you with all of my Heart!

Mama
xoxo

Halle's Bubble & Balloon Party

Yesterday was a gorgeous Sunday here, made even better by the little backyard party we threw in honour of Halle's 2nd Birthday (which is tomorrow). The theme was bubble's and balloons and I'd say it was a big success... here are the details...

I made these Lemon Honey Cupcakes, and some chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Nutella icing. They were both a hit. 

There was even a birthday cake (also baked by me... I'm feeling pretty proud). I went with a plain vanilla cake and a whipped cream icing. A nice change from the super sweet cupcakes!

I added some other treats to the table for everyone as well...

These grape and watermelon skewers were a HUGE hit, especially with the kids! They were all gone well before the party was over.

What's a bubble and balloon party without Popcorn? I bought the little popcorn containers at HomeSense - 12 for $3.99, and glued the purple "bubbles" over top and then painted them. Popcorn - also a huge hit with the kids!

Jelly Beans and some fun purple polka dot paper straws. Straws - also great with a large group of small children! Even the boys were okay with pink cups when they came with straws!

This drawing station had the kids going nuts. They all ran for it as soon as I brought out the markers, pencil crayons and crayons. Of course, Halle ended up with more marker on herself than on the actual paper. At least a great time was had by all!

Halle enjoyed the "Happy Birthday" singing. Afterwards she even asked for more!

There were LOTS of bubbles to be had, including a fish bubble gun that B bought for her, and a bubble mower that our friends gifted her. Her and all of her little guests were loving them!

To round out this post, I just HAVE to share the fantastic birthday gift that B built for Halle. 

There will be another post coming soon with more about the plans that B used to built this fantastic swing. 

So that was our weekend. It was busy, I forgot to make punch, didn't put out the sweet tea I made and was late putting out the quinoa and potato salad I made, but it looked like everyone had a really awesome time yesterday. We are so lucky to have made so many awesome friends out here, and yesterday was also a fantastic opportunity to meet so many of our new neighbours! Really - AWESOME!

I hope you all had a great weekend too! What did you get up to?

Halle's Birthday Invites & Pretty Bunting

The other week I shared a little peek at the process of creating Halle's 2nd Birthday invites over on Minted. With less than 20 days until our little girl is officially 2 (cue teary eyed Mama over here), I wanted to pop back in and share our final product that I am over the moon in love with!

They turned out just as cute as I had hoped. I love the colours, quality and the thickness of the paper is fantastic. I'm so glad I opted to put the matching backer on them as well! H may be just over 14 months in the photo I used, but I love it and thought it would be perfect for the card - don't you agree?

I also ordered one of the beautiful buntings that Minted offers in their Party Decor section. Since there wasn't a bunting that matched her invites perfectly, I opted for one that would match the colours I am using for her party. What I loved most about the buntings is that you can personalize them to say whatever you want, and you can choose how you want to use the design - alternate the different fonts, or use just one. I opted for the latter option, and went for purple since most of the other decor that I have purchased so far is pink. 

As far as my wording choice, I simply went with "HALLE IS TWO!". The bunting came with some string for putting the whole thing together. I can't wait to get it all set up for her big party later this month! Now it's time to start planning the party menu!

*I was given 15 printed invites, as well as the bunting, in exchange for this post (and my previous post). All opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own.